HELP! intestinal eosinophilic sclerosing fibroplasia

My cat Maggie was just diagnosed with "Feline intestinal eosinophilic sclerosing fibroplasia." They thought it was advanced cancer, but tests reveal this to be the mass, Do you have any insight on this? She has no symptoms (eating, drinking, playing) but they project the mass to be 2x2 inches...and she's only 8 pounds. Everyone's confused and there is no information on the Internet. (Only 7 unique google hits and I've read them all-- almost all studies were done retrospectively, postmortem.)

Do you have any ideas/advice? (Maggie is an 8 year old Persian, indoors, 8.4 pounds. never been on any medication nor has had any medical issues.)

Thank you for any insight. After spending the past 10 days preparing for her passing, this is a SHOCK!

I hadn't heard of it till now and like you I went to the internet and looked at some articles about it so I have no insights.  What I found is that it has only recently been identified and it sounds like another one of those diseases involving the immune system.  What I found of a study done on kitties that were alive and treated surgically those kitties all had symptoms like IBD or small cell lymphoma has.  That seems to be a constant with all the diseases involving the immune system, there are no set group of symptoms.  Each kitty presents in a different way.

Thank you for that. The bizarre thing is that she's operating at 100%. This was discovered by accident. Perhaps serious and medical management will help...? If anyone else had first hand experience, please let me knwo

Hi MaggiesDad and welcome to the forum !

Well.....besides being a head-turner, that IS a mouthful,actually, more like several mouthfuls! What's worse for me, "eosinophilic" (which, itself, took my tongue ages to 'get around') now becomes a combo of some other tongue-twisters! Agggggggghhhhhhhh!

I wondered why I'd never heard of it and soon found out that it is a fairly recent discovery in feline medicine...and, while the symptoms are very frequently observed, they are most often attributed to other conditions.

I took to Google as well (with different search terms) and found a couple of solid references which expound on this in language that's (at least) somewhat more decipherable:

1. http://www.winnfelinefoundation.org...cats---gi-eosinophilic-sclerosing-fibroplasia
2. http://vetbook.org/wiki/cat/index.p...ntestinal_eosinophilic_sclerosing_fibroplasia

The second of the two opens things up more...cause remains unknown with both bacterial and immune involvement....some treatment options as well as a dozen references. (a surprise is that it's not always intestinal nor exclusively in felines....so a possible misnomen)

Google terms were "fibroplasia in cats".

Now, you say "everyone's confused..." - if that includes your Vet(s), that's a concern.

Do you live in any proximity to a Vet college? You can use this if you're unsure http://www.aavmc.org/Member-Institutions.aspx    These institutions usually have the 'best of the best' by way of veterinary specialists. You might consider insisting that your Vet find out who knows what about this at the closest school.....alternatively, most consummate Vets know the best resources for difficult/obscure conditions. At the very least, your Vets should be connected to an online veterinary community where they should expect to receive some direction.

 The bizarre thing is that she's operating at 100%. This was discovered by accident.....

Click to expand...

Now, that is a mind-bender !  Perhaps this could mean that you've caught this in an early stage - that might well bode well for her future, considering the poor prognosis for cats when the discovery comes late.....if it were me, I think I'd be putting some fire under the Vets I was dealing with....as in, time is everything.

Hope something there helps.

This is great. Yes, if you saw her-- she's eating, talking, purring, using the litter box. It's baffling.

The vet clinic is a great one and they're doing a huge consult group today. They understand the diagnosis and know that there are treatments.....but aren't sure what would help a cat with no presenting symptoms. In essence, they are surprised she's not "sicker."

Stay tuned for updates.