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Old July 4th 03, 03:52 AM
Kalyahna
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"Arjun Ray" wrote in message
...
In , "Kalyahna"
wrote:

| As for his diagnosis? Beyond it being a liver problem, and quite severe,
| nothing further came of it.

What were the numbers? Was he being hydrated besides being force-fed?
Did the radiographs you wrote about show anything abnormal?


I don't know the numbers.
He was being forcefed watery, warm a/d. His hydration was good until a
couple of days before I took him in.
The radiographs were never taken. The vet didn't believe they would show us
anything new.

| The staff vet, when asked for her honest opinion,

Was this the same staff vet who told you that declawing doesn't involve
amputation?


No.

| said that fatty liver would be the best-case scenario, require months of
| rehabilitation,

It varies, but yes, recovery is far from overnight. However, hepatic
lipidosis is *very* treatable if caught early enough.


I'm assuming hepatic lipidosis is the same thing as fatty liver disease.
Realize that perhaps you're a vet, or a vet tech, or you're just very well
educated, but any technical terms I know are ones I've picked up, and as I'm
generally just a lowly cage-cleaner, I don't exactly hang out with the techs
and vets.

| and the only way to know if it even was fatty liver would be a biopsy,
| which would require surgery, which he wouldn't be likely to wake from.

In other words, the radiographs showed nothing, the bloodwork showed
elevated liver values, the cat had stopped eating, the cat showed signs
of jaundice, and HL was *not* a probable diagnosis?


Even the techs realized that he was in trouble, just looking at the test
results performed in lab. The cat was yellow. The insides of his ears had
gone yellow. His third eyelids were yellowed.
Because of his medical history (as I said), the vet said that fatty liver
disease would be the best-case diagnosis. It might have been impending liver
failure completely, for all I know.

| So I made the call, and held him while he was put down.

In other words, pulling the cat out of hepatic lipidosis would have been
too much hassle.


For a shelter with unlimited funds, perhaps they would have treated him in
an intensive care unit and tube fed him for however long it took to get him
better. Perhaps they could have risked a surgery he might not have survived.
We're not a shelter with unlimited funds.
I went with what I was being told. People with much more experience in
making judgement calls on this sort of thing told me what they would do in
my shoes, what would be best for a suffering cat, and I chose to end his
suffering. I chose to follow their experience.
Feel free to continue thinking I gave him up without the slightest remorse.