Stumpy was diagnosed with Lymphocytic Plasmacytic Stomatitis (LPS) last year. This disease is insidious, frustrating, painful and has no cure. The best hope for cats that contract it is pain management. It's an auto-immune disease where the body thinks that things like their teeth are foreign bodies and attacks the gums to fight off their teeth. Pulling the teeth is an extreme way to treat the disease and Stumpy's teeth were removed last winter.
With no teeth there's nothing left to fight, right? Not in Stumpy's case. His LPS is back in full force and we're at a loss on what to do. The vet suggested laser surgery on his gums and in his throat but everything that I've read on the topic tells me that most cats needs about a dozen rounds of surgery before it take effect and that is only temporary relief. His blood counts are high from fighting off the virus and antibiotics of course aren't helping at all.
We have one more avenue left and I'm going to talk to the vet about it this week. Putting him on strong anti-viral medications like Interferon (e.g. drugs that fight AIDS). The only thing he is on right now is pain medication, steroids and the monthly antibiotic regime. None of this is helping. He's in pain and is starting to eat less.
We put his medications into the wet food that we feed him at night. For the last week, he's been very reluctant to eat as it hurts him to swallow. He takes in a little of it, then we have to pull the bowl and walk away until the pain medication in his food starts to work then we go back and feed him the rest. We can't pill him directly as it hurts too much and he can no longer eat pill pockets (too large for him to manage). We tried a pain patch and he pulls it off so it does no good
For the first time last night, both DH and I had serious thoughts about euthanasia. We were both quiet for a long time and noticed it with each other. When I asked him what was on his mind, he brought up what I had been thinking about. DH is usually my rock when it comes to these decisions, but Stumpy is mostly his cat, and he is more emotional than I am. So we're staring at the elephant in our living room and we're not happy that its here.
In all my years I've faced all sorts of weird diseases and injuries with my critters. This one beats all on the frustration factor. So bear with me if my posts come across being terse - I'm feeling dark and depressed right now. We're on the down side of the evil disease and just hoping that he can rebound through anti-viral medication.
Thanks for listening.
With no teeth there's nothing left to fight, right? Not in Stumpy's case. His LPS is back in full force and we're at a loss on what to do. The vet suggested laser surgery on his gums and in his throat but everything that I've read on the topic tells me that most cats needs about a dozen rounds of surgery before it take effect and that is only temporary relief. His blood counts are high from fighting off the virus and antibiotics of course aren't helping at all.
We have one more avenue left and I'm going to talk to the vet about it this week. Putting him on strong anti-viral medications like Interferon (e.g. drugs that fight AIDS). The only thing he is on right now is pain medication, steroids and the monthly antibiotic regime. None of this is helping. He's in pain and is starting to eat less.
We put his medications into the wet food that we feed him at night. For the last week, he's been very reluctant to eat as it hurts him to swallow. He takes in a little of it, then we have to pull the bowl and walk away until the pain medication in his food starts to work then we go back and feed him the rest. We can't pill him directly as it hurts too much and he can no longer eat pill pockets (too large for him to manage). We tried a pain patch and he pulls it off so it does no good
For the first time last night, both DH and I had serious thoughts about euthanasia. We were both quiet for a long time and noticed it with each other. When I asked him what was on his mind, he brought up what I had been thinking about. DH is usually my rock when it comes to these decisions, but Stumpy is mostly his cat, and he is more emotional than I am. So we're staring at the elephant in our living room and we're not happy that its here.
In all my years I've faced all sorts of weird diseases and injuries with my critters. This one beats all on the frustration factor. So bear with me if my posts come across being terse - I'm feeling dark and depressed right now. We're on the down side of the evil disease and just hoping that he can rebound through anti-viral medication.
Thanks for listening.
