Vet anticipated a hairball, reported back confused

[thudfactor]

Hi! I took my ten-year-old cat to the vet yesterday because she'd had intermittent vomiting and no bowel movements for several days. Otherwise active, not in any obvious pain. X-rays showed a dialated small intestine. After a conservative 24 hours with subcutaneous fluids and no food showed no improvement, we elected for exploratory surgery.

The surgeon said she thought she had found a hairball, but when cutting found the small intestinal wall was thickened near the colon. She said it looked like healthy tissue, and not like any IBD or cancer they have seen. This is a well-established vet affiliated with the local vet school, so I imagine they've seen a lot of both.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has had something similar happen? A vet reporting back "confused" is ... frustrating. Thank you!

 

[fionasmom]

This was sent out for pathology, right?

 

[thudfactor]

This was sent out for pathology, right?

It was, I am just … impatient and upset. Pathology is going to take a week.

 

[fionasmom]

Certainly understandable that you are upset about your cat as any of us would be. This could be some odd, uncommon growth and this will be the end of it. If it were to be anything more serious, you will at least definitely know what it is and be able to plan a course of action.

 

[stephanietx]

I'd be frustrated, too, but at least some things may have been ruled out.

 

[silent meowlook]

I know it is hard to wait that long.

 

[thudfactor]

(11 days later!) We have something resembling a diagnosis. Our kitty has something that falls under the umbrella of IBD, but apparently it's a version of it my clinic's senior vet has never run into before either. He's trying to figure out what the treatment protocol should be. Fortunately there's a veterinary teaching hospital down the road, and he's called in there for some backup. We might end up there ourselves anyway to short-cut figuring out the trigger.

Many years ago I had a cat with skin problems that turned out to be allergies, and we opted for the allergy testing so we didn't spend months on various restriction diets with no success. (He turned out to be allergic to dust and stock mites, so those would have been pointless anyway.)

 

[silent meowlook]

Thank you for the update.

 

[fionasmom]

I completely agree with cutting to the chase on this and getting some help from the teaching hospital. Your vet is to be given credit for reaching out to them himself.