The neurology team over at Medvet West has not signed off on their reports yet. Unfortunately they are not in on Friday so we will not get the report until Monday. We did not want to leave you hanging until then. We will certainly update you with a more detailed report as soon as we can.
Here is what we are looking at for now:
A MRI will pinpoint the lesions in his body. Unfortunately because he is having issues in multiple places, he will need to have a multi region MRI. This increases the cost exponentially. After speaking with our team of doctors both here and in France that we have been working with, we still believe that this is exactly what we need to do first. It’s just so expensive.
Since Jalapeño has been paralyzed since October, his muscle mass has decreased. This is to be expected. There is also a little bit of concern on the fact that this muscle loss could be neuromuscular disease. If that is the case a EMG and a joint fluid tap could determine this. The cost of that is almost $3000. That’s also a hard
pill to swallow!
They did tell us then if we did all of those diagnostics under one anesthetic charge it would be cheaper than the estimates that they gave us. We can’t imagine ever being able to raise the funds for all of it. We would love that to happen, but we know it’s next to impossible.
So we have to choose. Plan 1 or Plan 2. Unless we can make miracles happen, we think the MRI is probably our best choice now. We have raised $2500. That means we have to raise $2500 more to make this happen.
If you would like to continue on this journey with Jalapeño by helping him get these diagnostics, we would be ever so grateful!
You can do so by calling MedVet directly. an
d donating to our account there. Donating that way also does not take fees out of your donation. He will get 100% of that. MedVet West 216.362.6000
You can also donate w Facebook giving or visit our website for PayPal, credit or ways to mail a check. www.ebcatproject.org/donate
Euclid Beach Cat Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit cat rescue. Your donation is tax deductible under the fullest extent of the law.
Plans Explained:
Plan 1: $2500
Electromyography (EMG) and Nerve Conduction Velocity (NCV) OCTOBER 1, 2017 There are many reasons our pets can have weakness and difficulty walking, including diseases of the muscles and nerves. There should be no recordable electrical activity in animals that are asleep and not moving. However, in animals with peripheral nerve or muscle disease, EMG often shows abnormal spontaneous electrical activity. EMG is used in combination with nerve conduction velocity testing and muscle/nerve biopsies to help diagnose neuromuscular disorders.
Electromyography (EMG) allows veterinary neurologists to evaluate the health of nerves and muscles in anesthetized patients. EMG utilizes small needles (<1 mm diameter) to record electrical activity within muscles. When an animal is anesthetized EMG should not identify any electrical activity within a normal muscle. EMG of
animals with either muscle or nerve diseases often identifies spontaneous electrical activity, which is abnormal. This test is often followed by a nerve conduction velocity (NCV) to further isolate the abnormalities to either the muscle or of the nerve.
A muscle disease would have an abnormal EMG and a normal NCV. A nerve disease would have both an abnormal EMG and abnormal NCV.
Electromyography (EMG) is a recording of electrical activity within the muscles after placing a small needle electrode into the muscle. In people, EMG is done fully awake. Since we cannot explain to animals that they might be a little uncomfortable, this procedure is performed under general anesthesia. & Joint Tap to check for: Polyarthritis
Read about it: https://www.vetspecialists.com/vet-blog-landing/animal-health-articles/2020/04/13/immune-mediated-polyarthritis-in-dogs-and-cats
Plan 2: $4000-$5000
Multi Region MRI Cervical and Thoracolumbar
We are hoping to pinpoint the lesions in his body from FIP. We believe it has left behind many points of scar tissue. The estimate has increased 50% because of the need for multi regions scanned.