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Middletown, NY, 10940

(845) 386-9738
– Dog Team: Ext. 2
– Cat Team:  Ext. 3

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Case Study “Missy”

By Dale Kantner, Cat Manager

missy.jpgWhen I started working at Pets Alive last June, I must admit to being a bit overwhelmed with the number of cats that lived here. I believe there were about 99, and they were divided into 6 rooms. There was one beautiful 8 year old kitty that lived alone in the kitchen, her name is Missy. I soon found out why Missy lived in the big kitchen all by herself, she HATES all of the other cats!! Or, as I tell her, she is so special that she gets her own room.

Those of you who know Missy, know that she is a staff and volunteer favorite. She definitely has her own personality, part sweetie pie and part MONSTER!

Well, in the last couple of months, my Missy started losing weight and her coat was looking “ratty” (no offense to the rat lovers, I love them too J). She was vomiting almost everyday, and was refusing to eat even the secret special food I would bring in for her. Janet, our vet tech, took her to Dr. Furman for blood tests. Everything came back normal, except for her liver values, they were high. The vet put her on meds and said that we should give her a week and see if she was doing better.

She was not doing any better. Next, Missy got an ultra sound to rule out cancer. Thankfully, it came back negative! Now we were at a loss, Dr. Furmans next move would be exploratory surgery. Before taking that desperate measure, we wanted to seek a second opinion, of course. Janet next took Missy to see a specialist who also thinks it is her liver, as did Dr. Furman.

Missy is presently taking metoclopramide for vomiting, 2.5 mg of prednisolone once a day, and the supplements denosyl and marin. Her appetite seems better most days, and she has not been vomiting as much. She still looks like she is losing weight, and her coat is still not back to normal. She has been taking these meds for a couple of weeks now, and Janet says she probably will be for the rest of her life. We are hoping this will help our Missy get better. It really breaks my heart to see her feeling so poorly all of the time.

We are bringing Missy this week to a third veterinarian to see if there is anything additional that we can try as she continues to do poorly.

Hopefully, soon I will have a good update on my Missy for you. I welcome any suggestions or advice from any of you who has seen this before.

 

UPDATE:

 

Missy’s recent vet visit to specialist (April 2008):
It was very interesting to note that upon meeting Missy and performing a
typical yearly exam, Missy’s specialist noted that based on that info he
would say that Missy was ‘normal’.  But obviously based on prior history,
there is indeed something wrong with her.  He read through all her prior
tests and although he can very easily run additional ultrasounds, he felt
that those would be fruitless.  If we decided to take the path of
additional diagnostics, it indeed would be to surgical remove and send out
biopsies for analysis.  He feels that these biopsies (although they
POSSIBLY could confirm diagnosis), would not change our course of
treatment. If Missy was in grave shape, it should be done, but with Missy
being asymptomatic, he conclusively does not want to open her up.
The drug protocols drawn up originally by Dr. Furman were once again
supported.  This specialist would like Missy to continue on Denamarin (or
Denosyl combined with Marin), Prednisolone, Amoxicillin, and
Metoclopramide (as needed for vomiting episodes).  He stated that some
cats just have chronic liver inflammation (hepatopathy).  Steroids and
liver protectants are the only things that help in those cases.  It’s just
a matter of finding the correct combination of meds to keep her stable.
He did run recheck bloodwork today and the liver values are indeed high.
So we upped the prednisolone to 5mg twice daily.  He would like to recheck
her bloodwork again in one month.
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