Hello all,
About a month ago, my cat's behavior suddenly changed. He made hunch over position more often, lowered his neck, circling...I went to the first vet after a week, did blood work and from there, we found elevated ALT (359), bit higher side on AST and lower side of CHOL.Doctor gave me some medication to try out: to bring liver level down. After a week, my cat's symptom was not getting better, but worse, thought his symptom was more like vestibular disease, so I ended up going to another vet. In there, the doctor saw him circling, head tilt and all that, gave me medication (Prednisolone and Orbax) and recommended me to go to Neurologist.
Moving forward (2 weeks after the vet's visit), yesterday, after constantly asked my primary car for referral, I was able to go to Neurologist and had MRI scanned for my cat's brain. The result was something I was not expected. Doctor told me he has severe brain inflammation (encephalitis). They were not able to find masses showing in MRI image, but given how severe and medication did not work much past 13 days (I gave Orbax (0.9ml) and Prednisolone (5mg) once a day), the doctor is leaning toward Lymphoma or FIP, with slight chance of other inflammation diseases.
I am devastated and also not sure what to do after. The doctor recommended me check another doctor for ultrasound to see if it is FIP. To be honest, I am a little bit frustrated because one doctor asks for another additional test, which given holiday season, I have to wait and it just keeps circling. Then if not, I may have to check if it is Lymphoma (not sure what test to do because I did not get much instruction on that). From his severe brain inflammation and slow response to medication, the doctor was leaning either FIP or Lymphoma, but would other can cause brain inflammation can come from other? Also I understand Predisolone but not sure if Orbax is a proper medication for my situation? Is there any case medication may work slowly? It has been 13 days since I gave orbax + predisolone and I felt like I saw him slightly getting better past 3 days (but I can be wrong too...)
Sorry about long message. I just wanted to give some context of my situation. Any cat parents had this experience, could you share and also help me on this?
To add: My cat's appetite may decreased slightly because he isn't interested in treats, but he also eats his breakfast & dinner fine and still attempts to steal other cats' food after. I saw him drinking more water than usual, but he still moves around, goes to the litter box and did not see anything off.
About a month ago, my cat's behavior suddenly changed. He made hunch over position more often, lowered his neck, circling...I went to the first vet after a week, did blood work and from there, we found elevated ALT (359), bit higher side on AST and lower side of CHOL.Doctor gave me some medication to try out: to bring liver level down. After a week, my cat's symptom was not getting better, but worse, thought his symptom was more like vestibular disease, so I ended up going to another vet. In there, the doctor saw him circling, head tilt and all that, gave me medication (Prednisolone and Orbax) and recommended me to go to Neurologist.
Moving forward (2 weeks after the vet's visit), yesterday, after constantly asked my primary car for referral, I was able to go to Neurologist and had MRI scanned for my cat's brain. The result was something I was not expected. Doctor told me he has severe brain inflammation (encephalitis). They were not able to find masses showing in MRI image, but given how severe and medication did not work much past 13 days (I gave Orbax (0.9ml) and Prednisolone (5mg) once a day), the doctor is leaning toward Lymphoma or FIP, with slight chance of other inflammation diseases.
I am devastated and also not sure what to do after. The doctor recommended me check another doctor for ultrasound to see if it is FIP. To be honest, I am a little bit frustrated because one doctor asks for another additional test, which given holiday season, I have to wait and it just keeps circling. Then if not, I may have to check if it is Lymphoma (not sure what test to do because I did not get much instruction on that). From his severe brain inflammation and slow response to medication, the doctor was leaning either FIP or Lymphoma, but would other can cause brain inflammation can come from other? Also I understand Predisolone but not sure if Orbax is a proper medication for my situation? Is there any case medication may work slowly? It has been 13 days since I gave orbax + predisolone and I felt like I saw him slightly getting better past 3 days (but I can be wrong too...)
Sorry about long message. I just wanted to give some context of my situation. Any cat parents had this experience, could you share and also help me on this?
To add: My cat's appetite may decreased slightly because he isn't interested in treats, but he also eats his breakfast & dinner fine and still attempts to steal other cats' food after. I saw him drinking more water than usual, but he still moves around, goes to the litter box and did not see anything off.