Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Ramsah's Puzzling Problem

9 a.m. on Tuesday, and it's 63 degrees with 73% humidity.  We're expecting a high in the low 80s, with temperatures building back up into the 90s as the week progresses.  My friend Nancy is still awaiting the results of her cat's, Ramsah, tests from yesterday. We were going to pick Ramsah up yesterday afternoon, but the ultrasound was delayed by an emergency surgery - so all we know is that no tumor was visualized, but they did a needle aspiration biopsy of her liver.  Her symptoms are odd, and the vets are puzzled.  She has had at least 3 guardians, and is at least 12 years old; she has a small to medium frame; and is overweight.  The first week of June, she had a very nasty head cold, with tons of congestion; and it has slowly gotten better.  About two weeks ago, I commented to Nancy that Ramsah's hind end looked wobbly - as if her hind legs didn't want to support her.  Around that same time, Ramsah started to occasionally urinate on the rug by the bed - which was totally out of character for her - and Nancy started finding an occasional "dingle berry" on that same rug.  We took Ramsah in to the vet, and a urinalysis was done.  It showed a slightly elevated bilirubin count, but everything else was normal.
   This past week, Ramsah's hind end has looked much weaker to me.  Then, the other day, she jumped up onto the bed, next to Nancy, and urinated.  We took her to the vet again.  This time, she had lost 1 1/2 pounds in 6 days, so blood work was done, especially a liver function test.  Those results came back with abnormally high readings in some areas, and low readings on some odd items.
Her unsteadiness was readily apparent to the vet.  So she has been in the vet's care since Saturday night.  As I wrote earlier, the ultrasound of her liver and spleen did not show any tumors, and it didn't show a fatty liver, either.  Therefore, the needle biopsy was performed.  That didn't occur until after 6 last night...  We're waiting for word that she can be brought back home.  And for the biopsy results....
Anyone out there have any guesses?

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