Diarrhea and vomiting.

Dr. Marie replied:

It can definitely be frustrating dealing with a cat with vomiting and diarrhea as there are so many possible causes.

Unfortunately there is no over the counter medicine that would be likely to be helpful, especially if the vet's medicines didn't work.

There are a few things I can think of that may help. You can ask your vet about the possibility of inflammatory bowel disease. It can be hard to diagnose as we need to take biopsies of the bowel to do so. However, if I am really suspicious of inflammatory bowel disease then I will often prescribe some prednisone which often does a really good job. However, this will be a tough call for Indy because the prednisone could be a little tough on the kidneys. In cases like this I will sometimes use a medication called budesonide.

Another possible reason for an older cat to be vomiting and have diarrhea is some type of cancer. An intestinal or stomach or pancreatic cancer could do this. Your vet may be able to determine this with xrays but sometimes an ultrasound is needed. Unfortunately we don't have treatments for most of these cancers.

Has she been on metronidazole? This is a good drug to help with inflammation in the intestines.

Has she had any cernia? This is often good to help stop vomiting.

Feel free to write back and let me know what medications she has been on and I'll give you my input.

Dr. Marie.

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