The Mackerel Update Thread. :3

[otto]

What a beautiful girl. She looks happy and content and loved. She's still taking an interest in the things she enjoys, including bird watching!

All our love and prayers

Gail, Tolly Mazy Jennie and Queen Eva

 

[farleyv]

Mack never ceases to amaze me and reinforce the strength of her spirit.

I never met her, but I love her.

God Bless you both.

 

[libby74]

Originally Posted by farleyv

Mack never ceases to amaze me and reinforce the strength of her spirit.

I never met her, but I love her.

God Bless you both.

My feelings exactly. As I said before, Sophie---don't give up just yet. Prayers are answered everyday, and the fact the Mack has improved so much in the last few weeks is, to me, a small miracle.
Sending loads of healing to your girl, and a (((big hug))) to you.

 

[bastetservant]

Me too! It's amazing to me how much I feel for this little cat I've never met and who lives on the other side of the planet.

I'm thinking about you and Mackerel, and hoping so much she gets better.


Robin

 

[jalindal]

Thanks for your best wishes everyone.

It means a lot to know that so many people care about Mackerel and hope that she pulls another miracle out of the hat.

Not much to report tonight, really... she stumbled a couple of times today which I'm trying really hard not to associate with kidney failure, loss of coordination type... stuff.:-S She's still determined about eating her litter, but I'm still distracting her and trying to gently discourage her from chowing down.

She's eating pretty well.

She's been drinking lots of milk over the last couple of days, eating tuna and lots of her kitten food. I also splurged and got a few cans of really really good quality cat food that she (of course) loves. I don't know how good it'll be for her kidneys, but I figure that a) anything that she hoovers up is a good thing and b) if she enjoys it that's all I care about.

I didn't take any pictures today, but I thought I'd share my favourite picture of Mack as a kitten- this is the night we first brought her home, she fell asleep in my arms.

 

[ldg]

Originally Posted by bastetservant

Me too! It's amazing to me how much I feel for this little cat I've never met and who lives on the other side of the planet.

I'm thinking about you and Mackerel, and hoping so much she gets better.


Robin

It really is, isn't it?

Look at little baby Mack! She was always a wee little thing!

 

[feralvr]

Totally

!!!!!!!!! I just love the fact that we all here on TCS care for one another and all of our cats and we get involved when someone and their cat is not doing well.

Just wonderful support here. Give Mack (and you) a big hug from all of us

 

[momofmany]

I haven't been online in the last few days so just catching up with things. Big

to you!!

Laurie mentioned the "Love and Cheese Danish" treatment a couple of days ago and I'd like to expand on that thought. Sorry if this gets long, but it requires an explanation.

Many years ago, our dog Ellie Mae started to bleed from her mouth. The vet found a tumor on the roof of her mouth and the biopsy showed that she had a highly malignant form of cancer. He removed what he could, but gave her a 30 day prognosis, due to the fast growing nature of this type of cancer.

Ellie Mae was our heart dog and we wanted her as comfortable as possible for the last days of her life. We bought her canned food (which she absolutely loved), DH slept on the floor with her (and would often wake up to find her up on the sofa and he on the floor), and everything we did with her was things that she wanted to do. One morning we had some cheese danishes that we bought from a bakery and decided to break one up, put it on a plate and feed it to her while she lounged on the sofa. Ellie Mae was a smart girl, and quickly realized that with all this special treatment, she didn't want to leave us for a while. She got cheese danish a lot from us, and lived another 18 months before she died from a massive stroke at age 14 (old for her size). Love and Cheese Danish treatment was born.

I've used this for every one of my babies when they have been given a terminal prognosis. When Bob Marley and Eightball were diagnosed with cancer early last year, Bob lived another 7 months with a lung cancer diagnosis (they gave him 2 months), and Eightball lived for a year.

I know we all spoil our babies, but there are some things that I do differently during their treatment. I found that Eightball loved to be fed on the kitchen counter, and while he loved to sit on my lap, was often crowded out by the other cats. He immediately got top lap priority and was grateful for it. The vet prescribed medication which didn't settle well with him - first of all he hated to be medicated and secondly they appeared to upset his stomach. He freaked out with every trip to the vet so I stopped forcing it on him. Sometimes the treatment causes so much stress that it adds to their fragile condition more so than helps them. I would never suggest to anyone to stop what the vet prescribed, but realize that I talked to the vet before I made any changes.

He thought it was fun to drink out of our water glasses, and even more fun when he thought he was getting away with it (we used to scold him for it), so I'd leave glasses of water around the house so that he could "get away with it" and drink from them. If he was settled in my lap and I needed to do something, well, that something had to wait (if it could). He thrived.

Finding their "cheese danish" isn't always easy, particularly if they are spoiled in the first place. But I always work to find what makes them happiest, and it's almost as if they start to enjoy life so much that they put in the extra energy to live longer. No restrictions on what they want to do (unless it truly harms them) and give them things they least expect. Give them what they want, and love, love, love on them the entire time.

More

to you as you go through this hard time, and more to sweet Mack.

 

[jalindal]

Thanks so much for the explanation MoM.

Really gives me hope to think that there are other people who've 'beaten the prognosis', so to say... we just have to hope that Mackerel is one of those.

I'm working hard on finding her cheese danish.

 

[ldg]

Oh I'm so glad Amy gave a more detailed explanation!

And Jalindal - you know one of Mack's "cheese danishes" for sure - it's called raw lamb!

 

[libby74]

I didn't know the story behind the "Love and Cheese Danish" treatment, either. Reading it made me cry; I didn't realize I'd been doing it for years!

 

[calvin&i]

Lots of vibes to you and Mack. You are in my thoughts and prayers!
The Love and Cheese Danish story just is so touching - thanks for sharing, Momofmany.

 

[feralvr]

I didn't know about the "Love and Cheese Danish" story either. Made me get tears. Sure do hope Mackerel is having a great day today and getting lots of love and cheese danishes.....

 

[ldg]

I'm sure she is.

!!!

 

[carolina]

I am sure many of you remember Bear? Bear also went through months of illness.... it is BAD. His liver was shot. He was also "Diagnosed" with FIP - actually, a lot of cats seem to be "diagnosed" with FIP when the vet has no answers to what is going on

... But Bear's mom kept on fighting... Bear was on the brink of death quite a few times... And she kept going.... loving him... and giving him what in her heart made him better. Bear made it through to be a happy and healthy kitty and all that suffering is history today

. He beat all odds... I am not saying there wasn't vet care... There was... a LOT of it... But in the end... It was mom, love, and as you are all saying, "cheese Danish"

.
I am not out of hope for little Mackerel... She has a wonderful mommy taking care of her, and she is doing better... Her eyes tell us that she wants to live, and that she is full of life

 

[jalindal]

Hey guys, Mackerel is doing really well.

I think she's actually putting on weight, and she's really getting so much brighter than she has been lately. Maybe as bright and happy and interested in the world around her as she has been since.... well, since mid Jan? Maybe even before that. It's so great to see her walking around the house and being awake so much and watching birds and stuff. She's also meowing and talking to me again for the first time in ages.

She has been making soundless breathing type meows- we thought because she was so breathless because of the anemia, so hearing sound from her is just great. She's also ravenously hungry, and the last few days she's been quite happy to demand food which is really refreshing. Also she's very cuddly and much more purry than she's been in a while- it's soooooo great to hear the purr I fell in love with in the cat shelter again... especially when she starts as soon as I pick her up, with lots of head butts and the slightest hint of kneading sometimes, too.

She's still eating litter, and her kidneys are still very very swollen, and I think she has been retaining more water in her belly, so I don't think this is... a recovery, per se, but I've asked my friend K to come over to look at her, and even if it isn't indicative of her health improving, at least she's HAPPY.

 

[catbehaviors]

It's great to hear that she is doing better, or is at least happier.

Still sending many more healing vibes and hoping for a miracle!

 

[booktigger]

I am glad that she is still happy and enjoying life, and hope your friend K can find something that does point to recovery. Have they taken a sample of the fluid from her belly to check the colour - if it isn't straw coloured, it could be nothign to do with FIP.

 

[jalindal]

Hey guys, unfortunately I have some bad news. Just before K came over this evening Mackerel... fainted/collapsed/lost consciousness. She fell from her cat tree, basically, and while I didn't see what happened (I had my back turned) it didn't sound like she just lost her balance and fell off, there was no scrambling or attempt to recover or vocalisation or sound of awareness that she was falling, it was a dead kind of thud. She was unconscious for about 5 or 10 seconds.

K says that really we should look at putting Mackerel to sleep now- this is a sign that she's getting worse and the next step is maybe fitting or heart failure or coma, if it's related to the anemia (and that seems likely.)

I tend to agree. Unfortunately there are lots of high places in the house and Mackerel likes to climb on them. She's not really strong enough to get anywhere terribly high at the moment, but she was obviously very sore and distressed after a fall of about 40 or 50cm today and I can't stand the idea of that happening from one of the arms or the back of the couch or the dining room table or my desk...

My aim since they told me that Mackerel was terminal was to prevent her getting to a stage where she was in pain or too much discomfort, and I think we're at the point where that could happen easily now. K as well thinks that she might actually be sore and tender around her kidneys, because when I picked her up as K was leaving she cried out in an obviously pained way...

So. That's what we're thinking at the moment. I'm going to take the night to think on things a little more and then maybe book an appointment for the mobile vet to come and put her to sleep.

 

[frankthetank]

I am so sorry to hear that Mackerel has taken a turn...

for you and your baby. I hope there is peace with whatever decision you come too...it is very hard to watch a baby suffer so my heart goes out to you right now.