I'm feeling helpless/hopeless and devastated of my kitty's current health issue/condition with no conclusive diagnosis so far by 2 vets... so please bear with my long post to break down in details what happened these 1 week.
I have a 5 years old indoor Siberian cat (male) who fell ill last week since I noticed him looking lethargic and drinking alot more than usual. There was no diarrhea but there's 1 time he vomitted some light yellow-ish fluid/liquid/substance. I've took him to vet and get multiple test (blood test, x-ray, ultrasound) for a diagnosis. They mentioned that there's some abnormalities in the blood test, although his kidney/heart/liver seems still okay & during x-ray, there's a really huge buildup of fluid in his abdomen - thus his swollen/bloated belly which possibly has been making him very uncomfortable to move around (he has been sleeping/lying around all day but never on his back which is very unusual). And also they found a mass in his abdomen but cant tell what it is (if its tumor/cancer/benign/etc until they do biopsy on him - but with risk of internal bleeding since his blood is clotting due to his condition). I've read a bit about his symptomps online so I asked if they can check if he has FIP and they rule that out. They told me it could be liver infection / inflammation thus suggest me to hospitalize him to for medication/anti-biotic and IV drip with some appetite stimulate.
Next day I've visited him noticed he looked more weak than previously, and tried feeding him by spoon-fed since he wasnt as much interested to eat on his own - possibly due to nervous/anxiety in completely new place all alone in a cage + physical discomfort because of the bloated tummy. He ate about 1/2 can so its his normal portion, and they didnt left him any bowl of water/food in his cage during my visit so I thought they didnt try hard enough to get him to eat as much as he can since its very important for cat to consume food as much as possible to avoid more damage on the liver. I decided to bring him home in hope so that he will be more willing to eat more at home, they gave me some antibiotic in tablets form but he always spit/puke it out so its impossible to give him any oral meds. Then 1 night passes without any meds, although he ate about 1/2 portion of canned food and drink / peed, so its not that bad atleast he still want to eat, but he still look really weak and doesnt respond / meow back to me whenever I called him (only responded alot when he saw me picking him up from vet and the night he got home). He still seems lethargic on the next morning, he even looked more bloated and heavier because of the fluid build up. Went to the vet again and asked if he can get meds which isnt oral, maybe injection and asked if the fluid is going to harm him or if they can drain it, they didnt drain it because they see him has no difficulty breathing, although i can see his swolled belly - its still giving him much physical discomfort).
So far they cant really tell or give me a conclusive diagnosis, they can only say that there's something really serious going on inside him but they cant tell the cause unless they do needle biopsy on him to check if its cancer or tumor or something else which caused this. But I was too worried/scared to risk of losing him due to clotting and caused his death by internal bleeding, all just to find out what's the root of the problem. Even then, needle biopsy cant guarantee 100% conclusive result, the ONLY way to have conclusive answer/result wether its a tumor or cancer or benign is via biopsy/surgery to open him up but that's even far riskier than needle biopsy...
So I decided to asked if I can do pallative care for him, the vet told me that streoids could help - even it may work like a chemotheraphy if he really has cancer but I'm still unsure if that's the right thing to give him since I know there are risk taking streoids especially if his liver is weak, what if it can further damage his liver ? especiall this day he looks like he's already having jaundice... he didnt have this 3-4 days back
Thus I went to another vet for 2nd opinion before starting this medication and they only did ultrasound and blood test since its unnecessary stresst for him to go through the same series of tests again which already done on previous vet. Result was bad this time, the blood test shown that his liver is already Failing despite 3-4 days ago his test shown its still okay/fine... so this new vet proposed to me to drained his fluid, & get his fluid sent for pathology test (since I feel that biopsy is too invasive and risky in his condition, unless he's stop clotting) and to make him feel more comfortable, hospitalized him and put him on transfusion since some of his liver enzyme level isnt in normal range while waiting for the pathology result to come back (hopefully by today or tomorrow... and hopefully they can find something conclusive in that test). Although she said given how young he is and from the test result, it is UNLIKELY can be FIP or Cancer, but she cant say for sure since theres no enough conclusive information yet without biopsy...
I agreed to the vet proposal so I got him hospitalized for the transfusion, hoping it will help his liver to heal... although I know it wont be fixed/cured to go back to normal, but it will be nice if it can start repairing / regenerate itself... so it;s been 1 day with transfusion and the next day bloodwork test result show decline in his liver despite the transfusion...
I visited him today and his appetite is seems to completely gone since he doesnt even want to eat 1/4 of the canned food even if its just newly opened (he still ate about 1/4 canned food the day before)... & his fluid slowly building up into his abdomen again.... he still fussing up to me, expressing that he doesnt like this and how much he wants to go home (since he keep trying to escape/go out from the cage whenever the door opened wide). It's so painful to see him like this, I really feel so helpless and dont know what to do... I'm worried that if he doesnt have enough food in his body, it will just make him worse, although he's already on the IV drip too... the vet said she will dose up the transfusion for tonight and see if theres any improvement the next day...I did more search online as I'm desperate trying to save him or atleast ease his / make him more comfortable... I asked the vet if I can give him milk thistle and she said she already give him something similar to it and also vitamin K so that his blood dont clot....
Right now I dont know why no answer/conclusive diagnosis yet as what's wrong with him... I am not sure if I can do anything to improve his condition or help him... I'm still waiting for the pathology result to come too... but in the meantime I really want to improve his condition...
I start to really lose hope and trying to prepare myself for putting him to sleep if his condition keep declining... and I would love to hear any advice or anyone with similar experience as I'm having now.... thank you so much for your time and patience.
