Rolling Dog Farm Blog

The test results on our blind cat Turtle — bloodwork, ultrasound, and X-rays — so far had shown only one sign of something amiss.  The X-rays revealed some gas-filled loops of bowel, suggesting possible obstruction.  Thus our primary care vet, Dr. Brenda Culver in Helena, did exploratory surgery today.  Sure enough, she found two sections of Turtle’s intestines where the tissue wall was so thick that the intestine was constricted enough that only fluid or very loose stools could pass by.  This would cause malabsorption of nutrients, explaining her recent weight loss.

Brenda removed both sections of intestine … in one case taking out 1 1/2 inches of bowel and in the other case taking out 3 inches.  (Brenda told me this evening that in a cat Turtle’s size, you can remove up to 12 inches of intestine before you start affecting its ability to do its job.)  The thickened tissue could result from an inflammatory response of some sort, or it could be gastrointestinal lymphoma.  Brenda is sending biopsies of both sections of intestine to Colorado State University’s vet school to find out.  In case it is lymphoma, Brenda also did a biopsy of Turtle’s liver so we’ll know whether it has spread to that organ. 

Turtle’s mesentery (or abdominal) lymph nodes were swollen, too.  This could be a normal response because of the existing "insult" to the intestine, or it could mean lymphoma there, too.  Again, another biopsy for Colorado State.

Brenda told me the good news is that gastrointestinal lymphoma in cats is — unlike other forms of lymphoma — not only treatable but curable as well with chemotherapy.  (Unless, of course, it’s spread to other organs.)  Over the years we have lost more animals to lymphoma than any other single disease, so I was really glad to hear this.  It will be sometime next week before we learn the biopsy results.

Turtle came out of surgery just fine and Brenda reports that she was already purring!

After doing Turtle, Brenda moved on to a much simpler case … neutering our new arrival blind Brody and doing a dental on him.  His teeth were in pretty good shape; he had one cracked tooth that needed to be removed, but otherwise his pearlies are shining.

Both Turtle and Brody will stay in the hospital over the weekend and we’ll pick them up early next week.