Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
Hello - I say this a lot on this forum, but never in my many years of vetting have I heard a vet say that they don't have a clue, shrug, and leave it there, without proposing to take the issue any further. Nor have I ever met a vet who can identify every problem from the outside on first presentation and sometimes, it is not obvious from the radiograph either. Obviously I have only your history to go on and no patient in front of me, but I hope that what your vet has done and would be prepared to offer more than you are conscious of. For example, if the back legs are being dragged / sluggish / not working, I would expect them to have made some effort to rule out aortic thromboembolism (this tends to present as an emergency, severe unmistakable pain) and spinal problems, as best they can from the outside (quick neuro exam) and considered disc diseases. I would expect them to have assessed how much pain they feel that your cat is in, and perhaps offered pain releif (cats are very good at hiding pain, so often pain releif might be given anyway). If the cause of the pain is not evident on radiographs, I suspect that they would consider things like pancreatitis, which cause internal pain and which they can test for. If the cat might be ill rather than painful, I might expect them to eg assess the size and function of the liver and kidneys and perhaps to take bloods. I would expect them to have listened to the chest and assessed the diaphagm. Im afraid that we are not allowed to assess radiohraphs on this site because your vet has more context in order to assess these radiographs than I do. EG I cannot see a diaphragm on the DV but that is because of the view of the shot I can see (I am viewing this on a phone and the picture is limited). So I am in no legitimate position to assess the radiographs. Your vet will have looked at the picture in context.
I think that in your position, I would go back to your vet and make a list of the symptoms and clinical signs together. Then I would ask, what things do we know that could stil be causing these signs? Which is most likely, given the tests that we've done, and what can we do to rule it out? What can be done to help your cat in the meantime?
Even though they have no diagnosis yet, it is likely that your vet knows ways to help your cat.
I hope that something here is helpful.
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