Monday, December 24, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Hefty!
I swear. He is getting bulkier.
Yesterday a friend gave me a couple of bags of the cat food she feeds her pets. Blue Buffalo and Taste of the Wild. He ate it like treats. I didn't put it in a bowl, for fear he would know I wanted him to eat a lot.
He is eating (not nearly enough) but kibble and on his own.
The vertebrae are less visible and I really can't tell if the belly is round from eating properly or if it is still the tumor. I would sort of like to see it a bit shrunken, but I can't honestly remember what a normal tummy feels like. It LOOKS perfect.
He is leaving his little halter on all the time. It is a wee bit tighter than I like it but he is very comfortable with it up in his armpits so when I link my "Jethro" lead to it, he just saunters our the front door with less stress.
The trips outside seem really to help him. He is more alert and much grumpier. He has always been grumpy. Demanding and vocal, I was worried at first and then realized that the sweeter he is, the sicker he is. His returning nastiness is all great!
dj*
Yesterday a friend gave me a couple of bags of the cat food she feeds her pets. Blue Buffalo and Taste of the Wild. He ate it like treats. I didn't put it in a bowl, for fear he would know I wanted him to eat a lot.
He is eating (not nearly enough) but kibble and on his own.
The vertebrae are less visible and I really can't tell if the belly is round from eating properly or if it is still the tumor. I would sort of like to see it a bit shrunken, but I can't honestly remember what a normal tummy feels like. It LOOKS perfect.
He is leaving his little halter on all the time. It is a wee bit tighter than I like it but he is very comfortable with it up in his armpits so when I link my "Jethro" lead to it, he just saunters our the front door with less stress.
The trips outside seem really to help him. He is more alert and much grumpier. He has always been grumpy. Demanding and vocal, I was worried at first and then realized that the sweeter he is, the sicker he is. His returning nastiness is all great!
dj*
Thursday, December 20, 2012
The Dude on a walk...
My boy is an indoor cat.
I have had a very bad habit of allowing my indoor cats to go walking as their end is near. Partially because they are weaker and I can catch them, but also because it is boring sitting around looking sick.
So I found this little dinky collar that goes around his neck and under his elbows. He CAN pull out backwards but he has to do just enough squiggling that I can catch him.
My DCA treatments have VISIBLY shrunk his tumor. I was not taking photos as I found it too depressing. The ones I have... well black is a very slimming color so you can't really see the bulge, but my description of about to have a litter of 10 kittens really summed it up.
Except that he won't eat enough food (he likes treats but only about 20 at a time, I tricked him into some kitten food but that was still only a few) canned or dry or anything twice to keep him alive while I give him the meds, I am slurping pumpkin/A/D pet-food and whatever open can he would not eat in the mix 6-10 fat syringefuls on both of us and hopefully into him daily.
BUT he is looking so good, I am going to keep it up.
\
No trips anywhere for the holidays... which is a GREAT thing!
Friday, December 7, 2012
Svelt...
Seriously, I swear he is getting skinny. Not in an emaciated way (although really, he is not back to normal) but I used to cringe watching him walk away with that roundness BULGING out of him. Well, I just look and think, I am going nuts, but it is smaller. Like a grapefruit, not a cantaloupe and although he is bonier, he shoulders are not as bad as they were when he was really sick!
So.
Anyone know what will create an appetite? I mean I am personally shoving all the food I can into his little mouth. I know it is not enough but it seems to be what he needs to feed the medicine into that tumor!
Today we did enjoy TOGETHER some chicken from the grocery store. He had about 5 or six begs and DID eat them when tossed for a while. Then a break and a couple more.
I tried again in about an hour and he ate.
The trouble is, anything he SEEMS to like one day, he just turns his nose up at the next.
So I am wearing some Fancy Feast fish flavor today.
So.
Anyone know what will create an appetite? I mean I am personally shoving all the food I can into his little mouth. I know it is not enough but it seems to be what he needs to feed the medicine into that tumor!
Today we did enjoy TOGETHER some chicken from the grocery store. He had about 5 or six begs and DID eat them when tossed for a while. Then a break and a couple more.
I tried again in about an hour and he ate.
The trouble is, anything he SEEMS to like one day, he just turns his nose up at the next.
So I am wearing some Fancy Feast fish flavor today.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Hallucinating again...
Because this stuff I am giving him is untested and unregulated, I am flying blindly here, but I had a great day yesterday.
I decided he should get a chance to see the world outside the window so I took him out on a string and let him roll in the dust and bask in direct sun.... and grumble as I was not letting him run free or even very far as he would easily pull out of my little loop (I would NOT let it be a full slip knot so I stopped it from closing) but he was definitely enjoying. Then RIGHT in and shove food plus med and right out again so he had mental residuals of excitement not force feeding.
And I remembered I had purchased some minced clams. Was told cats love the stuff. Poured a little on his open tin of cat food and he was SNARFING... not the whole thing, but large visible bits!
I can't really tell if he is being stubborn from my ambushes or actually anorexic.
BUT here is the hallucination.
I SWEAR his profile is looking normal. I feel the hardness in his belly but from above, just walking by, he looks like a normal cat!
(The sellers of the DCA are not real good at advice and don't have a very thorough site for info, but they are good cheerleaders, saying that the WORST side effects are some neuropathy and if the tumor dies too quickly it can overload the animals system and cause organ failure.) But as the prognoisis is so bad, we are double dosing and I swear, I THINK I see results.
Pat me on the head and say "well.. that is very nice..." I don't mind being humored.
I decided he should get a chance to see the world outside the window so I took him out on a string and let him roll in the dust and bask in direct sun.... and grumble as I was not letting him run free or even very far as he would easily pull out of my little loop (I would NOT let it be a full slip knot so I stopped it from closing) but he was definitely enjoying. Then RIGHT in and shove food plus med and right out again so he had mental residuals of excitement not force feeding.
And I remembered I had purchased some minced clams. Was told cats love the stuff. Poured a little on his open tin of cat food and he was SNARFING... not the whole thing, but large visible bits!
I can't really tell if he is being stubborn from my ambushes or actually anorexic.
BUT here is the hallucination.
I SWEAR his profile is looking normal. I feel the hardness in his belly but from above, just walking by, he looks like a normal cat!
(The sellers of the DCA are not real good at advice and don't have a very thorough site for info, but they are good cheerleaders, saying that the WORST side effects are some neuropathy and if the tumor dies too quickly it can overload the animals system and cause organ failure.) But as the prognoisis is so bad, we are double dosing and I swear, I THINK I see results.
Pat me on the head and say "well.. that is very nice..." I don't mind being humored.
Monday, November 26, 2012
A year?
Wow. I missed it. Today is the year anniversary of my last post about Mom. Which is good. I wrote it on the calendar wrong. I knew it was two days after Thanksgiving and knew it was a Saturday but got the DATE of Thanksgiving wrong.
I guess I am sort of happy as the Dude is up and relatively normal. Not so groggy. Not so sleepy but still not so hungry. But he has made it past her anniversary so unless he goes on Christmas Eve (when I lost Dad) I may have only two terrible anniversaries during the holidays....
I have decided to reduce his prednisone a little. His kidneys are going a bit over the edge.
I have my Magic Bullet out and am trying to make tasty slime for him to lap up as he will crunch treats but prefers the soup in the cat food to the substance. (Personally I still think he is messing with me.)
The powder is now being measured and applied to scraps of the last of the turkey left overs. He doesn't taste it at all. But apparently chicken does not hold the same appeal. I have some livers I was going to try to cook and mash, but I think I will see if he finishes off the smelly old 9 Lives I got him.
We play a game of tag all morning.
He used to like waking me up and begging for food and I would give him his meds during munch time. But now his appetite is way down and after waking me up, he makes me leave so he can eat in peace.
Tomorrow I will wake up and dose him. Let the worst thing be first and he can sulk if he wants, but I can drink my coffee anywhere I want without waiting for him to come out to eat!
dj*
I guess I am sort of happy as the Dude is up and relatively normal. Not so groggy. Not so sleepy but still not so hungry. But he has made it past her anniversary so unless he goes on Christmas Eve (when I lost Dad) I may have only two terrible anniversaries during the holidays....
I have decided to reduce his prednisone a little. His kidneys are going a bit over the edge.
I have my Magic Bullet out and am trying to make tasty slime for him to lap up as he will crunch treats but prefers the soup in the cat food to the substance. (Personally I still think he is messing with me.)
The powder is now being measured and applied to scraps of the last of the turkey left overs. He doesn't taste it at all. But apparently chicken does not hold the same appeal. I have some livers I was going to try to cook and mash, but I think I will see if he finishes off the smelly old 9 Lives I got him.
We play a game of tag all morning.
He used to like waking me up and begging for food and I would give him his meds during munch time. But now his appetite is way down and after waking me up, he makes me leave so he can eat in peace.
Tomorrow I will wake up and dose him. Let the worst thing be first and he can sulk if he wants, but I can drink my coffee anywhere I want without waiting for him to come out to eat!
dj*
Sunday, November 25, 2012
On and off the edge....
I am going a little over the edge. It is temporary.
For some reason he seems worse on weekends.
I had a bit of turkey and he likes it. So I pinch off very tiny bite sized bits, as he seems to gnarf. Last weekend it was some chicken... swallowed a bunch and threw ALL of it back at me. Totally emptied his stomach of about half an hour of eating so I was worried he had no ability to digest.
But this week he seems to do good for about two teaspoons of canned food about three times a day and lots of treats to chase. He is barely munching the dry.
So.... this morning he did the same thing with about a nice teaspoon and a half or so of tiny turkey chunks.
Yesterday I got my jar of DCA. It is powdered and I apparently need a device that cannot be found - a .01mg scale - on a weekend. I have a friend that I can't get to that we were going to measure out dosages of this completely uncertified tumor shrinking compound that I was hoping might make room in his body for bodily functions by making the cantaloupe a little smaller....
With him turning up his nose at food... well not really but having a perpetual upset stomach, I am not sure how to get it into him. He really holds a grudge now when I give him his meds....
More to come, just venting.
Tomorrow I will get some of the special diet the vet gave me to shove down his throat and tell her of my science experiments. But today I just watch him... sleep... and worse, just stare.
dj*
For some reason he seems worse on weekends.
I had a bit of turkey and he likes it. So I pinch off very tiny bite sized bits, as he seems to gnarf. Last weekend it was some chicken... swallowed a bunch and threw ALL of it back at me. Totally emptied his stomach of about half an hour of eating so I was worried he had no ability to digest.
But this week he seems to do good for about two teaspoons of canned food about three times a day and lots of treats to chase. He is barely munching the dry.
So.... this morning he did the same thing with about a nice teaspoon and a half or so of tiny turkey chunks.
Yesterday I got my jar of DCA. It is powdered and I apparently need a device that cannot be found - a .01mg scale - on a weekend. I have a friend that I can't get to that we were going to measure out dosages of this completely uncertified tumor shrinking compound that I was hoping might make room in his body for bodily functions by making the cantaloupe a little smaller....
With him turning up his nose at food... well not really but having a perpetual upset stomach, I am not sure how to get it into him. He really holds a grudge now when I give him his meds....
More to come, just venting.
Tomorrow I will get some of the special diet the vet gave me to shove down his throat and tell her of my science experiments. But today I just watch him... sleep... and worse, just stare.
dj*
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