Harry losing weight.

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Catfan5
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Harry losing weight.

Post by Catfan5 »

We lost 10 yo Alfie last month to suspected lymphoma. He had been diagnosed with severe IBD originally but all treatment failed to help sadly. Now Harry, his littermate, has also been losing weight over the last three to four months,His appetite is up and down and his stools are normal sometimes and loose other times, occasionally sick. He also has hcm. He sleeps a lot and hides away in the wardrobe or under the bed. Apart from this he is still playful and cheeky, better in the mornings than the afternoons. He has been missing his brother which hasn’t helped. The vet has given us two options to either have a full thickness biopsy of the bowl under ga to see if it is lymphoma, or start him on a low dose of steroids and regular Vit b injections, as it was low on the blood test. She originally said not to assume he had the same condition as Alfie but the weight loss suggests he may have. I feel I don’t want to put him through an invasive op just yet as he doesnt seem to be suffering such discomfort like Alfie but will the other option be enough to see if he improves. The biopsy still might not show anything but the vet says it should be sooner than later to see what we are dealing with. I’m just not sure what to do. My instinct is to say no at the moment. But is that the right decision for harry?
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Re: Harry losing weight.

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I'd personally try the steroids, it's hit and miss to find lymphoma even with a biopsy, so a lot to put him through. Are they certain it isn't related to his HCM though?
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Catfan5
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Re: Harry losing weight.

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Hi, that hasn’t been mentioned. I’ll talk to the vet about it. The cardio vet thought there might be a link early on with Alfie but was ruled out later on. Harry had a heart scan in June which showed the thickening had lessened and was doing well. He had an abdominal scan last month which looked normal.
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Re: Harry losing weight.

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Hmm, if it's intestinal related, you'd think something would have shown on the scan
Mikihiro
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Re: Harry losing weight.

Post by Mikihiro »

Hi! I wonder how is Harry doing now? My cat is FIV positive and I discovered her enlarged lymph nodes just recently (four days now). I wonder if your cat has any trouble swallowing food too?
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Re: Harry losing weight.

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Hi Mikihiro, Harry has started taking a low dose of steroids this week and will start vit b12 next week. He’s eating reasonably well, a bit better than before. He doesn’t have trouble swallowing.
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Re: Harry losing weight.

Post by Mikihiro »

Hi thank you for replying! So, what caused his enlarged lymph nodes? Did you take any tests to know what it is? My cat has enlarged lymph nodes too and I’m worry if it’s Lymphoma too :(
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Re: Harry losing weight.

Post by Catfan5 »

Harry’s scan didn’t show anything abnormal including lymph nodes. At the moment it’s being treated as ibd. The Vet suspects its lymphoma but while he’s happy at the moment we’re not putting him through more tests for now unless he deteriates. Has your cat been seen by a vet in case it’s something that can be treated with antibiotics and maybe put your mind at rest. Online info can often give the worst case scenarios which can worry you unnecessarily.
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