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#1
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Mystery health problems in an older male cat
My cat will be 14 this September. He's been through one major health
crisis, a tumor at the vaccination site, which led to the amputation of his leg. Since then, he's adjusted pretty well, and has more or less been okay. About five months ago, though, he began losing weight. At first, I thought the weight control cat food I switched him to was working (he was about 18 pounds), but he has steadily lost weight at an alarming rate. Just to give you an idea, in one week between vet visits, he lost just over 1 pound. On top of this, he isn't drinking water (he goes to the dish, stares at it, tries to paw it with the missing leg, tries to drink, but then, for some reason, pulls his head back up and walks away). On top of all of this, he became severely constipated, and after two enemas (and wasn't THAT a fun car ride home- twice!) he is still backed up. He is now practically skin and bones. In the meantime, he has had full lab panels, x-rays, and an ultrasound. None of these tests have turned up any explanation for what is wrong. His vet now wants to do a scope, so that they can biopsy his intestines without performing an invasive surgery, to further try and determine what is wrong. The problem with this is that it costs about $1500, which is way more than I can afford. Has anyone out there had a similar problem with their cat, and have any clue as to what may be going on? The vet feels that the problem is likely centered in his intestines, and said that it could be inflamatory bowel disease, or an intestinal disease, or lymphoma, or something else. In the meantime, my cat's disposition has been pretty okay, he's quieter on some days, but for the most part, he appears to feel alright. As a side note, for the past few days, my other cat has been kind of nasty with him, and I don't know if this is her being moody, or if it is indicative of something else. They've been together since they were kittens, and she (cat #2) is normally a sweetheart. I really am on the brink of tearing my hair out, I have reached my limit financially for what I can do for him, but I can't believe that after all of this, there's no answer for what is going on. |
#2
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wrote in message oups.com... My cat will be 14 this September. He's been through one major health crisis, a tumor at the vaccination site, which led to the amputation of his leg. Since then, he's adjusted pretty well, and has more or less been okay. About five months ago, though, he began losing weight. At first, I thought the weight control cat food I switched him to was working (he was about 18 pounds), but he has steadily lost weight at an alarming rate. Just to give you an idea, in one week between vet visits, he lost just over 1 pound. On top of this, he isn't drinking water (he goes to the dish, stares at it, tries to paw it with the missing leg, tries to drink, but then, for some reason, pulls his head back up and walks away). On top of all of this, he became severely constipated, and after two enemas (and wasn't THAT a fun car ride home- twice!) he is still backed up. He is now practically skin and bones. In the meantime, he has had full lab panels, x-rays, and an ultrasound. None of these tests have turned up any explanation for what is wrong. His vet now wants to do a scope, so that they can biopsy his intestines without performing an invasive surgery, to further try and determine what is wrong. The problem with this is that it costs about $1500, which is way more than I can afford. Has anyone out there had a similar problem with their cat, and have any clue as to what may be going on? The vet feels that the problem is likely centered in his intestines, and said that it could be inflamatory bowel disease, or an intestinal disease, or lymphoma, or something else. In the meantime, my cat's disposition has been pretty okay, he's quieter on some days, but for the most part, he appears to feel alright. As a side note, for the past few days, my other cat has been kind of nasty with him, and I don't know if this is her being moody, or if it is indicative of something else. They've been together since they were kittens, and she (cat #2) is normally a sweetheart. I really am on the brink of tearing my hair out, I have reached my limit financially for what I can do for him, but I can't believe that after all of this, there's no answer for what is going on. FWIW, when my cat came down with what the vet suspected was either IBD or lymphoma, I asked him which was most likely, and he said IBD, The only way to find out for sure, he said, was to do a biopsy to rule out lymphoma, which was more than I could afford at the time. So he suggested the strategy of treating it as if it were IBD and if Cassius didn't respond in a couple of weeks, look again at the biopsy (by which time I would hopefully have figured out how to pay for it). As it was, Cassius was markedly better within a week. The vet's suspicion was right. It may be worth asking your vet what s/he thinks the problem most likely is, and asking about the implications of treating your cat for that and seeing what happens. |
#3
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Thank you- I'll try that. He did respond to acupuncture (and I feel
pathetically LA saying that, but it's true!). |
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