Hi,
Just looking for thoughts or idea for a recent problem that's cropped up in our small cat, Ernie.
She's a female domestic Medium hair cat. 9 months old. Spayed. She was the runt of her litter and has always been small - now at 9 months she weighs 6.3 lbs (her brother's almost 10lbs at the same age). She's playful, very affectionate, has a good appetite for food and water, and no problems using the litter box. No obvious signs of pain or discomfort. No other medications or health issues. Bright, alert, and responsive.
But about two weeks ago, we began to notice she wasn't jumping much, and instead would claw her way up onto the bed, chairs, the couch, etc... And it seems to have gotten worse. She can walk and run and play mostly fine, but can't seem to jump up onto things, or stand on her hind legs almost at all now. She flops over often now instead of sitting.
Since we couldn't get a regular vet appointment immediately, we took her to an urgent care center, where they examined her and did x-rays - finding the following:
Mild muscle wasting pelvic limbs. Moderate muscle wasting around the gluteal region. Mild generalized hindlimb lameness. 1-2/5. Left pelvic limb seems slightly more affected than right. Patient will walk several steps and then sit. Able to sit in normal position but will occasionally slump to hips it. No significant pain on spinal palpation.
We recommended radiographs of her back legs and pelvis to look for evidence of skeletal trauma, abnormal bone development, or bone loss from vascular diseases (legg-calv-perthes disease). Initial radiology review showed a couple areas of bone within the femur which appeared to be abnormal. We recommended an STAT radiology review for further interpretation.
Initial radiology review showed a couple areas of bone within the femur which appeared to be abnormal. We recommended an STAT radiology review for further interpretation. The radiology Review showed strong suspicion for decreased bone integrity (osteopenia), and an area in the lower back (lumbosacral intervertebral foramina) which is suspicious for a space-occupying lesion leading to the muscle loss and subsequent bone loss.
X-Rays are here with the possibly abnormal area circled in the second image:
The clinic referred us to another urgent care center that had a neurologist and an MRI machine.
The neurologist there was concerned that her symptoms could be caused by an infection such as Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP - likely dry form) , Toxoplasma, or Cryptococcus.
We agreed to a blood panel (Antech Feline Serology 2) and are waiting for the results currently - which we should have tomorrow hopefully. They also did a urinalysis (idexx), FeLV/FIV lab test, a PCV/TS lab, and a CBC chem 17 w. lytes.
If the blood panel comes back negative, the next step they're suggesting in an MRI - which is a big step because of the cost (approx. $3K - $3.5K). Everything above has already cost around $1.6k.
I guess while we're waiting for the blood test results, I'm looking for advice about three things:
Thanks.
Just looking for thoughts or idea for a recent problem that's cropped up in our small cat, Ernie.
She's a female domestic Medium hair cat. 9 months old. Spayed. She was the runt of her litter and has always been small - now at 9 months she weighs 6.3 lbs (her brother's almost 10lbs at the same age). She's playful, very affectionate, has a good appetite for food and water, and no problems using the litter box. No obvious signs of pain or discomfort. No other medications or health issues. Bright, alert, and responsive.
But about two weeks ago, we began to notice she wasn't jumping much, and instead would claw her way up onto the bed, chairs, the couch, etc... And it seems to have gotten worse. She can walk and run and play mostly fine, but can't seem to jump up onto things, or stand on her hind legs almost at all now. She flops over often now instead of sitting.
Since we couldn't get a regular vet appointment immediately, we took her to an urgent care center, where they examined her and did x-rays - finding the following:
Mild muscle wasting pelvic limbs. Moderate muscle wasting around the gluteal region. Mild generalized hindlimb lameness. 1-2/5. Left pelvic limb seems slightly more affected than right. Patient will walk several steps and then sit. Able to sit in normal position but will occasionally slump to hips it. No significant pain on spinal palpation.
We recommended radiographs of her back legs and pelvis to look for evidence of skeletal trauma, abnormal bone development, or bone loss from vascular diseases (legg-calv-perthes disease). Initial radiology review showed a couple areas of bone within the femur which appeared to be abnormal. We recommended an STAT radiology review for further interpretation.
Initial radiology review showed a couple areas of bone within the femur which appeared to be abnormal. We recommended an STAT radiology review for further interpretation. The radiology Review showed strong suspicion for decreased bone integrity (osteopenia), and an area in the lower back (lumbosacral intervertebral foramina) which is suspicious for a space-occupying lesion leading to the muscle loss and subsequent bone loss.
X-Rays are here with the possibly abnormal area circled in the second image:
The clinic referred us to another urgent care center that had a neurologist and an MRI machine.
The neurologist there was concerned that her symptoms could be caused by an infection such as Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP - likely dry form) , Toxoplasma, or Cryptococcus.
We agreed to a blood panel (Antech Feline Serology 2) and are waiting for the results currently - which we should have tomorrow hopefully. They also did a urinalysis (idexx), FeLV/FIV lab test, a PCV/TS lab, and a CBC chem 17 w. lytes.
If the blood panel comes back negative, the next step they're suggesting in an MRI - which is a big step because of the cost (approx. $3K - $3.5K). Everything above has already cost around $1.6k.
I guess while we're waiting for the blood test results, I'm looking for advice about three things:
- Ideas for what else this could be?
- Has anyone had a good experience getting a feline MRI? Has it been worth it?
- Next steps?
Thanks.