I took in kitten Esme (9-Month-old, DSH, female intact) from a Cat Rescue in February of this year into my home, because they gave her way too many antibiotics for undiagnosed collapsing/respiratory/adr episodes and I thought I could fix her right up with some good raw diet......
She has done really well since, aside from a bit stunted growth and beautiful copper colored irises, everything was going well.
Suddenly in May she had one 12-hour episode of vomiting, for which I ran some diagnostics which revealed high ALT and elevated bile acids (123 and later 300eds ) and unfortunately it has been revealed that she has a Liver shunt and 5mm shunting vessel between Vena Cava and Portal Vein. She had a CT Angiogram beginning of July and low protein diet and surgical repair has been recommended.
The shunt has not been repaired yet because I am not sure if I should do it or if the risk is to great in a cat.
My surgeon says 10-15% of cats do not do well, but I have also heard 50-60% might not do well with shunt surgery. Plus nobody knows why cats do worse than dogs.
Esme is being fed a raw diet (Darwins), added Bentonite, small amount of Lactulose, XYS, Standard Process feline hepatic support.
Her Ammonia level is normal.
Esme has been acting just like a normal kitten, maybe sleeping a big more, which makes the decison to put her through surgery and expose her to any kind of risk extra hard.
I have not found any studies that compare PSS patients treated conservatively and with surgery.
Is there such studies, and how do these patients do when we add holistic modalities?
While I was trying to decide what to do with the shunt, another problem was added to this poor, sweet kittens plight: Thursday night I came home to her being unable to use her leg and think she avulsed her Achilles tendon/top of calcaneus.
I tried to find a good surgeon for about a week, everyone seems to think that, if not repaired, it will result in plantigrade stance/inability to use the leg. I presented her to the surgeon today and he thinks that she has a good chance to heal this conservatively with a splint and have decent function. He is suggesting this to avoid anesthetic risk in PSS shunt patient.
His take is either do nothing or if you go in for anesthesia, might repair both problems at once.
Now I am lost in what decisions to make for this kid.
I'll be thankful for any and all input.
Best
Tina