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- Feb 2, 2017
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Honestly right now, I'm a wreck.
I took my 12 year old cat to the vet two days ago because I noticed he was breathing strangely...his breaths were short and sharp. To gauge how ill he was, I offered him tuna water (his favorite) and snacks - he wasn't interested in either. I knew something had to be seriously wrong, so I got him to the vet within the hour.
They did x-rays and blood work and found a mass pressing on his left lung and some inflammation, causing his shortness of breath. There wasn't anything incredibly out of the ordinary on his bloodwork, though they mentioned that his neutrophil count was slightly elevated and his lymphocytes were low. I just looked for myself at the paperwork and noticed that his platelet count is also low (111 when the normal range is 300-800). The vet sent his x-rays for additional consultation and told me that it is "likely" he has cancer (adenocarcinoma or lymphosarcoma). She suggested that I take him to get an oncologist to confirm the diagnosis, but unfortunately my budget won't allow it. My thinking is that whether the mass is benign or malignant, my options would be to 1: have my kid undergo surgery to remove it or 2) have my kid undergo chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Because of his age, I don't want to put him through any of those stresses. The vet seemed to agree with me and sent me home with prednisolone and an antibiotic, with the idea being to keep him as comfortable as possible. She mentioned that if I saw his health decline, I would need to think about quality of life and ending his suffering.
So now, it's two days later and he still won't eat but his breathing actually seems a bit more normal and he still has enough energy to put up quite a fight when I'm syringe feeding him. He's also gone potty twice - (#1, which I was really happy about). I've been feeding him different combinations of Nutro soft food, water, GNC for cats Superfood powder, homemade bone broth, and Nutri-cal. He's been keeping it all down, which makes me optimistic. Luckily, I work from home so I've been able to feed him every 2-3 hours or so. He takes anywhere from 10-30 cc each time and I stop when I see that he's getting too stressed out.
I am very conscious of not wanting my kid to suffer or be in pain but I would also hate to feel like there was something more I could have done. In my mind, I thought that if he was still not eating on his own by the end of next week, I should seriously consider letting him go. But then again, what if he only needed one more day of syringe feeding before he bounced back?
I'm not sure what I'm asking you all exactly, but any insight would be greatly appreciated. Has anyone had a similar experience with treating a possible cancer diagnosis at home? Has anyone's fur baby bounced back after things seemed pretty dire?
Thanks for listening.
I took my 12 year old cat to the vet two days ago because I noticed he was breathing strangely...his breaths were short and sharp. To gauge how ill he was, I offered him tuna water (his favorite) and snacks - he wasn't interested in either. I knew something had to be seriously wrong, so I got him to the vet within the hour.
They did x-rays and blood work and found a mass pressing on his left lung and some inflammation, causing his shortness of breath. There wasn't anything incredibly out of the ordinary on his bloodwork, though they mentioned that his neutrophil count was slightly elevated and his lymphocytes were low. I just looked for myself at the paperwork and noticed that his platelet count is also low (111 when the normal range is 300-800). The vet sent his x-rays for additional consultation and told me that it is "likely" he has cancer (adenocarcinoma or lymphosarcoma). She suggested that I take him to get an oncologist to confirm the diagnosis, but unfortunately my budget won't allow it. My thinking is that whether the mass is benign or malignant, my options would be to 1: have my kid undergo surgery to remove it or 2) have my kid undergo chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Because of his age, I don't want to put him through any of those stresses. The vet seemed to agree with me and sent me home with prednisolone and an antibiotic, with the idea being to keep him as comfortable as possible. She mentioned that if I saw his health decline, I would need to think about quality of life and ending his suffering.
So now, it's two days later and he still won't eat but his breathing actually seems a bit more normal and he still has enough energy to put up quite a fight when I'm syringe feeding him. He's also gone potty twice - (#1, which I was really happy about). I've been feeding him different combinations of Nutro soft food, water, GNC for cats Superfood powder, homemade bone broth, and Nutri-cal. He's been keeping it all down, which makes me optimistic. Luckily, I work from home so I've been able to feed him every 2-3 hours or so. He takes anywhere from 10-30 cc each time and I stop when I see that he's getting too stressed out.
I am very conscious of not wanting my kid to suffer or be in pain but I would also hate to feel like there was something more I could have done. In my mind, I thought that if he was still not eating on his own by the end of next week, I should seriously consider letting him go. But then again, what if he only needed one more day of syringe feeding before he bounced back?
I'm not sure what I'm asking you all exactly, but any insight would be greatly appreciated. Has anyone had a similar experience with treating a possible cancer diagnosis at home? Has anyone's fur baby bounced back after things seemed pretty dire?
Thanks for listening.