Tabby - Health Update

HoundDogMom here,

It appears that my Tabby Girl is giving Dr. T a run for his money.  He said that her X-rays all looked good and she does not have any tenderness or swelling of her belly, no fever.  She is in NO pain, but very obviously that she doesn't feel good at all.  He went ahead and sent the blood work off and we should get the results today (5/19).  He also took some samples from some lumps that she had just to make sure that they were not cancer, those results should be back by Friday.  He made several attempts to get her to eat, but she would not eat anything and he said she just doesn't seem to give a "hoot" about anything.  He gave her a B-12 injection and a steriod injection before sending her home with me.  We were told to try whatever we can to get her to eat.

When I got home with her we cooked up some hamburger (boiled) with rice.  Gave her about 1/2 cup of this along with her meds, I couldn't believe it she ate all of it.  Not sure if she tasted any of it as it went down, but at least she ate.  I did not want to overwhelm her with food, so that is all we gave her for the night.

This morning (5/19) I gave her another 1/2 cup of her special food, which she again ate immedately then proceeded to get about 10 pieces of regular dog food from Cleo's bowl which she hate fine.  She is keeping everything down and no running poo either.  These are 2 things Dr. T has me watching for know that we have her eating small amounts.

Well just got off the phone with the vet this morning (5/19).  He got the blood panel back but not the information from the slides he sent from the lumps.  He said that the blood panel indicates very "HIGH" liver counts, higher than when she was in there in March.  We thought we had it under control because she was eating and doing everything great.  It just shows me how quickly the liver can regress back.  So after seeing these counts he went and re-checked her x-ray and he said that he could see some roughness around the edge of the liver.  He said this could be some signs of cancer but the only way to know is by doing an ultra-sound.  Which we may consider once we get her feeling a little better and get some meat back on her bones.  They only have one lady in our town that goes around with the Ultra-Sound machine, so it would need to be scheduled in advance and costs around $250.  I think it is worth it, just to have an answer one way or another.  Not that we would necessary put her through all the treatments for this if it was found out that she had cancer of the liver.  With her being 12, I really have to look at the quality of life she has had and what it would do to her to go through treatment with no guarantees.

So for know, we are going to feed her 3-4 times a day very small meals of her "special" feedings.  Boiled hamburger/rice, chicken/rice or similiar things that are easy on her tummy.  Dr. T is going to give her some steriods to help with inflamation and we will take it one day at a time.  Once we get some weight back on her we will schedule the ultra-sound to make some final determination on her health.

I have already been through Liver disease with one dog (my 2nd basset Elliott) passed away from Liver disease 3 years ago.  Unfortunately this is a very hard disease to watch your animal go through.  They can basically waste away to nothing right before your eyes.

We will continue to treat Tabby like a queen and hopefully keep her pain free while we work through her course of treatment.

Thanks to all for sending prayers/drools to Tabby.

HoundDogMom, Tabby, Cleo, Winston and Amiee