Enlarged spleen and swollen lymph nodes

[SBContreras]

My girl Tinkerbell (TB) has been "off" for the past few days.  Not as energentic as usual, although she seems to be eating and drinking o.k.  I took her to the vet Wednesday.  TB has an enlarged spleen and swollen lymph nodes in her neck.  The vet also said her breathing was a bit rough.  She prescribed 0.05 ml Baytril 2x/day to see if this will help with the breathing issue.  The vet couldn't say specifically what is causing the enlarged spleen or swollen nodes, other than that it is likely cancer.  She said that steriods might help, but we are going to see what effect the baytril has first (not that we expect any improvement with the spleen/nodes from the baytril, just the breathing).  

Has anyone had any experience with these issues ?

BTW, Tinkerbell is 25 months old and has been spayed.  She is a blue/lilac self, part rex, standard ear.  She was spayed in April of this year due to uterine bleeding.  Also, about 2 months ago, she had a strange one-day  episode of urethral bleeding.  She had a course of baytril for that.  It has not recurred.

Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated.

[Heather]

I was under the impression a servere infection causes the lymph nodes and spleen to swell because of the increased production of white blood cells. I could be wrong though.

[elegy]

my boy with pneumonia has a greatly enlarged spleen that the vet thinks is secondary to the infection. i have no idea beyond that. i don't know anything about spleens.

i hope it's not cancer.

[DebW]

I really hope it's not cancer.  Eloise had similar symptoms.  The swelling started in her neck and over a couple of weeks progressed to all the the lymph nodes.  The vet said it was cancer.  We tried steroids before it got too terrible, but that didn't help. I ended up having her euthanized when she stopped enjoying her Yoggie treats and was sleeping more than playing.  She was a little over 2 years old.

This is what she looked like.  Notice the neck and  shoulder swelling:


I really hope your girl responds to medication and it's nothing serious.  Keeping all human and rattie toes and fingers crossed.