Could my cat have been saved? Was this cancer?

[cpanachyda]

We noticed our cat hadn't been eating. When we took him to the vet due to lack of eating his white blood cell level was 23000, lymphocyte level 11000 monocyte 4000 and his ALT was 471 and billiruben 5.3 (normal is up to .6 so this was very high).He was jaundice.The vet said his liver disease was extensive.They had kept him overnight and he hadn't eaten and vomitted.Her thoughts were that it was hepatic lipidosis secondary to something..most likely cancer.Said without a biopsy couldn't say for sure it was cancer.Said this would be expensive to do and the end result would probably be the same.We put a feeding tube in.He started to eat on his own and we didn't even need to use the tube at first.We had his levels checked again.His liver levels did drop but the lymphocyte levels elevated. He stopped eating on his own.I wonder if it was bc the feeding tube was aggravating him.It seems like he went downhill after seeming to make progress I am feeling extremely guilty b/c I don't even know if we were even treating the underlying cause- of course was getting worse. The other vet said he thought it was cholangioheptatis and said he wouldn't read too much into the white blood cell/lymphocyte levels (although 2 of the other vets did feel it was cancer). Every thing I read made it seem like those levels could have been elevated due to things like pancreatitis or inflammatory bowel disease....things were treatable. I feel like we dropped the ball. Last wkend he stopped eating and the feeding tube clogged being a wkend no one could help us. We got him to the vet on Mon they did another ultrasound that showed an enlarged spleen and liver. I feel like we were starving him and no wonder his body shut down. I feel like I have no closure. If I knew he was battling cancer I would feel like we did what we could. If it were something else I don't know how I can move on feeling like I let my cat down. I regret not pushing for answers.

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

It sounds as if you did everything right.  You allowed your vet to do many of the necessary tests, including a very definitive test which is the ultrasound, and you even allowed a feeding tube to be put in!  It sounds as if there really was not anything additionally that would have helped.

A biopsy would have required surgery and it sounds as if your cat may not have survived surgery even if it had been performed.

You did the right thing by your cat.  He no longer had any quality of life and he would only have deteriorated the longer you waited.  It probably was cancer.

[cpanachyda]

I understand that this is all in the past now and that medicine is not an exact science and bloodwork can give some insight but not having a diagnosis has left me feeling such guilt that there was more we could have done. His levels were decreasing but then we had that trouble with the tube and he stopped eating on his own and we couldn't get him the food. Had we could this outcome be different? everything i read says the liver is the one organ that is able to repair itself and that white blood cell count and lympho mono levels can be elevated due to infection. did we miss treating something like inflammatory bowel or pancreatitis or his teeth.  feel like if we had given him the right nutritional support could have reversed this but could never get a definitive answer as to how much food. makes sense those values went up and liver was so large b/c we weren't feeding him enough or treating any issue. feel like this downhill progression could have been prevented. seems like the symptoms of jaundice,...high liver levels and fluid retention are things that we could have treated