"Beth In Alaska" wrote in message
mmunications...


"kat" wrote in message
net...
I posted awhile back about my daughter's cat who was diagnosed with fatty
liver (is it disease or syndrome)? Anyway, he recovered from that and
was
doing nicely when about a week ago he again began losing weight and
seemed
to be trying to cough up a hairball. He then had difficulty breathing
Monday night. My daughter took him to the vet on Tuesday and he was
given
a
shot of steriods and antibiotics. All his lymph nodes are swollen and
the
she said the neck ones being swollen are probably what was causing the
coughing.

She said the neck lymph nodes being swollen in a neck would almost
always
indicate lymphoma in a dog but that with a cat it is more variable. I
did
a
little research last night but before I could relay the information to
my
daughter she called frantically saying he had stopped breathing.
Fortunately they had been able to revive him and were on their way to
the
24
hour clinic (about an hour away).

They did an x-ray at the clinic and his lungs are fluid filled. Yikes
that
scares me (shades of Shelby). They are going to try and drain the fluid
and
see if there is an infection going on somewhere. Any thoughts or
suggestions anyone? Trying to explore all avenues and stay positive.


Hi Kat,
this certainly doesnt' sound promising.

How did they diagnose the fatty liver?
I'm not a medical professional but my husband was diagnosed with a fatty
liver- but they thought before they did the ultrasound that it might be a
tumor on the liver. I'm wondering if the cat could have been misdiagnosed
or if the fatty liver was indicative of other issues.

Yes that is my thought now given his current problems. I've recently
learned that they are actually two different (or different forms of?) the
disease. fatty liver disease generally occurs in overweight cats and
hepatic lipidosis is when the cat becomes anemic and starts to lose weight.
He did the latter. She is going to try and get the file to see exactly what
was going on.

Digit is home now. His breathing is better but he still has the swollen
lymph nodes and there still is no definitive diagnosis.
Even though the practice has an ultrasound machine they did not do one. I
think one should have been done. I'm trying to convince my daughter to take
him to another practice. They just want to wait a week, see how he does on
antibiotics and possibly do another fine needle aspiration. It is my
understanding that if it does turn out to be mediastinal lymphoma, it is one
of the more agressive forms but responds well to chemo.

DH & I took her to pick him up and we did get a copy of his entire chart.
Thankfully because they did not tell her everything.

For example: Even though they told her the blood panel was "okay" the
results show

Globulin 9.8 (2.3 - 5.3)
Albumin 2.8 (2.5 - 3.9)

A/G Ratio 0.3 (0.35 - 1.5)

With a notation that the values were suspicious for FIP although they told
her he tested negative for FIP. I've since learned that that is an
unreliable indicator.

What doesn't indicate FIP (from my understanding) is that the fluid is in
the lungs rather than in the typical chest cavity or abdomen.

So there are contradictory findings.

The CBC also showed that he is anemic - which they did not mention. Along
with not mentioning that the lipase was high as was the Total Bilirubin.

They told her because the lymph nodes were clear that they had "pretty much
ruled out" lymphoma. Yet the x-rays show :
"possible cardiomegaly, suspect enlarged mediastinal lymph node, moderate
pulm edema, spleen appears enlarged"

I guess regular x-rays do not adequately detect masses in the neck/chest
area (a telltale sign of mediastinal lymphoma) and at the very least an
ultrasound should have been done.

Aaaagggg this is so fustrating! I've just about given up on the
veterinarians around here!

Kathy

On Jan 14, 5:05*pm, "kat" wrote:

Aaaagggg this is so fustrating! *I've just about given up on the
veterinarians around here!

This is so heartbreaking.

Has there been an update in the last 5 days? How is Digit doing?

Tara

wrote in message
...
On Jan 14, 5:05 pm, "kat" wrote:

Aaaagggg this is so fustrating! I've just about given up on the
veterinarians around here!

This is so heartbreaking.

Has there been an update in the last 5 days? How is Digit doing?

Tara

Thanks for asking My daughter and I took him to another practice
yesterday where they took an abdominal ultrasound. Based on the appearance
of the spleen and liver she pretty much confirmed the lymphoma. She wanted
another needle aspiration of the lymph nodes (the first was a poor sample)
or a biopsy before she would begin chemo. Jenny chose the needle aspiration
because it would be less stress on Digit, quicker response time (24-48 hours
vs 3-5 days) and of course less money (would rather spend the money on
chemo). I talked with her this morning and she said Digit barely moved at
all last night and when he did he had trouble walking. I'm wondering if the
needle aspiration contributed to that as they took some from lymph nodes in
the back also. She hadn't yet heard from the vet with the results as of
3:00 pm. She is afraid he might be gone when she gets home and I am
dreading a call later tonight I told her I would be more than willing to
pick him up tomorrow and transport him to either one of their locations if
they can start chemo (she is a teacher and can not get another day off this
week - she took Wed. as a personal day). Will know more tomorrow - hope it
is not too late.

Kathy