Lungworm?

[Kater]

Wow, I didn't realize the kidneys were as small as kidney beans! I knew they were kidney bean shaped though.

Hehe, I feel obligated to let you all know that cat kidneys are not the size of kidney beans! The only exception might possibly be neonates. The standard-sized housecat's healthy kidney is somewhere in the range of 2-4 inches long (This is an estimate from my memory, we normally measure kidneys as a ratio of the size of a particular vertebrae in cats). Anyway, bigger than a kidney bean! That's why veterinarians can palpate them on physical examination (assuming the kitty is not too chubby).

They sent the results to a university in Colorado for some specialist to evaluate and nothing could be seen in his nasal passages. They did a biopsy of his nasal passage tissue and the only result of that was that the tissue was somewhat 'inflammed' but they couldn't determine from what.

CSU! That's my school.

I don't want to get him xrayed further but do you think the donut things on the xrays already done could be caused by lungworm? That's what I'm wondering about.

I'm pretty sure the donuts could represent a variety of generalized lung damage. I'm not sure if they were calcified areas or what (I'd need more information), but yes, they could probably indicate lungworms as well as numerous other types of damage. Sometimes we see very specific types of changes in a radiograph (xray) that can lead us pretty directly to a diagnosis, but a lot of times we just observe general tissue or organ abnormalities and have to investigate further from there.

With regard to heartworm, we don't have it in the southern part of B.C. and Jimmy was a stray found in Southern B.C. and we also live in the southern part as well. The other cats come from the south too. But maybe Jimmy belonged to someone at some point in the northern part who moved to the southern part and then abandoned him or maybe he just ran away. Hmmmmm, I wonder.

You're probably right that it belongs VERY low on the doctor's differential list, but it's severely underdiagnosed so I thought it was worth mentioning.

Does heartworm show up on an xray? I know there is a heartworm test but just wondering if my vet had another look at the xrays if she could see anything in his heart.

They are not visible on radiograph (xray) as far as I am aware. In SOME cases they may be visible in ultrasound, I believe (probably with an infestation of higher numbers). The preferred diagnostic method for cats is a blood test, but not the same one used on dogs. In cats we primarily look for ANTIBODY to heartworm (we look for ANTIGEN in dogs), so the bloodwork would probably have to be sent out to a lab. However, it is a fairly simple test and might be worth ruling out.

I don't think Jimmy is in late stage kidney failure because the vet ran a complete blood panel on him a few months ago and all his organs were functioning normally, including his one kidney. She was a bit surprised by this but thought it was great.

Glad to hear it!!

I'll be picking up the panacur early next week and will post afterward. Do you happen to know if they are infected with lungworm if they will throw up alot after the meds?

I'm sorry...I'm not sure how well Panacur is tolerated in cases of lungworm. Hopefully your vet can provide some insight.

Hope that helps! Let me know if you have more questions.
Good thoughts for your meow-meows!