It’s been four days since Bunny came back from the vet’s and his condition took a turn for the worse.
It was sometime around Chinese New Year when Bunny started showing signs of weakening and deteriorating. Before that, it was up and down.
But Bunny has been aging quite rapidly, getting more frail by the day.
During the vet visit that day, a few possibilities were mentioned but the brain tumour stayed in my mind and perhaps I was in a bit of a shock. The word “tumour” or “cancer” always scares us.
I already knew Bunny had intestinal problems and I had been managing that since mid-October 2022. All of a sudden, his chronic constipation took a 180 degree turn and became diarrhoea.
A bit later on, we realised that Bunny was losing protein through the loose stools which could not be resolved. It was off and on. Sometimes, on luckier days, he would have well-formed stools, but it did not last. Initially I thought loose stools would be better than constipation. At least he was defecating without the need of constipation medicines or enemas. At least he isn’t straining to defecate anymore.
But that was not so.
He probably developed inflammatory bowel disease then. The vet mentioned this four days ago during the visit, she said it could be inflammatory bowel disease too. In October, the other vet said it was “GI intolerance”. And supplements were already prescribed to address the issue. They did not exactly work very well as the problem persisted.
Inflammatory bowel disease – I know nothing about this. So only today I started Googling for information.
Here’s one: https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/inflammatory-bowel-disease-in-cats
This site summarises it quite well: https://www.sharonlakes.com/site/blog-south-charlotte-vet/2021/01/15/life-expectancy-ibd-cats
We had actually treated it since October with most of the supplements mentioned in the link above. We did deworming, supplemented with folic acid and B-12, probiotics (three types, alternating). We just had not used steroids then. Long term steroids was also not good for Bunny, being a kidney patient.
There is no cure for IBD; it is just management of the disease. But being FIV+ as in Bunny’s case would render the prognosis not good.
Most sites also mentioned that IBD in cats can lead to intestinal lymphoma.
And this:
Lymphoma in cats: https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/lymphoma-in-cats
When the vet said she saw many lymphocytes in Bunny’s ear-prick blood test that day, I did not know what lymphocytes were. I vaguely recalled in Form Five Biology that they are a form of white blood cells.
Lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphocytes. Lymphocytes are cells that are involved in the immune system. Lymphocytes travel throughout the body in the blood and lymphatic vessels; therefore, lymphoma is always considered to be a systemic, not localized, disease.
In general:
So it all makes sense now. Inflammatory bowel disease, though treated, can lead to lymphoma and the most common lymphoma is intestinal lymphoma. And this can spread to the brain.
Perhaps that is what had happened with Bunny. At least I have a clearer picture now.
And I know we have done our best too. And I’m still doing the best I can now.
Goodnight, Bunny.
I just found this article: http://www.eurekaselect.com/chapter/16354
Bioresis has a high concentration of beta glucan 1,3. 1,6.