hi there
I'm just new here but desperately looking for any help any breeders can give.
My 12 year old bengal girl has had a HUGE abdomen for 16 months now. 3 or 4 times she has returned
to her normal size but only for a few days and then gone huge again, virtually overnight. Apart from the fact that
she looks like she is about to drop a very large litter of kittens any minute , she is fine in herself. Eating fine, drinking
fine , jumping up on top of kitchen cupboards as she always has, playing , fighting with my other 2 bengal girls,etc.
She was spayed at 5yrs old after having had 3 litters of kittens. We stopped breeding 7 yrs ago.
She has seen 4 different vets now and had 2 scans. All have said that she is terminally ill (from well over a year ago )
but none have been able to say what is definitely wrong with her. One vet said she had ascites but that in itself is not a diagnosis.
One said she had a calcified lump in her abdomen plus the ascites, which if she wasn't spayed she would have guessed it was a calcified
kitten. Regarding this, i asked if they could operate to see if it was the lump causing all the problems but was told that if they put her under
anesthesia, she either wouldn't wake up or they may well feel it in her bests interest not to wake her up. She was given diuretics but they made
no difference.
One said she had CKD. One said that she has huge multiple kidney cysts but when she went back to normal size for a few days again and i asked
how that could
happen as the cysts obviously hadn't burst or she would have been extremely ill, the vet then
told me she hadn't really been able to see much on the scan! was she guessing ? She was doing the scan so she could see properly to draw off
fluid but then didn't draw off any fluid as she said it was cysts.
I was told it definitely isn't FIP as one vet drew a very small amount off and said she knew by the fluid it wasn't .
She has always still called (vocally) and runs around with a toy in her mouth as if she's carrying a kitten.
Her daughter still calls vocally also and she is also spayed. The vet told me it was genetic and some do carry
on calling although in a limited way obviously. Initially i thought she was having a phantom pregnancy even though she's
spayed but the vet says that isn't possible.
She is anaemic 22% and i was told a while ago her kidneys are smaller than they should be.
If she was ill and suffering and i would have her PTS but she really isn't !!
I would at least have liked her to have some fluid drawn off so she would be more confortable but that wasn't done.
Any help much appreciated . Thanks .

Welcome to our forum. Know that I am not a vet tech and have no medical education to help you out. You have given a ton of information and it really seems ODD that FOUR different vets cannot determine what is wrong, especially after doing scans. I honestly do not know the difference between a CAT scan or an ultrasound and if they are different, maybe the other one should be done.

I don't know if you have Googled anything, but here is an article that I found which seems to imitate what the vets have been saying:

https://pethelpful.com/cats/Possible-Is ... n-or-Belly

Your gal is acting normal, however, she is a senior kitty, and I understand that surgery can be dangerous for her. I would ask the vets to use any non-invasive measure (X-rays, scans, ultrasounds, etc.) and see if they can find anything. Certainly, there is SOMETHING there. And they should be spotting something, especially if the abdomen is swollen.

I know this concerns you to no end and all I can advise is to continue to search for answers through veterinarians. They have the expertise that we do not. I know you want answers. Definitive answers and I would NEVER take an "I'm not really sure," attitude from a vet. There are vets who specialize in different areas of the body. You may want to get a recommendation from one of your vets.

Hi
Thanks very much for your reply. I will take her back to the vets ( maybe a different one again ) but i have to say that i have lost a lot of faith in vets at the moment because of this
and other problems in the past. I've looked at the link you sent and it's one i've already seen but thanks anyway. I wondered if anyone else, breeders in particular
had ever came across anything like this. The only other info i can think to add ( regarding the weight issue in the link ) is that apart from her very swollen belly
she is very thin now although she eats well and is the one out of my 3 cats who becomes very vocal if she hasn't been fed exactly on time ! She does love her food !
Thanks again.

Hey there

Have any of the vets done a blood test to check the kidneys? This would easily rule that in or out. I've just been checking the situation is the same for cats as it is for humans, and basically the same test of urea and creatinine would indicate a kidney issue. If she is anaemic, that is a symptom of kidney failure. Polycystic kidney cysts can burst and she'd be a bit uncomfortable (but being a cat could disguise it!) and probably have some blood in her urine but obviously that's not always visible. Has a test been done on her urine at all?

I would definitely try another vet as there must be a reason for her to be like this.

Best of luck to you both.

_________________
Clare
Hendrix and Jagger, Brown Marble Boys (born 18 August 2013)
Hampshire, UK

Hi - I've joined because I wanted to point you in the direction of the Vets looking at the Pancreas. My 10yr boy also showed symptoms of anemia and fluid in the tummy and this presented itself a few times with the vets puzzled. He didn't seem in pain and the tummy went down fairly quickly - it turns out cats can reabsorb fluid. We took him to a new vet and after looking at him for 2 mins the vet said he knew what it was and had only ever seem one other cat this this in all his years of practice. Unfortunately it turned out to be pancreatic cancer and we tried everything but lost him. I pray this is not the case with you - but maybe mention the pancreas to the vet and get that ruled out.

SilverSky, welcome to the forum and thank you for your post. I hope the original poster will return and read your message. I am so very sorry your lost your kitty.

While ascites isn't an diagnosis, well it is, but not without a cause, but it's mostly caused by a failing liver. Have they checked her liver function?