Hi guys. I'm hoping ya'll might be able to offer some insight as to what is going on with my sisters cat. She has had him to the vet and he is being treated, but they really have no answers for her.

Giorgio is a 6ish year old male neutered Himi. They adopted him just under a year ago from a rescue in Ohio. The only background they had on him was that his owner was a man who didn't want rid of him but his wife didn't like the cat. So they turned Giorgio over to the rescue.

Within a month of getting him he was diagnosed with PKD. He was pretty underweight and his bloodwork was off and his teeth were essentially rotten. The vet put him on a kidney diet, got his bloodwork stable, got him to put on some weight, and gave him a dental.

Last weekend my sisters boyfriend, who adores the cat, gave him some dry food. It was dry kidney diet, which he hasn't eaten. He has been strictly on canned food. I guess he ended up pretty sick, with massive amounts of diarrhea, vomiting, and was drooling profusely. He was put on a bland diet and given Tylan and recovered quickly. Yesterday morning he was sick again and this time urinated on the floor. The vet gave him fluids and kept him on the Tylan/bland diet and shot for his upset stomach. He is eating ok so far. They didn't run any bloodwork this time. His heartrate was very high though. Even too high for a cat that was just nervous.

In three weeks they want to run bloodwork to see if he has a thyroid issue. My sister is worried its his kidneys but the vet sort of brushed that off.

Has anyone had this issue before?

The very high heart rate may have been due to severe dehydration and being that sick. What a severe reaction to the food or something in it.. almost like an allergic reaction to something in the food ... anyway that's terribly upsetting and I hope your sister's cat stabilizes ASAP.

My oldest persian has had episodes of vomiting and diarrhea tho usually not together then last July she had a severe bout of diarrhea, vomiting, urinating out of the box and then she started to have bloody diarrhea then just large amounts of bleeding instead of the bm and she was hospitalized for a week given fluids, prednisone and some a/bs and diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel syndrome.

Did your sister resume giving her himi the wet food or is he is on a different special diet now?

My sister has resumed his regular canned food from what I understand along with some canned chicken babyfood for the medication to be put in. He doesn't like to take the Tylan even in the food though. I can understand, I've gotten that stuff in my mouth and its nasty.

I also forgot to mention, he came home from the vet with alot of sneezing. It was bad enough that she mentioned it to me. I guess he also was sneezing green mucous.

I feel bad for them, both the cat and my sister and her boyfriend. This is her first real pet on her own and she's just had alot of issues with him. She adores him and just keeps asking if I think he's dying and she tells me she is getting ready for the end. Mostly she is worried about his PKD.

My Winston who is now 15y.o. was diagnosed with PKD quite some time ago. The Vet didn't think he'd live past 7 years. Ok so now he's been diagnosed w/CRF tho this is 8 years later. Winston had an ultrasound done at the time of original diagnosis. Perhaps the cysts were very small and he has had some very bad labs that made the Vet think he needed changes in his diet re his renal status however his labs always came back around after changing his diet.

Now my cat is older and way more fragile. He's been thru a lot and he has multiple health concerns. There are times I blame me for what he has and times I just think it's the luck of the draw and thank God for every single day I have my little man with me and he has a quality of life.

Re your sisters's himi the sneezing green mucous sounds like a URI or bacterial infection. Maybe your sister's himi was verging on a URI anyway and then all those other symptoms just sort of coincidentally happened when the dry kidney food was given. I'm sure Linda H can give a far better opinion of what is going on tho if your Vet did the labwork re kidney function and isn't really concerned about that perhaps it's not the kidneys that are causing the current symptoms tho if I were your sis and had any questions I'd just straight up ask the Vet until I felt satisfied with the explanation.

Sending healing thoughts and prayers for your sis's himi

Hmmm, but she is sick and thus cranky and doesn't like most vet things.


Let's backup a step or two. How was he diagnosed with PKD? Ultrasound or DNA? Or the fact the kidney values are off and he's a himi? A bloodtest will tell you the kidneys are off, but not the reason. In fact, if his teeth were really bad, that could effect the bloodwork on the kidneys. So, without either ultrasound and/or DNA, to me there's no diagnosis of PKD. And tell your sister, even if it's PKD, some cats with PKD live into their late teens, many make it to 10, so it's not a death sentence for next month or even this year. (And he can't be too far along if the vet risked anesthesia for a dental.)

The "eat something new, DROOL, vomit, diarrhea" is classic signs of food intolerance and/or food poisoning. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, some cats cannot digest dried kibble.

The high heartrate may or may not be a symptom of thyroid problems. Maggie has a "galloping" heart when stressed -- enough so that I've had ultrasounds done of her heart and there is no problems. It's stress-induced, but when rested, returns to perfect normal rate. I'm guessing this cat has a similar problem because the vet did do a dental on him. (If the heart rate was persisently high, the vet should not have put him under to do the dental.) Thyroid causes the heart to speed up, but it stays up most of the time.

Tylan is also an antibacterial for respiratory problems in cattle and swine. I know it's extensively used for cats, but for the diarrhea part there are other options. It does work to some degree with chronic diarrhea, but the cat does not have chronic diarrhea unrelated to food changes. (Just for the record, one side effect of Tylan is diarrhea. )


Green mucous is not good -- very not good! That is an upper respiratory infection or, depending on when the dental was done, an infected tooth socket that has gone into the sinuses. If he still is on the Tylan, it's not working. (Why is he still on it? Diarrhea??) Clavamox would be better for a URI. How long from vet visits to sneezing? The usual timeframe is 4-7 days for URI to appear -- could be shorter in a debilitated cat.

Here's what I would do if I were your sister: I would take him to the vet on MONDAY and ask why he's on Tylan and if he could be taken off that. Ask for Clavomox or something specific for an URI. Stick with the regular canned food, no treats or extras, for 1 month to see what his digestive problem is, if any. Get the values of his BUN and creatinine levels from the bloodwork so I know what she is dealing with in terms of kidney problems.

Tell your sister to have faith that things will turn out well. Getting a rescue kitty can be a nightmare until you know what is normal for the cat, what the cat really has, and how to deal with the problems. (I'm still figuring out Wendy!) Above all, tell your sister and her boyfriend that they are special people to take this on and to love him.

Wow, thanks Linda!

I don't know much about how they came to the PKD diagnosis. I do know they ran follow up bloodwork at some point and it was better. What was better, I have no clue. My sister comes to me for advice on her cats, but honestly, cats are pretty new to me, so I can't help her too much. It could be that the vet jumped to the PKD conclusion because he is a himi and had bad bloodwork, but again, I just don't know.

The tylan was for the second bout if diarrhea which started up again this friday. I do think the first round was from the kibble he wasn't used to. The second round, I don't know. I do know they stopped the kibble prior to this second round.

Its been around 9 months or so since his dental.

My sister adores her cats. She has two rescues, this himi and a street kitty she just recently adopted. She only got the himi after I got Sera because she fell in love with the way they are so different. I will tell her that you guys think she is doing a good job. I know she gets nervous about how she is doing with him. I will also let her know your suggestions Linda. Thanks again!!

Just how recently? If it's within the last 2 weeks, the street kitty could have passed something to the himi such as a 'cold'. Not all kitty colds are respiratory -- some come as poop problems.

9 months since dental -- rule that out.

Why don't you encourage your sister to join us here? Then I can grill her personally.