Mega massive vibes for Lazlo urgent - Page 2

First of all, to you all. I don't know what I'd do without TCS!

Well, it's definitely better bad news than if it were hemangiosarcoma, and definitely better that it's his stomach, not his spleen.

Yes, she mentioned Neoplasene. She said it's difficult to get into the cat - but I haven't had a chance to look it up yet. When we went to pick up Lazlo, the vet's surgeon was there. He said he's not as up on the herbal treatments as our vet is, but he sent me home with... gotta go grab it. Artemesian. Apparently they're having "amazing" results in cats with oral cancers. Wants me to call Lazlo's vet about it tomorrow before we start using it.

I haven't. I don't know a thing about cancers other than brain, so I've got some work ahead of me. Thank you for the link!

Thank you Gail.

Lazlo's hematocrit did improve a bit again, to 27% from 24%, so pretty good there. Not terrible. But the problem isn't that - Tuxie was put under for the bone marrow aspirate with a hematocrit of like 12% - the problem with Lazlo, and I'm pretty sure it was the same for Nub-e, is the low platelete count. Low RBCs aren't good - but if the blood won't coagulate (the low plateletes), that's the bigger risk (that they bleed out).

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Further update:

They were able to do an aspirate (not a biopsy). Apparently results can be back faster. The vet's surgeon was there when we picked up Laz. He said they say 2-3 days for results just in case, but they're usually in the next day. So we'll see.

We called the feline oncologist. We can't schedule the appointment until we have the results - but they keep emergency appointments open pretty much every day. It is a LONG drive from us, but turns out that on Tuesdays the particular oncologist to which we were referred practices at an office that's only about 1 1/2 hours away, not the 2 1/2 we would have to drive. The vet's surgeon said that if the depo picks up Lazlo the way it has been, and he's eating or we're getting nutrition into him, he'd go for the later appointment with the shorter drive. So hopefully we'll be able to do that.

I learned how to do SubQ fluids, and we have a bag of saline or whatever it is. I'm to give him 50ml every other day.

I'm armed with a/d and Iam's "Maximum Calorie," and I'm to offer him food and/or syringe feed him 2ml every hour or two. There's very little room in his tummy, which is why he doesn't think he's hungry. So I'm to feed him little bits frequently, basically.

So right now, we wait. We take it one day at a time.

Through the tears, Gary got out that he does not want Lazlo to suffer, and he doesn't want him to feel like crap while we try to extend his life. We rescued these kitties to give them a better life than they would have had, but no matter how much we love them and want them to be with us forever, they won't be, and we've always known that, just never had to face it like this before.

Of course we'll consult with the oncologist. But chemo seems to be so hard on them... we'll just see. We may go the path of Amy's "Love and Cheese Danish" along with herbal treatment if it isn't going to make him feel like crap.

We'll see.

And who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky, and it'll surprise everyone and be like Carolina's friend's kitty!

Oh, and Lazlo did eat almost 1/2 can of a/d on his own when we got home. So there must be more room in there than they thought!

He loooooooves to be brushed. Especially in the bathroom. I got the "extra special brush," (just a large conair thing with soft plastic bristles LOL) and had a good 1/2 hour session with him purring and kneading after dinner.

Thank you everyone so much.

I can't help regretting we didn't do the xray when we were at the vet 2 weeks ago. But there didn't appear to be a reason to do it then.

I haven't had to force feed him yet. I just keep putting food down in front of him, and he eats at least some of it. He's eaten about 1.5 cans of a/d (and equivalent) and somewhere between 1/4C and 1/2C kibble in the last 18 hours. He didn't come in to sleep with us last night - but the bedroom was unusually full of cats last night for most of the night.

Chris, thank you so much.

Marina, unfortunately stress does aggravate them - and crying triggers them, so yesterday was a HORRIBLE day for Gary in more than just the Lazlo news.

I obviously didn't get the info from the vet right, because feeding him 2ml every 2 hours works out to about 6 cans of food a day! We need to get some meat on his bones - but not all at once. I looked up the feeding guide, and figured out what he should be eating IF he were a 12 pound cat (not the 10 he is now). Because he's also getting kibble, he only needs 1 3/4 - 2 cans a day.

It's driving the other cats nuts that he's getting fed so much - but his little tummy needs the frequent meals. I did syringe feed him 50ml this morning, but when I put the bowl down in front of him after that, he ate the rest (about 1/8 can of Iams Maximum Calorie).

He claimed ownership of the paper bag we put down this morning.