Hi
Our male cat has a long history of loose stools and sickness, usually bile, this was an almost daily occurrence. He also had occasional scooting and had regularly anal gland expressions. However sometimes he would scoot and he would have them expressed and there wouldn't be much in them.
I decided to change vets and get a second opinion as Alfie was clearly losing interest in his food as well, because of this he was also drinking lots. The vet thought possible IBD (he had also lost weight and was under 4kg) and gave him steroids. We kept him on them for about 3 weeks and then stopped them as he was going more and more off food, however during this time he had two bouts of sickness and hasn't been sick since, so the constant bringing up of bile stopped.
he also had blood tests which were all normal - when we took him back to the vets the vet said:
more anorexic now and palpable cranio-dorsal abdomen mass. feels like thickened bowels and
mesenteric Lns. discuss biopsies etc but warn re guarded px as likely lymphoma. o to consider. could
have in tomorrow on fluids then op Friday
He was eating lilys kitchen and yarrah, and to get him eating again we got whiskers. After we stopped the steroids he went from hardly wanting to eat, to being desperate to eat and is now going through about 4 pouches a day. He was also getting daily diarrhea after the steroids but may have been because we'd changed his food so quickly, however this has now cleared up but stools are now light brown and soft although formed. also still scooting.
We took him back to the vets this week due to all the symptoms changing and we've decided to try the steroids again every other day to see if there is improvement, he thinks the thickening around the bowels is more stable now. Still thinks biopsy is best so we can find out whats going on but we're concerned due to this age.
Finally other half wonders if it could be pancreatitis due to eating lots and not being able to put any weight on.
15 year old cat with possible IBD/Leukamia/mixed symptoms
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Mollycat
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Re: 15 year old cat with possible IBD/Leukamia/mixed symptoms
As soon as I read the subject line of your post my heart sank, I have just been through similar with my boy. It started occasionally and controlled with vitamin B injections, when they stopped working we went to steroid injections, then daily steroids and any time we reduced the dose it came back with a vengeance, finally we went 6-weekly long-lasting steroid injections, and we had to say goodbye earlier this year when he suddenly couldn't pee and was clearly distressed with a sky high temperature. He also had mild kidney failure and possible early hyperthyroidism which complicated his care a great deal, as the treatments and diets for the 3 conditions all contradicted each other.
He was also 15 years old and a delicate pedigree who had never been a great eater but in one episode he lost 800g in a week. With his age and general health as well as sadly being crippled by vet bills already close to £7000 in 2 years with the other cat and dog, but mostly thinking of what was best for him, we never went into testing and never knew what it really was, but the vet suspected either lymphoma or IBD. But we just couldn't get his diarrhoea under control or boost his appetite enough and in the end we had to accept he had had enough. His bowel was very inflamed though there wasn't a mass as such.
Before going ahead with operations and biopsies that may or may not give you answers that may or may not be treatable, I would get the vet to be very brutally honest with you about his chances and about the level of trauma for your boy that would be involved. We all want to do all we can for them but it's easy to be blinded by the possibles and forget to consider how the cat feels about all this and whether we should. If your boy will happily tolerate all this and bounce back for a happy normal life afterwards, great. Is he strong enough to take anaesthesia? Will he cope with post operative restrictions and medication, or would daily tablets make him fearfully hide from you?
It's very important not to stop steroids suddenly, I hope you weaned him off them gradually with the vet's advice and didn't just stop? Stopping suddenly can cause bad symptoms that could be mistaken for other medical conditions. Gradual tapering gives the adrenal glands a chance to adjust and come back to normal. Steroids are nasty drugs and must be treated with respect and caution.
He was also 15 years old and a delicate pedigree who had never been a great eater but in one episode he lost 800g in a week. With his age and general health as well as sadly being crippled by vet bills already close to £7000 in 2 years with the other cat and dog, but mostly thinking of what was best for him, we never went into testing and never knew what it really was, but the vet suspected either lymphoma or IBD. But we just couldn't get his diarrhoea under control or boost his appetite enough and in the end we had to accept he had had enough. His bowel was very inflamed though there wasn't a mass as such.
Before going ahead with operations and biopsies that may or may not give you answers that may or may not be treatable, I would get the vet to be very brutally honest with you about his chances and about the level of trauma for your boy that would be involved. We all want to do all we can for them but it's easy to be blinded by the possibles and forget to consider how the cat feels about all this and whether we should. If your boy will happily tolerate all this and bounce back for a happy normal life afterwards, great. Is he strong enough to take anaesthesia? Will he cope with post operative restrictions and medication, or would daily tablets make him fearfully hide from you?
It's very important not to stop steroids suddenly, I hope you weaned him off them gradually with the vet's advice and didn't just stop? Stopping suddenly can cause bad symptoms that could be mistaken for other medical conditions. Gradual tapering gives the adrenal glands a chance to adjust and come back to normal. Steroids are nasty drugs and must be treated with respect and caution.
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Suzynick
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Re: 15 year old cat with possible IBD/Leukamia/mixed symptoms
Hi, thank you for replying to my post. I'm really sorry for the late reply, I don't remember seeing any notification on my email so assumed no-one had!
So sorry to hear about your cat
at the moment Alfie appears to be doing well. He is on steroids still every other day. I didn't know that about weaning them off them, we did just stop last time
He's eating well but not over eating, seems to have put some weight back on but still under 4kg. Stools are formed but soft and still some scooting. Back to the vets in.about a week. Also has expressed interest in going back outside which is a good sign
So sorry to hear about your cat
at the moment Alfie appears to be doing well. He is on steroids still every other day. I didn't know that about weaning them off them, we did just stop last time He's eating well but not over eating, seems to have put some weight back on but still under 4kg. Stools are formed but soft and still some scooting. Back to the vets in.about a week. Also has expressed interest in going back outside which is a good sign