-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
Fip Or Fat?
- Thread starter Raeny
- Start Date
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #22
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2018
- Messages
- 12
- Purraise
- 13
UPDATE: (This is going to be a long, complicated, and possibly the last one!)
So, today we went to the specialty center where Sora was scheduled to get his ultrasound. When we first went in, the vet said that despite the negative test results from the FIP Virus RealPCR Test, she's still not ruling it out. Why? Because Sora shows no other sign/symptom as to what it could be otherwise. So unless the ultrasound shows that it's right-sided failure, kidney disease, etc, she'll continue to just assume it's FIP since there's no way it can be anything else considering Sora's age, being a purebred, the abdominal fluid, etc, even if he's not presenting with other symptoms and even if the test says it's negative for the FIP mutation.
After she said all that, we proceeded to drop off Sora. The ultrasound doesn't take long but they also have to get the results analyzed, etc, so we opted to leave and just come back later. They said it should be done in 30 minutes to 3 hours at most and they'll give us a call once they're done.
3 hours later, no call. But my husband and I left the house to go back to the clinic anyway. Once we got there, we were made to wait a few more minutes because they weren't done yet apparently (surprised us since it's over their estimated time and apparently the "3 hours" is usually when there are more patients lined up but before we left, they said Sora's should be quick since he was next in line). We waited, we didn't mind. When the vet finally came up to us with Sora, she gave us the news.
First she told us that Sora's case is...abnormal. Then she tells us that his abdominal fluid isn't due to FIP and that FIP as a diagnosis is at the bottom of their list of of possibilities right now. Yay! But then, the main issue. When they took Sora's abdominal ultrasound, they found something they didn't expect and had never seen before. Sora's blood was pumping the wrong way.
....what?
Me and and my husband definitely didn't expect that. We had hoped his current issue was a bit more clear cut and straight to the point. A problem that actually had a name at least. But it wasn't. The ultrasound that they took showed that most of Sora's organs were normal (kidney, bladder, pancreas, spleen, stomach, etc). But some like his liver and lymph nodes were mildly/slightly enlarged but not large enough for them to think it's something severe or to be the cause of the fluid build-up inside him. The only thing that they noted was his caudal vena cava. It was 2-3x larger than it should be and that it was pumping blood backwards. Blood in that vein is supposed to pump blood back to the heart (as veins should; while arteries pump blood out of the heart and towards the rest of the body) but instead it's working backwards and is instead pushing blood backwards to the body instead. We asked how this was possible but even they didn't understand how or why. Another thing they noted was that the capillaries connected to different organs connected to the enlarged vein are actually fine. So, again, something that doesn't make sense at all. It would seem that Sora's body is somehow compensating for the odd backflow of blood in his system which explains why he's basically normal and his other organs aren't really affected in any way. Besides the fluid build-up. So basically they narrowed the issue down to possibly being Sora's heart or at least somewhere higher up (chest or higher) that they couldn't see through the ultrasound. The ultrasound was an abdominal one, and it doesn't reach the heart. They went as high as they could when they took the images and though they saw that the heart was normal in size, they can't exactly say what the state of his heart on the inside is. Like if it's functioning as it should, etc. They said his heart rate was normal (also to note, his breathing was normal though there was a slight wheezing but nothing too significant) so there's not much they can say about that without having an echo cardiogram done and after that, they also recommend maybe a CT scan to test it further. She also noted though, that this case is something she or anyone at the center (even her colleague with 16 years experience and seen just about everything) had never encountered before. They were all at a loss which explains why Sora's ultrasound and results took a long while. They were actually researching for cases that might be similar to Sora's so they could at least give us answers when we got back to pick him up. But they couldn't find anything. And they said that even if we get the echo cardiogram done as well as the CT scan, it's possible that even then there won't be an actual fix to the problem.
After hearing this, my husband and I had to hesitate a little about going forward. For one, we already spent a lot for Sora's tests and previous treatments. We haven't had him for a year and we already spent well over $3000 on him for medicine and tests and vet costs alone. So when we heard how much an echo cardiogram and CT scan might cost, we went blank. In all honesty, what made us hesitate the most was when we were told that even if we get all these tests done, there still wasn't a cure to Sora's problem. It might give as answers to his condition but fixing it was an entirely different matter. His condition is so unique that the vet even told us that a teaching hospital might even be interested in taking on Sora's case.
That's why I didn't bother starting another thread regarding Sora's situation. It isn't FIP but we still don't know what exactly it is and at this point in time, we don't see ourselves trying to get answers. Thankfully, Sora's still fine. There's still fluid in his abdomen (still not as much as how it was before because the size never went back to when his abdomen was really big) and I asked the vet if it'll be an issue for it being there or should we drain it or something. The vet said that the only real cause for concern with fluid being still in his abdomen is if/when it affects his eating habits. It hasn't and never has affected Sora's eating at all so for now, it's fine being left inside him. So the fact that Sora doesn't need any immediate intervention for his condition, we figured he should be fine as he is now without us having to treat it. I'm actually hoping that as he grows older and stronger, his body will somehow just adapt to the abnormality and he'll just function as normal like he is right now. I asked the vet about this of course and she said that though she has seen some cases of other pets with congenital diseases that don't really make itself known until they're like 13 years old or something (because their bodies can cope even with the defect), it isn't a guarantee. Maybe it won't affect Sora until he's older but there's also a possibility that it'll shorten his life span too. For now, there's just too many unknown factors that won't really get answers unless we get more detailed tests done.
So, that's basically it. Right now we're still expecting a call (by tomorrow) from the vet. She said she was going to talk to her colleague (the cardiologist) about what she thinks about Sora's condition and she's also going to refer us to the teaching hospital they're affiliated with to see about funding and such (not sure how that works). After that, we'll discuss our options as well as what we'll do from there and so on. Both my husband and I are of the same mind that we'll just let Sora live as usual, encourage him to be his usual self for now and just see what happens. Besides costs, it doesn't sit well with us having to force treatment (if there is one) on him when he's perfectly fine. More diagnostic tests would be great but financially speaking, now's not an ideal time. So for now, we think we'll just give it time and keep a close eye on Sora while giving him a lot of TLC.
(If we do somehow proceed to do more testing and such, I'll most likely post another thread about it since his condition won't be relevant to this thread anymore. As far as this thread is concerned though, at the very least I can say that Sora does not have FIP.
)
So, today we went to the specialty center where Sora was scheduled to get his ultrasound. When we first went in, the vet said that despite the negative test results from the FIP Virus RealPCR Test, she's still not ruling it out. Why? Because Sora shows no other sign/symptom as to what it could be otherwise. So unless the ultrasound shows that it's right-sided failure, kidney disease, etc, she'll continue to just assume it's FIP since there's no way it can be anything else considering Sora's age, being a purebred, the abdominal fluid, etc, even if he's not presenting with other symptoms and even if the test says it's negative for the FIP mutation.
After she said all that, we proceeded to drop off Sora. The ultrasound doesn't take long but they also have to get the results analyzed, etc, so we opted to leave and just come back later. They said it should be done in 30 minutes to 3 hours at most and they'll give us a call once they're done.
3 hours later, no call. But my husband and I left the house to go back to the clinic anyway. Once we got there, we were made to wait a few more minutes because they weren't done yet apparently (surprised us since it's over their estimated time and apparently the "3 hours" is usually when there are more patients lined up but before we left, they said Sora's should be quick since he was next in line). We waited, we didn't mind. When the vet finally came up to us with Sora, she gave us the news.
First she told us that Sora's case is...abnormal. Then she tells us that his abdominal fluid isn't due to FIP and that FIP as a diagnosis is at the bottom of their list of of possibilities right now. Yay! But then, the main issue. When they took Sora's abdominal ultrasound, they found something they didn't expect and had never seen before. Sora's blood was pumping the wrong way.
....what?
Me and and my husband definitely didn't expect that. We had hoped his current issue was a bit more clear cut and straight to the point. A problem that actually had a name at least. But it wasn't. The ultrasound that they took showed that most of Sora's organs were normal (kidney, bladder, pancreas, spleen, stomach, etc). But some like his liver and lymph nodes were mildly/slightly enlarged but not large enough for them to think it's something severe or to be the cause of the fluid build-up inside him. The only thing that they noted was his caudal vena cava. It was 2-3x larger than it should be and that it was pumping blood backwards. Blood in that vein is supposed to pump blood back to the heart (as veins should; while arteries pump blood out of the heart and towards the rest of the body) but instead it's working backwards and is instead pushing blood backwards to the body instead. We asked how this was possible but even they didn't understand how or why. Another thing they noted was that the capillaries connected to different organs connected to the enlarged vein are actually fine. So, again, something that doesn't make sense at all. It would seem that Sora's body is somehow compensating for the odd backflow of blood in his system which explains why he's basically normal and his other organs aren't really affected in any way. Besides the fluid build-up. So basically they narrowed the issue down to possibly being Sora's heart or at least somewhere higher up (chest or higher) that they couldn't see through the ultrasound. The ultrasound was an abdominal one, and it doesn't reach the heart. They went as high as they could when they took the images and though they saw that the heart was normal in size, they can't exactly say what the state of his heart on the inside is. Like if it's functioning as it should, etc. They said his heart rate was normal (also to note, his breathing was normal though there was a slight wheezing but nothing too significant) so there's not much they can say about that without having an echo cardiogram done and after that, they also recommend maybe a CT scan to test it further. She also noted though, that this case is something she or anyone at the center (even her colleague with 16 years experience and seen just about everything) had never encountered before. They were all at a loss which explains why Sora's ultrasound and results took a long while. They were actually researching for cases that might be similar to Sora's so they could at least give us answers when we got back to pick him up. But they couldn't find anything. And they said that even if we get the echo cardiogram done as well as the CT scan, it's possible that even then there won't be an actual fix to the problem.
After hearing this, my husband and I had to hesitate a little about going forward. For one, we already spent a lot for Sora's tests and previous treatments. We haven't had him for a year and we already spent well over $3000 on him for medicine and tests and vet costs alone. So when we heard how much an echo cardiogram and CT scan might cost, we went blank. In all honesty, what made us hesitate the most was when we were told that even if we get all these tests done, there still wasn't a cure to Sora's problem. It might give as answers to his condition but fixing it was an entirely different matter. His condition is so unique that the vet even told us that a teaching hospital might even be interested in taking on Sora's case.
That's why I didn't bother starting another thread regarding Sora's situation. It isn't FIP but we still don't know what exactly it is and at this point in time, we don't see ourselves trying to get answers. Thankfully, Sora's still fine. There's still fluid in his abdomen (still not as much as how it was before because the size never went back to when his abdomen was really big) and I asked the vet if it'll be an issue for it being there or should we drain it or something. The vet said that the only real cause for concern with fluid being still in his abdomen is if/when it affects his eating habits. It hasn't and never has affected Sora's eating at all so for now, it's fine being left inside him. So the fact that Sora doesn't need any immediate intervention for his condition, we figured he should be fine as he is now without us having to treat it. I'm actually hoping that as he grows older and stronger, his body will somehow just adapt to the abnormality and he'll just function as normal like he is right now. I asked the vet about this of course and she said that though she has seen some cases of other pets with congenital diseases that don't really make itself known until they're like 13 years old or something (because their bodies can cope even with the defect), it isn't a guarantee. Maybe it won't affect Sora until he's older but there's also a possibility that it'll shorten his life span too. For now, there's just too many unknown factors that won't really get answers unless we get more detailed tests done.
So, that's basically it. Right now we're still expecting a call (by tomorrow) from the vet. She said she was going to talk to her colleague (the cardiologist) about what she thinks about Sora's condition and she's also going to refer us to the teaching hospital they're affiliated with to see about funding and such (not sure how that works). After that, we'll discuss our options as well as what we'll do from there and so on. Both my husband and I are of the same mind that we'll just let Sora live as usual, encourage him to be his usual self for now and just see what happens. Besides costs, it doesn't sit well with us having to force treatment (if there is one) on him when he's perfectly fine. More diagnostic tests would be great but financially speaking, now's not an ideal time. So for now, we think we'll just give it time and keep a close eye on Sora while giving him a lot of TLC.
(If we do somehow proceed to do more testing and such, I'll most likely post another thread about it since his condition won't be relevant to this thread anymore. As far as this thread is concerned though, at the very least I can say that Sora does not have FIP.
)
Omg! Thanks for the update. I am glad Sora doesn't have FIP. And, I hope that he can live a relatively long and happy life with this condition.
In addition to the vet consulting with the cardiologist and the terrific idea of involving the vet teaching hospital, there are a couple of feline heart forums you might like to join them and see if there are any members on these sites that have something similar going on?
Please post if your cats have had heart disease. page 2
Yahoo! Groups
Also, if the vet teaching hospital that the vet referred to isn't a vet university, you might want to see if you have one nearby that could also be consulted.
Please do keep us posted.
In addition to the vet consulting with the cardiologist and the terrific idea of involving the vet teaching hospital, there are a couple of feline heart forums you might like to join them and see if there are any members on these sites that have something similar going on?
Please post if your cats have had heart disease. page 2
Yahoo! Groups
Also, if the vet teaching hospital that the vet referred to isn't a vet university, you might want to see if you have one nearby that could also be consulted.
Please do keep us posted.
