Tummy Ache

half-winking for the camera.  she hates the flash...

We got Layla's bloodwork back on Thursday.  It showed an extremely low level of Vitamin B12, but not much else.

This means that Layla's problem lies in her intestines, not in any of her other abdominal organs.  The question now: what is the problem?

Both vets (my main vet and the specialist) keep saying it's pretty much either Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) or Lymphoma.  However, the only way to distinguish between the two is through performing an endoscopy and taking a biopsy of her intestines.  The outward symptoms for each disease are very similar.

This would cost a hefty sum of money and will require anesthesia, as well as an overnight stay at the hospital.  Both vets think she can handle it, as long as we get her heart checked beforehand.

The other option is starting her on Prednisolone and waiting about a month to see if there are any changes.  If she has IBD, Pred will help tremendously.  My vet said she likely wouldn't be significantly worse after a month, even if the Pred does no good, since whatever she has is a "slow developing" kind of thing, but I really have trouble letting that much time go by with a "wait and see" approach.

Right now, Layla's getting B12 injections.  She got her first one yesterday, and I'll give her another next weekend.  We're going to wait about another week (after she has another injection) and then my vet and I will discuss what the next step is.  She may respond favorably to the B12 alone.

I've been really upset about the whole thing - my cat is pretty happy, eating like a champ and acting normal for the most part (except for being wobbly whenever she shakes her head - she's on antibiotics but unfortunately not responding as quickly as she did the last time she had an ear infection), but the thought of her having lymphoma is really hanging over my head.

Not looking for advice, just needed a place to write all of my thoughts down.. just think good thoughts for us over these next couple of weeks.  In the mean time, I'm going to try to not think about it so much.