Civvie dental and skin biopsy

Rosa's twin, Regan is having a dental tomorrow - and at the same time, the vet is doing a biopsy to see if we can finally figure out what is causing the lumps on her skin. I know there are many cats in need on here, but if you can spare some vetty vines for her please it would be very much appreciated. I'm really worried (and probably for no good reason) mainly because the last time she had anesthesia was 13 years ago so I've no idea how she'll react to it. Of course I'm a little worried about what might show up on the biopsy too - the vet has absolutely no idea what the scabby areas are!!

 

Sending lots of vines for tomorrow!!

That's the nice thing about good vines....there's never a shortage of them to give away!!!

 

Prayers and healing vines on the way! Good luck tomorrow, please let us know how everything goes!

 

Thank you both. Of course, Regan knows nothing so far except that mean mom took her food away! I will definitely keep you updated.

 

Prayers are on their way.

 

I'm sure she will be fine.

 

Thank you. I just got back from dropping her off. Now I just have to wait - and try to be patient!

 

Sending vines for Regan!

 

Well, the dental may not be happening at this rate. The vet just called me to say that when he started doing her pre-anesthesia check he found an irregular heartbeat. Apparently it comes and goes - it's never shown up at any of her check-ups before so it was news to me that it even existed. So now she has to have a chest x-ray and ECG done and called over to a lab to try and figure out if she can have anesthesia safely. The biopsy will be done either way - he says he can do that under local if necessary.

 

Sending more thoughts, prayers and healing vines to you and Regan!

 

So, no dental for Regan. The vet called back and said that the X-Ray shows her heart and the pulmonary blood vessels are enlarged so what they're hearing is Ventricular Premature Contractions. He said he would put her under and do the dental if I wanted, but that her risk would be higher. He also said the dental isn't desperately urgent, so I chose not to go ahead. He's still going to do the biopsy, but under local anesthesia. And he's going to refer her to a cardiologist for a full assessment on what's going on and whether or not there is a treatment we can add for her.

Some days, I really hate the world. It seems so unfair - first Rosa and now Regan both with problems. I know we're sent our special cats because we'll cope, but how much does one family have to cope with?

 

I am just seeing this.... I am so sorry you Regan is having troubles but I am glad you have a good vet that caught it before he put her under.
When do you see a cardiologist?

 

Thank you Jayla. The really terrifying thing is that, because it's intermittent, we've no idea how long it's been going on. And I know only too well how easy it would have been for her to finish up under anesthesia - it was pure chance that it happened just as he was doing her pre-op check! I'm so glad he didn't just take the second check he did where it didn't show up as being the better one - if he'd assumed it was all stress-related we could have had a much worse outcome to the day!

We were lucky with the cardiologist too. When the vet first suggested it, he said we might be waiting about a month (the cardiologist travels to various vet offices in the area). But when the office manager called the cardiologist's office he said he can fit her in next Thursday so we actually don't have too long to wait.

I also had a thought tonight (after I'd managed to stop panicking about her long enough to think straight). Regan had pneumonia at 5 months old - as a secondary infection following calicivirus. After she recovered from that, she's always had a little bit of a cough on occasion. Nothing major and it was thought to maybe be minor scarring on her lung. But when she had her annual check up when she was 6, the intern who did her check up (that was common practice at my vet in the UK for a young, seemingly healthy animal) said that she had tachycardia. He didn't mention any arrhythmia, but he was fresh out of college and just starting in the field. We though it was stress, and by that point we'd got used to her little cough showing up occasionally so I never linked the 2. Now I'm wondering if the whole thing actually goes back all the way to the calicivirus/pneumonia and this just happens to be the first time that it's happened during the 30 seconds or so a year when the vet actually listens to her heart. It's something I'll definitely be asking the cardiologist about next week. And yes, I'm fully aware that my old vet wasn't all that good - he was scared of Rosa anyway and never really spent much time on any concerns I had with either of them. Now I know better, I know Regan should have had chest X-rays as soon as the cough showed up but it was never mentioned to me as a possibility at the time. And I was just glad then that the pneumonia hadn't killed her because they really thought she only had a 50/50 chance when she first had it.

 

Thinking of you and Regan. Sometimes it really does seem like so much and the worrying is just awful. The price of the love we give and receive I suppose, but some days I wish it were cheaper! Emotionally and financially!

 

April, I am so sorry to hear Regan has problems too. Glad you managed to get an appt. with the cardiologist sooner rather than later. The waiting to get the full story is sometimes the hardest part. In humans, PVCs that occur sporadically are often a benign anomaly and pose no increased health risk. This may be the case with our furry kids too and the fact that this has not been picked up on past exams may actually be a good sign. for you and scritches for Rosa and Regan.

 

Thank you all for the vines, thoughts and kind words. We're really hoping that, as we've seen no behavioral changes and it is sporadic, it turns out to be benign. Waiting for answers is definitely by far the hardest part! Once we know for sure, we can work out how to deal with whatever we need to. I will, of course, update as and when we know more.

 

Well, the biopsy came back as Bowen's disease. And the cardiologist appointment got moved from last week to tomorrow, so the vet doesn't even know yet if it'll be safe to try and treat the existing lesions. Just to top it all off, with everything else that's going on with Rosa still recovering as well, my step son was diagnosed as celiac yesterday so none of the food we have in the house is any use any more. I'd really like not to have anything else to deal with just for a little while now please.

 

(((April))). I'm so sorry for the rough time you and your family have had recently. Sending many prayers for Rosa, Regan, and your stepson.

I just wanted to let you know that my civvie, Tobey, had some PVCs under anesthesia for a dental two years ago. We took him to the cardiologist who did an echo and had him hooked to an EKG. Tobey was stress then as well but he only had a couple PVCs and his heart was normal on echo. He had another EKG 10 months later and it was normal but two months after, under anesthesia again, he threw the PVCs so back to the cardiologist. What they have determined is that the stress causes the PVCs. He doesn't have an arrhythmia or murmur.

I only tell you this because it's possible it's stress.....lets hope so.

 

Thank you Marje. I really do appreciate the hugs, prayers and the hopeful words. I hope the heart issue turns out to be stress-related - at least that way Regan can have whatever treatment seems best to try to control the Bowen's for as long as possible. The one comfort that I do have is that the lesions do not, and have not so far, caused her any pain or discomfort. She really is as happy as can be - she's my same purry, lovey little girl. I just hope she can fight this off for as long as possible. If she can manage to not develop an scc in her mouth and we can stop them becoming invasive, hopefully she can make it through a while longer with us.

 

Sorry to hear that you're going through a tough time. Sending lots of vines in your direction.

If you need any help with going gluten free - recipes, product recommendations, tips, whatever - feel free to send me a PM. I have a gluten intolerance and have been eating gluten free for eight years now.

 

I also hope it will just be stress. I did have another cat with PVCs and a grade III/VI murmur but no other heart anomalies. They put him on a low dose of atenolol which he tolerated beautifully and his EKG became normal. He never had any other heart issues and he did not cross due to his heart.

I hope the vet can help you manage her Bowen's.

More prayers and hugs for your family, April. You are a rock!!!

 

Giving pills doesn't worry me at all - especially with Regan. She's actually a very easy cat to give meds to. If it's that straightforward, I won't have an issue with it at all. Shadow also had a heart murmur, but it was only a grade I/II and she was never treated for it because she'd had it all her life and it was non-threatening on EKG.

I have a few ideas for the vet in case they haven't managed to find all the options (no surprises there - I always have ideas and questions for them...I think they're used to it by now)!!

I don't feel much like a rock at the moment, I'll be honest. I feel like someone's put my brain in the washing machine on fast spin! But we'll get there...one step at a time.

 

I will very likely do just that, thank you Elle. My son is also gluten intolerant, but he had it figured out before his doctor did and pretty much just gave up bread, pasta etc because he didn't like the gluten-free alternatives (this was over 10 years ago and the alternatives weren't really all that good at the time). I'm meeting some resistance this time as my step son doesn't want to give up anything - it makes it pretty difficult when he expects to eat all the same food he's been eating. DH bought 5 gluten free cookbooks which I'm going to try and look through today, but I'm sure I will need some extra hints and tips as some of them don't look to me like great alternatives.

 

We have the echo results. The cardiologist was able to hear the arrhythmia. There is slight enlargement of the left side of her heart too. But there is no murmur and no disturbance in the electrical signals, so he didn't recommend any treatment as he doesn't think it's anything to worry about too much. Finally a little bit of good news! The one thing he did suggest was that they run an atropine challenge on her before she has any kind of general anesthesia, just to make sure atropine will actually work on her if it's needed - her heart rate is, if anything, a little lower than average for a cat.

The vet now wants to speak with an oncologist to figure out the best way of treating the Bowen's lesions. He was very interested in the research I'd done and the treatment options I'd come up with - they do have a cryosurgery unit if that turns out to be a viable option maybe with either the topical or oral treatments as well. And cryo can be done under local anesthesia, so it might be that the anesthesia question doesn't arise in the end. He did say that she won't be in any pain from the lesions...she has never seemed to be, but with cats it's always best to check. But apparently they don't cause pain unless they get big enough to cause pressure on internal organs. Hopefully this is the run of bad news over and we'll get more good news over the next week or so.