April 8 Radar - syringe feeding this am - lymphatic cancer" ruled out"- eating improves a little

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Jan Radar (GA)

Jan Radar (GA)

Member Since 2015
yesterday's post

Last night at midnight we extracted Radar from under a bed and practiced syringe feeding on the kitchen counter. Our subject was very patient with us as we squirted too much or missed his mouth completely. :eek: The end result was that we got a good amount of food into him and we learned a lot.

Overnight he ate a little bit of the Orijen Cat and Kitten food on his own. I checked on him every few hours and checked his bg levels. This morning he ate a few bites of food on his own but he was unwilling to eat more than a bite or two. So we did another round of syringe feeding to get enough calories in him so we could give him insulin. He needed a big long drink and a thorough face washing when we were done but now he's happily curled up in his favorite morning napping place instead of hiding under a bed. This is a great improvement from last night! We will continue the syringe feedings today with the hope that he will be willing to eat on his own soon.

The vet's office did call to tell me that the tissue samples they took last week are not cancerous. So that means they've ruled out lymphatic cancer as the cause of Radar's tummy troubles. Tomorrow I will be calling the vet so we can figure out what medication we can try next or what we can do to help him feel better. He looks uncomfortable and is doing some breadloafing. He is also very inclined to hide which is an indicator that he just doesn't feel good. If anyone has suggestions for things to ask the vet about, please let me know. Thanks in advance for whatever experience or ideas you are willing to share.
 
Hi Jan

I’m glad he’s a little better but so sorry to hear he’s not been eating or feeling well.

I read back and saw that they did an ultrasound guided needle biopsy last week of his lymph nodes and that is what they state was negative. How did his intestines look? Were they thickened? I’m asking since you indicate in your signature that he has suspected IBD. But they’ve never confirmed it? How are his poos and does he vomit, and, if so, how often?

How much and how often are you giving the ondansetron? You can give it every 8 hours and in some IBD cats, I’ve see them give it every 6 but if you aren’t doing every 8 hours, you might want to try that.

One thing that my vets have always said is that needle biopsies are not really that good of a diagnostic tool. There might not be any cancer in the sample they got but it doesn’t rally tell you what’s going on in the tissues they don’t sample and whether there is IBD or lymphoma.

I looked at his labs and all I see for April 3 is the CBC and a cholesterol. Did they not do a complete panel? I read they said he had a UTI. Are there test results indicating that and what antibiotic did they give?
 
Marje and Gracie said:
Hi Jan

I’m glad he’s a little better but so sorry to hear he’s not been eating or feeling well.

I read back and saw that they did an ultrasound guided needle biopsy last week of his lymph nodes and that is what they state was negative. How did his intestines look? Were they thickened? I’m asking since you indicate in your signature that he has suspected IBD. But they’ve never confirmed it? How are his poos and does he vomit, and, if so, how often?

How much and how often are you giving the ondansetron? You can give it every 8 hours and in some IBD cats, I’ve see them give it every 6 but if you aren’t doing every 8 hours, you might want to try that.

One thing that my vets have always said is that needle biopsies are not really that good of a diagnostic tool. There might not be any cancer in the sample they got but it doesn’t rally tell you what’s going on in the tissues they don’t sample and whether there is IBD or lymphoma.

I looked at his labs and all I see for April 3 is the CBC and a cholesterol. Did they not do a complete panel? I read they said he had a UTI. Are there test results indicating that and what antibiotic did they give?
Click to expand...
They did not give me a paper with the results... they told me the following: the connection point between the lower and upper intestine is enlarged and the lymph nodes in that area are enlarged. They did not see thickening of the intestinal wall.
He does vomit but it's not very often.
His poop has been nice sausage shaped but a little soft in recent days. I have not checked today...
 
Marje and Gracie said:
Hi Jan

I’m glad he’s a little better but so sorry to hear he’s not been eating or feeling well.

I read back and saw that they did an ultrasound guided needle biopsy last week of his lymph nodes and that is what they state was negative. How did his intestines look? Were they thickened? I’m asking since you indicate in your signature that he has suspected IBD. But they’ve never confirmed it? How are his poos and does he vomit, and, if so, how often?

How much and how often are you giving the ondansetron? You can give it every 8 hours and in some IBD cats, I’ve see them give it every 6 but if you aren’t doing every 8 hours, you might want to try that.

One thing that my vets have always said is that needle biopsies are not really that good of a diagnostic tool. There might not be any cancer in the sample they got but it doesn’t rally tell you what’s going on in the tissues they don’t sample and whether there is IBD or lymphoma.

I looked at his labs and all I see for April 3 is the CBC and a cholesterol. Did they not do a complete panel? I read they said he had a UTI. Are there test results indicating that and what antibiotic did they give?
Click to expand...
 
Marje and Gracie said:
Hi Jan

I’m glad he’s a little better but so sorry to hear he’s not been eating or feeling well.

I read back and saw that they did an ultrasound guided needle biopsy last week of his lymph nodes and that is what they state was negative. How did his intestines look? Were they thickened? I’m asking since you indicate in your signature that he has suspected IBD. But they’ve never confirmed it? How are his poos and does he vomit, and, if so, how often?

How much and how often are you giving the ondansetron? You can give it every 8 hours and in some IBD cats, I’ve see them give it every 6 but if you aren’t doing every 8 hours, you might want to try that.
?
Click to expand...
I'm giving 1/2 ondansetron at a time. Sometimes we give it 2x a day but most of the time we can't do 3x because we are at work.... The bottle says he can have " 1/2 to 1 tablet daily. Can repeat 8 to 24 hours" BRB with a LB report
 
Jan Radar said:
They did not give me a paper with the results... they told me the following: the connection point between the lower and upper intestine is enlarged and the lymph nodes in that area are enlarged. They did not see thickening of the intestinal wall.
He does vomit but it's not very often.
His poop has been nice sausage shaped but a little soft in recent days. I have not checked today...
Click to expand...
Here's the LB report: There is poop in small sausages and lots of urine balls. No signs of diarreahea. I don't think he's pooped yet today.. ... could he be constipated? maybe SEB would help?
 
Radar has emerged from under the bed on his own. He used the LB and got a drink and ate a few pieces of Orijen Cat and Kitten food on his own. I'm hoping that the SEB syrup I made will go in without too much trouble. We'll see if that helps him continue to improve.
 
Do you know if the vet did a PARR test on the ultrasound guided fine needle biopsy? A regular FNA of the lymph nodes cannot be used to diagnose lymphoma. They have to do either a biopsy or endoscopy of the intenstines. Having said that, Neko could not have either of those done because her heart could not tolerate the anesthesia needed for the procedures. Her IM vet (in consultation with the oncologist) was pretty sure she had lymphoma from her ultrasound. She was prescribed budesonide, which helped her intestinal inflammation quite a bit, and did not impact her blood sugars.

Good luck with the SEB syrup. I made mine with chicken broth (plain water used to cook plain chicken), and that seemed to go over well.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Do you know if the vet did a PARR test on the ultrasound guided fine needle biopsy? A regular FNA of the lymph nodes cannot be used to diagnose lymphoma. They have to do either a biopsy or endoscopy of the intenstines. Having said that, Neko could not have either of those done because her heart could not tolerate the anesthesia needed for the procedures. Her IM vet (in consultation with the oncologist) was pretty sure she had lymphoma from her ultrasound. She was prescribed budesonide, which helped her intestinal inflammation quite a bit, and did not impact her blood sugars.

Good luck with the SEB syrup. I made mine with chicken broth (plain water used to cook plain chicken), and that seemed to go over well.
Click to expand...
I don't know much about exactly what they did on the ultrasound guided biopsy. I do know that he was awake during the procedure. When I get a copy of the report from the vet's office, I will figure out how to attach it to my lab sheet on my ss.

I love the idea of using chicken broth instead of plain water to make the SEB syrup. I will give that a try when I make the next batch. :)
 
Radar has been eating a/d on his own this afternoon along with eating a few pieces of Orijen Cat and Kitten. He's still wanting to hide under the bed some of the time but he has spent some of today washing his tummy and just hanging out in whatever room I'm in... He even came to tell me that he needed a snack with "that look" which can't be ignored. I guess we'll continue to monitor his eating very closely and try to keep him eating. Hopefully he will continue to mostly cooperate with our efforts.
 
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