Hi yall. I really need advice. My kitty Manny is very sick. He is a Maine coon mix about 12 years old... way too young for this. Last weekend, my husband and I were clipping his nails (which we've had to do pretty much his whole life, if not his nails will grow back into his paws). He hates getting his nails clipped. After we finished clipping his nails he got a small nose bleed. It scared me to death but we got it to stop, so I thought maybe I bumped his nose or something while clipping his nails. He's never had a nose bleed before. He acted fine, I checked on him all through the night... no more nose bleeds. On to the next day... he was acting like his silly self. Then in the afternoon he got another nose bleed just sitting there hanging out with us. This one was pretty bad, so bad we had to take him to the emergency vet over an hour away (only one open on Sunday). The bleeding was so much worse when we put him in the carrier. It was awful. So obviously the vet was concerned. We ran all his labs, checked his thyroid, did full body and head exrays (lots of money and no real answers). The vet told us she was very concerned. All of his liver enzymes are elevated. His wbc are elevated. Some immflamatory markers are elevated. She mentioned it might be cancer, honestly she was worried about nasal cancer but the exrays cleared that. His thyroid, kidneys, blood pressure and etc were normal. She said that she recommended doing an ultrasound and liver biopsy but she told us that it wasn't a guarantee that we'd find the problem and even if we do they would probably just treat with antibotics and steroids. So we choose to just try the antibotics and steroids. So we took home gave him the medicines and took him back in a week to recheck the labs. No more nose bleeds at all. He's yellow now by the way, so he's jaundice. This time his liver enzymes are about 3 times worse. This vet said the same thing that we could do an ultrasound and a liver biopsy to try an figure this out but that it was a 50/50 on whether they'd be able to figure out and treat what was wrong (and it would be very expensive). Both vets gave us the impression that its not good. I even asked about life expectancy and the vet said maybe 6 months to a year. She told us what to watch for that way we don't let him suffer. My heart is so broken. I feel like it's killing me!! So, we are continuing the antibiotics and steroids for the next week just hoping it makes a difference and otherwise we are just letting him enjoy his life. So that brings me to my question... I am constantly trying to feed him... I feel like its all I do all day everyday. My emotion are totally in line with whether he eats or not. He just doesn't care much for his kibble, he will only eat about half of a Sheba at a time and he will lick at FF (I am opening can after can after can...). Out of desperation I bought a bunch of different temptations treats... he is absolutely crazy about one kind, only one kind. What do I do? Just feed him the junky treat so he eats enough? I believe he is just being stubborn now because he just wants the treats... he was eating his kibble plenty until I gave him the treats. I've had to break him from treats before... (I'm kicking myself for even giving him the treats but.... We were SO desperate to make sure he eats enough calories.) He seems so fine. He's still jumping all way to the top of the cat tree and running around with his buddy lucky. I hate feeding him the treats but if that's what he wants and were losing him should I just let him be happy? Will this hurt him worse? My husband was going to buy the hills prescription food for liver support tonight... we were thinking no more treats and hopefully we can get him to eat that but is it really worth it? - I don't want him to starve himself that will only make this worse. Please help I don't know what to do!!
Please please please don't make me feel bad about not spending thousands more on diagnostics when the vets said its likely that we still can't save him. It's already tearing my heart out. We love Manny so much. We've already spent ALOT of money and if we had the money we would do anything to save him... but we just don't, I will be paying these vet bills for months...
Please please please don't make me feel bad about not spending thousands more on diagnostics when the vets said its likely that we still can't save him. It's already tearing my heart out. We love Manny so much. We've already spent ALOT of money and if we had the money we would do anything to save him... but we just don't, I will be paying these vet bills for months...