My husband and I took Grey to the vet in March for vomiting and soft stool. She had previously been to the vet in January for a respiratory infection. We found out during the March visit that Grey had lost a pound since the last visit in January. She is very overweight (19.5 lb to 18.5 in March) so a pound is not as big a deal. Still, I had a dread in my stomach when I heard about the pound weight loss because based on research last year for my IBD kitty I knew that weight loss was a sign of lymphoma. For some reason in this March visit I had mentioned to the vet that I had been out of town for almost 3 weeks in February and she latched onto this as an excuse for the weight loss. She said that disruption to a schedule could explain the loss of weight. I didn't buy this because Grey is really attached to my husband and I think she prefers having him all to herself! But she had not been eating as much during the respiratory infection and for a period afterwards so my husband and I figured the weight loss was a result of her being sick.
During this visit, the vet told us to monitor her eating and if she continued to have a diminished appetite we should bring her back to check for pancreatitis. She never suggested once that we should monitor her weight. The next day I told my husband that we should buy a baby scale and monitor her weight. My husband was convinced she was okay and I got complacent and just believed that the respiratory infection explained everything. She also had become very picky with food so it was easy to attribute some weight loss to that. (A food is the greatest in the world so you order a lifetime supply from Chewy and all of a sudden the food is garbage. You know how it goes with these kitties!) Other than being picky she was eating and seemed back to normal so we were not concerned.
Anyway, we did start monitoring her weight a bit later and when the weight loss got worse we scheduled an ultrasound. We got the results today and it is bad news. A few weeks ago it started rattling around in my mind that the vet only told us to monitor her food and not her weight. It is so hard to find a good vet and we had some horrific experiences with our previous vet, but I started thinking it might be time to find a new one. Ultimately it is our responsibility and I blame myself for not pushing for an ultrasound in March. But I just found out this week that my husband expected Grey to act sick and that is why he was not concerned. (This is his first cat and I did not realize he was not aware that cats can mask illness very easily.) I wonder if he would have understood the situation better if the vet had suggested we monitor her weight ourselves or bring her in for a follow-up visit to re-weigh her.
I already had some concerns about the vet because when I read IBD info on this site, I see people talking about different things their vets are doing. Our vet seems pretty thorough and responds to questions and does give time, but I feel like everything with her is more textbook response. I do not feel like she is as proactive as I would like. Last year after the IBD diagnosis we discussed a novel protein diet and that was it. There was no discussion of supllementation, probiotics... I had done some research on IBD and I think she realized that but I got the diagnosis and a two-minute discussion and that was it.
It occurred to me today that last year, when my other cat had 4 hairballs in 4 days (during shedding season), the vet wanted to schedule that cat for an ultrasound right away to check for IBD or lymphoma. But with Grey she was so unconcerned. It just struck me that the approach to the two cats was so different.
Anyway, I know that that ultimately my husband and I are responsible for Grey and we made some decisions that we are regretting. We have access to information and it is our responsibiltiy to be as proactive as possible. With that said, I am angry at my vet because she seemed so dismissive about Grey's weight loss. If I had not known about lymphoma and weight loss, I would not have been concerned at all. At least we caught the cancer a little bit earlier because of the baby scale. It would have been better if we had acted in March but I hope we still have some time to redeem the situation.
This is more a rant than anything. I have already decided we will have to find a new vet. Tomorrow's order of business is to set up an oncology consult. I have already read a lot of info on this forum regarding GI lymphoma but I would love any suggestions on some steps we can take to help. I know we need to get her on the chemo to help with weight loss, and possibly work on diet. Grey never got an IBD diagnosis but I know there is room for improvement no matter what. Any diet suggestions? Supplements?
Sorry for the long post. Thanks everybody for your time.
During this visit, the vet told us to monitor her eating and if she continued to have a diminished appetite we should bring her back to check for pancreatitis. She never suggested once that we should monitor her weight. The next day I told my husband that we should buy a baby scale and monitor her weight. My husband was convinced she was okay and I got complacent and just believed that the respiratory infection explained everything. She also had become very picky with food so it was easy to attribute some weight loss to that. (A food is the greatest in the world so you order a lifetime supply from Chewy and all of a sudden the food is garbage. You know how it goes with these kitties!) Other than being picky she was eating and seemed back to normal so we were not concerned.
Anyway, we did start monitoring her weight a bit later and when the weight loss got worse we scheduled an ultrasound. We got the results today and it is bad news. A few weeks ago it started rattling around in my mind that the vet only told us to monitor her food and not her weight. It is so hard to find a good vet and we had some horrific experiences with our previous vet, but I started thinking it might be time to find a new one. Ultimately it is our responsibility and I blame myself for not pushing for an ultrasound in March. But I just found out this week that my husband expected Grey to act sick and that is why he was not concerned. (This is his first cat and I did not realize he was not aware that cats can mask illness very easily.) I wonder if he would have understood the situation better if the vet had suggested we monitor her weight ourselves or bring her in for a follow-up visit to re-weigh her.
I already had some concerns about the vet because when I read IBD info on this site, I see people talking about different things their vets are doing. Our vet seems pretty thorough and responds to questions and does give time, but I feel like everything with her is more textbook response. I do not feel like she is as proactive as I would like. Last year after the IBD diagnosis we discussed a novel protein diet and that was it. There was no discussion of supllementation, probiotics... I had done some research on IBD and I think she realized that but I got the diagnosis and a two-minute discussion and that was it.
It occurred to me today that last year, when my other cat had 4 hairballs in 4 days (during shedding season), the vet wanted to schedule that cat for an ultrasound right away to check for IBD or lymphoma. But with Grey she was so unconcerned. It just struck me that the approach to the two cats was so different.
Anyway, I know that that ultimately my husband and I are responsible for Grey and we made some decisions that we are regretting. We have access to information and it is our responsibiltiy to be as proactive as possible. With that said, I am angry at my vet because she seemed so dismissive about Grey's weight loss. If I had not known about lymphoma and weight loss, I would not have been concerned at all. At least we caught the cancer a little bit earlier because of the baby scale. It would have been better if we had acted in March but I hope we still have some time to redeem the situation.
This is more a rant than anything. I have already decided we will have to find a new vet. Tomorrow's order of business is to set up an oncology consult. I have already read a lot of info on this forum regarding GI lymphoma but I would love any suggestions on some steps we can take to help. I know we need to get her on the chemo to help with weight loss, and possibly work on diet. Grey never got an IBD diagnosis but I know there is room for improvement no matter what. Any diet suggestions? Supplements?
Sorry for the long post. Thanks everybody for your time.
