Fluid in Abdomen

Poor Rho has had a rough few days...

I started giving him an all wet, low carb diet in the beginning of the month, and started home testing around that time too. I stopped giving insulin, as his numbers were floating around 150 most of the time.

I ended up bringing him to the emergency vet this morning because he was in and out of the litter box trying to go for about an hour. I then realized that he hadn't pooped for a full day or peed in about 14 hours (last cleaning).

The vet did bloodwork, x-rays, attempted a urinalysis (failed), gave some fluids, cerenia, and sent me home with an appetite stimulant. The biggest thing was that upon doing the x-rays, she determined there was free floating fluid in his abdomen. She does not know what it is or where it came from and recommended further diagnosis by ultrasound at another vet (she was not confident in her ultrasound skills).

I have the bloodwork in my hand, as well as a little testing she did on the fluid. I can post if it would be helpful - I am mostly wondering if anyone else has had experience with similar fluid. X-rays of the heart and lungs lead the Dr. to believe those are both ok, and after looking at a slide of the fluid she does not think it's a ruptured bladder or infection. She believes it is likely a disease of an abdominal organ (but not kidneys) or possibly cancer.

The fluid is off to the lab for ID, but that will take until the end of the week. I can call around to other vets in the AM to see that availability and cost of an ultrasound.

 

I debated on whether to even tell you this. I am going to, but please try not to be 'freaked out' by it. You need further testing before you know what you are dealing with, and it may not be anything this bad. Okay?

Several years ago, I rubbed Jordan's belly, and it seemed much firmer than normal. I had been out of town a few days. I took him to the vet, and they said it was full of fluid. They extracted some to make him feel more comfortable and told me he needed to have a biopsy. During the biopsy, they determined that he had cancer in his belly. When he was in recovery from the biopsy, I called to check on him, and they said he was doing well and that I could take him home that afternoon. When I was on my way to pick him up, they called me to say he had died. He had just turned 11 and had never had any health problems at all, so it was completely shocking and devastating.

My advice to you would be to get whatever testing done as soon as you can so that you know what you are dealing with and can start addressing it. I hope it turns out to be something that is very treatable. Please let us know what you find out.

 

I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to Jordan, but I am very glad you decided to share with me.

I do know it could be a few different things, but I am also trying to prepare and find out what options we might have ahead of time. My husband is the provider so I don't have my "own" money to spend on various treatments - yes, HIS money is really OUR money, and MY cat is really OUR cat - so it's a discussion we will both need to have an agree on. I racked up $1300 this spring with Rho's diabetes diagnosis, and another $900 for today's visit.

Of course, My poor husband is on a rough project, with a tight schedule, working 14 hour days, 7 days a week, so I'm sure he's going to be so excited to talk about this at 9pm when he gets home tonight...

 

Well, I was able to get some urine once Rho was back home - drove all the way back to the vet to have it tested.

No ketones, no glucose, but the WBC count was high so she sent me home with some antibiotics. In her opinion, we can keep an eye on him and hope things continue to improve (he ate when we got home, he peed) and wait for the lab results on the fluid in his abdomen before going on with an ultrasound.

I'm hesitant waiting up to a whole week for those fluid results to come back though. I would think there's a possibility more fluid would form, making the ultrasound even more difficult and uncomfortable for my cat. Plus, if something really bad is going on, thats another week undiagnosed...