- Joined
- Nov 11, 2012
- Messages
- 7
- Purraise
- 0
Ill try to make this brief... 9 years ago my wife and I adopted a large black cat from the humane society - he was at least 2-3 years old and has become a huge part of our lives, this is not your usual cat, he grew to 22 lbs, LOVED to eat, and was not really overweight at this size.
2 months ago we noticed he had been acting differently (here was a cat that RAN to meet people and to play, loved to be around guests and meet anyone who came in the door) he began hiding and was not eating and we noticed he had lost weight. With 2 children around I am thinking that we were distracted as we didnt notice Kittys problems until he had lost 5 lbs.
We brought him to vet 1, this vet did all the normal tests and they came up normal, one week later, kitty still not eating or being social, we bring him back into vet 1, vet prescribes a steriod and suggests that it is either irritable bowel or bowel cancer - we give the cat the steroid and he reacts very negatively to it, begins licking bald spots in fur, very skiddish, and still not really eating. The following week we take him off the steroids and he begins to normalize (behaviourly) but still not really eating (we changed to a very spendy and high calorie canned food as well as a calorie booster). Cat will only eat if he is supervised at this point and does not go to the litter box without momma bringing him there (he doesnt make messes around the house, just appears to hold it). but he is eating a little better now but still not normal. Back into vet one who feels around abdomen 4 weeks ago and claims cat has cancer as she felt a lump.
My wife is devistated so I am not going to give up so I bring kitty to the university of MN vet clinic to see an oncologist. Vet #2 - vet 2 feels around and noticed the same (lump) but doesnt know if it is cancer and it might just be hard stool, offers some spendy imaging tests, but also notices that the cat has an abcess in his mouth that might be responsible for his eating issues. we schedule an appointment with a good but less expensive vet who can work on teeth.
Vet 3 - we see vet 3 1.5 weeks ago, vet 3 says it appears that the bone has ben eaten away (jaw cancer?) fills it in with some form of cement, gives him antibiotics and suggests we wait a week or 2 to see how it takes.
Vet 3 today (cat is still not eating, infact he just hides, will barely eat and will not drink water, it is not the same cat) we bring the cat back into the vet and the vet says that it appears that the cement is holding and there doesnt appear to be any additional loss of bone... cat is giving IV, etc but vet thinks somehitng else is seriously wrong and that it is time for euthanasia...
What else can this be? have we done all we can? we have done our best to this point to give him a fighting chance and try to give him quality of life... my worst fear is that we have missed something and will be putting him down needlessly (but we do not want him to suffer for our sake) any suggestions would be of value... thank you
2 months ago we noticed he had been acting differently (here was a cat that RAN to meet people and to play, loved to be around guests and meet anyone who came in the door) he began hiding and was not eating and we noticed he had lost weight. With 2 children around I am thinking that we were distracted as we didnt notice Kittys problems until he had lost 5 lbs.
We brought him to vet 1, this vet did all the normal tests and they came up normal, one week later, kitty still not eating or being social, we bring him back into vet 1, vet prescribes a steriod and suggests that it is either irritable bowel or bowel cancer - we give the cat the steroid and he reacts very negatively to it, begins licking bald spots in fur, very skiddish, and still not really eating. The following week we take him off the steroids and he begins to normalize (behaviourly) but still not really eating (we changed to a very spendy and high calorie canned food as well as a calorie booster). Cat will only eat if he is supervised at this point and does not go to the litter box without momma bringing him there (he doesnt make messes around the house, just appears to hold it). but he is eating a little better now but still not normal. Back into vet one who feels around abdomen 4 weeks ago and claims cat has cancer as she felt a lump.
My wife is devistated so I am not going to give up so I bring kitty to the university of MN vet clinic to see an oncologist. Vet #2 - vet 2 feels around and noticed the same (lump) but doesnt know if it is cancer and it might just be hard stool, offers some spendy imaging tests, but also notices that the cat has an abcess in his mouth that might be responsible for his eating issues. we schedule an appointment with a good but less expensive vet who can work on teeth.
Vet 3 - we see vet 3 1.5 weeks ago, vet 3 says it appears that the bone has ben eaten away (jaw cancer?) fills it in with some form of cement, gives him antibiotics and suggests we wait a week or 2 to see how it takes.
Vet 3 today (cat is still not eating, infact he just hides, will barely eat and will not drink water, it is not the same cat) we bring the cat back into the vet and the vet says that it appears that the cement is holding and there doesnt appear to be any additional loss of bone... cat is giving IV, etc but vet thinks somehitng else is seriously wrong and that it is time for euthanasia...
What else can this be? have we done all we can? we have done our best to this point to give him a fighting chance and try to give him quality of life... my worst fear is that we have missed something and will be putting him down needlessly (but we do not want him to suffer for our sake) any suggestions would be of value... thank you