u/RealisticHoney7

FELV or food allergy?

To make a long story short -- my Cat (5 y/o) has been throwing up for 3 weeks and stopped eating. She is an indoor cat, has never been outside and has never interacted with other cats.

She was born in the humane society shelter to her mother and had a respiratory infection when we got her that cleared up with some meds. Have never had a problem since.

Xrays, blood work were normal first two vet visits but she was losing weight and not eating after awhile. Tried Cerenia and eventually she was so sick that I had to bring her to the emergency vet 2 hours away (we live rural) to get her some help as my vet couldn't do anything for her anymore and she needed an ultrasound.

They kept her overnight and gave her a feeding tube because she was dropping weight (12lbs to 10.7lbs in 17 days) and desperately needed nutrition.

They ran some tests:
She tested positive for FELV. They are doing another test to make sure its not a false positive. Ultrasound showed inflamed pancreas, inflamed lymph nodes, inflamed GI Tract, Thickened gall bladder walls. First xray also showed enlarged spleen.

The doctor asked me a lot about her food and if I change her diet a lot. She has always had Hills Science Diet Kibble and I rotate wet food as topper which is usually Hills Science Diet or Kirkland brand (combo packs so all different proteins)

The vet made is seem like she could have developed a food allergy and that is causing all the irritation. But if the 2nd FELV comes back positive she could have lymphoma, pancreatitis, IBS.

My question is does this sound like something as simple as a developed food allergy? I feel like the vet is getting my hopes up by implying that the FELV is false positive but google seems to tell me that this may actually be FELV + Lymphoma.

If it is FELV we believe she has had it since birth from her mother. Humane Society website says they test cats for FELV/FIP but not kittens.

Symptoms she had:

-started vomitting but still eating. Eventually this just turned into not eating at all and just vomiting liquid. She would sit over the water bowl and stare into it like it was a portal. Eventually was able to get her to drink in the running water sink. Vet said they got her to eat food last night and she is still getting nutrients through feeding tube but overall seems better and hasnt vomited.