EOSINOPHILIC GRANULOMA COMPLEX...any advice?
From doing a search I know that Pearl has this diagnosis. I was just wondering if I could get some specific advice about it. Oscar was just diagnosed with this issue. Since I really haven't posted much lately (yes, Pinot's Mom, I'm trying to find time to fix that. ;) ), here's the background on Oscar. He was a stray that showed up a couple years ago at my parents house. He was added to the outside crew. Eventually he started limping. Off to the vet he went. Tons of money later and just short of an MRI, nothing could be found to be wrong with him. He was given some pain medicine and came to live in my garage in a large dog kennel for 6 weeks or so. He was assumed that he must have torn a ligament. After he was feeling better and couldn't stand to be in the garage any longer, he went back to Mom's house. A little while later the limp returned just as bad. My nieces were sure that he would be killed out there so they begged my brother in law and their uncle to let him move in with my sister and him. They live on property that connects with my parents land. That was about a year ago. He's decided my sister is his mom and follows her everywhere. The other 3 cats weren't thrilled with his arrival but learned to tolerate him for the most part. Eventually his limp healed and hasn't returned. They've recently acquired a puppy they found running down the road. The puppy and Oscar have been come best friends.
Now for the current situation. When I was visiting, I noticed that Oscar was drooling and had foul smelling breath. I asked them about it and they said that he had a snaggle tooth. I looked and noticed a large sore. Long story short, he went to the vet about 2 weeks ago. Of course, I'm the contact for all of these cats, so the vet called me to say that Oscar had a huge growth under his tongue. He couldn't tell by looking what it was and wanted to do a biopsy. Of course after having been through the mouth cancer with Morgan, none of us were very optimistic. When they went to pick Oscar up, the vet was much more positive. He said that the entire lump came out very easily and he was able to get a good margin all around it. He said that it was huge though and showed it to my mom. She said that it was at least an inch long. He put 25 stitches in Oscar's mouth, sent him home and the lump off to be biopsied. The results came back yesterday...eosinophilic granuloma complex. From what he said, this is basically caused by an allergy. He said it is very hard to find what exactly is causing the allergy and most times it is bacteria that forms in the mouth that causes it. He said the treatment is steroid shots when it flairs up. Eventually it gets so bad that they end up pulling all the cat's teeth and that usually ends the problem. Oscar had been recovering very well and was back wrestling with the puppy. But a few days ago, he lost interest in eating and started throwing up liquid. Back to the vet he went today. More blood tests and exams, and besides being dehydrated, Oscar was fine. They gave him fluids and a steroid shot. The vet assumes, because without doing a scope he can't be positive, that Oscar may have more of the granulomas in his intestines and that is causing the vomiting. He'd been eating dry food up until his surgery. Since his mouth was so sore, they'd been giving him canned. We don't know if that change affected the condition or not. I asked about an allergy to food, and he said that any food allergy is related to the kind of protein in the food rather than the carbs or dyes. He suggested finding the main protein in his dry food and looking for a canned food with a similar protein, since maybe the change in protein in the canned may have contributed to the intestinal trouble.
From what I read, Pearl is on a grain free diet and that keeps her EGC under control. Was that something suggested by her vet? Does anyone else have any experience with this? I am just starting to research online about it, but haven't come across the remove all the teeth treatment yet. Oscar's vet said that he has some cats that get a steroid treatment twice a year and others that get one every month. It just depends on how often it reoccurs. Any first hand information I can get would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
