Since right now you’re more concerned about the function and if you can put him under anesthesia, I’d go with the liver function test (bile acids). The ultrasound would only tell you IF there is a physical abnormality, not if it is affecting the liver function. IF the liver function comes back abnormal, then yea, an ultrasound (and ultrasound guided biopsy) would be good follow ups.
While we’re not opposed to you posting things like this, we’d much prefer it if you asked for permission from the staff first before publicly posting things like that–which I’m fairly certain you didn’t do, so I’ve taken the link out.
Nothing serious, just ask permission first, please.
Since it was in direct response to FloatyGimpy’s request for it, I didn’t realize I had to. On that note, may I, then?
Okay, we have an appointment for the bile acid function test tomorrow. Dropping him off in the morning, picking him up in the afternoon. It’s a fasting test so we’ll have a very obnoxious kitty in the morning. 
Fingers crossed. The vet said that it’s not unheard of for the bile acids to come back within the normal range even when the enzymes are high, so that’s what we’re hoping for.
Eek.
Well, I hope the mods decide to post the link again. I’m interested in contributing!
With mod permission, here’s the donation page if anyone wants it.
Liver test done yesterday, we’ll probably get results back sometime Friday.
YAY!
His liver function is normal. Once we get sufficient money lined up, we can go forward with the dental work.
Going to try to get him in to the vet this week (though I forgot about that holiday in the middle, so we’ll have to see how that works out…).
We’d appreciate it if people would share the link to the donation page. At the low end we’re still probably around $400 short of the actual cost. Whatever isn’t covered by the kitty fund will have to go on a credit card.
Thanks for spreading the word. Here’s hoping.
Sorry if this seems stupid. But when you said extractions and crowns I had to double take. Extractions I can see, but do they really do crowns for cats? Like fake teeth for cats?
I could only see this being necessary if the cat had so few/no teeth that it couldn’t eat anything… right?
No, crown amputations. Basically instead of pulling the whole tooth, they cut off the top part that’s above the gum and leave the root where it is. If the root is not too bad, it’s actually easier on the cat in terms of healing, easier to do (no digging around in the jawbone or soft tissue), and less expensive. Substantially less expensive, actually.
I have no idea if they do kitty dentures, but we won’t be getting them. 
They do root canals in dogs and cats. Expensive, but it can be done.
i don’t know any small cats or dogs with crowns but…
the tiger that is in the proposal scene of one of the rocky movies, had nearly every tooth crowned. when his son was found to have the same bad tooth thingy, dad and son were taken out of the “tom catting around” line up.
just imagine doing root canals and crowns on a tiger. those are some really big teeth. the food for these tigers were ground up so they were able to eat it. you would see big hunk of meat, big hunk of meat, big pile of ground meat, big hunk of meat, big pile of ground meat; as you went past the cages.
in the wild the tiger wouldn’t have made it past 2ish with the tooth problems, and wouldn’t have had the chance to reproduce.
I hope you can get things taken care of. Our elderly cat just died after a series of medical problems; we knew he wouldn’t live forever, but treatment was looking good and we were blindsided by the suddenness. I’m glad to pitch in some of what we had been expecting to lay out for vet treatment over the next few months. Give your kitty some lovin’ from me!
Thank you, we really appreciate it. My condolences on your cat. My elder cat passed away similarly about a year and a half ago. It was brutal.
No luck with this week, the earliest they have open is the end of the month. The temp agencies I work for are still leaving me twisting in the wind on work schedule (I’ve been pestering them for over a month, and can’t afford to forgo work) so I hope to have that sorted by Thursday so I can freaking pick a day I can be available to drop him off.
Anyway, thanks for the help and for spreading the word.
Well, the bad news is, the temp agencies (or the client, rather) have screwed me over with work: first I was to start on the 9th, FT for three weeks before dropping to half time; then it was half time only starting today; and now… well, they dunno… :rolleyes:
So I have no work for the foreseeable future. In good news, I went ahead and made his dental appointment. Earliest we could get was Aug. 2. We have about $400 in the kitty fund right now. I don’t really know what we’ll do for the other half, but I hope that I get some work that amounts to more than the 2-3 hours per week I’ve been getting.
If anyone can pass the link to the donation page around, we would really appreciate it.
Well, he’s at the vet and they’ll be fixing his teeth today. He was VERY anxious when we left him there, and frankly, so am I. Just kind of waiting and hoping for the best. We’ll be picking him up later tonight.
So, how did it go? Hoping all is well. Also hoping your job has gotten straightened out. Let us know.
Well, a couple hours later I got a phone call that he’d lost an entire pound in the time it took to get him his dental appointment, so after consulting with another of the vets there they decided to run a thyroid test. His dental cleaning went well, and he only lost three teeth, and he came home stoned out of his mind on opiates which he did not like at all. He had a rough time recovering at home, mostly because he didn’t want to lie down and sleep off the drugs, but he couldn’t walk a straight line either. Eventually he settled down, but the poor guy… he couldn’t squat to pee without falling over, so he’d climb into the box, turn around, fall over, get up, squat, fall over, and then just bascially go “fuck it,” and lie in the box. (Good thing we’d cleaned it.) Finally he decided he would pee while sitting, which more or less worked, and I cleaned his bottom off with a washcloth.
Anyway, after 24 hours he was sober again, and has been eating well. And the thyroid test solved the mystery, as it turns out he’s hyperthyroid, which explains the wonky liver values, the panting, the low tolerance for heat, even his habit of over-grooming. And once his mouth stopped hurting, he started eating like a horse, too. We’ll be starting him on daily meds as soon as they arrive in the mail, and after a few weeks we’ll retest and see how it’s working.
Right now, we’ve got a couple more days to go on softened food, and then his mouth will be healed enough for kibble, and some attempts at swabbing his teeth (which will likely involve a kitty burrito).
The job is still screwy. I am hoping that it will get sorted out this week (but hey, I’ve been hoping that for about 5 or 6 weeks now…)
He is, however, in really good spirits. He clearly feels a lot better now.
I’m glad your kitty got help and is doing alright now. When the vet noticed one of our cats was losing teeth, all he said was that ‘they don’t need them, nothing to worry about.’ Now I’m worried 
She still eats everything, including the kibble, and they get wet food twice a day, so I’m not too worried about that. Now I’m worried the vet just blew off what might be a very serious issue. He said it was…well, I forget what he SAID, but he EXPLAINED it as her immune system attacking her teeth, nothing to be done about it. But now I’m wondering just what to look out for in regards to it turning into an issue that something CAN be done about.