Hello,
It is my first time on this newsgroup and I am going to be very long with
this terrible post, but my 12 years old cat has been getting sicker and
sicker for the last month, and I don't know what to do.
He had an echography after we noticed he had lost a lot of weight : he used
to weigh 5 kgs as an adult cat, then thinned down to 4 kgs, as we noticed at
his yearly visit to the vet for his shots in february. But we, and the vet,
thought he had just thinned down because he was getting older.
Then, last month, we took him back to the vet because I found him so thin,
his thighs were showing the bones and his hair looked strange. I understood
at the vet that it looked strange because his skin was hanging loose on him.
He weighed 3.3 kgs then. We had analyzes done, his blood formula was all
wrecked, because of his disease.
We made him have an echography, and the vet said he saw large masses in his
intestines, and a big liver, but it didn't look like a classical cancer,
because the masses were showing white and not dark.
He said it could also be a very severe inflammation of the intestines, and
said to be sure he could do biopsies, but we declined as it would have been
serious surgery and we thought he probably wouldn't be able to heal the
scar.
So we started a cure for MICI, with anti-inflamatory shots every 2 weeks,
and so GastroGel, but it didn't seem to help as the cat continued losing
weight and was now at 2.8 kg.
The vet made us give him Primperid, which is to stop vomiting, and Rossovet
which is a cordial for cats, and Valium as it is supposed to make the cat
hungry all of a sudden for a very short time, just after he takes the drops.
It worked on the first day, but not after that and it made the cat
completely helpless and weak, he was falling when he tried to walk, falling
when he has diaorrhea... So we stopped the Valium, and the vet offered that
we put a feeding probe through his neck, but it means anaesthesia again, and
real incomfort so we postponed and tried again to entice him to eat for lots
of different fresh foods like minced steak, liver, salmon, fish, special
prescription food from the vet.
The day before yesterday, he was suddenly ravenous and ate a minced steak, a
chicken leg, a whole can of vet food, all in one night and one day. But
yesterday he weakened again, managed to eat a little chicken and seemed
completetly listless.
Today, he just lies there, and manages to stand up only to drink water as we
have placed his water dish, and food right next to where he lays. We fed him
vet food mixed with water with a syringe today. But we have to do it 10
times a day to make him eat a can, and that's a lot of stress for him.
It is a pity to see him like this, we love this cat so much, he has been our
friend for 12 years now.
I don't want to see him suffer, I don"t know if there is a chance to save
him.
I don't know where is the line between pushing him on beyond what is
tolerable for him and failing in helping him.
If you had a cat that survived something like this, could you please tell us
how you managed to save him ?
Thanks in advance for answers and advice...