About two months ago, my female cat began limping. The vet's first suspicion was a sprain or arthritis.
(She had been declawed by a previous owner and uses that paw to box the other cats and dogs, so a sprain was my first thought, too.)
The limp didn't improve and the following week she received a cortisone injection. This had no visible effect, and two weeks later my vet took x-rays. He said her humerus(?) (the upper arm attached at shoulder) -- and only that bone -- was mottled in a way that neither he nor his associates had previously seen. (To me, it looked like someone had sprayed it with blotches uniformly across the surface.)
He forwarded the x-rays to Purdue, and the radiologist called it a bone or calcium infarction and suggested that it might be secondary to an autoimmune or neoplastic condition. We performed a blood chem panel and it was normal except for slightly low PHOS (2.4 mg/dL), WBC (4.32) and NEU (2.38) levels.
My vet offered to perform a full body scan on my cat but doubted that we'd find anything at this point, and I tend to agree.
A friend of a friend said that she'd had a cat with similar symptoms and x-rays and it was diagnosed as osteomyelitis. However, my vet said that this does not have the appearance of osteomyelitis.
Throughout this period, her fur feels great, she's bright-eyed and has a healthy appetite. I have had her for 4 years, and fed her only Wellness or Natura products. (She will eat only dry food.) Except for two outbreaks of (what I believe was) herpes, she has been very healthy. Despite her limp, she doesn't flinch when her arm is manipulated.
The inference of cancer has greatly frightened me, and I am also concerned about the low phosphorus since it is related to bone development.
Has anyone encountered a similar condition? I would be appreciative of any recommendations or suggestions that I could take back to my vet.
Thank you very much.