I haven't posted about my own kitties in a while, and I'm hoping someone might have some feedback or experience that can help.
Odo is my senior kitty. He's at least 14, but probably more like 17 years old. For the last year or so, he's been throwing up. At first it was occasional, but now it's several times per week. Per the vet's advice, I tried Pepcid. It didn't seem to help.
Last July, his BUN and creatinine were slightly elevated and his neutrophils were a little high, as was his amylase level. His urine was dilute with a specific gravity of 1.015. We figured he was in early renal failure. He also had some mucus in his stool, but he didn't seem to be constipated, and his stool was solid. I tried Pepcid again and liquid Zantac (not at the same time). Neither seemed to make much difference.
The vet recommended seeing a specialist, and I finally took him in last week. The specialist did an ultrasound and found several "interesting" things, though we don't know for certain what any of them mean. The most interesting of them is that his gallbladder is of normal size but his cystic duct is very dilated. She didn't find any reason for it to be dilated--no mass, no stone, and no other sign of blockage. She could see the left side of his pancreas but not the right side. There were nodules in his liver, but she couldn't say what they were. His small intestine looked normal (not thickened), as did his colon, but there was a nodule near the junction of the two that she suspects is a lymph node (and possibly the reason for the mucus in his stool). His kidneys are a little bit small and have a hyperechoic corticomedullary band (which she said is consistent with chronic kidney disease).
I also had his bloodwork repeated at my regular vet's office. Odo's ALT, BUN, and creatinine are all within the normal range. His amylase is still a little high (1375). His neutrophils are a little higher than they were before (15,573), his lymphocytes are low (716), and his monocytes are high (716). His urine specific gravity dropped a tiny bit to 1.014.
The specialist recommended starting him on ursodiol to improve his bile flow (which I started on Friday evening), since the cystic duct is so dilated. We also started him on prednisone (twice a day, starting Monday morning) to help with suspected inflammation. The specialist wants to do exploratory surgery, but I'm not keen on it--he's an old kitty and I don't want to reduce his quality of life by making him recover from an invasive procedure. The specialist's suspected diagnosis is GI disease or possible triaditis.
If the prednisone is going to help, how long would it take to have an effect? He vomited yesterday and again this morning. Does anything in the report stand out to anyone?
Odo is my senior kitty. He's at least 14, but probably more like 17 years old. For the last year or so, he's been throwing up. At first it was occasional, but now it's several times per week. Per the vet's advice, I tried Pepcid. It didn't seem to help.
Last July, his BUN and creatinine were slightly elevated and his neutrophils were a little high, as was his amylase level. His urine was dilute with a specific gravity of 1.015. We figured he was in early renal failure. He also had some mucus in his stool, but he didn't seem to be constipated, and his stool was solid. I tried Pepcid again and liquid Zantac (not at the same time). Neither seemed to make much difference.
The vet recommended seeing a specialist, and I finally took him in last week. The specialist did an ultrasound and found several "interesting" things, though we don't know for certain what any of them mean. The most interesting of them is that his gallbladder is of normal size but his cystic duct is very dilated. She didn't find any reason for it to be dilated--no mass, no stone, and no other sign of blockage. She could see the left side of his pancreas but not the right side. There were nodules in his liver, but she couldn't say what they were. His small intestine looked normal (not thickened), as did his colon, but there was a nodule near the junction of the two that she suspects is a lymph node (and possibly the reason for the mucus in his stool). His kidneys are a little bit small and have a hyperechoic corticomedullary band (which she said is consistent with chronic kidney disease).
I also had his bloodwork repeated at my regular vet's office. Odo's ALT, BUN, and creatinine are all within the normal range. His amylase is still a little high (1375). His neutrophils are a little higher than they were before (15,573), his lymphocytes are low (716), and his monocytes are high (716). His urine specific gravity dropped a tiny bit to 1.014.
The specialist recommended starting him on ursodiol to improve his bile flow (which I started on Friday evening), since the cystic duct is so dilated. We also started him on prednisone (twice a day, starting Monday morning) to help with suspected inflammation. The specialist wants to do exploratory surgery, but I'm not keen on it--he's an old kitty and I don't want to reduce his quality of life by making him recover from an invasive procedure. The specialist's suspected diagnosis is GI disease or possible triaditis.
If the prednisone is going to help, how long would it take to have an effect? He vomited yesterday and again this morning. Does anything in the report stand out to anyone?
