Monkey's remaining days?

[PH&MonkeyPenPenFaFaTiger]

Hi all,

Due to two reasons, I believe Monkey will depart soon, maybe in weeks or months.

1. The bloodwork of Monkey shows that he has diabetes, moderate to serious lack of red blood cells, problems in the liver, elevated Bilirubin. Also, he is likely to have a cancerous tumor in his internal organ, and restrictive cardiomyopathy. Attached is the blood report. Please note that the vet has prescribed some meds and injections.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xUiRZW2ctHVhOfjDo_NFakIKuTN_0pVr/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PdLDBhe8T8hDtxh1z-pOVEoIbnvJ8b4F/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EER5plDQ3ScQCNYtl18QiujKA6eyIkFA/view?usp=sharing


2. Monkey was losing a lot of muscle mass rapidly in just two weeks. Now his spine is really bony.

3. Lack of appetite. He does not eat or eat little food he previously eats every day.

What really comforts me is that he still responded to my touch and purr. Although he is frail, he can still walk around. It seems that he is not in too much pain. Maybe some discomfort.



So my plan is:

1. I will let him eat whatever he wants. I guess now Monkey can only enjoy food, massage, and love. It seems that he loses curiosity and interest in playing. I want to spoil Monkey as much as possible.

I will let him try a large variety of tasty food, snacks. I find that he likes liquid food very much. I allow seafood because I believe the potential addiction and heavy metal is not important now. Luckily, now I find low carb (I guess about 10% carb) liquid food from the Japanese brand CIAO. Also, maybe something relatively exotic like rabbit and turkey meat that he has never tried.

Although I will give a lot of snacks, I will also try to mix them in complete nutrition food to let Monkey have complete nutrtion. Especially if Monkey survives longer than I expect.


2. I will still diligently measure his BG, make sure his BG is stable.

3. Massage for him and call his name lovingly.


So, my friends, do you have any idea that I can do something better or something that you think may not be appropriate? Or do you think Monkey can survive longer?


Monkey at vet clinic today:

 

[PH&MonkeyPenPenFaFaTiger]

@Bron and Sheba (GA)
@Nan & Amber (GA)
@jt and trouble (GA)

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Without even looking at the labwork, nobody knows Monkey as well as you do. If your gut is telling you his time is near, your plan seems absolutely the right thing to do.

If he does seem to rally later, you can always go back to a stricter diet. Remember, most of our cats live with diabetes until their symptoms get so bad that we notice and take them in for diagnosis. A few weeks of yummy foods probably isn't going to make a huge difference.

JMO

 

[Sherri & Moondance]

I am so sorry about your Monkey. I am in the same boat with my Moondance. Diabetes treatment is going great but his health is declining anyway. In our case, the vet suspects cancer and there is not much we can do. Luckily, he doesn’t seem to be in pain and still seems to enjoy our cuddles.

Monkey is lucky to have you! I’m sure you will make his days (however many you get) happy and peaceful. I hope they are happy and peaceful for you, as well.

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

Exactly what Chris just said. All the tests in the world won't tell you what only you know. Spoil Monkey with love, back up all your photos of him, remember him from the first day you saw him. There is no test for love.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

I really have no advice but say just let himn eat what he wants and control BG as necessary. To me what is controlling is the low HCT (and related values). The good sign is the reticulocytes (immature red blood cells) are high which means the body is creating more RBCs in reaction to the low number of RBCs (low HCT)