Happy Cat Family

Hi Folks, meowmy here!
Hope spent the day at the vet yesterday... They ran a bunch of tests - a complete blood panel, X-rays, fecal (both float and smear), and all came back normal. She made up like a champ, I just felt bad for her fasting for nearly 24 hours... But... she made it, and was spoiled rotten when she got home <3
The only thing out of the ordinary was the heart murmur 2/6, but no signs of heart disease or enlarged heart, or anything to worry about right now.
Their conclusion? She very VERY likely has IBD. Of course this can be only diagnosed 100% with a biopsy but everything points on that direction.
They put her on 20 days of Prednisone Syrup, and told me to continue to feed her a one meat, one starch diet, and add a fiber supplement to her food which I am adding Vetasyl- she loves the taste...
I am transitioning her from Royal Canin Prescription to Natural Balance, as it is 1/2 of the price and same protein, sam starches. 
She is doing much much better.... 
For the first time today she woke me up on bed! This is a BIG deal! April 1st when she didn't wake me on bed was when I knew something was wrong - now 19 days later I know my girl is finally back!
I know she still has a little bit to go but she is doing good and now I know what we are dealing with... I am so very relieved! If only she knew how much she is loved!
Thank you folks for all the support, and the love you showed for my girl - I hope from now on it will only be good news for a while.... a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG while!

Hi Folks Meowmy here!
Yep you read it right this was visit 1 of 2... Hope will have to go back on Monday, for further testing. 
The suspicion is really IBS, but the doctor wants to rule other things as well, and since I am not going to go on the biopsy route, I do believe this is a good idea.
They do have a lab in-house, but she wanted to run more precise tests, in an outside lab, and discuss them with a vet cytologist. He only works on Monday, which will be Hope's vet visit 2 of 2 :). 
Monday she will have a fecal, a complete blood panel, and possibly an X-ray. Why an X-ray? Because she heard a murmur on her heart... 
I do think Hope was just extremely stressed the poor thing was shaking so stressed she was! In any event the vet will ask a second vet's opinion and if they think there is a murmur they will run an x-ray.
Hope doesn't fit the profile for murmur though - she is just about the highest energy kitty in the planet! Well, before April 1st that is!
Anyways, now she wants her to be only on a blend diet, but not on meds to get a good baseline on the tests which makes her have bad bad diarrhea :(
My poor child... I just hope it is something simple... 

Hello folks, Hope here!
Thank you for keeping checking on me, meowmy and I appreciate it very much! 
Well, I am feeling much much better but I am not all better yet, so meowmy decided to take me to our other vet for a consult and some testing. She is pretty sure the first vet is right about IBS, but she also wants to rule out other things, and wants to try a different treatment since this one is not really working for my poop situation. 
Well, don't take me wrong... I have come a loooooong way... I was feeling really really really bad when I started this treatment: I was hiding 100% of the time for a week, I was not eating, and having explosive diarrhea... I was a sick, sick kitty... 
Now the only thing that is not normal is that I still have diarrhea, and a lot of gas... but I am playing, eating (even though I do think this food is truly yucky), and I am not hiding anymore - at all. 
Meowmy just wants to make sure I am being treated for the right thing and there is nothing else behind this. 
Anyways, I will tell meowmy to post an update as soon as we come back from the vet - I hope it is not too painful... I don't like things being stuck on me, and I heard meowmy saying she wants to do a blood test or something like that. Oh boy. 

Hope here!
Hello folks! I am finally starting to really feel better! Not completely better but a lot better! Meowmy changed my food from venison to Duck yesterday and since then no more explosive diarrhea, I have a lot more energy and if you can believe I even started playing chase with sissy Lucky today! I also don't feel like hiding at all anymore, which makes meowmy feel really happy :D
I am still pooping soft poops, but they are not watery anymore and I went only once today too! Big improvement! 
Meowmy doesn't know for sure if it is the food alone or a combination of the food change and Amforol that she is now giving it to me 3x a day,  or if it is all a coincidence... but the fact is that coincidence or not, we sure are sticking to that plan. 
My kitty brain thinks it is not a coincidence... because nothing was working before, not even Amforol, Metro or anything. I think my tummy didn't like bambies after all... Maybe they are just too cute for me, who knows?!
Meowmy made an appointment with the other vet in case I don't get better, because they fill up quickly, for Saturday... If I get much much better by Thursday she will cancel, if I don't, I will go in... But I finally feel that I am turning the corner, and that the consult might really not be necessary - we will see... cross your paws for me!

Hi, Meowmy here!
First of all, thank you so much for all the love, prayers, and purrs... It has been very special and comforting to receive all the messages, and know that we have been on your thoughts and prayers... Thank you so much for your support <3
Hope's situation has been very confusing and frustrating... Today was day 6 of Metronidazole, and she is still having explosive diarrhea. Luckily, she is only pooping once a day, but this once is nothing as it should be this far at the treatment. 
She is definitely feeling much better overall - she is no longer hiding... Not yet playing chase, but is hanging on the living room and on the window sill. She is eating normally, grooming, and she does play a little with the turboscratcher and the flingama string
I called her vet today, and he said to give her another 5 days of metronidazole, and if she doesn't get better, to take her to a specialist for a biopsy and an ultrasound. 
He also told me to Start giving her Amforol again, to control the diarrhea, and even though I do not like that medicine as it makes her poop like white cement, I do think this time might be necessary.
I am worried, and don't want to think about this biopsy business... I do think I might take her for my other vet first, if this treatment doesn't work, for a second opinion, before doing something that drastic. 
I do think a blood test and x-ray can be helpful before biopsy, and if so, I would like to do that first. But first things first... I will hope and pray for these 5 extra days of metro to work... The clock is ticking...
Thank you again for your support. 

Hi, Meowmy Here!
Today our Thankful Thursday is dedicated to our little Hope! I have been waiting to post an update until I had definite good news...
Last Thursday I went out of town 5am, and I was VERY scared... Frankly, I was scared I was coming back and she would be in a bad bad shape, and God forbid I don't know what was going to happen... (this was 2 days after the vet visit).
Her appetite was just not there at all, and in the morning I left, her belly was really swollen, felt like she had a lot of gas... I couldn't spend a lot of time with her, to make her eat, as I had a plane to catch. There was not vet to leave her with. All I could do was pray she ate. I did make sure she ate at least a little bit...
The day before I believe she had her breakfast, but not her dinner, or had 1/2 of it.
As soon as I arrived in Vegas for a job interview, I called my vet, and I swear, I have no Idea how I pulled that interview off - I was frantic... Crying like a baby.... But I spoke to the vet assistant, and she calmed me down, and assured me she should be fine.
All the while, I was PM'ing a member from TCS for instructions on what to buy for force feeding her in case she hadn't eaten breakfast and dinner... Got home, went to the pharmacy, got the baby food, syringe...
Anyways....... THANK GOD - she had eaten her breakfast!!! Not her dinner (I had left in the wet food auto feeder). So I made some fresh one and she ate 1/2 of it and then came back for some baby food...
Now as of yesterday I can say that she is finally getting back on track as far as her appetite goes. She is finally licking her plate clean again. It takes her several trips, and she doesn't do it at once anymore like she did before... A lot of times she turns her nose and I need to pick her up and bring her back to her food, but nonetheless, she is eating the whole thing. I know it is just a matter of time before she is completely back to normal. 
She is now back on ZiwiPeak exclusively, which will break my bank to feed her, but at least I know that she is getting the best food she can possibly get, and will not get sick from it... And after this scare.... I Tell you that is PRICELESS....
It was SO scary having her not eating, with an inflame bowel, and a diarrhea on and off for over 20 days... My poor sweet little baby
My vet told me to give her between 5-10 days of metronidazole ... Yesterday she had her last dose;  I gave her 8 days, which is the advised for giardia - this way I covered all basis... He said that he felt the way her bowels were inflamed she was probably going to need more that 5 days anyways... I do not want to risk it.
Anyways, she is doing ALL better, playing, running around, happy, cute, trouble maker sweet little girl that I came to love so very very very very very very much!
Thank you all so much for your support and vibes and purrs!
Here are a couple of new pictures of my little trouble maker!

As you kitties know... cat nutrition is a very touchy subject... Most of the times we want to eat one thing, our meowmies want to feed us another... the vet tell them to give us something else, then they go on the internet and read something different.... Oh my goodness! So much information out there, it is not even funny!
Here in our house for example:
Kitty Lucky Eats only dry food, meowmy tried EVERYTHING, and she will not eat stinky goodness - for her there is no goodness in the stinky!
Bugsy, is allergic to chicken, and because of him we all eat a mixture of Orijen 6-fish and Acana Grassland. For wet he eats Tiki Cat - Tuna tuna tuna... He likes a bit of sardines too, but his favorite Tiki is tuna. He also eats a bit of Natural Balance Venison and Pea...
Hope eats all wet - Ziwipeak, her favorite flavors are venison and fish and venison. She also gets a little of the ziwipeak "dry" (kind of a jerky meat) throughout the day as a snack...
Complicated, huh?
So.... meowmy was wondering if you would take a few seconds to answer our food survey? Thanks thanks thanks!
Oh, and feel free to come back here to answer to this survey at any time!!
( Meowmy here) BTY: Survey accepts multiple answers, so if different kitties in the household eat different diets, like in my house, feel free to mark all the answer - i.e.: I marked: dry only for Lucky, Combination for Bugsy and Wet Only for Hope.

I saw this video in another blog... It was just tooooo cute to pass... It is about joyful Tuesday! How cute is that?! Enjoy, and have a joyful Tuesday!