Old Cat With Possible Scc Having Issues After Biopsy/buprenorphine

[catmom1977]

My cat Jacques is 16 years old and was just biopsied for SCC (oral cancer). I took him home last night and he seemed okay. He was not feeling great but he ate and seemed okay. Today he is catatonic (no pun intended) and was doing the thousand yard stare forever this morning. He just hovers over his water bowl and occasionally drinks. He does not want to eat. He walks around a little from time to time - mostly to get to his water - but he looks absolutely miserable. My cat Rawley (who passed away last year) also had the reaction to opioids and he never really got better. This seems like it's happening again and it's just giving me such anxiety. I took him in this morning and they said it could take up to 3 days for it to pass. I may have to force feed him if he's not eating soon. With both cats, they told me they'd probably be extra happy and affectionate. They look(ed) miserable. One thing I read is that you should prescribe this to cats with kidney issues. Jacques has early kidney disease and Rawley's was a bit worse. This new vet sees this medicine as his main pain management tool for his likely. I don't see how he will be okay with it.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! I apologize nobody has answered you...
Oh my gosh. I'm so, so sorry this is happening!! How is he today?

Do you have access to another vet for a second opinion/a different pain management approach?

In case you aren't familiar with this site I wanted to mention it, and also that there is a support group through this site. Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease - Everything You Need to Know to Help Your Cat

Also, there's this thread which discusses pain meds, post #6 refers to another support group, and if you scroll further down to post #9 there is a comment about a pain scale
Cancer In Kidney, Has Spread To Lungs, Feeding Tube

 

[1 bruce 1]

My cat Jacques is 16 years old and was just biopsied for SCC (oral cancer). I took him home last night and he seemed okay. He was not feeling great but he ate and seemed okay. Today he is catatonic (no pun intended) and was doing the thousand yard stare forever this morning. He just hovers over his water bowl and occasionally drinks. He does not want to eat. He walks around a little from time to time - mostly to get to his water - but he looks absolutely miserable. My cat Rawley (who passed away last year) also had the reaction to opioids and he never really got better. This seems like it's happening again and it's just giving me such anxiety. I took him in this morning and they said it could take up to 3 days for it to pass. I may have to force feed him if he's not eating soon. With both cats, they told me they'd probably be extra happy and affectionate. They look(ed) miserable. One thing I read is that you should prescribe this to cats with kidney issues. Jacques has early kidney disease and Rawley's was a bit worse. This new vet sees this medicine as his main pain management tool for his likely. I don't see how he will be okay with it.

Poor guy, and poor you! =(
Would he be willing to allow you to syringe feed him a bit of canned food/warm water?
With his age, and since he has early kidney disease, the anesthetic he had might be taking a longer time (and harder on him) to pass through his system.
Furballsmom posted some EXCELLENT links.
A very close friend of mine had no choice but to put a 13 year old dog under anesthesia for a procedure, and it took the dog several days for her to return to normal, getting that stuff out of our systems is hard on the body!
If you're absolutely worried a second opinion might not be a bad choice, even if you like your vet and they're very good sometimes an outsiders opinion can spot things that were missed when more concern was for the SCC.
Hang in there.. =)

 

[catmom1977]

Thank you both so much. We did end up syringe-feeding him that night with some A/D food and it made a world of difference just getting him interested in food again. He is much better now. I think we're getting the SCC results today - so that will be another hurdle. If he does have SCC I'm not sure what we should do for pain as I'm scared to give him any more opioids.

I'm having such guilt now about my other kitty, Rawley, wondering if I was mistaking his reaction to the drugs he was given, for his overall health. When I had him put down just over a year ago - I thought he had lost all quality of life, that he was miserable, that the light was out of his eyes - now I really think a lot of that was the opioids (which we started because the other pain meds didn't seem to be working). I feel so awful about it. I just want to go back in time.

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh, honey, I'm so sorry about that with Rawley. There's no way to know, and I think Rawley knows you loved him then and love him still.
Maybe someone here, or on one of the other cancer support groups might have thoughts about pain management

 

[catmom1977]

Thank you all. It has come back as advanced SCC and half of his right jaw has been eaten away by the cancer according to the x-rays. He's starting to get the bloody droll and bloody paws from the drool. I am going to try and bupren. at a lower dose with a new compounding technique where you can put it on their ears.

 

[Furballsmom]

my thoughts and prayers are wrapped around you both

 

[Antonio65]

My cat had oral SCC, she passed away 15 months ago.
In her last days I was told to give her some drops of Metacam (Meloxicam). Not the same thing that you mentioned, but just to tell you that in my case it seemed it had some effects on the pain.

I had to syringe feed her for several months, and deal with bad days and good days, with desperation and short moments of joy, I know what you're going through