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- Nov 29, 2015
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Hi there, I want to thank everyone in advance for reading through my wall of text because Waffles has a medical history that I thought would be relevant to my current situation.
Cat: Waffles, make, 2 years old, ragdoll
History of: UTI, urinary crystals, inflamed bladder
Ultrasound images: Waffles’ vet did a set of abdominal ultrasounds a year ago when he had a urianry crystals and he found two things:
1) waffles had intestinal wall thickening and inflammation of the mucosa
2) his kidneys had a thick dark outline
The vet concluded that waffles had lymphoma from these signs and showed us relevant images from other cats and the PowerPoint he uses to teach other students on this issue and thoroughly convinced us. I have a background in anatomy and life sciences so the images made sense to me and I could tell the vet wasn’t lying or trying to scam us. However the tests and biopsy cost is a lot of money and miraculously it came back negative. To this day the vet calls Waffles his mystery cat because he should have had cancer.
Current issue:
Waffles had a seizure this past weekend and he’s had two more previously, all more than 6 months apart but we just realized they were seizures because the other two happened at night when we asleep. I take him to the vet and his heart is fine and he had his annual check up a few months ago and was healthy, he also had a dental cleaning a couple of months ago and that was fine too.
So the vet suspects IBD and that he’s missing some electrolytes or nutrients causing the seizure, and the other possibility is he had a brain tumour but a scan is over $1k so that wasn’t in our budget at this time. I would revisit it if he was having more frequent seizures with other symptoms.
Waffles eats normally, no vomiting or diarrhea or weight loss, no other symptoms besides his seizure.
The blood test came back with 3x the normal amount of triglycerides, high magnesium, and low sodium and chloride.
The vet is suggesting another abdominal ultrasound which is expensive and we are way more wary and cautious of doing more tests because of our false cancer experience last time. Plus his ultrasounds from that incident shows that Waffles has thickened intestinal walls and inflamed mucosa, the signs of IBD.
My question is do we fork over another $500 to do another set of scans or do we just assume he has IBD from the information so far and put him on a special diet and treat it without the scan?
I know having the images would help us know where he is currently and gives us a comparison point if we decide to do another set of scans in the future, but if it’s just going to confirm that yep his bowels are irritated then we already know that and we’d be out $500 that could have gone to getting him premium food or something. I wish I was made of money but I’m not
All his other blood work came back normal so I’m assuming we ca rule out diabetes and liver and kidney issues cuz his enzymes and proteins were fine.
I have a consult with the vet next week to discuss options but I’m scared I’ll get convinced into getting another set of scans. The other thing I’m worried about is if something bad comes on the scans and then we do more tests and we go down that rabbit hole again and we did last time and he was perfectly fine.
My vet has amazing reviews and experience and is highly rated l, I did my research before picking this clinic, so it’s hard to know what to think.
Also if anyone else has experienced with IBS/IBD or inflames bowels can you let me know what worked best for your kitty? Waffles doesn’t vomit or have diarrhea or any of the classic IBD symptoms so it’s really frustrating trying to figure out what’s wrong.
Thanks!
Cat: Waffles, make, 2 years old, ragdoll
History of: UTI, urinary crystals, inflamed bladder
Ultrasound images: Waffles’ vet did a set of abdominal ultrasounds a year ago when he had a urianry crystals and he found two things:
1) waffles had intestinal wall thickening and inflammation of the mucosa
2) his kidneys had a thick dark outline
The vet concluded that waffles had lymphoma from these signs and showed us relevant images from other cats and the PowerPoint he uses to teach other students on this issue and thoroughly convinced us. I have a background in anatomy and life sciences so the images made sense to me and I could tell the vet wasn’t lying or trying to scam us. However the tests and biopsy cost is a lot of money and miraculously it came back negative. To this day the vet calls Waffles his mystery cat because he should have had cancer.
Current issue:
Waffles had a seizure this past weekend and he’s had two more previously, all more than 6 months apart but we just realized they were seizures because the other two happened at night when we asleep. I take him to the vet and his heart is fine and he had his annual check up a few months ago and was healthy, he also had a dental cleaning a couple of months ago and that was fine too.
So the vet suspects IBD and that he’s missing some electrolytes or nutrients causing the seizure, and the other possibility is he had a brain tumour but a scan is over $1k so that wasn’t in our budget at this time. I would revisit it if he was having more frequent seizures with other symptoms.
Waffles eats normally, no vomiting or diarrhea or weight loss, no other symptoms besides his seizure.
The blood test came back with 3x the normal amount of triglycerides, high magnesium, and low sodium and chloride.
The vet is suggesting another abdominal ultrasound which is expensive and we are way more wary and cautious of doing more tests because of our false cancer experience last time. Plus his ultrasounds from that incident shows that Waffles has thickened intestinal walls and inflamed mucosa, the signs of IBD.
My question is do we fork over another $500 to do another set of scans or do we just assume he has IBD from the information so far and put him on a special diet and treat it without the scan?
I know having the images would help us know where he is currently and gives us a comparison point if we decide to do another set of scans in the future, but if it’s just going to confirm that yep his bowels are irritated then we already know that and we’d be out $500 that could have gone to getting him premium food or something. I wish I was made of money but I’m not
All his other blood work came back normal so I’m assuming we ca rule out diabetes and liver and kidney issues cuz his enzymes and proteins were fine.
I have a consult with the vet next week to discuss options but I’m scared I’ll get convinced into getting another set of scans. The other thing I’m worried about is if something bad comes on the scans and then we do more tests and we go down that rabbit hole again and we did last time and he was perfectly fine.
My vet has amazing reviews and experience and is highly rated l, I did my research before picking this clinic, so it’s hard to know what to think.
Also if anyone else has experienced with IBS/IBD or inflames bowels can you let me know what worked best for your kitty? Waffles doesn’t vomit or have diarrhea or any of the classic IBD symptoms so it’s really frustrating trying to figure out what’s wrong.
Thanks!