Mineral Densities in Cat's Intestinal Tract

by Lisa
(Frederick, MD)

My cat, Trudy, has been sick for some time now. Over the past year, her weight has decreased from 8.3 lbs to 5.3 lbs, although it seems like her appetite keeps increasing. She frequently vomits, her stomach makes loud gurgling noises, and she often makes a loud, guttural wailing noise. Her grooming habits have diminished and she recently started burping. I've had blood work screened three times on her, coming back normal with a slightly elevated WBC (23.7 before a round of Bayril, 18.0 after). Normal thyroid and blood sugar levels ruled out thyroid disease and diabetes.

After three different doctors told me she was fine and healthy and that there was no need to put her through painful diagnostic tests, I took her to a new doctor last week who finally agreed that something was wrong with my baby and thought it in her best interest to run an x-ray.

The x-ray produced curious results, one my doctor has never seen before. I have attached images of the x-rays.

It appears as though there are mineral densities forming in her intestinal tract. My doctor ran a stool analysis to see if this could be caused by parasites, and it came back negative. Tomorrow, my girl goes into exploratory surgery so we can get a biopsy and retrieve a few of these "stones", afraid this might be caused by some form of intestinal cancer.

My question is, have you seen anything like this before? If so, what was the diagnosis and potentially treatment?

After surgery, I am supposed to hear back from my doctor in about week with the pathology results, but I'm on pins and needles waiting.

Thanks for your help,

Lisa


Dear Lisa,

I want to extend my deepest apologies that I was unable to write to you sooner, but we have been overwhelmed with emails lately. Perhaps by the time you read this you will already have an answer from the results of your cat's exploratory surgery, but I wanted to provide some insight in the event you hadn't received results yet.

I have seen these types of x-rays before, and coupled with your cat's other symptoms, unfortunately, this is most consistent with calcifications secondary to feline cancer of the abdomen or intestines. I sincerely hope that any pathology reports you receive bring better news, but in any event, would like to extend an offer for you to write back with updates or any other questions at any time.

Best wishes to both you and Trudy,
Dr. Neely