My cat keeps vomiting, has gastritis & enlarged liver. What's next?

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Liver enlargement means that the liver is bigger than it should be. It could be because of liver inflammation due to infection (bacterial or viral) or toxins ingestion. In young cats like Arya liver tumors are very uncommon, but enlargement of one liver lobe could be caused by a liver abscess or a cyst. The best way to assess liver size is ultrasound scan and/or x-ray. Blood test tells about liver function. In other words, it tells if the liver, ,despite being enlarged or diseased, is still able to maintain its function. Blood test also can assess the extent of liver damage. It is hard to say anything about the prognosis without knowing why the liver is enlarged and what are the blood results. In general, liver have huge capacity to recover from any insult, but again it really depends what has happened.

Hello. It is good that the blood work was normal as this indicates there is no damage or destruction going on with the liver cells. Mild inflammation could cause the liver to swell slightly, especially since the liver is the main organ for removing toxins from the bloodstream. This means the liver is doing its job. And, this might just be an artifact of positioning during the x-ray or Jackson may just have a slightly larger liver than normal. If he seems better, then the medication is doing its job. If he continues to act unwell, the next step would be to ultrasound his liver to get a better picture as to what might be going on, & perhaps additional blood work to narrow things down. But I would not be too concerned just yet, as the liver has a great capacity to repair & regenerate itself ( the only organ in our bodies that can do so ). I hope Jackson is feeling better soon. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hi, and thanks for your question. These signs could be compatible with an inflammation infection of the gastrointestinal system and surrounding organs (like pancreas and liver). A clinical examination at your local veterinarian is immediately essential to confirm these clinical suspicions and treat appropriately. Antibiotics and possibly further investigations (like abdominal imaging as ultrasound or radiographs) may be needed. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

I'm sorry Gab is sick! Definitely continue to give him the medication as prescribed by his vet. Keep in mind that being sick from liver problems can also lead to vomiting. His nose being wet is normal, and his gums should be pink. It is concerning that he is vomiting his cat food, but please do not give him raw chicken. That could also contribute to the vomiting in that it can and does upset a cat's stomach. It's fine that he has some boiled white meat chicken (no bones), and you can try feeding him that for a couple of days to see if that helps with the vomiting. If it does stop, then slowly add back in his normal diet. Make sure Gab is getting a kitten formulated food, as he needs higher amounts of calcium, protein, and calories to support his growth, and a kitten food will provide that for him. I hope this helps!

Poor Larry! It sounds like it’s time to move onto further diagnostics. Obviously something is wrong and it just hasn’t been discovered yet. I recommend to discuss an abdominal ultrasound with your veterinarian and possibly checking a fructosamine level to see if the blood sugars have been elevated over the past month. This will help to figure out if diabetes, pancreatitis, cancer or inflammatory bowel disease is present. I hope this gets figured out quickly. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

If no abnormalities were found on the x-rays but she is still lethargic despite treatment, I would recommend an abdominal ultrasound to see if there are any other abnormalities and then go from there. In older cats, I worry about intestinal lymphoma but it is possible this could be inflammatory bowel disease as well. However, there is still additional testing that needs to be done to help rule out other causes of Stella's symptoms. Changing the diet to a prescription low fat intestinal diet like Hills low fat I/D may be something to consider as well but I would discuss this with your veterinarian first. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Poutcha. His blood work appears fairly unremarkable. His blood sugar is a bit high, but his fructosamine level is normal. Is he diabetic or was this just a screening test? Since he is not improving, I recommend a urine sample be tested and bloodwork for pancreatitis. X-rays of his chest to look for cancer are always a good idea as well. Based on these results, additional bloodwork or even an abdominal ultrasound by a radiologist might be warranted. I hope this information helps!