A week or so ago, my 7-year-old tabby boy Nabby developed a case of chin acne. I kept an eye on it and made sure to keep his dishes extra clean, but it got worse, so I took him to the vet to get it checked out. They gave him a shot of antibiotics and told us to clean his chin off gently with warm water and keep an eye on it, which we did.
Couple of days later, he started vomiting frothy yellow stuff (not the usual undigested cat food that all of them do periodically) and seemed to lose his appetite. Note that during none of this time does he act sick–he’s got the same bright eyes, shiny coat, energy level, and friendliness as usual. I pack him back off to the vet first thing the next morning.
This time, she checks him out more thoroughly–X-ray to look for foreign bodies, full-spectrum blood test, rectal temperature, fecal exam, and general feeling-around. Nothing looks odd–nothing on the X-ray, lymph nodes in his neck are a little swollen but she says that could just be the infection in his chin. The other thing she’s worried about is that he’s lost a lot of weight - almost 3 pounds since December. (He’s been to the vet twice since then for other things, and the weight loss was noted but not really worried about before, but now, it might be an issue). She gave him some sub-Q fluids, an anti-nausea drug, and sent us home with some appetite stimulant pills.
We get the blood test results back and they’re all fine except she’s concerned about an elevated protein level. He still isn’t eating much, but no more frothy yellow vomiting. She wants him back next week to do an ultrasound, and she’s instructing the lab to do another test on the blood sample, looking for whether all his proteins are elevated or just a particular one. She doesn’t know what the problem is yet–she says it could be something fairly easy to deal with, or it could be something scarier. The two scary things she mentioned were multiple myeloma (which is the reason for the other blood test) or gastric lymphoma (which should show up on the ultrasound).
This morning I got him to eat a little soft cat food and some meat baby food, but later this morning I found vomit that looked like slimy spit. I can’t be certain it was him because the other cats ate the leftovers of the soft food (a few pieces were in the vomit) but I suspect it was. Very little food in it, though, so I’m hoping if it was him, at least he got some nourishment into him.
He’s still acting like his normal self–active, loving (even clingier than usual), purring, etc. He’s the healthiest-looking sick cat I’ve ever seen.
Anybody ever seen anything like this with their cats or in their experience with other cats? I know you’re not supposed to have favorites among your pets, but Nabby has been my boy since the day I got him, and I love him dearly. I’m really, really hoping this is something treatable.