Magic the beautiful guy

This will be a rather long post, so please bear with me since I want
to describe everything.

In November 2008, I found a neutered male long-haired Himalayan
wandering around my front yard. He was friendly and had a green flea
collar on. It was raining, so I took him in and gave him some food and
water. Three days later, it stopped raining, and I posted his picture
around the neighborhood and in the newspaper and at a nearby
veterinary clinic. Three weeks later, I thought that he had been
abandoned, so I planned to keep him since I had lost my cat, aged 16,
a few years earlier. We had bonded, and he’s a wonderful, wonderful
cat. Just then, I received a call from a home about two blocks away,
and they described him to a “T” and asked that I bring him back, which
I did, rather tearfully. They told me that they had been given the cat
by her mother, and had kept him for only about 9 months. They knew
nothing about his history, but they said he liked to drink from the
toilet and preferred the bathtub if the lone litterbox was dirty. They
also let him outside, which in this neighborhood, is asking for a
quick death due to reckless traffic and roaming strays. Well, an hour
later, they called and said that he wasn’t happy and asked if I would
like to keep him. Yes! I covered the two blocks in 60 seconds, and
he’s been with me ever since.

The small home that gave him to me housed three large dogs and four
other cats, and my cat, who I’ve named Magic, had a nasty flea
infestation and also an intolerance for other cats and dogs. I took
him to my veterinarian for a checkup and flea treatment, and the fleas
were gone. He also passed his physical, (the vet approximated his age
at around 4, and he weighs 11 pounds) tested negative for everything,
and Christmas of 2008 found us both happy. I kept him inside my small
one-bedroom house and coaxed him out of his bad elimination and
drinking habits. In May, 2009, he started vomiting continuously one
night, and just when I thought he wouldn’t stop, he did, and I noticed
what looked like a piece of a rubber band in the last residue. Aha, I
thought, he swallowed a rubber band and it played havoc on his
digestive tract. I thought I was correct, since he thrived throughout
the summer and fall of 2009, but then the wheels came off in October
2009.

He started vomiting so badly one night that he wouldn’t stop and I
called the emergency vet at 5 AM and took him in. The doctor said that
he could see nothing serious, said it was probably acute gastritis,
and gave him an anti-nausea shot and I took him home. Two days later,
he started again and I let it go on for a day, then rushed him to
another emergency vet, where they did extensive tests, X-rays, blood
tests, everything. He was jaundiced, and the doctor said it was either
hepatic lipidosis or cholangeal hepatitis. She was leaning towards the
hepatitis. She gave him an injection of Baytril and subcutaneous
hydration. I then took him to my regular vet, who said his liver
values had returned to normal. He prescribed 5 mg prednisolone to
control any inflammation, and five days of Baytril to eliminate any
bacteria. Magic was then OK until the last week of February, when
history repeated. Same treatment, same Baytril and prednisolone, and
some famotadine to control any nausea. The prednisolone dosage was
gradually lessened over time to 2.5 mg every three days. The vet also
noticed a piece of tapeworm (could this have been the “rubber band” I
saw a year earlier?) and gave him a worming treatment. He also
mentioned that Magic had mild nystagmus and that might cause some
nausea. Magic was good until early June, when he again flared up. The
treatments were the same, and this time the doctor prescribed a diet
of Hill’s I/D and Fortiflora. He likes the I/D but the Fortiflora is a
hit-and-miss affair.

Now it is the end of August, and I’m bracing for another bout, which
seems to occur every three months, and he’s been sleeping an awful lot
during the day. A friend of mine checked with a holistic vet in Ithaca
and he said that I should get Paws’n’Claws natural cat litter…! Well,
I read that ammonia can aggravate a cat’s liver, so I installed that
litter. I’ll try anything. Magic eats with his paws, flips out each
kernel of food onto the floor before he eats it. He also paws his
water dish until it splashes, and then he drinks. This gets pieces of
litter and dirt into his water, so I change that 4 times a day. He
loves to eat grass, but the vet suggested that I shouldn’t allow him
to do that, so I grow oat grass indoors and let him nibble a very
small amount every few days. He constantly begs to be let outdoors,
and I let him out while I walk beside him to make sure he doesn’t eat
grass. Currently, he’s on a 5mg capsule of prednisolone every three
days, and 2.5 mg of famotadine every day.

So there you have the story of Magic. I took an outdoor cat and kept
him indoors and he’s bored. He loves people. Where he could have
picked up hepatitis is beyond me. Maybe he had it all the while, but I
doubt it. Maybe he just has hairballs, but I brush him twice a day,
use a Furminator every few days, and I have never seen hairballs in
his stool or vomit. Maybe he does have gastritis and the vomiting just
makes his liver act up. On his current course, he will either bankrupt
me or reach a manageable plateau of maintenance. I live alone on
Social Security, so my resources aren’t inexhaustible. But I refuse to
give up on him, so I thought I’d post this story and ask if anyone had
any suggestions. Maybe there’s something I haven’t tried, something
simple. We need help.

"tivoglio" wrote in message
...
This will be a rather long post, so please bear with me since I want
to describe everything.

In November 2008, I found a neutered male long-haired Himalayan
wandering around my front yard. He was friendly and had a green flea
collar on. It was raining, so I took him in and gave him some food and
water. Three days later, it stopped raining, and I posted his picture
around the neighborhood and in the newspaper and at a nearby
veterinary clinic. Three weeks later, I thought that he had been
abandoned, so I planned to keep him since I had lost my cat, aged 16,
a few years earlier. We had bonded, and he’s a wonderful, wonderful
cat. Just then, I received a call from a home about two blocks away,
and they described him to a “T” and asked that I bring him back, which
I did, rather tearfully. They told me that they had been given the cat
by her mother, and had kept him for only about 9 months. They knew
nothing about his history, but they said he liked to drink from the
toilet and preferred the bathtub if the lone litterbox was dirty. They
also let him outside, which in this neighborhood, is asking for a
quick death due to reckless traffic and roaming strays. Well, an hour
later, they called and said that he wasn’t happy and asked if I would
like to keep him. Yes! I covered the two blocks in 60 seconds, and
he’s been with me ever since.

The small home that gave him to me housed three large dogs and four
other cats, and my cat, who I’ve named Magic, had a nasty flea
infestation and also an intolerance for other cats and dogs. I took
him to my veterinarian for a checkup and flea treatment, and the fleas
were gone. He also passed his physical, (the vet approximated his age
at around 4, and he weighs 11 pounds) tested negative for everything,
and Christmas of 2008 found us both happy. I kept him inside my small
one-bedroom house and coaxed him out of his bad elimination and
drinking habits. In May, 2009, he started vomiting continuously one
night, and just when I thought he wouldn’t stop, he did, and I noticed
what looked like a piece of a rubber band in the last residue. Aha, I
thought, he swallowed a rubber band and it played havoc on his
digestive tract. I thought I was correct, since he thrived throughout
the summer and fall of 2009, but then the wheels came off in October
2009.

He started vomiting so badly one night that he wouldn’t stop and I
called the emergency vet at 5 AM and took him in. The doctor said that
he could see nothing serious, said it was probably acute gastritis,
and gave him an anti-nausea shot and I took him home. Two days later,
he started again and I let it go on for a day, then rushed him to
another emergency vet, where they did extensive tests, X-rays, blood
tests, everything. He was jaundiced, and the doctor said it was either
hepatic lipidosis or cholangeal hepatitis. She was leaning towards the
hepatitis. She gave him an injection of Baytril and subcutaneous
hydration. I then took him to my regular vet, who said his liver
values had returned to normal. He prescribed 5 mg prednisolone to
control any inflammation, and five days of Baytril to eliminate any
bacteria. Magic was then OK until the last week of February, when
history repeated. Same treatment, same Baytril and prednisolone, and
some famotadine to control any nausea. The prednisolone dosage was
gradually lessened over time to 2.5 mg every three days. The vet also
noticed a piece of tapeworm (could this have been the “rubber band” I
saw a year earlier?) and gave him a worming treatment. He also
mentioned that Magic had mild nystagmus and that might cause some
nausea. Magic was good until early June, when he again flared up. The
treatments were the same, and this time the doctor prescribed a diet
of Hill’s I/D and Fortiflora. He likes the I/D but the Fortiflora is a
hit-and-miss affair.

Now it is the end of August, and I’m bracing for another bout, which
seems to occur every three months, and he’s been sleeping an awful lot
during the day. A friend of mine checked with a holistic vet in Ithaca
and he said that I should get Paws’n’Claws natural cat litter…! Well,
I read that ammonia can aggravate a cat’s liver, so I installed that
litter. I’ll try anything. Magic eats with his paws, flips out each
kernel of food onto the floor before he eats it. He also paws his
water dish until it splashes, and then he drinks. This gets pieces of
litter and dirt into his water, so I change that 4 times a day. He
loves to eat grass, but the vet suggested that I shouldn’t allow him
to do that, so I grow oat grass indoors and let him nibble a very
small amount every few days. He constantly begs to be let outdoors,
and I let him out while I walk beside him to make sure he doesn’t eat
grass. Currently, he’s on a 5mg capsule of prednisolone every three
days, and 2.5 mg of famotadine every day.

So there you have the story of Magic. I took an outdoor cat and kept
him indoors and he’s bored. He loves people. Where he could have
picked up hepatitis is beyond me. Maybe he had it all the while, but I
doubt it. Maybe he just has hairballs, but I brush him twice a day,
use a Furminator every few days, and I have never seen hairballs in
his stool or vomit. Maybe he does have gastritis and the vomiting just
makes his liver act up. On his current course, he will either bankrupt
me or reach a manageable plateau of maintenance. I live alone on
Social Security, so my resources aren’t inexhaustible. But I refuse to
give up on him, so I thought I’d post this story and ask if anyone had
any suggestions. Maybe there’s something I haven’t tried, something
simple. We need help.

I'm not a vet, so anything I say is just coming from my common sense. To me,
it sounds like some kind of parasitic problem. I would try different
deworming medications, if they are available......

"tivoglio" wrote

Have her tested for heartworms. Yes, though rare they do infest cats. The
cyclic nature makes me think of this.

tivoglio wrote:

Where he could have
picked up hepatitis is beyond me.

Hi, "tivoglio". Hepatitis of this type is not due to an acquired
infection. The bacteria that cause it are always present in the gut,
but due to an inflammatory condition things get out of balance and a
bacterial overgrowth invades the bile duct and liver -- and usually the
pancreas as well. It's likely that Magic has inflammatory bowel
disease, and also likely that some of his symptoms are due to
pancreatitis. The three conditions -- IBD, pancreatitis and cholangitis
-- occur together so often that they are grouped together under the
label "triaditis".

The change in diet is a good idea. IBD seems to be caused by food
intolerance as often as not. But you may need to shop around for the
right food. If the i/d doesn't quite do it, try the z/d; and if that
doesn't work, try a limited ingredient diet such as venison and green
pea. So far, over the last year and a half, the z/d seems to have done
very well for my Will. Will's attacks were always a little less severe
than Magic's -- no jaundice so far -- but there was a period two winters
ago when they were occurring monthly and becoming more severe. Since
the switch to z/d, he hasn't had but one severe attack, and the
frequency of mild attacks is way down.

--

Wayne M.

Really loved your story.

I walk my cat outside on a leash. She only likes to walk on pavement which
is fine with me- less chance of fleas. The other cat has to wear a leash on
the back deck because she has hopped the fence. There was absolutely no
problem getting either of them to use a leash.

When I had Siamese I found there was a lot of throwing up. It was kind of
routine.

Best of luck helping Magic,

Barb

On Aug 24, 6:16*pm, "cshenk" wrote:
"tivoglio" wrote

Have her tested for heartworms. *Yes, though rare they do infest cats. *The
cyclic nature makes me think of this.

Hi. I guess the vet was on the same wavelength as you, and he tested
Magic for heartworm early on. Thankfully, he tested negative.

On Aug 24, 5:17*pm, "Bill Graham" wrote:
"tivoglio" wrote in message

...
This will be a rather long post, so please bear with me since I want
to describe everything.

In November 2008, I found a neutered male long-haired Himalayan
wandering around my front yard. He was friendly and had a green flea
collar on. It was raining, so I took him in and gave him some food and
water. Three days later, it stopped raining, and I posted his picture
around the neighborhood and in the newspaper and at a nearby
veterinary clinic. Three weeks later, I thought that he had been
abandoned, so I planned to keep him since I had lost my cat, aged 16,
a few years earlier. We had bonded, and he’s a wonderful, wonderful
cat. Just then, I received a call from a home about two blocks away,
and they described him to a “T” and asked that I bring him back, which
I did, rather tearfully. They told me that they had been given the cat
by her mother, and had kept him for only about 9 months. They knew
nothing about his history, but they said he liked to drink from the
toilet and preferred the bathtub if the lone litterbox was dirty. They
also let him outside, which in this neighborhood, is asking for a
quick death due to reckless traffic and roaming strays. Well, an hour
later, they called and said that he wasn’t happy and asked if I would
like to keep him. Yes! I covered the two blocks in 60 seconds, and
he’s been with me ever since.

The small home that gave him to me housed three large dogs and four
other cats, and my cat, who I’ve named Magic, had a nasty flea
infestation and also an intolerance for other cats and dogs. I took
him to my veterinarian for a checkup and flea treatment, and the fleas
were gone. He also passed his physical, (the vet approximated his age
at around 4, and he weighs 11 pounds) tested negative for everything,
and Christmas of 2008 found us both happy. I kept him inside my small
one-bedroom house and coaxed him out of his bad elimination and
drinking habits. In May, 2009, he started vomiting continuously one
night, and just when I thought he wouldn’t stop, he did, and I noticed
what looked like a piece of a rubber band in the last residue. Aha, I
thought, he swallowed a rubber band and it played havoc on his
digestive tract. I thought I was correct, since he thrived throughout
the summer and fall of 2009, but then the wheels came off in October
2009.

He started vomiting so badly one night that he wouldn’t stop and I
called the emergency vet at 5 AM and took him in. The doctor said that
he could see nothing serious, said it was probably acute gastritis,
and gave him an anti-nausea shot and I took him home. Two days later,
he started again and I let it go on for a day, then rushed him to
another emergency vet, where they did extensive tests, X-rays, blood
tests, everything. He was jaundiced, and the doctor said it was either
hepatic lipidosis or cholangeal hepatitis. She was leaning towards the
hepatitis. She gave him an injection of Baytril and subcutaneous
hydration. I then took him to my regular vet, who said his liver
values had returned to normal. He prescribed 5 mg prednisolone to
control any inflammation, and five days of Baytril to eliminate any
bacteria. Magic was then OK until the last week of February, when
history repeated. Same treatment, same Baytril and prednisolone, and
some famotadine to control any nausea. The prednisolone dosage was
gradually lessened over time to 2.5 mg every three days. The vet also
noticed a piece of tapeworm (could this have been the “rubber band” I
saw a year earlier?) and gave him a worming treatment. He also
mentioned that Magic had mild nystagmus and that might cause some
nausea. Magic was good until early June, when he again flared up. The
treatments were the same, and this time the doctor prescribed a diet
of Hill’s I/D and Fortiflora. He likes the I/D but the Fortiflora is a
hit-and-miss affair.

Now it is the end of August, and I’m bracing for another bout, which
seems to occur every three months, and he’s been sleeping an awful lot
during the day. A friend of mine checked with a holistic vet in Ithaca
and he said that I should get Paws’n’Claws natural cat litter…! Well,
I read that ammonia can aggravate a cat’s liver, so I installed that
litter. I’ll try anything. Magic eats with his paws, flips out each
kernel of food onto the floor before he eats it. He also paws his
water dish until it splashes, and then he drinks. This gets pieces of
litter and dirt into his water, so I change that 4 times a day. He
loves to eat grass, but the vet suggested that I shouldn’t allow him
to do that, so I grow oat grass indoors and let him nibble a very
small amount every few days. He constantly begs to be let outdoors,
and I let him out while I walk beside him to make sure he doesn’t eat
grass. Currently, he’s on a 5mg capsule of prednisolone every three
days, and 2.5 mg of famotadine every day.

So there you have the story of Magic. I took an outdoor cat and kept
him indoors and he’s bored. He loves people. Where he could have
picked up hepatitis is beyond me. Maybe he had it all the while, but I
doubt it. Maybe he just has hairballs, but I brush him twice a day,
use a Furminator every few days, and I have never seen hairballs in
his stool or vomit. Maybe he does have gastritis and the vomiting just
makes his liver act up. On his current course, he will either bankrupt
me or reach a manageable plateau of maintenance. I live alone on
Social Security, so my resources aren’t inexhaustible. But I refuse to
give up on him, so I thought I’d post this story and ask if anyone had
any suggestions. Maybe there’s something I haven’t tried, something
simple. We need help.

I'm not a vet, so anything I say is just coming from my common sense. To me,
it sounds like some kind of parasitic problem. I would try different
deworming medications, if they are available......

Hi. Magic has been dewormed extensively. I boarded him at the vet a
few weekends, and part of the routine for boarding is a 'parasite
purge'. Also, when the vet found the tapeworm piece, poor Magic got
dewormed again. Thanks for the reply. Even though you're not a vet,
sometimes the range of experience with the things that work will trump
textbook solutions.

On Aug 24, 8:26*pm, Wayne Mitchell wrote:
*tivoglio wrote:
Where he could have
picked up hepatitis is beyond me.

Hi, "tivoglio". *Hepatitis of this type is not due to an acquired
infection. *The bacteria that cause it are always present in the gut,
but due to an inflammatory condition things get out of balance and a
bacterial overgrowth invades the bile duct and liver -- and usually the
pancreas as well. *It's likely that Magic has inflammatory bowel
disease, and also likely that some of his symptoms are due to
pancreatitis. *The three conditions -- IBD, pancreatitis and cholangitis
-- occur together so often that they are grouped together under the
label "triaditis".

The change in diet is a good idea. *IBD seems to be caused by food
intolerance as often as not. *But you may need to shop around for the
right food. *If the i/d doesn't quite do it, try the z/d; and if that
doesn't work, try a limited ingredient diet such as venison and green
pea. *So far, over the last year and a half, the z/d seems to have done
very well for my Will. *Will's attacks were always a little less severe
than Magic's -- no jaundice so far -- but there was a period two winters
ago when they were occurring monthly and becoming more severe. *Since
the switch to z/d, he hasn't had but one severe attack, and the
frequency of mild attacks is way down.

--

Wayne M.

Wayne, thanks a lot for your post. I will definitely put your z/d
suggestion in the priority queue, since Will appears to be thriving on
it. One concern with me is whether or not Magic will eat the z/d. He
appears to like the i/d, at least the dry stuff, but when I try to
feed him a little canned i/d, he just licks the moisture out of it and
leaves it. Does Will eat both canned and dry, or just one?

I've actually heard of triaditis. I downloaded an article about it,
but when I got to the prognosis part, I felt a little ill myself. It
said that over half the cats who have it survive less than a year -
but maybe that's only if they don't receive treatment.

The only time Magic had jaundice was early on, when the attacks
continued for two days and he wouldn't eat and became dehydrated. I
never let that happen again, but when he has a bout, his liver values
really spike.

Does Will take anything like prednisolone? The vet told me that it
staves off inflammation and, unlike humans, cats can tolerate steroids
indefinitely. Also, does Will have a maniacal cravnng for grass? Magic
heads for it wherever it exists, and I'm usually fast enough to grab
him before he munches more than a blade or two. The vet told me to
keep him away from grass since it can harbor parasites and can
irritate his stomach. Thus, the oat grass I let him nibble
occasionally.

The Fortiflora seemed like a good idea - works like Activia yogurt by
adding good bacteria to the digestive system, but since he won't eat
the canned i/d, I haven't been too successful with it. I think I'll
try mixing the Fortiflora with a very small portion of canned Friskies
with gravy, the stuff he used to like before we went to the i/d.

Again, thanks for your input.
Tom

On Aug 25, 9:45*am, "Barb" wrote:
Really loved your story.

I walk my cat outside on a leash. *She only likes to walk on pavement which
is fine with me- less chance of fleas. *The other cat has to wear a leash on
the back deck because she has hopped the fence. *There was absolutely no
problem getting either of them to use a leash.

When I had Siamese I found there was a lot of throwing up. *It was kind of
routine.

Best of luck helping Magic,

Barb

Thanks, Barb. I used to walk Magic on a leash because he was so fast
and strong, but over the last year, he has become a lot slower -
perhaps because his courage has eroded so much - and he really hates
the leash. He usually walks with me in the yard or on pavement and I
can stop him rather quickly when he tries to gobble grass. This might
be part of his problem - he's demoralized because he's not the mighty
warrior he was when I found him, ranging outside at will, hunting and
frolicking unfettered at a million miles per hour. I know that pet
owners attribute human qualities to their little creatures, but this
guy is SMART - and very sensitive. He did move like lightning a few
nights ago. Grabbed a mouse and ran inside the house with it! The
mouse got away, and it wasn't until 5AM that he flushed it out and
grabbed it again. I took him outside and freed the mouse, much to his
displeasure. So far, I calculate that Magic has caused me to lose
7,299 hours of sleep!

"tivoglio" wrote in message
...
On Aug 24, 5:17 pm, "Bill Graham" wrote:
"tivoglio" wrote in message

...
This will be a rather long post, so please bear with me since I want
to describe everything.

In November 2008, I found a neutered male long-haired Himalayan
wandering around my front yard. He was friendly and had a green flea
collar on. It was raining, so I took him in and gave him some food and
water. Three days later, it stopped raining, and I posted his picture
around the neighborhood and in the newspaper and at a nearby
veterinary clinic. Three weeks later, I thought that he had been
abandoned, so I planned to keep him since I had lost my cat, aged 16,
a few years earlier. We had bonded, and he’s a wonderful, wonderful
cat. Just then, I received a call from a home about two blocks away,
and they described him to a “T” and asked that I bring him back, which
I did, rather tearfully. They told me that they had been given the cat
by her mother, and had kept him for only about 9 months. They knew
nothing about his history, but they said he liked to drink from the
toilet and preferred the bathtub if the lone litterbox was dirty. They
also let him outside, which in this neighborhood, is asking for a
quick death due to reckless traffic and roaming strays. Well, an hour
later, they called and said that he wasn’t happy and asked if I would
like to keep him. Yes! I covered the two blocks in 60 seconds, and
he’s been with me ever since.

The small home that gave him to me housed three large dogs and four
other cats, and my cat, who I’ve named Magic, had a nasty flea
infestation and also an intolerance for other cats and dogs. I took
him to my veterinarian for a checkup and flea treatment, and the fleas
were gone. He also passed his physical, (the vet approximated his age
at around 4, and he weighs 11 pounds) tested negative for everything,
and Christmas of 2008 found us both happy. I kept him inside my small
one-bedroom house and coaxed him out of his bad elimination and
drinking habits. In May, 2009, he started vomiting continuously one
night, and just when I thought he wouldn’t stop, he did, and I noticed
what looked like a piece of a rubber band in the last residue. Aha, I
thought, he swallowed a rubber band and it played havoc on his
digestive tract. I thought I was correct, since he thrived throughout
the summer and fall of 2009, but then the wheels came off in October
2009.

He started vomiting so badly one night that he wouldn’t stop and I
called the emergency vet at 5 AM and took him in. The doctor said that
he could see nothing serious, said it was probably acute gastritis,
and gave him an anti-nausea shot and I took him home. Two days later,
he started again and I let it go on for a day, then rushed him to
another emergency vet, where they did extensive tests, X-rays, blood
tests, everything. He was jaundiced, and the doctor said it was either
hepatic lipidosis or cholangeal hepatitis. She was leaning towards the
hepatitis. She gave him an injection of Baytril and subcutaneous
hydration. I then took him to my regular vet, who said his liver
values had returned to normal. He prescribed 5 mg prednisolone to
control any inflammation, and five days of Baytril to eliminate any
bacteria. Magic was then OK until the last week of February, when
history repeated. Same treatment, same Baytril and prednisolone, and
some famotadine to control any nausea. The prednisolone dosage was
gradually lessened over time to 2.5 mg every three days. The vet also
noticed a piece of tapeworm (could this have been the “rubber band” I
saw a year earlier?) and gave him a worming treatment. He also
mentioned that Magic had mild nystagmus and that might cause some
nausea. Magic was good until early June, when he again flared up. The
treatments were the same, and this time the doctor prescribed a diet
of Hill’s I/D and Fortiflora. He likes the I/D but the Fortiflora is a
hit-and-miss affair.

Now it is the end of August, and I’m bracing for another bout, which
seems to occur every three months, and he’s been sleeping an awful lot
during the day. A friend of mine checked with a holistic vet in Ithaca
and he said that I should get Paws’n’Claws natural cat litter…! Well,
I read that ammonia can aggravate a cat’s liver, so I installed that
litter. I’ll try anything. Magic eats with his paws, flips out each
kernel of food onto the floor before he eats it. He also paws his
water dish until it splashes, and then he drinks. This gets pieces of
litter and dirt into his water, so I change that 4 times a day. He
loves to eat grass, but the vet suggested that I shouldn’t allow him
to do that, so I grow oat grass indoors and let him nibble a very
small amount every few days. He constantly begs to be let outdoors,
and I let him out while I walk beside him to make sure he doesn’t eat
grass. Currently, he’s on a 5mg capsule of prednisolone every three
days, and 2.5 mg of famotadine every day.

So there you have the story of Magic. I took an outdoor cat and kept
him indoors and he’s bored. He loves people. Where he could have
picked up hepatitis is beyond me. Maybe he had it all the while, but I
doubt it. Maybe he just has hairballs, but I brush him twice a day,
use a Furminator every few days, and I have never seen hairballs in
his stool or vomit. Maybe he does have gastritis and the vomiting just
makes his liver act up. On his current course, he will either bankrupt
me or reach a manageable plateau of maintenance. I live alone on
Social Security, so my resources aren’t inexhaustible. But I refuse to
give up on him, so I thought I’d post this story and ask if anyone had
any suggestions. Maybe there’s something I haven’t tried, something
simple. We need help.

I'm not a vet, so anything I say is just coming from my common sense. To
me,
it sounds like some kind of parasitic problem. I would try different
deworming medications, if they are available......

Hi. Magic has been dewormed extensively. I boarded him at the vet a
few weekends, and part of the routine for boarding is a 'parasite
purge'. Also, when the vet found the tapeworm piece, poor Magic got
dewormed again. Thanks for the reply. Even though you're not a vet,
sometimes the range of experience with the things that work will trump
textbook solutions.

Well, If the vets can't find the problem, I suppose anyone's guess is
welcome. I know that I've had cats die on me that the vets either couldn't
or wouldn't fix. Like many doctors today, some of them are money oriented,
and they just kiss off problems if they figure they will be losers
financially. It certainly is worth trying different vets if you are in an
area where that is feasible. I used to live in Northern California, and the
UC Davis vet school was the best available in that area.