Is anyone familar with x-rays?

furryfella

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I recently took my 16 pound cat to a vet who decided to do an x-ray of the stomach area (she had a rash on the anal area and a history of occasional vomitting). The results showed she had a very large mass pushing against her organs. I saw the x-rays myself and could see this transluscent large mass taking up most of the mid-section area. You could see right thru it to the kidneys and some of the other organs. The vet decided to do surgery to which I agreed after having seen the mass on the x-ray, and discovered this mass to be an excessive amount of fat! My question is for anyone who is knowledgeable about x-rays. Shouldn't the vet have known it was fat because it was transluscent and the cat is overweight or was it smarter to do the surgery to check it out. By the way, all her organs were found to be in great condition.
 

gailuvscats

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Don't know, but it sounds awful!! I would be inclined to ask for the xray and as another vets opinion, and if they said it should have been obvious I would take measures against the first vet. Poor kitty, and how much did he charge?I hope at least he took out the fat.
 

les0304

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It may have been a little more conservative to go with an ultrasound before jumping right into surgery. But, if it looked suspicious to the vet, he obviously had a reason for concern. Was he able to palpate the "mass" prior to surgery?

This probably doesn't help you at all, but I thought I'd give it a try.
 

ezail333

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Hi. hope your kitty is recovering well from the surgery. In regards to abdominal x-rays, here's what I know: An x-ray shows all shades of gray. These shades represent different densities in the area. The more dense an area is... the lighter it will show up on an x-ray. For instance, bone shows up white. Fat is one of the less dense areas and should have been distinguished from muscle or organs. I might be inclined to ask for a copy of the x-ray and bring it to another vet's radiologist for an opinion. I know it is after the fact, but it might help you. Lisa & Toulousse.
 

natalie_ca

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If it had been a tumor as large as you describe you would have been able to feel it by pressing on the cat's abdomen.

It sounds to me like the vet was over eager and I don't like to say this, but doing surgery put more money in his/her pocket. Now whether that was the vet's intention, I don't know, but it certainly seems that the vet should have done non invasive testing instead of jumping into surgery.
 

pg0314

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Originally Posted by furryfella

Shouldn't the vet have known it was fat because it was transluscent and the cat is overweight
Almost everything on an abdominal x-ray shows up as gray, translucent or semi-translucent and you don't get a detailed picture of anything. Some objects are more easily distiguishable than others because of their size (the liver) or their shape (the kidneys) but everything else (bowel, pancreas, etc) is really just a big gray blob. So, no, the vet shouldn't have automatically known the object in question was a fat. It could just as easily been a tumor.

That said, he probably should've done an ultrasound rather than proceeding directly to surgery.
 
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furryfella

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The ultrasound would've cost $300 and she had been having vomitting issues since she was a kitty so I figured going inside might have revealed why this problem was occuring. I opted to save the $300. Would the ultrasound have revealed this area to be fat?
 
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furryfella

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The vet didn't take out the fat because she said that removing fat could cause bleeding and a lot of other complications. Nala is doing great and back to her feisty self!
 

xxpunkkittenxx

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X-rays for the most part, just show what the main source othe problem is in the cat/dog/other pet's body. There may have been a large mass, but until you open up the body to check, the doctor really only has guesses. The doctor would only know for definate if it is routine, but i don't think it was in this case.
My munchkin had xrays done when her tummy was tense and she was in pain. There was a mass in her abdoman, but the doctor told me that it could be a number of things and that could be that mass.
hope i helped!!!
 

xxpunkkittenxx

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I have watched the ultra sound machines ( i work for a vet) and unless it is a color ultrasound, there is the same thing with an x-ray, except you could pinpiont it and the doctor may have an easier time deciphering what it could be. The surgery was nessesary to assess the problem!!
 
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