Vibes for Dorothy (long post, sorry)

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darkmavis

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Hi everyone.
  I know I've been pretty much a stranger for the past 2 years or so, but I really need the power of those TCS vibes right now for my Dorothy. She's been a bit up and down the past month or so, lost a bit of weight and blood tests showed her thyroid was high, so we increased her methimazole dose. 3 weeks ago she was kind of hiding a lot instead of hanging out with us in the living room, on our laps, etc. Then 2 weeks ago she was acting normal and sociable again. Then we went on vacation to Belgium for 9 days and came back this past Thursday night. Our good friend Scott took care of the cats and sent us email updates (he had a cat for 17 years who developed CRF, and he's at our house a lot so he knows cats and I wouldn't trust anyone else to catsit my babies). Monday he said Dot wasn't eating much and seemed to have problems eating dry food and wondered if her mouth hurt, but as far as he could get a look in her mouth, he didn't see anything wrong. Tuesday and Wednesday she seemed to eat better.

We came home Thursday night, and she had runny eyes and wouldn't eat dry food. Wouldn't go to the food dishes, so I brought her some tuna wet food mixed with water and she ate that pretty well, a bit at a time, but she was not herself. I had off from work Friday, kept bringing her food now and then and she ate a bit but wasn't eating or drinking much and mostly staying in the spare room, and took her to the vet Friday night. The regular evening vet is out on maternity leave, and our regular vet is only part time since she had a baby 2 years ago, so we had the relief vet. She was ok, but I wish I could've seen the ones who know Dot. Vet didn't see anything wrong in her mouth at all, but she did have bad breath (which I noticed earlier in the day) so thought it could be coming from her stomach and maybe making her nauseous. With that plus the eyes and bit of sneezing, and that could make her not have an appetite. She also mentioned she could have kidney issues, which I know can happen when you get the thyroid regulated. I forget the reason she mentioned that though, would that make her not eat or drink?

Long story longer (sorry about that), they gave her sub-q fluids and 2 antibiotics- 1 good for upper respiratory stuff and 1 for kidney stuff. They said keep a close watch on her and if she doesn't improve in a few days to bring her back in a week for bloodwork.

Yesterday she ate less than Friday, I really mostly gave her treats, she would eat them- soft treats and greenies, so that makes me think not a mouth issue if she could chew the greenies. Also gave her some ham (I rinsed it off to try to get some of the salt out). I know that's not good for her but I had to get something in her.  Barely ate any wet or dry food though. I am a mess, I keep crying and I'm just really scared and nervous, I know she's got to eat and drink. I don't know how long the sub-q is good for, or if I should call the vet today and ask about more fluids, or if I should be trying to force feed her? Our regular vet is in tomorrow so I might just call tomorrow morning on my break and see what she says. This week is gonna be horrible, trying to get caught up at work from being on vacation and trying to not work overtime (and trying not to cry) so I can keep an eye on the Dotster.

So I'm not necessarily asking any questions here, just getting it all out, and asking for some vibes. Thanks.


Oh, and on a side note, Genever is doing well and cute as ever, her 'birthday' was Thursday. My baby is 6!!
 

misty8723

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  for your little Dorothy and
 for you.  I know what it's like trying to focus at work when all you want to do is cry and/or rush home to your baby.
 
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darkmavis

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Thanks guys.. I just keep almost crying, or crying.. going to go get some low sodium ham I think, I know that still isn't great but I need to get something in her today. Bf eats salt free tuna so I opened a can and tried giving her the juice but she moved away. I think she may be a bit nauseous. But she is scarfing ham and sometimes treats and real cat food, so at least It's something til I talk to our regular vet tomorrow.
 

happybird

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Sending you and Dorothy mega vibes right now. I think you are right feeding her more ham -something in her belly is much better than nothing. We will pray for you all in the morning, too, and hope the vet can help.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Well, of course you can try giving her baby food meat only (no onions or garlic in it).  I think it may come in ham?  Chicken, Turkey, Beef, ham?  I gave my
Sven
(CRF cat) low sodium deli turkey when he wouldn't eat anything else.  sometimes he'd take a couple of bites of that.

Also, if you suspect nausea, you could try giving her 1/4 of a Pepcid A/C.  Sven used to get that twice a day, even day, since CRF cats are definitely prone to nausea.  I would bury it inside a soft treat, like a whiska lickins. 

Major Vibes coming your way: 
 
 
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darkmavis

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I got the lowest sodium ham I could find and pureed it with water and she ate some. I keep thinking of baby food but not when I'm at the store! Duh... And you're right about the pepcid.. I've given that to Genever on occasion when she's puked a lot, 1/4 tablet. I might try that. Thanks.
One good sign is her eyes are clearing up, so... Maybe she's coming around, fingers crossed..
 
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darkmavis

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Another quick update, Dot seems a bit better, I did give her a pepcid, and she ate actual cat food tonight, canned fancy feast from my hand (usually feed wellness or nb or other good stuff but had to try it), but better than ham and treats! Also she was out in the living room with us this evening instead of hiding, and her uncle Scott was over too... he was glad to see her a bit better and so were we I'd course... Hope she keeps on the upswing! Thank you all again for the vibes!! Keep em coming if you can.
 
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darkmavis

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Another update, Dorothy was not better than or the same as last night and this morning after I got hone from work. Don't think she ate anything on her own, but maybe a tiny bit. She wasn't interested in food so I gave her more ham and she ate that, I gave her a pepcid hoping it would give her a bit of an appetite, but no.. And she did eat her antibiotics in treats. So again this evening she's back to ham and treats like Saturday, and lethargic and hiding under the bed til I drug her out a bit ago. I plan to call the vet when they open at 7:30 and get her in as soon as I can.. I think she needs fluids again, and I will ask how to syringe feed her or something.. I'm so scared for my baby, I want her to feel well!
 

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:hugs: and more :vibes: :vibes: :vibes:

You might want to ask about giving fluids at home too. It's really not difficult, and we have lots of tips for that if you/your vet think it will help.

For syringe feeding, I prefer these to the syringes the vet gives:
They're 15ml vs the 10ml syringes the vets typically use. The vet feeding syringes are meant to be used with a tube, so have a smaller output hole, and they have the rubber tip on the plunger that often sticks.

It's not unusual for sick kitties to actually appreciate being syringe fed. If they're nauseous, they don't want to eat, but having the food in their tummies feels good. So Dot may fight a little at first, but she may come to realize Hey - this is OK! Right now, nutrition must be viewed as a "medicine". :heart2:

You might also ask the vet about Cerenia. When Lazlo was in chemo and very, very nauseous, the cerenia worked really well to control his nausea. (He was also on pepcid, but as it works for 24 hours when given without food on a mostly empty stomach, he got 10mg once a day, at least an hour after having eaten - and we just pilled him with it, as putting it in a treat would nullify the 24-hour effect).
 
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darkmavis

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Thanks again. And thanks Laurie for the info and advice. I will ask about the fluids at our appointment at noon today. Our friend Scott had to give his cat fluids for a few weeks once and said it was pretty easy. We have some cerenia from a few years ago trying to get Genever to stop puking.. (didnt work) it's prob expired by now and I should get rid of it!

So I was up a lot of the night checking on Dotster, she had a few nasty sneezing fits which is new.. wonderful. She did eat about an ounce of wet fancy feast turkey this morning which surprised me, didn't get off the couch though, but I didn't mind hand feeding her. Since she ate, when I called to make an appt I figured I might as well let her rest a bit and also try to cater to my work schedule a bit better. So a long lunch at the vet for us. Wish us luck!!
 
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darkmavis

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Unfortunately I don't have good news to report from the vet appointment. The vet checked out her mouth again and saw what she thought was either a melanoma or squamous cell cancer on the roof of Dot's mouth. (Don't know why the other vet didn't see that, but I'm sure 4 days wouldn't have made a difference at this stage). I guess squamous cell is very aggressive and can metastasize, and she thought her lungs sounded scratchy so she wanted to do x-rays. The x-rays didn't look good, there were white bits all over, which is almost certainly cancer, but a small chance maybe she's got bad asthma. The radiologist comes in on Thursdays, so the vet will have the radiologist look at the x-rays to confirm, but it is not looking good. So if the radiologist says it could be bad asthma, then they might do a biopsy to confirm if it's cancer or not, but if the lungs look like cancer then no point to do the biopsy. Plus, the vet didn't like the idea of giving her even very short term anesthesia to do a biopsy. Sounds like the best thing we can do is to keep her comfortable for now. They gave her more fluids, and an appetite stimulant and a pain injection that lasts 72 hours, and something seems to be working because this evening she's walking around a bit, not quite so lethargic. Not sure if she ate after I got her home and went back to work, but she wasn't eating this evening. She did eat treats and ham that I gave to her though..

So, my supervisor was finishing his lunch outside at the picnic table when I got back to work and he told me to sit down and talk if I wanted, so I did a bit and cried, he was understanding and said if I need more time for vet appts or anything, it's ok. The work will get done, we'll get caught up eventually. That made me feel a bit better. Tonight I called my mom in PA and we cried, and then I called Scott and I cried, and called Darren (BF) who had to fly to TX for work this morning and cried (well I also called him from the vet and cried), and I think he was trying not to cry but was not happy that he's away right now... he will be back tomorrow night and said he might cancel his trip next week if need be..

 
 
 
 


The worst thing for me right now is I just don't know how to handle this. I hope Dorothy will let me know when she's ready to go. I don't want her in pain. I hate that she's been in pain. Darn cats, why do they have to hide it so well til it's too late??? And of course I'm also thinking should I have done something sooner? She was at the vet about 5 weeks ago and wasn't great but blood work was ok except the thyroid so we just upped her meds. Sigh.

So, for now we'll keep doing what we're doing... and I need to put an ice pack on my eyes, my whole head hurts from crying all day (last nuch of days really)... Thanks again for your vibes and support..

 

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Well crap. When we sent vibes hoping the vet would get to the bottom of things, we meant the vet would figure out something that is treatable. :(

:hugs: :hugs: :hugs: :hugs: :hugs: :hugs: :hugs: :hugs: :hugs: :hugs: :hugs: :hugs: :hugs: :hugs:

I'm so sorry sweetie. I really hope it's asthma and a melanoma that can be surgically removed. :vibes: :vibes: :vibes: :vibes: :vibes: :vibes: :vibes: :vibes: :vibes: :vibes: :vibes: :vibes: :vibes: :vibes: :vibes: :vibes:
 

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I'm sorry the vet's diagnosis was so devastating. All you can do is take things one day at a time and treasure every one of them. :vibes::vibes::vibes: that Dorothy is around a lot longer than you expect and has a long string of very good days.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I'm sorry the vet's diagnosis was so devastating. All you can do is take things one day at a time and treasure every one of them.
that Dorothy is around a lot longer than you expect and has a long string of very good days.
  And,honestly, if the blood test didn't show anything except her thyroid being out of whack 5 weeks ago, I really don't see how else you would have diagnosed something like this.  Most people don't normally get an xray at a checkup unless absolutely nothing else shows up.

for Dot, and
 
  
  for you
 
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