Feline Follow-up

I'm at work on another in the stupid hoomanz series, but occurred to me that some people who drop in here don't know what's up with Spike. Those who have heard of this (via FB) should have details.

Mr. Spike probably has either inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), small cell lymphoma, or both. At this point, the list of what he doesn't have is longer. Doesn't have renal failure, a thyroid condition, leukemia, or FIV (aka kitty AIDS). The biggest immediate problem is appetite. A cat who once topped 20 pounds is down to 11 pounds. Step 1 has been to get something he can eat and will eat. (No cat is ever too sick to give up being finicky.)

Step 2 was to weigh the options the vet presented: either exploratory surgery, which would be followed by chemo ($$$$$) if the Dx of lymphoma was confirmed. The extension of lifespan is unimpressive. Otherwise, a course of prednisone which would increase his appetite and have a very good chance of containing IBD if that's the cause. If it's lymphoma, prednisone is honestly just palliative care. We spent more time getting ourselves around the options than we did making the decision: no surgery; no chemo. Mr. Spike is not the sharpest tool in the shed, owing to a probable brain injury in kittenhood (fell downstairs). He would be even more miserable going through that than an animal of normal intelligence. So the game is just make his tummy feel well enough to be comfortable and make eating OK again, and let him see another spring.

In human years, he's just our age, which makes the experience especially sobering. Dang the critters anyway.