Time For A Specialist

Layla went back to the vet (finally) on Friday night.  I stalled quite a few extra weeks because, in all honesty, she was happy and eating well, and I didn't want to stress her or her body out with another blood draw so quickly after the last one.

As it turns out, she lost more weight - about a pound since her previous vet visit 6 or 7 weeks ago.  She's down to 6.1 pounds.  Due to this, my vet opted to not take blood, and, he, instead, filled out the dreaded referral form for what is arguably my least favorite place in the entire world - Garden State Veterinary Specialists. No reason to draw blood now, he said, if they will repeat everything when she goes there.

I've been to GSVS once before and although I have no complaints about the way they cared for Layla through her battle with allergies, it's so depressing there.  I get way too emotional over seeing very sick animals (one of the main reasons I did not go through with being Pre-Vet in undergrad).  I might just have to strike up a deal with my mom, so that she sits in the waiting room until our name is called, so I can just whisk my way in quickly from the car.  I simply CANNOT deal with it.

Because she's eating well and still losing weight, there is obviously some sort of malabsorption issue going on.  She's producing a LOT of poop (much of which is formed, but quite soft), and therefore might not be retaining nutrients as well as she should be. It may be something as benign as an intolerance to the food she's on (all of these problems seem to have started right after the whole food switching debacle).  It could be Irritable Bowel Disorder (definitely not farfetched for a cat with a lifespan's worth of digestive issues).  It could also be something more serious, like gastrointestinal lymphoma.

My vet did say that IBD is consistent with her voracious appetite, gurgly stomach, and stool output.  He did, however, say that IBD and lymphoma present very similarly in the early stages.

I'm hopeful that what ever she has is something that can be fixed or managed, but the fact that the dreaded C word has come up twice in the past few months is a bit unsettling.

Either way, we're scheduled for an appointment with an Internal Medicine veterinarian on Saturday at 2 PM.

It may not even give us a definitive answer, as I am pretty set on NOT putting Layla through any invasive procedures.  X-Rays? Fine. Ultrasound? Fine.  Bloodwork with all sorts of fancy panels? Fine.  But I'm really not comfortable putting her under general anesthesia at her age (12-13).

I'm just trying to stay positive and take things as they come.  I hope that Saturday will be the end of our vet visits and worries for a while.