Help Solve the Mystery: Unknown Illness vs Deet, the Kitty

Hello Everyone!

TL:DR- Deet (5, Male) has gone from happy, healthy, and outgoing to despondent, depressed, and in severe pain… and NO ONE KNOWS WHY.

Any advice, insight, or donations are so greatly appreciated. If he pulls through, I will personally send you a SUBLIME polaroid of Deet to memorialize your GENEROSITY.

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In less than 24 hours, he started walking close to the ground and crying— holding his body in a clearly pained position. I immediately took him to the Emergency Vet (vet #1). They confirmed that it was not a blockage, but could not determine any other cause— they gave us pain meds and we went home.

Over the next few days, his symptoms only got worse. Now he was shrieking off and on— clearly when something was tweaked? This led us to believe that maybe he had a bone injury, maybe spine? By this point, we had confirmed that the pain was located in his lower body, somewhere around the stomach. With his pain increasing and his appetite decreasing, we went to our normal vet (vet #2).

This vet confirmed that the pain placement was in the stomach region and made sure that it was not a blockage. They gave him an x-ray and took blood tests— all came back normal. When he is picked up, his little body curls up with his tail between his legs, clearly in pain and trying to protect himself. They palpated his whole body and confirmed that it was not a broken bone or spinal injury. They gave us pain meds and an appetite stimulant.

They also recommended we get an ultrasound to confirm that there were no foreign bodies. So we went to another emergency vet (vet #3) and got the ultrasound. Nothing unusual came up, his blood came back clean, and his urine sample normal.

After this, the pain continued to increase. He was shrieking and was not jumping on anything. He only slept under my bed or in the closet and was staring despondently at nothing. At one point, he displayed straining and unusual litter box behavior— making it seem like the issue was tied to his colon— so I took him back to the vet (vet #4).

At this appointment, they could tell how much pain he was in and how depressed he was. They x-rayed him again and did a more comprehensive blood test and fecal test. Once, again everything came back normal— BUT, the vet noticed that there was a possible stricture in his colon (place where the colon was compressed). It was not a complete blockage though. They also noted that he had lost a whole pound of weight.

They prescribed a new pain med (that works much better), a stool softener, and new appetite stimulant (works better). But still, he is hurting and terribly depressed.

He sleeps all day and night and only moves between the closet and under the bed (he is usually very active and cuddly and enjoys sprinting around the apartment). His mobility is terrible (he looks like he is 20+ years old— he is only 4) and he just stares at the wall.

IT HAS BEEN A MONTH OF THIS and the only lead we have is colon stricture. At this point the vet is recommending one more specialty scan to confirm the stricture and then surgery. At this point, four vet visits have wiped me clean, but I can’t bear to see this guy suffer any longer. If you’re a pet owner, you know that quality of life is a serious question to ask yourself in these moments…. and I really really really do not want it to come to that.

Thank you, genuinely.