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- Mar 21, 2021
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I would appreciate any advice on caring for my cat, who is beginning to die.
Sophie, 11 years and 10 months and 100 per cent sweetness and kindness, has high-grade lymphoma and, the veterinary hospital said Friday, 6 to 8 weeks to live. She’s gone from 16.7 lbs to 10 lbs in a year, and has lost 1.4 lbs now in less than a month. She’s very thin and bony. Yesterday she developed a limp, and today it’s worse and she’s having trouble getting around.
The oncologist at the Oregon State University Small Animal Hospital says we could start chemotherapy that might give her 11-12 months at best. We’re talking tomorrow; it would involve weekly trips there, an hour each way. At this point I’m worried, if she and I go ahead with it, about all the stress on her, and if it might not be better to just care for her at home for the time she has remaining. I don't know.
But how would I do that, give her palliative care at home? I don’t know and it scares me. She wants to stay down on the floor, where I have a sheet fluffed up for her that she’s now curled up on. She’s not eating much at all. I had been giving her Mirtazapine as an appetite stimulant 2-3 times a week, which worked and noticeably improved her mood. Should I continue to do that? Daily? How best to help her with the litter box, which is currently two rooms away? What’s the best way I can comfort her going forward? At times she wants to cuddle and at times she wants to be alone.
Any advice appreciated. Thanks.
David
Keizer, Oregon
PS: Picture from 5/18/11
Sophie, 11 years and 10 months and 100 per cent sweetness and kindness, has high-grade lymphoma and, the veterinary hospital said Friday, 6 to 8 weeks to live. She’s gone from 16.7 lbs to 10 lbs in a year, and has lost 1.4 lbs now in less than a month. She’s very thin and bony. Yesterday she developed a limp, and today it’s worse and she’s having trouble getting around.
The oncologist at the Oregon State University Small Animal Hospital says we could start chemotherapy that might give her 11-12 months at best. We’re talking tomorrow; it would involve weekly trips there, an hour each way. At this point I’m worried, if she and I go ahead with it, about all the stress on her, and if it might not be better to just care for her at home for the time she has remaining. I don't know.
But how would I do that, give her palliative care at home? I don’t know and it scares me. She wants to stay down on the floor, where I have a sheet fluffed up for her that she’s now curled up on. She’s not eating much at all. I had been giving her Mirtazapine as an appetite stimulant 2-3 times a week, which worked and noticeably improved her mood. Should I continue to do that? Daily? How best to help her with the litter box, which is currently two rooms away? What’s the best way I can comfort her going forward? At times she wants to cuddle and at times she wants to be alone.
Any advice appreciated. Thanks.
David
Keizer, Oregon
PS: Picture from 5/18/11
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