Cat: Swollen lymph nodes

About two months ago, I adopted a kitten from a rescue center. When
she came home, she had very bad diarrhoea, passing no solid material
whatsoever. I tried worming her and changing her diet, which in the
short term didn't seem to have any affect. Referring this condition
to the vet, his suggestion was that the diarrhoea could be stress
related and would settle down. Over the past three weeks, the
kitten's formation of faeces has greatly improved, and although not
fully firm, resembles "normal" material, but more often than not is
much softer than my other cat's bowel movements.


The kitten has recently been spayed. During the operation, the
veterinary surgeon noticed that the lymph nodes on the kitten's
intestines were abnormally large. Apparently, the lymph nodes were the

size of a cherry stone as opposed to the normal size of a lentil. As
this raised the vet's concerns, he took the time during the operation
to perform a test for FIV and Leukaemia. To my relief, the result of
the tests was negative.


Currently, the vet is administering antibiotics (an injection) every
two days and monitoring progress in an attempt to address an intestinal

bacterial infection. However, it is difficult to find any improvement
of the kitten's bowel movement- and we no longer have the advantage
of being able to examine the kitten's bowel lymph nodes through the
abdominal opening available during the spaying operation.


The situation now has raised questions as to why the cat's lymph
nodes are so swollen, if this is indeed an issue, and what, if
anything, can be done. Strangely enough, the kitten is bright,
doesn't appear to be in any pain, is very playful and does not
exhibit any signs of illness at all (other than soft bowel movements).


I'm not in any way attempting to pass derogatory comments about my
vet- in fact he an excellent track record and I would highly recommend
him. However, I would be grateful for additional advice and opinions
as to what could be causing the problem- if at all there is a problem.


Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi Ron,

I'm glad you're trying to get to the root of the problem.

Did your vet do any blood tests? If not, I'd ask for a full work-up. For
one thing, you want to see if there are any white blood cells from an
infection.

We had a cat with pancreatitus, which can cause constant diarrhea, and
another cat that had the pan leukopenia virus (feline distemper.) There
are so many things that could have that symptom, though.

If a cause is not found after a blood test, I would get a second opinion
from another vet. Not to be derogatory to your vet, but it sometimes
takes a few creative minds to get to the bottom of some of the
less-apparent causes.

Let us know what happens,

Rhonda

Ron Hoaste wrote:

About two months ago, I adopted a kitten from a rescue center. When
she came home, she had very bad diarrhoea, passing no solid material
whatsoever. I tried worming her and changing her diet, which in the
short term didn't seem to have any affect. Referring this condition
to the vet, his suggestion was that the diarrhoea could be stress
related and would settle down. Over the past three weeks, the
kitten's formation of faeces has greatly improved, and although not
fully firm, resembles "normal" material, but more often than not is
much softer than my other cat's bowel movements.


The kitten has recently been spayed. During the operation, the
veterinary surgeon noticed that the lymph nodes on the kitten's
intestines were abnormally large. Apparently, the lymph nodes were the

size of a cherry stone as opposed to the normal size of a lentil. As
this raised the vet's concerns, he took the time during the operation
to perform a test for FIV and Leukaemia. To my relief, the result of
the tests was negative.


Currently, the vet is administering antibiotics (an injection) every
two days and monitoring progress in an attempt to address an intestinal

bacterial infection. However, it is difficult to find any improvement
of the kitten's bowel movement- and we no longer have the advantage
of being able to examine the kitten's bowel lymph nodes through the
abdominal opening available during the spaying operation.


The situation now has raised questions as to why the cat's lymph
nodes are so swollen, if this is indeed an issue, and what, if
anything, can be done. Strangely enough, the kitten is bright,
doesn't appear to be in any pain, is very playful and does not
exhibit any signs of illness at all (other than soft bowel movements).


I'm not in any way attempting to pass derogatory comments about my
vet- in fact he an excellent track record and I would highly recommend
him. However, I would be grateful for additional advice and opinions
as to what could be causing the problem- if at all there is a problem.


Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi Rhonda,

Thanks for your reply - it's very useful. As soon as I get to the
bottom of what's going on, I'll post more information here.

Regards,
Ron

"Ron Hoaste" wrote in message
ups.com...
About two months ago, I adopted a kitten from a rescue center. When
she came home, she had very bad diarrhoea, passing no solid material
whatsoever. I tried worming

How many times? It takes at least 2 wormings to kill all of the worms. The
first worming only kills the worms in the intestines- that's probably why
her stools improved temporarily. The first worming doesn't kill the larvae
that have migrated from the intestines- you have to wait 2-3 weeks for the
larvae to complete their migration back to the intestines before you can
kill them. Sometimes it might even take 3 wormings to get rid of them
completely. You need to have her stool examined for eggs a few times to
make sure you killed all of them. Eggs might not be present in every bowel
movement, so she'll probably need a few fecal exams. You don't have to
bring her to the vet for every fecal- just drop off fresh samples. Fecal
exams cost about $10- your vet probably won't charge you every time.


The kitten has recently been spayed. During the operation, the
veterinary surgeon noticed that the lymph nodes on the kitten's
intestines were abnormally large.


Could be a result of larval activity in wall of small intestine- which can
also cause eosinophilia (WBCs that help the body to fight infection from
parasites). I think you have some bloodwork done to check her eos count as
well as to rule out any disease processes.

Good luck,

Phil