From: kathrynw%radian@natinst.com (Kathryn Whitworth)
Subject: Update on Casey
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 17:14:27 GMT
Organization: Radian Corporation, Austin, Texas

Thanks to all who sent good vibes our way!

Casey is at home now, the first day he's spent at home in a week.  He still
feels a mite poorly, but that's to be expected.  The incision seems to be
healing well and hasn't seemed to inhibit his mobility.

The biopsies showed that he does indeed have Inflammatory Bowel Diease with
resulting changes in the gastric system.  Also, fibrosis of the pylorus --
so it seems that between the pylorus not opening properly and the hairball,
he just wasn't getting any nourishment for a few days.  I know he'd been
eating, but wasn't aware that it was coming right back up (the dogs take
care of the evidence when they can reach it).

His liver is not quite normal, but not that bad; apparently it's a side-
effect of the prednisone.  It's one we'll accept:  better to be happy
and live a little shorter, then utterly miserable without the side-
effects of the pred.  Yes, it makes Casey feel better; he's made that
very clear.

Dr. K. now has him on antibiotics, Flagyl and Azium for the IBD.  I'm 
going to switch him to a different food, as there may be a food allergy
component.

Casey is eating, though not very much (he begged for some of the dry dog
food the other night!  very unusual).  What he eats, stays down.  I need
to find something he adores to tempt him into eating now; later, he'll
get what he gets.

I'm still watching him carefully; if he seems seedy, he'll go right back.
But just being at home seems to help a lot (even if they do love him at
the clinic, and Dr. B. carries him around and lets him look out windows).

What we have learned from all this, and from the literature:
	We should have been more aggressive in diagnosis and treatment.
	An endoscopy when he was anethesized for his teeth-cleaning
	would have been a Good Idea, along with biopsies.

	We should have worked on the dietary aspect (I wasn't aware of
	the allergy connection until I got the literature).  Even 
	though I have changed foods a number of times, without much
	effect, I haven't been buying the hypoallergic foods.  The
	article states that Science Diet prescription foods are good
	(are we surprised?), as well as Hill's Feline, Iams Feline,
	and for colitis, Tender Vittles.  There were one or two others
	mentioned that I don't remember right now.

	When the Azium didn't do much to control the symptoms, we
	should have tried other medications, like the Flagyl.  I
	think the article mentioned another med, but I can't re-
	member now what it was.

It's a good thing Casey's good abt taking pills!

(Normally Casey and the dog Ben take turns seeing the vet:  this time
they decided to do it together.  Ben had a lump behind one of his
nipples.  It turned out to be a benign granuloma instead of a mast cell
tumor.  Whew!  However, my disposable income for the next six months is
disposed of already.  That's quite all right:  I have't had a sweater
yet that sat in my lap and purred, or a pair of shoes that licked my
hand.  Gotta put these things into proportion, right?)

Kathryn Roth Whitworth

Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats