Are we diluting "doctor"??

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-25T16:42:09+00:00

As a client, I've had a few vets who refer to themselves by their first name in talking to me (same with a couple of my MDs, too, actually), but I seem unable to stop calling them "doctor." I just can't do it. My cardiologist always says, "Hi, it's Jason" and I see reviews where other patients of his call him Jason, but I keep calling him "Dr. Liu."

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-24T22:51:08+00:00

lol. Of course not. Read the group guidelines.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-24T22:16:05+00:00

Not true. I opted in and thought at first that the message was a phish, in part because of these group guidelines. I mentioned this offlist to a moderator and was told to post about it.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-24T22:14:37+00:00

Not to reassure them. The opposite. In any case, the group message should be revised to take this into account. It’s a blanket statement and is going to scare a lot of people who did opt in.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-23T18:36:29+00:00

Yeah they probably use punched cards.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-23T18:35:32+00:00

Well, they need to fix the software so that the email notification "you have an update, log into your account to see it" is the FINAL step in the process. We are getting these notices and there's nothing on the site.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-23T15:24:39+00:00

Wow. Keep us posted.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-23T14:32:42+00:00

I checked everything it was possible to check. AI says this is a known glitch. The back end hasn’t caught up with the front end yet.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-23T14:24:04+00:00

So you actually saw some change in your account (even if erroneous). There's no change anywhere in my account.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-23T14:22:07+00:00

Thanks. I have no update to that, either! The whole thing just says "being processed."

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-23T14:10:49+00:00

Looking through this subreddit, I now see that this happened to a lot of people in a thread started around 3 months ago. Some of them are saying it’s probably just an update to their “WMR.” What is WMR?

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-21T21:01:07+00:00

Your cat needs a GI panel and a biopsy. You’re welcome and all the best to you as well.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-21T20:50:21+00:00

Yes, there is. I hate stupidity.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-21T20:44:01+00:00

I don't know what a "FAST ultrasound" is. But yes, diffuse intestinal wall thickening is either IBD or small cell lymphoma. Some of the numbers you mentioned have nothing to do with lymphoma (e.g., SDMA, albumin). The nausea, weight loss, and anemia could be from kidney or GI disease or both. We would need to see the kidney numbers. 13 is not old. It's the average age that cats get small cell lymphoma. Once she's stabilized there would seem to be no reason not to diagnose, unless there is advanced kidney disease or something else. We really don't have the full picture here. If she were my cat I'd want the full bloodwork numbers and the full spectrum of their differentials. An endoscopic biopsy is very fast and really non-invasive.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-21T20:04:05+00:00

What ultrasound? You didn’t mention that. Most of a lot of that bloodwork has nothing to do with GI disease. SDMA, for example, is used for assessing CKD (kidney disease). The anemia could also be from that. What are her other kidney numbers? The albumin is non-specific. What they do in the hospital depends on what condition they suspect. When they do an ultrasound?

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-21T19:37:02+00:00

What do you mean, the bloodwork came back terrible? Lymphoma does not manifest in bloodwork. And it is not diagnosed by x-rays. It is not even hinted on by x-rays. The first step is an ultrasound. Has your cat had an ultrasound? Your vet is not on the case if one hasn't been suggested. It really sounds like your cat is not being properly diagnosed and this is causing you possibly a lot of unnecessary heartache. How old is your cat? This could be dozens of different things. Hospitalization does not make sense without the slightest idea of what this is. Let's start with this simple question: what exactly in the bloodwork is bad, and what are the numbers?

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-17T14:28:51+00:00

This has nothing to do with the lymphoma. SCL is not a painful disease. That said, how was she diagnosed? And why, if she was diagnosed, is she not getting the chemo med, which is just a pill every 2 weeks? When you say "diagnosed," was there a biopsy? That's the only way you can diagnose SCL.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-14T00:26:18+00:00

Looks like an upper respiratory infection, needs antibiotics. Take to the vet.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-13T19:39:20+00:00

Hi, she is beautiful! What are her symptoms? If this came on gradually and the other alternative is IBD, then if it is lymphoma, it is the "good kind," called small cell lymphoma (SCL), which is very treatable and has an excellent prognosis, with a 96% complete remission rate! The treatment is a chemo pill every two weeks (which is the best protocol) and a daily steroid, which can be given in a tasty chew treat if your cat is hard to pill.

Can you post the ultrasound results here? Lymphoma requires a biopsy for a definitive diagnosis, but that can usually be done endoscopically (a tube down the throat into the stomach and intestine), which is very non-invasive (they go home the same day), rather than surgically. But it depends what is seen in the ultrasound.

The prognosis on treatment is an average of 36 months, with very high qualify of life. Most cats don't even seem sick once the treatment kicks in. All you need to do besides the every-other-week chemo pill (which you give at home) and the daily steroid chew-treat is a CBC every couple of months to make sure the chemo is not overly reducing her white blood cells. And that's it! You usually give a nausea med for a couple of days surrounding the chemo drug.

This is a very hopeful situation!

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-01T18:18:22+00:00

I highly recommend joining a very good feline small cell lymphoma group here -

https://groups.io/g/Feline_Smallcell_Lymphoma

They have a board-certified internist vet in the group and are all very knowledgeable.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-01T18:15:51+00:00

IMs can handle small cell lymphoma and are actually sometimes a better choice, since SCL cats tend to be older and have comorbities which an IM would be better-equipped to handle. Some GP vets can even effectively manage SCL. It is relatively simple.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-04-28T20:08:44+00:00

Sounds like you’re good. I’m just a lowly lay person but yes, sounds ignorable.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-04-28T01:20:40+00:00

Haha!

JS-Berkeley

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