max&emmasmommie
Member Since 2012
Helle everyone,
Thank you to all who posted on my last condo: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=82290 for your thoughts, kindness and suggestions about how to help Max. You are all such wonderful people!
At the moment, the sad news is that Max definitely has cancer, and he has all but stopped eating. We aren't going to do a biopsy to find out what type of cancer. His kidneys are much worse, and we don't think the risks are worth the possible benefits. I think we may discover which type it is eventually because we have been told that sarcoma does not spread as fast, but carcinoma does and is very aggressive.
Max is clearly hungry -- that is the upsetting thing. If we put a spoonful of food to his mouth he doesn't want it; if we hold it there he will eat it hungrily just a few moments later, but one spoonful is all we can get into him at a time. If Max had no appetite and didn't want food at all, I might be able to accept that he is ready to go. He's not, though, and I hate to let him get weak just because I don't know what to do. Max went to his bowl earlier today on his own and ate some -- very little. After the first dose of Bupe he started to purr again. Something is bothering him a lot with regard to eating.
The vet prescribed Buprenex once every 8 hours and Cerenia once a day. He offered an appetite stimulant, but I don't think appetite is the problem. I have elevated his food bowl and his water fountain. I was giving him Pepcid -- 1/4 of a 10 mg pill every other day -- and I have now increased it to every day. I don't give him the Bupe every 8 hours unless he appears to need it. If he looks relaxed, I assume he feels good. However, tonight I gave it to him because it had been 10 hours since his last dose, and he hadn't had Pepcid in about 48 hours.
He sat outside on the chaise lounge for hours today. He is presently sitting on the love seat right next to us. He has put up with a Bupe dose and a blood test (95), and seems to be resting comfortably right now. Isn't is amazing that his BG is good?
I'm giving him fluids, too. Max's kidney values were pretty bad the other day. His creatinine was at 5.7 and his BUN was in the 70s. I know the high BUN/dehydration can make the creatinine number artifically high. I really thought I was being careful with the Fluids, but giving them often enough. I guess not. Now there is no reason to try to walk a fine line between avoiding strain on the kidneys and yet barely keeping him hydrated enough. I'm giving Fluids frequently as he's not eating enough to get them any other way.
I presume that the pancreatitic cancer is having a similar effect as mere pancreatitis would have on Max's stomach acid, and his ability to process food. The CRF must be interfering, too. If we can't get him eating, his time is short indeed. His weight on 10/31 was 9.42; on 10/25 it was 9.72 and on 9/17 it was 11 pounds. He was doing so very well right before he went OTJ on Sept 27th, but he must have had cancer then, too.
I have questions: Bupe might be an appetite suppressent or he doesn't care about anything including food when he's on it? He stopped eating well back before the 18th, and I didn't give the first dose of Bupe until November 2nd. He had a good poo on the 25th that indicated to me that he'd eaten enough. Since then his intake has become progressively less. He's had about 3 to 4 ounces of food, if that, in the last 48 hours. In the previous 48 hours he ate about 12 ounces.
Cerenia might be the wrong anti-nausea? The radiologist said that the location of the tumor should not be affecting Max's stomach or intestines in any physical way, but the pancreas does help process food in various ways and there may be a chemical/hormonal issue. I haven't seen poo in days. He's doing it outside perhaps? He will pee in the box, but not poo; It's not on the beds, and that has always been his signal that he is very sick or angry.
What else could we give him? Anyone have any suggestions? I need to get a prescription for the MaxCal, but otherwise any medications or foods anyone recommend?
We are sad, we cry, we can't stand losing him, but we were talking today about how he is dying in a way many would prefer with people who love him and are keeping him from feeling pain. That is something.
Thank you to all who posted on my last condo: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=82290 for your thoughts, kindness and suggestions about how to help Max. You are all such wonderful people!
At the moment, the sad news is that Max definitely has cancer, and he has all but stopped eating. We aren't going to do a biopsy to find out what type of cancer. His kidneys are much worse, and we don't think the risks are worth the possible benefits. I think we may discover which type it is eventually because we have been told that sarcoma does not spread as fast, but carcinoma does and is very aggressive.
Max is clearly hungry -- that is the upsetting thing. If we put a spoonful of food to his mouth he doesn't want it; if we hold it there he will eat it hungrily just a few moments later, but one spoonful is all we can get into him at a time. If Max had no appetite and didn't want food at all, I might be able to accept that he is ready to go. He's not, though, and I hate to let him get weak just because I don't know what to do. Max went to his bowl earlier today on his own and ate some -- very little. After the first dose of Bupe he started to purr again. Something is bothering him a lot with regard to eating.
The vet prescribed Buprenex once every 8 hours and Cerenia once a day. He offered an appetite stimulant, but I don't think appetite is the problem. I have elevated his food bowl and his water fountain. I was giving him Pepcid -- 1/4 of a 10 mg pill every other day -- and I have now increased it to every day. I don't give him the Bupe every 8 hours unless he appears to need it. If he looks relaxed, I assume he feels good. However, tonight I gave it to him because it had been 10 hours since his last dose, and he hadn't had Pepcid in about 48 hours.
He sat outside on the chaise lounge for hours today. He is presently sitting on the love seat right next to us. He has put up with a Bupe dose and a blood test (95), and seems to be resting comfortably right now. Isn't is amazing that his BG is good?
I'm giving him fluids, too. Max's kidney values were pretty bad the other day. His creatinine was at 5.7 and his BUN was in the 70s. I know the high BUN/dehydration can make the creatinine number artifically high. I really thought I was being careful with the Fluids, but giving them often enough. I guess not. Now there is no reason to try to walk a fine line between avoiding strain on the kidneys and yet barely keeping him hydrated enough. I'm giving Fluids frequently as he's not eating enough to get them any other way.
I presume that the pancreatitic cancer is having a similar effect as mere pancreatitis would have on Max's stomach acid, and his ability to process food. The CRF must be interfering, too. If we can't get him eating, his time is short indeed. His weight on 10/31 was 9.42; on 10/25 it was 9.72 and on 9/17 it was 11 pounds. He was doing so very well right before he went OTJ on Sept 27th, but he must have had cancer then, too.
I have questions: Bupe might be an appetite suppressent or he doesn't care about anything including food when he's on it? He stopped eating well back before the 18th, and I didn't give the first dose of Bupe until November 2nd. He had a good poo on the 25th that indicated to me that he'd eaten enough. Since then his intake has become progressively less. He's had about 3 to 4 ounces of food, if that, in the last 48 hours. In the previous 48 hours he ate about 12 ounces.
Cerenia might be the wrong anti-nausea? The radiologist said that the location of the tumor should not be affecting Max's stomach or intestines in any physical way, but the pancreas does help process food in various ways and there may be a chemical/hormonal issue. I haven't seen poo in days. He's doing it outside perhaps? He will pee in the box, but not poo; It's not on the beds, and that has always been his signal that he is very sick or angry.
What else could we give him? Anyone have any suggestions? I need to get a prescription for the MaxCal, but otherwise any medications or foods anyone recommend?
We are sad, we cry, we can't stand losing him, but we were talking today about how he is dying in a way many would prefer with people who love him and are keeping him from feeling pain. That is something.
