cat medical drama continued
Jan. 7th, 2009 12:20 pmSo Little is going to have an ultrasound today and then I'll get to bring her home, with food aimed at controlling her weight/dissolving the stone.
But now there is MORE DRAMA.
The doctor sees a pronounced thickening in her colon and small intestine. He does not see a discrete mass and therefore does not think there is a tumor; however, she might have some sort of lymphatic cancer causing this. He also thinks a likely (perhaps most likely) candidate is that it's some sort of inflamatory bowel disease, which generally responds to treatment.
Depending on what the ultrasound looks like, she may need a biopsy done by endoscopy. If it is lymphatic cancer, it is probably not treatable, but tends to respond well to cortisol shots. If it is the inflammatory bowel disease, that can be treated and she'll be just fine.
He also said it could be any number of other things, but those are all rare and too much of a crapshoot to mention.
We won't know about the ultrasound results until Thursday night.
Right now this is all cheaper than the initial surgery plan, but in the long term if she needs more tests or a biopsy it's hard to know.
She's 13, and I'm not freaking out yet, but this is definitely getting very stressful.
She has lost 1lb since her last visit, but whether that's the result of me exercising her more and trying to control her diet or related to all this medical excitement no one can tell. He asked me a lot about her puking and bowel habits, both of which have always been messy but not alarming, so who knows what to make of any of that(although reading about other people's bouts with cat IBD, Little's behaviors seem to fit that).
But now there is MORE DRAMA.
The doctor sees a pronounced thickening in her colon and small intestine. He does not see a discrete mass and therefore does not think there is a tumor; however, she might have some sort of lymphatic cancer causing this. He also thinks a likely (perhaps most likely) candidate is that it's some sort of inflamatory bowel disease, which generally responds to treatment.
Depending on what the ultrasound looks like, she may need a biopsy done by endoscopy. If it is lymphatic cancer, it is probably not treatable, but tends to respond well to cortisol shots. If it is the inflammatory bowel disease, that can be treated and she'll be just fine.
He also said it could be any number of other things, but those are all rare and too much of a crapshoot to mention.
We won't know about the ultrasound results until Thursday night.
Right now this is all cheaper than the initial surgery plan, but in the long term if she needs more tests or a biopsy it's hard to know.
She's 13, and I'm not freaking out yet, but this is definitely getting very stressful.
She has lost 1lb since her last visit, but whether that's the result of me exercising her more and trying to control her diet or related to all this medical excitement no one can tell. He asked me a lot about her puking and bowel habits, both of which have always been messy but not alarming, so who knows what to make of any of that(although reading about other people's bouts with cat IBD, Little's behaviors seem to fit that).
no subject
Date: 2009-01-07 05:41 pm (UTC)Oh...I also changed her diet around too and that helped a lot. Originally, I was giving her a light cat food because she was overweight. Now, I feed her a sensitive stomach formula.
I hope your kitty cat gets better soon!