Open Sore clotting time. (Cancer wound)

Kind of a add on to my previous post. Here

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...53#post2862653

So Lona has been taken to the vet, she has large cell cancer.

It has broken through the out layer of her skin. Its now a open sore, I had it biopsied. It broke through Wednesday morning and started weeping. I put a compress on and lavage'd the wound. Double dose of antibiotics since Friday morning repeating every 12 hours.

Its not clotting though, kind of at a loss of what to do next. She is loosing tons of fluids through this wound. Its got a bit of a red tint to it from the needles but mainly serum. She is drinking tons of water and eating well though.

So whats the time frame on clotting in cats. Most of my experience is with things like cuts and bit marks not sores. Normally its stitches and a afternoon alone. Just want to make her comfortable.

Originally Posted by wearymicrobe

Kind of a add on to my previous post. Here

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...53#post2862653

So Lona has been taken to the vet, she has large cell cancer.

It has broken through the out layer of her skin. Its now a open sore, I had it biopsied. It broke through Wednesday morning and started weeping. I put a compress on and lavage'd the wound. Double dose of antibiotics since Friday morning repeating every 12 hours.

Its not clotting though, kind of at a loss of what to do next. She is loosing tons of fluids through this wound. Its got a bit of a red tint to it from the needles but mainly serum. She is drinking tons of water and eating well though.

So whats the time frame on clotting in cats. Most of my experience is with things like cuts and bit marks not sores. Normally its stitches and a afternoon alone. Just want to make her comfortable.

Click to expand...

My angel kitty Taco had 3 cancerous tumors on his scruff/shoulder/back areas, sarcoma to be exact (despite 2 aggressive surgeries to remove the initial tumor). At the end, the one largest tumor broke through the skin (see pic below; WARNING, GRAPHIC PIC) and was draining blood tinged, serous drainage also. With him, due to the size of the largest tumor and my fear that as it progressed, he could be in a situation where he might bleed a lot and I might not be home to get him to the Vet in time, so as a result I had to make the awful decision to put him down. I'm not sure in these cases that clotting time is really very relevant because although blood will clot, if a tumor has invaded blood vessels (and to an increasingly significant degree, as definitely was the case with him due to the sheer large size of his tumor, about 3/4 the size of a tennis ball), I'm not sure that things really will clot that much. This is something you may want to discuss with your Vet because Taco's case wasn't the same as your kitty's is (type of cancer). He never had any drainage of any kind until the tumor, one day, finally stretched the skin so much that it erupted through the skin (I knew that day would come, I dreaded it......and once it did, it was about a week later that I made the decision to help him cross over because I knew that things would only get worse. His was a very aggressive and fast-growing tumor. When it first erupted, I did have Vet give him a shot of Convenia antibiotic, just to ward off infection but when the serous drainage started and then became more blood-tinged, I knew I had to make the decision. In his case, the last couple days of his life, he was becoming more uncomfortable and keeping to himself more (though still eating very well, using his litterbox (though I put one on each level of house she he didn't have to climb stairs to access it), still walking well (tumor was right near/almost on his spine/vertebrae and as it grew I feared that one day it would impact his spinal cord and nerves, impacting his mobility but it never got to that point, though how it didn't I have no idea).

One thing you may want to discuss with Vet, if you're just wanting to proceed with comfort-measures only..........is subQ fluids to help offset the loss of fluids from the wound itself. Although kitty is drinking well, if losing a lot of serous fluid from wound (large volumes), may not realistically be able to make this fluid loss up from drinking water - and would therefore be at risk for dehydration and dehydration can make a kitty feel just awful.

I'm very sorry that you are both facing this.

Thanks for the advice. Her tumor went from nothing on monday/tuesday to over 2.5 inches by Saturday. Its growing overnight according to my wifes eyes.

She is eating well like Taco did, she is using the litter box but is dragging her wound in the litter which I have to clean off. the antibiotics seems to have cleaned out the wound really well as she no longer has the fishy/death smell. I can smell the iron in the blood through that's on her skin.

Her sore is not as big as Taco's but given the size of the tumor that's breaking the skin if she were to nick it she would quickly bleed to death. I could not bring myself to let that happen.

I let her sit on my lap on a towel while I watched TV for a while and she just sat there not moving a inch. (Never done that before) She is purring a lot but when she moves her tail it just kind of wags then drops to the couch. She is also not running from my wife or me when we approach loudly which is really weird. I need to look up how cats show pain, scratching hissing biting I can deal with that but quiet resignation just is ripping out my heart.

We put our lovely Lona down about a hour ago. I felt terrible going in but the vet agreed that we could do no more, the antibiotics did not take well and the cancer had grown another 15-20%. She had also lost another .4 lbs in two days. She had no pain up until the end and died in my arms.

Play happily over the Rainbow Bridge, Lona

I am so sorry about your beautiful Lona. From what you have posted you did the right thing. As painful as it is she will not suffer. You gave her comfort, love and compassion which is the greatest gift you can give.

I'm so sorry you lost your lovely girl but know she is pain free and romping around with our other kitties over the bridge. You say she was purring - cats will also purr when they are in pain so I believe you did the right thing for her.

I'm going to close this thread now and when you feel ready, please post a tribute to your beautiful girl in the Crossing the Bridge forum.