My Cat has an enlarged abdomen
Written by mattnjenn
He is a 4 years old Male named Ty and has been in generally good health. He has never been overweight, normally eats and drinks fine. He does vomit a few times a month sometimes more often, and we assumed it was because of hairballs. This has been occurring for about 2 years.
We just moved into our new home and he stopped vomiting. Within a week he looked like he was gaining weight however his stomach started bulging out and then he started loosing weight. It has been about a month or less. Now he is barely eating (only soft food) and is very lazy, almost lethargic.
We brought him to the vets and assumed it was worms due to his large puffy looking stomach. They said it was not worms and he has fluid in his abdomen. They stuck him in the abdomen with a needle and pulled out a clear yellowish colored fluid.(they said it wasn't viral) They did an x-ray and blood work and all look normal, besides the fluid in the abdomen region. They prescribed furosemide as a diuretic to hope to have his body absorb the fluid. They said they must wait until the fluid goes down until they cstsan test further. Does anyone know what is going on? We are lost and the vet has not been able to determine what is going on. HELP! thank you,
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My cat is going through the same thing as we speak. The tested the fluid that was accumulating in his abdomen and found nothing abnormal. They did bloodwork on him as well and again everything was normal. I just dropped him off to get an ultrasound done today to see if the can find out why this was happening. What was the final results with your cat if you don't mind me asking?
Matt, I am so sorry to hear your kitty is not well. It can be really frustrating not knowing what is going on and what to do about it. The first disease that comes to mind with a swollen abdomen in a fairly young cat is Feline Infectious Peritonitis. If the vet is sure it isn't viral and the blood work and x-rays are normal than that certainly makes the diagnosis more challenging.
It may be worth a trip to a specialist for an ultrasound (unless your vet does it) to get a more detailed look inside. There are many other medical conditions or diseases that are not very common that the specialist is more likely to be familiar with because they see those cases every day. It may be a bit more costly, but it is usually worth it to have answers.
It is impossible to say for sure what is going on with your kitty with the inconclusive testing thus far. Examples of some diseases to rule out would include Lymphoma (cancer), Fatty Liver Disease, Feline Leukemia Virus or a heart condition. These are just a few of the more common medical conditions and there is quite a long list of not so common.
I wish I had more information for you but as you know medicine is not always an exact science for people or animals and diagnostics can be especially more challenging in a patient that cannot talk. Please let us know what you find out and I hope your kitty is feeling better soon. If you have any more questions, I would be happy to try and help. I wish you the best of luck.
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how do you find specialists?
A veterinary specialist will most often have a website or will advertise in the phone book. If your vet is willing to do a referral, they will be able to point you in the right direction. The specialist may or may not require a referral to see you, it usually depends on the individual practice and the medical problem.
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