cat - high cell count

Question
Rusty is our 8-9 year old female cat, spayed, who had lost more weight than usual this summer.  Her only other symptom was loose stools.  She is eating normally.

Our vet drew blood and had the whole range of tests done -- it came back with a very high cell count - lymphocytes were very high.  She suspected either hyperthyroid or feline leukemia, and when it wasn't hyperthyroid she called the lab and asked them to do a test for leukemia.  She just called and said that came back negative.

She had originally (2 days ago) put Rusty on Metronidazole, suspecting irritable bowel syndrome.  Now that the tests are back, she said to reduce dosage from twice a day to once a day for a few more days and then stop the medication.  

She apologized that she doesn't know what is going on--said to wait and see if any other symptoms appear.

It's a bit hard to tell exactly how Rusty is feeling--she is still eating well, but she doesn't like us much ever having seen the doctor, and with us giving her the medication.  So she is basically ignoring us!

Her stools are looking much better.

Just wondered if you have any other ideas.

Thanks -

Kathy Shawl

Answer
She may just have inflammatory bowel disease, which will respond to treatment with metronidazole and a highly digestible diet.  However, there is sometimes a thin line betweeen inflammatory bowel and lymphoma.   The elevated counts could also be due to bacterial overgrowth and underlying infection.  If only her lymphocytes were elevated and not the total white counts, I wouldn't panic.  If the diarrhea persists and she continues to lose weight, then I would recommend having an endoscopy done to get intestinal biopsies.  In addition, as a precaution I would recommend a course of deworming with Panacur to rule out any underlying intestinal parasites even if a stool sample was negative.