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Post by scallywag on Sept 29, 2015 6:26:35 GMT
Morning Erika. How was your night hope you managed to get some sleep. How was Carlotta during the night ? {{{HUGS}}}
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Post by smilesbetter on Sept 29, 2015 7:49:23 GMT
Hey guys,
She had a good nights sleep and I've just brought her her breakfast which is the delicious (heh heh) mix of one and a half tablets crushed, a tiny bit of live sauerkraut juice, about half a tablets worth of fish oil and some puréed chicken breast and liver. She was a bit hesitant at first and I did wonder that she could smell it all and would refuse the food, but she's scoffing away happily now. She's still looking quite scruffy, I'll give her a bit of a groom today although she doesn't like being groomed too much. Hopefully she'll be feeling a lot better today after her small meals yesterday and will get on with grooming her rear end! It's not awful, I mean we washed off all the actual bits of poop and the darkest bits but she's totally brown there (white pets stain easy!!).
Oh, and there is pee in her litter tray woohoo! No poop yet but not surprising considering her little clear out yesterday. It will be a bit harder to tell once Mieze and Carlotta are back together.
We have broken our "no radiators on until it snows" rule and she's sitting on a blanket on a small table thing next to a warm radiator looking quite content. Rosa is quite jealous that Carlotta has food and she doesn't. Mieze doesn't know yet. If Carlotta gets a bit more active today then I'll rub the blanket from Miezes favourite bed onto Carlotta and then let Mieze through, that way Carlotta shouldn't smell so strange to her. Mieze can be a bit of a bully to Rosa sometimes (and us some of the time, but she's nice to Carlotta about 95% of the time) so I worry that she's gonna chase Carlotta or attack her, as she has attacked Rosa before.
I will have to let her through soon though as she was waiting at the living room door when I got up this morning and I can hear her miaowing to get through now, and Mieze has the most adorable miaow I've ever heard! I already feel really mean keeping her separate, but I'd rather see Carlotta moving around a bit first.
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Post by smilesbetter on Sept 29, 2015 11:22:48 GMT
Here's a few pics of her today: As you can see she's still a bit scruffy, especially at the back end there and on her back legs. I have groomed her now and she's been very good letting me do that but I can't get under her chin/the front of her neck (she's got something on there but I don't know what, came from when she was at the vet hospital) although I have been slowly able to get little bits of it groomed out each time I go up and try. It's difficult as she keeps enthusiastically then rubbing her face off me and rolling around. She's in a very good mood actually. Also haven't been able to get her back legs much, they don't have anything on them, she's tried grooming them while she was wet and she's not tried again since so that's why they look like that. I will need to take the plasters off her back legs today too. Don't need to do her stomach as its now completely bald from her sonogram, and so her bum area is the main issue. I've managed to groom her tail but grooming doesn't seem to make much of a difference there, and obviously I can't get further under. She needs to groom there herself, it seems like something only a cat tongue can clean out properly. She's had all her breakfast now (she didn't quite finished it earlier) and I will leave feeding her now until tonight as I don't want her stomach to be having to work too often. I realised if I give her loads of small meals then her stomach will be working constantly and I don't want that. So we'll go for two a day, but she can get them in more than one sitting if she needs at the moment since she's not eaten properly in so long and needs to build her appetite back up. I have a question for you guys (especially gypsy if that's okay as I suppose you might have experience with this through your job)... We have been given some tablets to give her and she's had some in her breakfast. They are Prednisdon which is to manage the tumour but can badly damage the stomach according to the vet, and Omeprazol which is to essentially counteract the damage the first tablet will do. We have only been given two weeks supply. My question is, if she only has a month or few to live either way, is it better to give the tablets and possibly risk making her even more ill and unhealthy, or not give the tablets and just let her be herself for her "retirement" time now? To be honest I'd rather not give the tablets, but I don't know, do you lot think that would be cruel not to give them? I feel that if I am having to give medication just to keep her alive and prolong the inevitable then maybe it is her time and it would be cruel to span it out longer (when it's not even gonna be much longer) and if she does live a bit longer, she might end up with other stomach issues as a result of the medication. With all her allergies and things like that too I worry that it could end up making her sick as well. I kind of think she'd be happier just eating what she loves and living happily for as long as she can. If she seems to be in pain or suffering then we will accept that that's time to say goodbye. Just wondered your opinions.
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Post by smilesbetter on Sept 29, 2015 13:30:16 GMT
Carlotta and Moeze have been reunited, no problems at all. They ignored each other at first while Mieze investigated the food bowl and then Mieze had a very very close sniff of Carlotta's tail and back. Now they have settled down at opposite ends of the room for a snooze. Tiring work, emotional reunions
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Post by lotsofcats on Sept 29, 2015 13:52:40 GMT
So sorry that the news from the vets was not good news and you were right with your feelings about Carlotta. Spoil her rotten. Thinking of you.
I had 2 cats years ago, mother and daughter and both died from a tumour in their stomach, the daughter first aged 8 and then the mother aged 10. Like you I didn't have the treatment for them and just gave them lots of love, food and comfort until it was time.
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Post by smilesbetter on Sept 29, 2015 14:10:42 GMT
That's so sad that two of your cats also had this but nice to know that you also didn't go for the treatment option lotsofcats , I do think it's for the best when the treatment can't actually cure the problem. The vet seemed very relieved that I wasn't going for the treatment too so she obviously felt the same. There was actually a lady at the vets yesterday with her dog and she had asked what was up with Carlotta and she said that her dog had a tumour and they'd gone for the treatment (which was the same stuff the vet had said Carlotta would get). She said her dog had gotten extremely thin as a side effect of the tablets and was no longer its usual lively happy self. She said she reckoned her dog would never be the same (as a result of both the illness and the tablets) and that she regularly had to drive it to this vets for checkups (and she had been waiting for two hours when I got there so that would have been 3 to 4 hours by the time I left, and she didn't look any closer to getting dealt with when I was going) and when a vet came in and went near a dog near her, her dog bolted under her chair obviously frightened of the vets (which it may always have been but this couldn't help). Carlotta couldn't take all that, she'd hate having to spend that amount of time in her cage at the vet surgery and she really doesn't seem to like the actual vets any more, and she hasn't got much weight to lose now, she's only 2.8kg and if the tablets made her lose more she'd be skin and bones, and that's not gonna help her either.
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Post by scallywag on Sept 29, 2015 14:14:59 GMT
I think I would be inclinded to go with what you are doing Erika, if I was in that position with Beau. So hard to know what to do, but you will know if shes in pain, if you take the no meds option. {{{HUGS}}} x
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Post by tonib on Sept 29, 2015 23:14:20 GMT
I'm so sorry to read the latest on Carlotta, smilesbetter. However it is nice to read that she seems to have perked up, fingers crossed she continues so for a while yet. I can understand your difficult decision making process as to regards the on-going care. If it was me I'd perhaps be inclined to give both meds from the vet & keep an eye on her & keep reviewing your decision. If they make her more comfortable then that's great if they don't then I'd stop them or at least review it with the vets. Of course that is assuming that Carlotta will take the meds either directly or crushed into food without too much stress. Great pictures - she does look perkier than the video.
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Post by smilesbetter on Oct 1, 2015 21:03:08 GMT
Thanks guys. She is seeming much more her old self today and has been running around a bit which is nice to see. I've been watching her like a hawk as I've been trying to assess whether she is actually getting "better" and enjoying life or whether it is mean to be keeping her alive. She does seem to be happy now though and so I think I made the right decision (not that the vet thought she should get put down yet btw, but the first couple of days there I was still not sure if it was right to keep her like this).
I've been to the raw let food butcher today and got her some "wolfed" (not sure the best English translation for that haha, not exactly minced or just chopped...) chicken and turkey, and I've ordered a whole "wolfed" organic chicken for her and Mieze for two weeks time (if she's still here) which they will love. She surprised me tonight by pinching some of Rosa's lamb haha. I think having the food "wolfed" will be a bit better on her stomach as it shouldn't have to work so hard on digesting it, although I'm not sure that makes much of a difference.
I was thinking about travelling to Scotland recently but I am not going to bother, I'm too worried that it would be the last time I saw her and I'm not ready for that yet.
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Post by tonib on Oct 1, 2015 21:30:47 GMT
Nice to hear she's eating well smilesbetter. Don't mentally give up on her (not that you would) - she'll surprise you yet. By mentally I mean keep thinking she's only got x days/weeks etc. or other such stuff. Just take each day at a time but as normal, no hovering over her, keep checking on her etc. (difficult I know) Cats will pick up on your concerns & might get more stressed.
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Post by smilesbetter on Oct 1, 2015 21:37:58 GMT
You're right tonib . I'm mostly quite relaxed about it, glad just to have her still, but i think it will take a few more days of her seeming back to normal before I get used to it and remember that she's probably had this tumour for a long time (possibly as long as we've had her, for all I know) and it's not like she's suddenly just got one, so all this time we've had her before this discovery she's had one and been doing just fine. It's hard to keep that in mind haha. Well anyway I have been planning for a while to build a big cat tree and to build some extra shelves so the cats can get around the living room, hall and bedroom fully without ever having to go on the floor, so I think I will try and get started on that next week. Both cats would love it, I think especially Carlotta as since we got back she has hardly gone down onto the floor and I've noticed will take a very awkward route to get somewhere just to avoid going onto the floor. I think it'll be easier to convince my man to help me build it now ha.
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Post by scallywag on Oct 2, 2015 6:49:52 GMT
Morning Erika I think its hard to switch off but tonib is right just try and be yourself, she will let you know when shes had enough. I have been there with previous Springer Tobi, we were lucky we got 2 more years out of him, and to think we were geing advised to take a different route ( so glad a different vet got to see Tobi , one weekend when he was doing his weekend shift at the vetinary hospital ) and phoned us for a chat about something he wanted to try . Which we agreed to! Sorry offtopic here, this is about Carlotta not Tobi. Have a lovely day, bet you are glad to not to be working in that horrid store right now
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Post by smilesbetter on Oct 2, 2015 7:04:48 GMT
That's nice to know you got two more years with him after the diagnoses! I think my man is quite positive we will have that with Carlotta too haha, actually I think he thinks the tumour will just go away or something haha. I wish, but it's nice that he's so positive, it gives me hope strangely.
And yeah I'm so glad I'm not working there any more haha!
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Post by lotsofcats on Oct 2, 2015 10:01:29 GMT
You have definitely made the right decision. It seems that Carlotta is happier and feeling a bit better at the moment. Like tonib says, be yourself around her because cats do pick up vibes. You will know when she's had enough. One thing I can warn you about is when she is gone you mustn't feel guilty and start thinking 'what if I'd let he have surgery or treatment?' I've done it with mine, I think it's a natural way to think but try not to do it - you have chosen the best way for Carlotta by letting her be loved and well cared at home for the time left.
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Post by tonib on Oct 2, 2015 11:41:33 GMT
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