Hi guys. I haven't been here in awhile - life has taken me elsewheres but I have always recommended these forums to people in need of help or just wanting to talk about cats.
I wish I could come under better circumstances, but such is life. I need help this morning, if possible, about what to do with Billy. He's my oldest guy at 7 years old and everyone else's favorite of my three.
I'd noticed a few weeks ago that he was feeling awfully skinny, but I chalked that up to possibly losing winter coat and going to semi-food strike from not getting wet food for awhile. So I put wet back in his diet and kept an eye on him. During the winter he'd seemed perfectly normal as far as playing, eating, behavior, etc. I wish I knew when things had started to go downhill.
I had a two day trip to Austin for my new job on Monday and Tuesday. Sunday night he had a normal appetite, begging for his wet food dinner. Monday morning I was up early so he and Chay were confused and wanting dinner while I was in the kitchen.
When I got back Tuesday night, he was listless and didn't even show up for dinner. Billy never misses food. Or the possibility that there might be food, so I knew something was really wrong. I found him on the couch, tried to coax him to eat, but got nothing. Someone had thrown up a few hairballs while I was gone, so I thought maybe he was a bit nauseous and just not wanting to eat.
Wednesday morning he had made it up the stairs but was still listless and when I checked, I was fairly certain he was pretty dehydrated. I tried to get him to drink a little, but called his vet immediately and dropped him off.
After a bunch of negative tests, the vet called me this morning. Billy has masses in his stomach and GI tract. The vet (who is absolutely wonderful both in the past and during this time) says that he could try to aspirate a few cells to make a better diagnosis, but he hasn't had much luck with that in the past.
The most informative route to go would be exploratory surgery, but Billy is already in bad shape - the vet confirms that the surgery would be extremely risky for him, and there's a pretty small chance (in the vet's experience and opinion) that there's anything he would find that would be treatable. If that is indeed the case, then financially and I think compassionately the best thing I can do is to put my boy down, and it breaks my heart.
He's not eating, so I don't think I can take him home with palliative care for any reasonable period. In my gut, this is a decision I have to make today.
So I'm coming to you, TCS family, to see if any of you have similar experiences, if any of you know of anything treatable that could cause this or how to make his last days at home comfortable, or if my gut instinct is right, and letting him go today or in the very near future is what has to be done.
Thank you so much for your help.
I wish I could come under better circumstances, but such is life. I need help this morning, if possible, about what to do with Billy. He's my oldest guy at 7 years old and everyone else's favorite of my three.
I'd noticed a few weeks ago that he was feeling awfully skinny, but I chalked that up to possibly losing winter coat and going to semi-food strike from not getting wet food for awhile. So I put wet back in his diet and kept an eye on him. During the winter he'd seemed perfectly normal as far as playing, eating, behavior, etc. I wish I knew when things had started to go downhill.
I had a two day trip to Austin for my new job on Monday and Tuesday. Sunday night he had a normal appetite, begging for his wet food dinner. Monday morning I was up early so he and Chay were confused and wanting dinner while I was in the kitchen.
When I got back Tuesday night, he was listless and didn't even show up for dinner. Billy never misses food. Or the possibility that there might be food, so I knew something was really wrong. I found him on the couch, tried to coax him to eat, but got nothing. Someone had thrown up a few hairballs while I was gone, so I thought maybe he was a bit nauseous and just not wanting to eat.
Wednesday morning he had made it up the stairs but was still listless and when I checked, I was fairly certain he was pretty dehydrated. I tried to get him to drink a little, but called his vet immediately and dropped him off.
After a bunch of negative tests, the vet called me this morning. Billy has masses in his stomach and GI tract. The vet (who is absolutely wonderful both in the past and during this time) says that he could try to aspirate a few cells to make a better diagnosis, but he hasn't had much luck with that in the past.
The most informative route to go would be exploratory surgery, but Billy is already in bad shape - the vet confirms that the surgery would be extremely risky for him, and there's a pretty small chance (in the vet's experience and opinion) that there's anything he would find that would be treatable. If that is indeed the case, then financially and I think compassionately the best thing I can do is to put my boy down, and it breaks my heart.
He's not eating, so I don't think I can take him home with palliative care for any reasonable period. In my gut, this is a decision I have to make today.
So I'm coming to you, TCS family, to see if any of you have similar experiences, if any of you know of anything treatable that could cause this or how to make his last days at home comfortable, or if my gut instinct is right, and letting him go today or in the very near future is what has to be done.
Thank you so much for your help.