Exploratory surgery - any advice/tips

Hi there - I'm new. I have read sooo much lately that I think it's absolutely marvelous how so many gather together to talk/share/help - well, I guess this time I'd just like to reach out too. My cat is due for exploratory surgery. I'm nervous and scared for him. We have put it off for quite some time now, so I feel guilt over that too. I'll try not to make this too long. Almost 3 weeks ago my fur boy got sick, he stopped eating, and began hiding - we went to the vet, and he felt a small lump and figured he may have ingested something he couldn't pass, thus a blockage. He ordered a blood panel and that came back looking really good - a healthy cat. We briefly discussed surgery, but because our boy hadn't vomited again with the small amounts we did manage to co-hearse him with - he thought we could wait and see if he passes whatever he may have eaten (possible partial blockage?). There wasn't much change after that visit. So after a few trips back and forth so they could see him and x-rays - he was given sub-q fluids to treat mild dehydration and a laxative as he felt movement. After 2 doses it worked like a charm, and he had a poop. Things looked up after that - he was progressively getting back to himself for almost a week and a half, and even gained back 1 lbs. Then he vomited a full meal - and it's been nothing but down hill since, with more weight lost. At first I tried to nurse him back such as I did prior, but after a few days it was apparent he was starting to become worse off then the first time. I had to resort to syringe feedings. So back to the vet. Only this time, the doctor couldn't feel the lump he first felt. We decided to at least see where he was at and ordered an in-depth blood test to rule out FIV, FELV etc.. and of course I wanted to know if any of his organs were getting damaged by this horrible ordeal. The blood work came back today, and it was promising. His liver is fine, his kidneys are experiencing some mild stress, no diseases, his white cell count is up a bit plus his alkaline(?) level. The doctor was really surprised and happy to see his liver was good so maybe I helped after-all; I really hope so cause I've felt like a big failure having to force water and food. ugh. So it was decided he had to go in and take a look..... I feel so bad for him. Our vet is a really good doctor, and I do appreciate that he wasn't jumping the gun for surgery as he felt that was our last resort if he didn't get better. But I do feel guilty for letting this go on for so long, as in the end we are having to go through it now - maybe I should have just said do it the first time and he wouldn't have had to go through another bout of all this torment .. I am hoping this will be a standard procedure, maybe he ate a string? And there isn't any tissue damage etc. Has anyone gone through this, and do you have any tips or stories to share as to what I need or need to do when he comes home after surgery or what to expect. I hope he doesn't need tubes to eat and such. I pray he makes it through surgery too! I haven't slept much lately as I stay up to feed him, cuddle him, and in general I'm just sick with worry. Thanks for reading and letting me talk about this. By the way he is only 14 months old, and he's a Maine-coon x.

I've felt like a big failure having to force water and food.

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I would say this proves what a caring owner you are, willing to do what it takes for the health of your cat. I wouldn't have rushed in to do surgery either.
At least it sounds like he's in good shape for the surgery, and he's young which is good too. Good luck and let us know what the outcome is. :cross:

Last December my kitty ate an elastic headband. Started vomiting so we brought her to the vet. X-rays showed something in the stomach. They sent us home after giving her a shot to see if it would pass on its own. Back the next day for another X-ray to see. Still in the same place. Tried the endescope first to see if it could be pulled out through the mouth, but it was stuck in the valve between stomach and intestine. Surgery. Had to cut into the stomach and small intestine. 6 inch incision. Cone. 14 days.
The main concern is getting your cat to eat again. Be prepared to try everything and anything. You may have to take your kitty back and forth to the vet for hydration/electrolyte therapy for a few days after surgery. It helps a lot!

Thank you for the replies, thoughts and experience. I really appreciate them so much Your kitties are so beautiful! And Mosimom, my cat is the same colour as yours Well, my little guy went to the vet yesterday to go on an IV all day to hopefully get his strength. He spent the night with us, and seemed a bit more bright eyed. I just dropped him off this morning for his surgery - and got the talk  I would like to ask, if they find cancer, do you let your pet go while they are under or allow them to come out of surgery to say goodbye? I feel the latter would be just for me, and so unfair to him. I don't even like to think about all this, it's tearing me apart. The house is so quiet, and now it's just waiting for the phone to ring which is so agonizing.

My own personal choice would be to let them go while they are under. I guess it would depend on how bad it is too, if they thought it would be 6 months or a year, then definitely bring them home, most vets can give a pretty good indication of how long there is, they have seen a lot. I'll pray for you and your baby, miracles DO happen you know!

For now, avoid looking at the big picture.  It's just to overwhelming.  Wait for the phone call.  I know it's hard waiting for that phone to ring.  Then go to the next step with the information that you receive.  Support, on this site, is wonderful and you know you can reach out and someone will be here.

I'm so sorry you're going through this @Soptan. I'll be thinking of you and your kitty today and will be waiting to hear the news. 

Thank you so very much for your replies, advice, positive thoughts and well wishes. Our vet finally called! Our little guy was out of surgery about an hour ago. They found what he called a mass -OR- interception. He isn't quite sure because it's been a while since he got sick initially; he said his body was doing a really good job at trying to "fix" the problem, maybe too well as there was stuck tissue (sorry not totally sure how he described it, I tried so hard to understand but perhaps I feel overwhelmed). He said he took pictures to help me visualize what was going on. He definitely had a blockage, whether it is cancer, or an interception possibly caused by a foreign body at one time won't be determined until the sample goes to a specialist. We'll know in about 5 days. For now, he has to be closely monitored to ensure there is no seepage as they did have to remove a section. Of course I can't help but to feel worse we waited now, even if the doctor said it was a tougher decision because he got better in-between all this. Though I am thankful it is done!

Incase anyone else has this problem:

(((  Basically: Week One - he showed signs of blockage, hiding, not eating, didn't vomit much though (we waited to see if he would pass whatever he ate - blood work, x-rays, sub-q fluids, laxative) - Week two he was back to himself "almost" (normal eating and bowel movements, alert, happy, playing but not as frisky as he usually is) - Week 3 he crashed, signs of blockage again yet it became worse than the first time in about 3 days, syringe feedings (water/food), completely unable to hold his food down once he was full, lethargic, one pee a day - he had more blood work, and now surgery.  I asked why he bounced back in-between, and our vet hypothesized the lump he first felt was probably due to inflammation (around either a foreign object, mass or??) - once the body started to repair that, perhaps that's why he felt better as it wasn't so aggravated for that week?? Yet his body didn't actually fix the underlying problem though. ))) Hope that makes sense? I think that's how he explained it. oh boy.

He's not out of the woods yet, but I am hopeful, we'll see how he does in the next few days. I will definitely keep you posted on the results, and how he is doing. Hopefully I can figure out how to update my profile picture or attach one so you can at least see his cute face

Aw, what a handsome guy!

Sending lots of vibes for a fast recovery from surgery.     And crossing my fingers about those results.    I'm sure you'll be feeling a little anxious over the next few days.

Very handsome, indeed.

Thank you GoHolistic Very kind of you, and I will update when I hear anything. And thank you Keyes for the nice comment

Hi don't have much useful to say other than I know exactly what you're going through. It's awful that time while cat is having surgery and also not knowing what it is that's causing everything. Really hope it's just something he ate or something very simple to fix. I am also anxious to know how his results will be. Just happened to see your post on page as I went to reply to a thread. Very cute pic of him. His eyes are so cool. Hope you post more pix.

Honestly, given his age, I would be pretty darn optimistic about him.

Cancer CAN happen at any age of course, but the chances of a 14 month old having a mass vs a 14 year old are enormous.

His symptoms did sound like an obstruction of some type, maybe partial at one point since there is a long way it can travel before making it out in his stool, all the turns etc and at some point, it simply couldn't be digested and cleared.

I'm thinking he should be good as new soon.     

catwoman707 totally agree, he is very young. His bloodwork was also pretty good I think so that's also a good sign.

Thank  you chalupa and catwoman for your thoughts, and wisdom I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know how he is doing. No results yet, but will definitely let you know when we get them, I think Thursday? He did great the first couple of days after surgery that they felt confident to send him home on Saturday He looked tired, but alert. Coming home was a bit Chaotic; first, he bolted out of his carrier as soon as I opened the carrier door - which I totally did not expect! Yikes! I was sooo worried he hurt himself, which I don't think he has. Secondly, I had originally blocked off an area to minimize activity, but he didn't want any part of it lol. He kept trying to figure a way out and in doing so he stepped in his water, then stepped in the kitty litter with wet feet, and just made a mess. Poor little one - I know he wanted to be with us, but I gave him back my en-suite where I had him for the last week when he was ill (so I could keep him from hiding and monitor him). He was definitely happy to have more space, or just a space he was already accustomed to maybe? He's been such a good boy, and hasn't jumped up on anything yet, or bother with his stitches   He mostly sleeps and gets up to eat (yes! he eats all on his own now - YAY!), and go to the bathroom. He had his first bowel movement the same night he came home, and once again since Funny how we can be so excited about a poo! As of today, that dopey kind of look I first noticed has been replaced with much brighter eyes, and a happier disposition, if that makes sense hehe. I guess his face doesn't look tired or when he was very ill; scowly (painful)??/distant. He locks eyes with you as soon as you enter the room, and when he's up he does his walk around to press up against us so his big fluffy tail curls around us. He sure has been a little fighter in all this, so I am really hopeful the results come back negative for anything serious! He deserves that so much. I have a hard time seeing his stitches fully as I try not to prod too much or lift his leg too high to look, but from what I can see, it does not look aggravated, and we'll be seeing the doctor on Tuesday to see how he's doing so far. Perhaps some of you may have tips to gently take a better look? Currently he's on antibiotics which I have to give to him every 12 hours, and he hates it - my gosh, the slobber and spit as he try to get rid of it Everything seems to be going well so far - hopefully he heals fabulously, puts on some weight, so he can go back to roaming the house again - we sure have missed him! I'll keep in touch as soon as I hear. Thank you again for all the well wishes  

Yay is right!! What a great update, we LOVE this sort of news!

That tired look you saw, well the anesthesia causes this and takes a few to get it out of their system.

At his young age he is like a brand new rubberband, he has a ton of elasticity and is able to spring bavk no matter how far he is stretched to his limits!

Very good news.  

Hi, thanks for the update, really glad to read he is eating and doing well! Hope you keep us informed. With the litter, after my cats surgery, I started using paper pellet litter, this the best brand to me, http://freshnewslitter.com/products/. I noticed the used paper pellet litter at my vet center in my cats cage. Turns out scoopable is very messy and doesn't work very well for situations like this. Also I find paper pellet litter is so much easier to clean the litter box. So in many ways it's the best and I think environmentally better too? Would never go back to scoopable now, it used to get everywhere and be hard to clean.
Depending on the pill type, I went from not being able to pill my cat to both of us getting it down to a science. A vet tech did a demonstration for me where they pryed her mouth open , placed the pill in, held mouth closed, and then rubbed along her throat because I guess that makes them swallow? Maybe also try making sure there mouth isn't dry, give them a little wet food first. would also follow up a pill with a little water with a syringe directed at cheek . So the taste might not make her vomit. She used to be very nauseous. Sometimes I might rub something tasty on her mouth to make her want to lick her lips. Using a syringe can be dangerous so make sure your vet has shown you how.
There is probably also YouTube videos for pilling, though I found those useless for giving a shot. For some reason the cats on there don't seem to care, but in real life, I found, they fight you, or mine did.
I used to put on cat entertainment videos for my sick cat on my laptop. YouTube has many and amazon has a really good one called feline frolics you could download as instant video, there is also one called happy cat I think , but it is feline frolics only with a few different scenes and a more annoying animal soundtrack-and it's more expensive (I bought it and was irritated by this). Your cat will enjoy both though. Crickets and birds were my cats favorite videos on YouTube. There is a long one called telekat , it's for cats only.
When your cat gets better, I hope you get him some cool interactive toys and play with him a lot! It's important to keep our cat friends happy! Can you tell I feel guilty about not spending enough time with mine?

Great update @Soptan! Continuing to send lots of vibes... 

Hi all, sorry it's taken me so long to give an update. It's been so busy around here - when my little guy got sick we were also in the process of getting a new home, and now it's moving time! Plus we also got a new foster dog to help a neighbor. So with everything combined it was stressful. But now with our sweet guy  healing and getting better - one stress gone!   He is doing great by the way!! He's already a little over 7lbs and eating 2 cans a day hehe. The vet is hopeful he'll be back to his weight in no time soon (he lost half his weight, poor guy). You can hardly see his cut as it has healed in so nicely His doctor did such a nice job, plus the cut isn't as big as I thought it would be originally! And of course, he's been so good - he doesn't lick it, and he knew to keep calm during the first week (no jumping or anything stressful)  We also got the results back and YAY!!! No cancer The report came back as an intussusception, possibly caused by a hairball or something he shouldn't have eaten. Whatever object it was, it was gone, though some hair was found, but that could have been when he was ill. They don't know for sure. Maybe my original thoughts might have been the problem - he ate too many beans!?! I grew beans in the garden this summer, and I removed the bean seeds and had them drying so I could grow them again next season -- after he got sick I searched around for anything he may have gotten into incase it was poisoning or something. I came up empty handed, but we did notice there were quite a lot of my bean seeds gone. I know those seeds take a while to soften, perhaps they got stuck for a while and caused the intussusception?? I guess we'll never really know. Main thing is he will hopefully grow to a ripe old age <3 I'll post another pic of him when he gains back more weight :-)

Thanks so much for all your replies and support.   You are all so wonderful. And thank you for all the tips and information chalupa :-) we got through the 5 days of antibiotics, he stopped trying to spit gobs of saliva after the second day lol. It was also in liquid form, glad it wasn't a pill. I was lucky through all the syringe feedings I gave to him over the time he was ill; we took it slow so he wouldn't get any in his lungs. It sure was a tough time. Those are great tips about the videos too. Since he was little, I would periodically leave the bird show on for him haha, he loved it lol. I'll have to look up those videos you suggested too :-)

Hope everyone is having a great day, thank you again!  

So happy for you.  Thank you for sharing your good news.