Lucy is almost 20. She had three extractions today. During this, they found what appears to be cancer in her jaw (same side as the really really bad tooth). I knew it could be the case, though, so I was not surprised. We refused the biopsy as the doctor is pretty sure that's what it is and three teeth were loose in that area. I do not plan on pursuing any aggressive/invasive treatment as it would be way too much for her to deal with.
I've never really had experience with an older cat post-op so I thought I'd run some things by everyone here.
so, I expected her to act like a drunken sailor and she took home the gold medal on that one. It was so bad that I started to panic that something was really wrong. She walked bow-legged with her hind legs. She ran into something's. She'd stop and start to lean to one side before making contact with the floor...as if she just feel asleep, but it wasn't a hard fall by any means, but more of a roll to the floor. Her second eyelid is red. It was showing frequently before, but I thought extractions would have cleared it up. It's now red and I see a line of film-like material on her actual eye. The twitching has ramped up post-op....especially in that eye area. I tried to take a picture but I couldn't capture the color nor the filmy material. And, she is still experiencing the jolts. It's almost like a startle reaction without being startled. So that never resolved.
The DROOL! It's gotten bad! It was bad before but it's consuming a lot more of Lucy's licking time. She is soaked in both front paws and along one side of jaw. It is the jaw of the bad tooth and cancer. She is slightly wet in the other side. Will this subside after the anesthesia wear off and she heals? Her tongue sometimes sticks out for awhile. I did find that can be common due to nerve blocks.
She was given an injection of Onsior and Metacam and was told she can resume the gabapentin tomorrow. She was on that for potential seizure-like activity (focal-type) and the twitching. She can also resume the liquid metacam at the same time.
She is walking so much better now and she is eating like there is no tomorrow (I'm doing a happy dance!)!! She found her litter box with, a couple of minutes of being back home and used it. She is now in bed with me as she always had been before...so I'm thankful for that. I'm just concerned about these jolts and twitching. They never answered my questions about this stuff. The only answer I had received (via email since we didn't need to come back until her procedure which was about 4 weeks away at the time) was, "it could be a result of the pain and we can refer her to a neurologist". I could not afford a visit to a specialist two hours away and I didn't want to put her through all of that before her teeth were extracted. And now, I don't want to do any of it. I just kind of want to know if it's the cancer? Pain still? Procedure? She didn't have until like mid December and this all began in October.
Will the drool get better as she recovers from the procedure? I'm not bothered by it, but she seems to be and I just want to know if it's normal at this point for this long? The red eyelid that is showing? If I need to run an errand or two, when can I leave her alone post-op? I don't want her to get hurt.
(And look at these sweet pictures of my husband and Lu when we dropped her off last night!
)
I've never really had experience with an older cat post-op so I thought I'd run some things by everyone here.
so, I expected her to act like a drunken sailor and she took home the gold medal on that one. It was so bad that I started to panic that something was really wrong. She walked bow-legged with her hind legs. She ran into something's. She'd stop and start to lean to one side before making contact with the floor...as if she just feel asleep, but it wasn't a hard fall by any means, but more of a roll to the floor. Her second eyelid is red. It was showing frequently before, but I thought extractions would have cleared it up. It's now red and I see a line of film-like material on her actual eye. The twitching has ramped up post-op....especially in that eye area. I tried to take a picture but I couldn't capture the color nor the filmy material. And, she is still experiencing the jolts. It's almost like a startle reaction without being startled. So that never resolved.
The DROOL! It's gotten bad! It was bad before but it's consuming a lot more of Lucy's licking time. She is soaked in both front paws and along one side of jaw. It is the jaw of the bad tooth and cancer. She is slightly wet in the other side. Will this subside after the anesthesia wear off and she heals? Her tongue sometimes sticks out for awhile. I did find that can be common due to nerve blocks.
She was given an injection of Onsior and Metacam and was told she can resume the gabapentin tomorrow. She was on that for potential seizure-like activity (focal-type) and the twitching. She can also resume the liquid metacam at the same time.
She is walking so much better now and she is eating like there is no tomorrow (I'm doing a happy dance!)!! She found her litter box with, a couple of minutes of being back home and used it. She is now in bed with me as she always had been before...so I'm thankful for that. I'm just concerned about these jolts and twitching. They never answered my questions about this stuff. The only answer I had received (via email since we didn't need to come back until her procedure which was about 4 weeks away at the time) was, "it could be a result of the pain and we can refer her to a neurologist". I could not afford a visit to a specialist two hours away and I didn't want to put her through all of that before her teeth were extracted. And now, I don't want to do any of it. I just kind of want to know if it's the cancer? Pain still? Procedure? She didn't have until like mid December and this all began in October.
Will the drool get better as she recovers from the procedure? I'm not bothered by it, but she seems to be and I just want to know if it's normal at this point for this long? The red eyelid that is showing? If I need to run an errand or two, when can I leave her alone post-op? I don't want her to get hurt.
(And look at these sweet pictures of my husband and Lu when we dropped her off last night!
)
She is walking better today!! No more bow-legged walks! She jumps on the bed with no issues, too. Just still seems lathargic, though.
