No, he's not anemic (or wasn't as of Friday p.m.'s blood work, anyway). He has lymphoma in his liver, it turns out. Apparently his billirubin was so high they were surprised he was still walking around, jumping, purring, curious, etc. They hospitalized him to try to bring down the billirubin levels.
The surgeon who was there today refuses to do esophogeal feeding tubes. The internist also did not want to put a feeding tube in because he ate some on his own yesterday without any IV Reglan or steroids and they are hoping he will eat on his own tonight with those (they gave him a dexamethasone shot, which is ver powerful stuff and constant regland drip), and if not they will put in a nasal tube under mild sedation tonight and feed that way for the night and then if necessary put him under for the other kind of tube tomorrow morning. They swore to me that they would get enough nutrition into him and said they have syringe feeding specialists there who can get 1 1/2 cans of A/D per day into cats that way. He was so active today without any stimulants that they thought he might respond well to the dex, and the internist thought it was a good sign that I was able to get 250 cals of baby food into him by syringe on Saturday. The hospital is also a veterinary referral center with top specialists and charge over $200/day just for the hospitalization itself, so I am hoping this means that they know what they are doing. I will know more in two hours when I go back for visiting hours. Belinda, I know what you will say regarding the feeding tubes, but I talked to them about it in great detail and there was no one who could insert one surgically today anyway. Teh internist said that the first 3 days with a tube you have to build up food amounts and can't start with a full meal's worth, and so she thought, since he tolerates syringing well and they have people there who focus on that, that she could get more nutrition into him that way today than through a tube. But she said they will do a nasal tube tonight if that does not seem to be the case. I am trying really hard-- please don't tell me I am letting him die. I talked to them about tubing for over 20 minutes and discussed it with the internist, the oncologist, and the tech who does the syringe feeding. He is my baby and I would do anything to help him. This is the best place that I know of to take him, and people travel from 3-4 hours away to come to this place from other states. I think it is all I can do. Michelle In a message dated 12/6/04 12:13:48 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << My felv+ cat had jaundice. It was actually caused by the felv destroying too many rbc (she was also anemic), known as hemolysis. Is you cat anemic? >>
