- Joined
- Jan 4, 2021
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Hello. Thank you all for any help.
My cat Swirly (female, spayed, normally 10lbs, currently 6lbs) was diagnosed with large-cell intestinal lymphoma about 2 months ago. It started with bouts of vomiting, then inappetence, and at a certain point she looked to be at death's door. She then saw an oncologist who gave her an initial round of Asparaginase, and she rebounded almost overnight. She has since been on the COP protocol, cycling back and forth between Vincristine and Cyclophosphomide each week.
Although the chemotherapy has been surprisingly successful (no abdominal signs of cancer on her last ultrasound), the side effects unfortunately seem to have taken their toll. She would go for about a week of doing somewhat well, and then at some point vomit --- and after vomiting, would nosedive a bit, snub the foods she was eating, and take a day or two to recover.
Her vomiting episodes unfortunately seem to be quite traumatic for her. At first she snubbed specific brands, but at some point about a month ago snubbed wet food altogether. I then switched her to dry food, which seemed hopeful, since she loved eating it. But that came to an end as well.
Sunday of last week she wound up throwing up in the afternoon, and again later that night. Unfortunately, she has not bounced back as she had in previous times, and has almost completely refused to eat on her own since.
When I expressed my early concern with her oncologist, I was told to wait for close to 5 days to see if her appetite might eventually come back. I was also told not to syringe-feed her, due to fear of her developing a food aversion. After some researching online, however, I realized how dangerous it could be for her to go for 3 or more days without eating food. After speaking with an online veterinarian who expressed similar concern, I eventually decided to syringe-feed her on the night of the third day, later updating her oncologist on the decision.
Unfortunately, in part due to my fear of causing Swirly further food aversion, and my general lack of understanding of her caloric needs, I did not syringe-feed her very much in those first couple of days, and her weight dropped by almost half a pound. Due to the New Year holiday as well it was difficult to communicate with her oncologist for guidance, though she thankfully took time out on New Year's day to write back with further thoughts and input on Swirly's caloric needs for the syringe-feeding (250 calories daily). I was really surprised when I learned how many calories Swirly needed, and have spent the last three days ramping up the frequency of feedings I've been giving her, as well as mixing her syringe food (Hill's a/d) with a high-calorie supplement, Under the Weather Ready Cal.
Thankfully, after weighing her off and on the past week on a baby scale, it feels like her weight may finally be stabilizing, and possibly even increasing just today (though I'm barely at half her daily calorie needs). She is thankfully mostly accepting of the syringe-feeding, though I've admittedly been extra sensitive to not annoy her, and have spread out her meals to practically every 20 to 40 minutes throughout the day, with a few feedings even in the middle of the night.
Unfortunately though, her own appetite for food has not returned. I've tried a great variety of foods across dozens of brands (wet, dry, fresh, treats, Purina, Wellness, Origen, etc.), tried cooking chicken with broth, and presented her food more than a dozen meals daily throughout this past week, to seemingly no avail. I have also been mindful to quickly remove foods that appear to make her nauseous, in hopes that witholding them for a while may eventually lead to her forgetting any negative feelings towards them.
I've at least had a glimmer of hope with Temptations treats, though. I've found that at certain times of the day (mainly around 4 or 5am) if I hold up a handful of those treats to her, she'll chew at them for a while, albeit she lets most all of it crumble out of her mouth. I also oddly have to hold it up for her or place them on a blanket, since she seems to have forgotten how to lick them off of hard surfaces. It almost seems as though she's lost her memory of how to eat.
Because of her cancer treatment and consistent vomiting over time, her primary care doctor and oncologist have prescribed a lot of medications to give her. Currently she's on 5mg Prednisolone (cancer/inflammation), Ondansetron (anti-vomit), Cyproheptadine (appetite stimulant), Cerenia (anti-nausea), Mirtazapine (intestinal upset) and Omeprazole (antacid). Surprisingly, despite all of these medications, and despite having been off of chemotherapy for almost two weeks (due to her refusal to eat) she still seems to feel unwell throughout large portions of the day. Particularly in the afternoons into the evenings she seems to spend a noticeable amount of time sitting at her food bowl or looking exhausted sleeping in different hidey-holes around my apartment. It isn't until the early morning hours that she seems to perk up and show some signs of feeling a bit more normal.
Given how long it's been since her last treatment, I wonder if the Prednisolone might be causing her issues. Then again, considering she's been having bouts of vomiting and inappetence long before she even started treatment, it makes me doubly wonder if she may have a separate underlying issue that could be causing her continued discomfort with food (perhaps irritable bowel disease, or a problem with her gut flora?)
My biggest question right now, though, is how to help regain her appetite. Is it common for cats to go so long without eating? Would a feeding tube help, given the circumstances? How long could it take for her to get her appetite for food back? Is it possible she may never get it back? Any thoughts, experience or feedback would help immensely. Thank you all very much.
My cat Swirly (female, spayed, normally 10lbs, currently 6lbs) was diagnosed with large-cell intestinal lymphoma about 2 months ago. It started with bouts of vomiting, then inappetence, and at a certain point she looked to be at death's door. She then saw an oncologist who gave her an initial round of Asparaginase, and she rebounded almost overnight. She has since been on the COP protocol, cycling back and forth between Vincristine and Cyclophosphomide each week.
Although the chemotherapy has been surprisingly successful (no abdominal signs of cancer on her last ultrasound), the side effects unfortunately seem to have taken their toll. She would go for about a week of doing somewhat well, and then at some point vomit --- and after vomiting, would nosedive a bit, snub the foods she was eating, and take a day or two to recover.
Her vomiting episodes unfortunately seem to be quite traumatic for her. At first she snubbed specific brands, but at some point about a month ago snubbed wet food altogether. I then switched her to dry food, which seemed hopeful, since she loved eating it. But that came to an end as well.
Sunday of last week she wound up throwing up in the afternoon, and again later that night. Unfortunately, she has not bounced back as she had in previous times, and has almost completely refused to eat on her own since.
When I expressed my early concern with her oncologist, I was told to wait for close to 5 days to see if her appetite might eventually come back. I was also told not to syringe-feed her, due to fear of her developing a food aversion. After some researching online, however, I realized how dangerous it could be for her to go for 3 or more days without eating food. After speaking with an online veterinarian who expressed similar concern, I eventually decided to syringe-feed her on the night of the third day, later updating her oncologist on the decision.
Unfortunately, in part due to my fear of causing Swirly further food aversion, and my general lack of understanding of her caloric needs, I did not syringe-feed her very much in those first couple of days, and her weight dropped by almost half a pound. Due to the New Year holiday as well it was difficult to communicate with her oncologist for guidance, though she thankfully took time out on New Year's day to write back with further thoughts and input on Swirly's caloric needs for the syringe-feeding (250 calories daily). I was really surprised when I learned how many calories Swirly needed, and have spent the last three days ramping up the frequency of feedings I've been giving her, as well as mixing her syringe food (Hill's a/d) with a high-calorie supplement, Under the Weather Ready Cal.
Thankfully, after weighing her off and on the past week on a baby scale, it feels like her weight may finally be stabilizing, and possibly even increasing just today (though I'm barely at half her daily calorie needs). She is thankfully mostly accepting of the syringe-feeding, though I've admittedly been extra sensitive to not annoy her, and have spread out her meals to practically every 20 to 40 minutes throughout the day, with a few feedings even in the middle of the night.
Unfortunately though, her own appetite for food has not returned. I've tried a great variety of foods across dozens of brands (wet, dry, fresh, treats, Purina, Wellness, Origen, etc.), tried cooking chicken with broth, and presented her food more than a dozen meals daily throughout this past week, to seemingly no avail. I have also been mindful to quickly remove foods that appear to make her nauseous, in hopes that witholding them for a while may eventually lead to her forgetting any negative feelings towards them.
I've at least had a glimmer of hope with Temptations treats, though. I've found that at certain times of the day (mainly around 4 or 5am) if I hold up a handful of those treats to her, she'll chew at them for a while, albeit she lets most all of it crumble out of her mouth. I also oddly have to hold it up for her or place them on a blanket, since she seems to have forgotten how to lick them off of hard surfaces. It almost seems as though she's lost her memory of how to eat.
Because of her cancer treatment and consistent vomiting over time, her primary care doctor and oncologist have prescribed a lot of medications to give her. Currently she's on 5mg Prednisolone (cancer/inflammation), Ondansetron (anti-vomit), Cyproheptadine (appetite stimulant), Cerenia (anti-nausea), Mirtazapine (intestinal upset) and Omeprazole (antacid). Surprisingly, despite all of these medications, and despite having been off of chemotherapy for almost two weeks (due to her refusal to eat) she still seems to feel unwell throughout large portions of the day. Particularly in the afternoons into the evenings she seems to spend a noticeable amount of time sitting at her food bowl or looking exhausted sleeping in different hidey-holes around my apartment. It isn't until the early morning hours that she seems to perk up and show some signs of feeling a bit more normal.
Given how long it's been since her last treatment, I wonder if the Prednisolone might be causing her issues. Then again, considering she's been having bouts of vomiting and inappetence long before she even started treatment, it makes me doubly wonder if she may have a separate underlying issue that could be causing her continued discomfort with food (perhaps irritable bowel disease, or a problem with her gut flora?)
My biggest question right now, though, is how to help regain her appetite. Is it common for cats to go so long without eating? Would a feeding tube help, given the circumstances? How long could it take for her to get her appetite for food back? Is it possible she may never get it back? Any thoughts, experience or feedback would help immensely. Thank you all very much.
