Belinda,
A few thoughts. I have never heard of pred causing low
energy-- usually it is the opposite. However, too much steroids over a long
period can sometimes cause something called Cushings Disease in humans and
dogs-- it did with my dog Fern. Muscle wasting and lethargy can both be
symptoms, as well as joint swelling and tenderness. Cats are much less
prone to this, but I think it might happen in very rare cases. However, didn't
these symptoms predate your putting him on the pred?
I hate to mention it, but lymphoma in the brain does not
necessary show up in blood work or anywhere else. I had no idea Ginger was even
sick until two days before she died. Though she was extremely energetic and did
not have any muscle wasting either, but I think it can depend on where in the
brain it is. Usually, though, I think there are symptoms like she had--
walking in circles, seeming off-balance, before or instead of something systemic
like muscle wasting.
If you do not find anything with the ultrasound, I want to
make another plug for trying I-R. Dr. Lees, who wrote one of the articles on it,
says he uses it on positive cats who come in thin and anemic and without energy
and it often gets them back to feeling normal and having normal blood work.
I know you want to get a diagnosis, and I hope the ultrasound
is useful, but I hope he doesn't have cancer.
Michelle
In a message dated 3/8/2006 12:37:27 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Bailey's
bloodwork is very good, his anemia is pretty much resolved, his
HCT went
from his lowest of 15% up to now 40%, so he is no longer
anemic.
Physically however he is not improving, he is still not really
gaining
any significant weight (from 8.4 to 8.9.5 in a little over a
month), he
is still bony and very lethargic and inactive. She feels
his muscle
wasting is getting a little better, I can't really tell,
sometimes I
think it is sometimes I'm not so sure. My vet is
stumped, I really feel
we have cancer somewhere and just haven't found it,
my vet did say he is
touchy when she checks his kidney's and I am going to
get an ultrasound
done on his organs to see if we are missing something
with his kidney's
(his urinalysis was normal) or intestines (she say's
they feel fine, but
I want to check everything). He was diagnosed
with arthritis in his
back about a year ago and I'm beginning to wonder if
there isn't
something going on with his spine (he is weak on his backend
sometimes
when walking, he'll titl or sway to one side, just for a second
but it
is there). The tender spine area and kidney's are about in
the same
vicinity and my vet said it may be his spine but she feels it is
his
kidney ... He had a urinalysis that came back normal, he doesn't
appear
to be dehydrated.
I do have a friend that said she had a cat
that would get very lethargic
and sleep ALOT when she was on prednisolone
and when they took her off
she would be her normal self, could the pred be
part of his lethargy
problem? Even if that is part of the problem, I
know there is more
going on because of the muscle wasting and boniness, I
have only seen
this happen in cancer kitties, has anyone seen this with
other disease
processes?
Sometimes he will also get up, head for
the bathroom, or just take a few
steps, and then he will back up and
layback down. He'll do this several
times and almost always take a
poop at some point wherever he happens to
be. I have looked at his
face when he is doing this and sometimes he
appears to be kind of spacey
looking???? So I wonder if there is
something neurological or
something with his brain going on?
Sean does any of this strike a chord
with you? Remember Bailey is FeLV+
and was diagnosed by the
pathologist who looked at his bone marrow
aspirate, at antech labs as
being preleukemic & myliod dyplastic.
My vet say's by all accounts
being that his bloodwork is so good, all of
his blood counts are normal,
some where low before, they are all normal
now. She feels the FeLV
virus is dormant again and not replicating in
his bone marrow and he
should be feeling good and acting normal. It is
so frustrating to
not know why he is not doing better!!
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