need urgent help with sick / injured cat

hi, my cat had a tongue tumor removed and taken for a biopsy yesterday.. after sedation, nurse told me there was a little problem, and  i go to find my cat in a lot of blood, terrified, and apparently in pain. i was advised it may be better to take her home and bring back the day after, first thing, as the cat was uncooperative, and it may not make sense to sedate again so soon. so i took her home like that, her blanket full of urine and blood as i did not wish for them to stress her any more than necessary.  

she is a very shy cat, which i only have for around 2 months, and gets very easily traumatised by such episodes. took me 2 months to gain her trust, and she stil does not let me lift her up.

she is also FIV positive and has gengivitis, which was being treated. till yesterday, she was enjoying a good life quality, playing, eating from my hand, and looked very pleased at being off the streets.

this morning we had to sedate her again, to see what went wrong yesterday.

she had cuts on her tongue, which the vet told me must have happened due to her biting it, perhaps in panic after coming out of sedation. tongue is also extremely swollen, and keeps hanging out of her mouth, to the side.. around a cm or more. it still bleeds, and although she is starving ( 2 days no food now) and unsuccessfully trying to eat and drink... she is not exactly weak. however i was told that we may have to force feed her, and that if she remains unable to use her tongue, we may have a big problem. almost 24 hrs later, her mouth still bleeds, occasionally... 

i am not sure if i m missing something, or what to do. i would be all up for force feeding her, should she not get better, as long as there may be a promising end after the trauma. however i do not know how long would her injuries take to heal, and for how long would this have to be done. also, i am not sure if her inability to use her tongue stems from the bites or from the stitches / surgery... 
as much as i do not wish to put her down, i am not sure if i may be choosing to put her through a lot of suffering, without knowing if she will get better. i am desperately askng for tips, advise, or any experience that may help  in similar matters. i have been up all night and may easily be overlooking something.  thanks

Others here are a lot more experienced/knowledgable than I am about force feeding an adult cat, but it is in fact not that difficult to do (though it does take some time) and I would definitely at least try that for a few days and see if your cat improves rather than just putting her to sleep. To force feed you basically need a feeding syringe (essentially a big syringe without a needle which can be found in the USA in most pharmacies (CVS, Walgreens etc) and large chain stores (Target, Walmart), and even in many large grocery stores, often in the baby supplies section. From there you want to mix canned we food food  (puree style, not one of the chunkier ones) about 50/50 with water and load it into the syringe. From there put the syringe in the cat's cheek and aim either for the back of the cheek or the roof of the mouth- do NOT aim directly down the throat. Give just a tiny bit at a time, wait for it to be swallowed, then give a bit more. As I said, this can get a bit time consuming, but other than that it should be relatively easy and effective.

Good luck.  I am sorry your cat is experiencing these complications.

thank you so much for your reply.

by force feeding, the vet meant, inserting a tube into her stomach, and the nutrition from it will only last 24 hours..

however i have also tried doing as you are saying. today i have bought, just came back home in fact.. a couple of recovery / vitamin rich pate's few different brands, to see if i may have better luck with any.

got some different plastic syringes, even some powdered 'convalescence support'.. to add with water, 

have also a couple of tubes... same thing, to use during convaescence / after surgeries etc... i pray it will work, at least by tomorrow, as her tongue i badly wounded, and at times bleeding... she did not seem able to swallow.

her tongue is extremely swollen, and although she was (now she s resting) coming for the food... i would just place a lot on her bedding as it falls off, a tiny little in her mouth. after which she would act as if her tongue was irritated... not sure if it hurts on the cuts, or for what reason. however she was rubbing her tongue with her paw, started bleeding a little again. 

i will try again tomorrow morning, in around 12, 13 hours perhaps.

the vet appintment will be in the evening. 

i am afraid that i may have to consider putting her in the crate everyday ( which she hates) to sedate and force feed, until, and in the hope that her tongue gets better. 

i am not sure if it will get better, or if the lacerations heal, whether it will still function.

i am neither sure how long will this cat be fine due to the tumour coming back, or the gengivitis. or the fiv.

everything seems to be on a wrong foot, but i would hate to give up on her. she knows i m there, taking care of her, however unsuccessfully. 

i am not sure if i m being cruel to her, to put her through this. but i think she would not like to give up yet.

thanks again for writing, any input is extremely valuable, and i am very grateful for your help.

So the Vet is talking about inserting a feeding tube directly into her stomach for just a few days?  That's NOT a minor surgery.  A feeding tube into the esophagus isn't too major, and is the normal course of action these days, but I've never heard of doing even this if it's just for a few days.  That being said, it IS very dangerous to their health for cats to go even just a few days without eating...it effects their livers and then you've got worse problems on your hands .

So...I had a cat with a stomach feeding tube, and we fed him thru it every 4 hours for four months.  We did this because he had that liver issue I discussed above.  It was worth having it installed into his stomach because of the long time it needed to be there.

I think you are saying that when you try to syringe feed your furbaby, it's all just falling out onto her bedding?  She is not able to get ANY down her throat?  And you are placing the syringe as tulosai instructed, then going very slowly to give her time to swallow?  Can you see her swallowing at all? 

When are the biopsy results due back?  I think a lot of your decision should rely on that.  If it's a fast growing tumor and will be right back, then that will probably aid in your decision about what to do

What does the Vet think?

thanks for writing. 

the vet said that most will depend on these coming 24 hrs. 

tomorrow evening will be her 3rd day without food. she has taken injections / supplements to keep her going, for now.. as regards dehydration etc. 

he mentioned that, should she not start eating on her own, he may have to insert a tube into her stomach and force feed her.

it would not be there for a few days, but rather, he spoke of it as a one off thing,  to keep her going for a day, and then i take her home.

however, he seemed to prefer judging or committing himself after giving her a recovery day,  to see if she is doing better or not- rather than tell me this morning.

i am off to sleep and, to be honest, till tonight -  i am not optimistic. her mouth is open, her swollen tongue hanging down. i truly hope she will be slightly better by morning, but am also half anticipating a second sleepless night.

my concern is, should she not eat on her own - whether i should wait and keep taking her to the vet daily for a forced feeding, until the tongue, which is badly cut both from the biopsy stitches ( around 4 i think) and the 2 or 3 bites. this will not be a pleasant life for her, but if she may have good recovery chances (forgetting cancer and all the other stuff, which may be extremely aggressive, but may  also take months, or not come back again), or whether it may be kinder to end her misery. 

as i write, i am inclined to try, as i feel that she is a fighter, and she was a stray, scared feral cat all her life.. who for once knows that i m there for her... 

till yesterday morning, she was happy, playing with her toys, eating from my hand, on my lap, half trusting, half not.. i would like to give her a bit of a decent life, but am not sure if bad judgement from m part might harm her any more...

the stitches seemed fine, as i had a look while she was sedated. however the bites are not nice.

Once a tube is in there is no reason to keep going to the vet every day for him to feed her- you'll be able to do that yourself at home The vet should explain how but if not @mrsgreenjeens  can help explain since she has gone through this herself.

thanks. i did not know that. will have a chat with the vet, wrote to mrsgreenjeens as well 

thanks again.

so i got back from the vet today.

luna is unable to eat and drink since wednesday, today was her third day. she was given a glucose drip to sustain her, and i will probably have to go back again with her tomorrow. have cancelled all work appointments for these past days, and am staying with her 24/7.

however, it s hard to be optimistic. the vet told me that she may be unable to feel any sensations on her tongue, and there is a chance that it may heal that way. that would create a problem, as she will be unable to drink on her own. not sure if it is due to the sedation  she s just coming out of, but her tongue is out, the the left side, hanging loose. looked slightly better uring the day. it is the third time in as many days that she has been sedated.

vet said that a cat cannot survive without a tongue, although i would love to prove this wrong, and am thinking of what may be done - injections / syringe feeding and drinking.

however i am also concerned about the quality of life she will have, so all cards are on the table, and i would not wish to find myself in a situation where putting her down may be kinder.

once again, any help, tips, advise or references is very much appreciated.

For anyone reading this thread now or in the future, Luna 123 and I are having pm's on this, but I thought the information was worth sharing.  There is a wonderful success story of a cat who learned to eat and drink with a partial tongue here:    http://bestfriends.org/sanctuary/animals-special-needs/adopted/solare   Her saga starts from the bottom (after a short summary at the top) .

We're also been discussing the use of a Kitty Kollar with an E-tube until the time Luna either regains sensation in her tongue, or whatever..