Moggieslegacy
Savannah Super Cat
Before you said the vet said Akila had FIP, you mentioned they were thinking Akila had either a thyroid problem or portosystemic liver shunt.
I have been feeling incompetent to ask much about blood work results, but based on my own limited experience a fasting bile acid test and then another bile acid test right after eating are what is normally used to rule out a liver shunt, and one of the early symptoms of this is stunted growth.
Was Akila given these 2 bile acid tests to rule this out?
Moggie’s resting bile acid turned out to be too high to draw any conclusions except something was seriously wrong, and an ultrasound to look at his liver, which was so diminished the vet could not feel it, was the next plan, but he passed away before this happened. So if the liver shunt was not entirely ruled out by the bile acid tests, this would be something else to check out while using an ultrasound. The link below also mentions ultrasound can be one of the things used to diagnose this. If caught early these shunts can sometimes be managed through a low protein diet and lactulous which reduces the ammonia in the blood stream. And a complete cure through surgery is possible in about 50% of cases, though this is very very expensive and would only be affordable for many if their cat had a good health insurance plan
http://veterinarycalendar.dvm360.co...og-and-cat-proceedings?id=&sk=&date=&pageID=2
I have been feeling incompetent to ask much about blood work results, but based on my own limited experience a fasting bile acid test and then another bile acid test right after eating are what is normally used to rule out a liver shunt, and one of the early symptoms of this is stunted growth.
Was Akila given these 2 bile acid tests to rule this out?
Moggie’s resting bile acid turned out to be too high to draw any conclusions except something was seriously wrong, and an ultrasound to look at his liver, which was so diminished the vet could not feel it, was the next plan, but he passed away before this happened. So if the liver shunt was not entirely ruled out by the bile acid tests, this would be something else to check out while using an ultrasound. The link below also mentions ultrasound can be one of the things used to diagnose this. If caught early these shunts can sometimes be managed through a low protein diet and lactulous which reduces the ammonia in the blood stream. And a complete cure through surgery is possible in about 50% of cases, though this is very very expensive and would only be affordable for many if their cat had a good health insurance plan
http://veterinarycalendar.dvm360.co...og-and-cat-proceedings?id=&sk=&date=&pageID=2
