We got Kit's necropsy results back. The diagnosis was thymic lymphoma. He had a
large mass in the chest area, which confirmed what my vet Robert thought all along,
even though it could not be seen on any of the X-rays. Milky white fluid filled the
thoracic cavity, compressing the lungs dorsally. Cancerous cells had also begun to
invade peri-aortic and peribronchial tissue. There was nothing to suggest FIP.
Bloodwork Friday before I lost him showed his kidneys had begun to go downhill,
although there were no apparent symptoms of this - his water intake appeared normal.
He was otherwise in good health for a feleuk kitty, no anemia, and it would seem that
that helped him to keep on going as long as he did despite the lymphoma that had
probably been growing since last summer. That was when he first cried out and
collapsed all floppy one day when I picked him up - I thought he was dying then, but
he recovered before we even got him to the vet, and nothing specific could be found
wrong at the time.
He did this once or twice more later - I think somehow the position I got him into in
picking him up caused pressure from the tumor to hurt him and/or maybe wind him, so of
course I was always careful after that about picking him up, although we were never
really sure whether he just didn't like being picked up or whether something was
wrong, since no masses could be felt and symptoms (breathing problems) didn't manifest
till later.
I thought this chronology might help someone else with decisions or with trying to
figure out what's going on when and if the time comes.
You may also want to know that even after necropsy you can still get your kitty back
for burial or cremation. Kit has been cremated and I will get his cremains back today.
Poor little Kit. I think about him purring and kneading the air as I stroked and
tickled his paws and rump to comfort him - it took all the time I had him to find out
he loved this, as because he didn't like to be handled a lot we usually only got to
pet his head or back.
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