Nina <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hello Everyone,
It seems to be one of those weeks when our friends kitties turn up sick without explanation. You guys might remember the kind man, AJ, I met outside my specialty clinic. He was crying in the parking lot and told me he had just lost a kitty and had no one to share his grief with. Well, you guys know me, we became fast friends. He called me a few days ago to ask if I might have some idea what might be wrong with his kitty Pepper. She's 11 years old and was a bottle baby so he's had her all her life. She's never been ill and is felv neg. She seemed just fine and then one day refused to eat, when he syringe fed her she immediately vomited. She has bloody discharge leaking from her anus. Poor baby! She's been at the specialty clinic vet's for two days now. Here are a couple of pastes from emails he's sent me.
> She's stable, no signs of parasites, blockage, damage or organ malfunction except for glucose in the urine that might indicate diabetes, but the blood work doesn't support that. They say there seems to be a little arthritis in the spine but you'd never suspect that by the way she moves. That's all they can tell me.
>> I talked with them this morning they have given her medicine (like they give for cancer patients) to stimulate appetite, and something to address excess acidity in her stomach, also stronger antibiotics as well as the original and fluids. They've left a smorgasbord of food for her and tried to hand feed her... hasn't eaten yet. Nothing's coming out the back end but bloody puss. They're also going to worm her, though there hasn't been any evidence of them but it won't hurt. All they can do until tomorrow is try to get her to eat (once every 6 hours), then they will consider more drastic things like the ultrasound, colonoscopy and possibly tube food down her throat which involves going under. >>
>>> They are baffled still, and after pressing them for some kind of suspected cause, he said it could be Pancreatitis, IBD or cancer. Since she hasn't been able to produce any fecal material they can't study that, except to do the scope. I gave the okay for ultrasound, but said hold off on the scope until they decide if it wouldn't hurt to try some therapy first to take a stab at what the trouble is, such as steroids. I said please keep trying to get her to eat too of course, which could at least help with the diagnosis. They said tubing food is something they do under anesthesia, so that's news to me that I could possibly do it at home. >>>
I gave him links to several lists to join and told him about Belinda's experience with feeding tubes. I don't know what kind of "cancer meds" they've given her, I asked him, but I think he's just so overwhelmed that he can't think straight. Poor guy told me he's already been to the bank to apply for a loan to cover the vet bills. He's already up to $1300 and they don't have any answers yet. Please include AJ and Pepper in your prayers,
Nina
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