- Joined
- Jun 10, 2017
- Messages
- 167
- Purraise
- 351
Hello all,
We adopted Moxley about 2 months ago. He's a 14 year old Maine Coon whom we've known since kittenhood. At his prime, he was 30 lbs of pure cuddles.
When he was given to us, I noted that he was very skinny, but thought that it was the new diet his old owners were trying. I stopped his diet, and moved him over to a full calorie -eat when he wants to no-grain meal to try to build back some muscle. He was lethargic, throwing up after meals, and generally just acting like a cat with cancer.
I had him checked at the vet, and expressed my concerns. He was only 10.5 pounds (from his 30lb original weight) even though he still has a more than healthy appetite. They found huge lympnoids, a small intestines tract that was 5x thicker than an average cat, and one HUGE enlarged kidney. The offered prednesone and the pretty obvious diagnosis of alimentary lymphoma. They said that it was all signs pointing to lymphoma, and that he was not a good candidate to be under anesthesia to do a biopsy to rule out IBS. We got prednisone, and will hope he responds to it.
My question is, what do I expect? They said that he most likely will only live a month or two longer if he does respond to treatment, they've seen 2 years before, but only in less severe cases. What symptoms should I be looking for in quality of life factors? How can I make him comfy for his last days? What symptoms are signs that something ELSE is going on (like a blocked gi tract or such). Any advice, personal experience, etc is greatly appreciated.
We adopted Moxley about 2 months ago. He's a 14 year old Maine Coon whom we've known since kittenhood. At his prime, he was 30 lbs of pure cuddles.
When he was given to us, I noted that he was very skinny, but thought that it was the new diet his old owners were trying. I stopped his diet, and moved him over to a full calorie -eat when he wants to no-grain meal to try to build back some muscle. He was lethargic, throwing up after meals, and generally just acting like a cat with cancer.
I had him checked at the vet, and expressed my concerns. He was only 10.5 pounds (from his 30lb original weight) even though he still has a more than healthy appetite. They found huge lympnoids, a small intestines tract that was 5x thicker than an average cat, and one HUGE enlarged kidney. The offered prednesone and the pretty obvious diagnosis of alimentary lymphoma. They said that it was all signs pointing to lymphoma, and that he was not a good candidate to be under anesthesia to do a biopsy to rule out IBS. We got prednisone, and will hope he responds to it.
My question is, what do I expect? They said that he most likely will only live a month or two longer if he does respond to treatment, they've seen 2 years before, but only in less severe cases. What symptoms should I be looking for in quality of life factors? How can I make him comfy for his last days? What symptoms are signs that something ELSE is going on (like a blocked gi tract or such). Any advice, personal experience, etc is greatly appreciated.