So, I'm not writing this post to make anyone sad. It's more to explain what is happening to our cat, so that other people who might have the same experience can compare this to what they are going through. I feel like feline renal failure is highly covered on the internets, but I can't find as much info on oral cancer.
So, this is our cat, Stinksy.
He is getting on 14 years. He never really stank before, so he had kind of a facetious name. This summer, he pretty much stopped eating and lost a lot of weight in a week. Our other cats had passed away from renal failure, so we pretty much figured that was what was happening with Stinksy. We took him to the vet, and they did blood tests and looked at his mouth. He had an infected tooth, which was causing him to lose his appetite, thus he was having trouble with his kidneys because he wasn't eating. So, he was shot up with antibiotics and B12, and we were given subcutaneous fluids (Sub-Q for short) to give to him every day. We would need to take him in to check his progress in a week or so.
So, for those of you unfamiliar with sub q fluids, it's like sugar water. It's an IV type bag, and you pierce the needle under the skin and pump the fluids in by hand. This will hydrate the cat. We had to give our other cat, The Fuzz, sub q fluids before. She hated it, but she wasn't a fighter, so once we got the needle under her skin she didn't really struggle anymore. Stinksy, on the other hand, would try to escape before we even stuck him, and then he would try to break away before we got enough fluids in him. So it was a 2 person job with Stinksy. We tried the towel burrito, but he would always squeeze his front paw out and then try to escape. Eventually, I had to buy a kitty straight jacket.
It has zippers in the front for the legs and a zipper on the back. Once he was in the straight jacket he calmed down, but after about 5 minutes he would start to squirm. As soon as we unzipped the back a little he could escape, and if the needle wasn't out of him yet, he didn't care. So, anyway, he did get better. The infection cleared up, he was eating again, and we didn't have to give him the fluids every day.
So, about 5 months later, he got bad breath and his cheek was swollen.
You can't really tell from the photo, but it was definitely swollen. We were moving from Fort Lauderdale to New Orleans, so I waited until we got to New Orleans to take him to the vet. The vet gave him antibiotics again, and he also prescribed him Onsior, which is an anti inflammatory. So, the infection cleared up, again, and his breath got better. But his cheek was still swollen. I took Stinksy back for a follow up visit. The vet was concerned that Stinksy's cheek hadn't shrunk back to normal, and he discovered a hole in Stinksy's mouth. So it was more than just an infected tooth. He suspected cancer. The one thing thing that made all this more tricky, was that Stinksy has cardiomyopathy (enlarged heart wall) which results in a heart murmur. Whenever using anesthesia on a cat with a heart murmur, it's a little tricky because slowing down their pulse could cause blood clots. So, the vet referred Stinksy to a vet who was a dental specialist.
So, we saw the dental specialist. She explained that they alter the procedure for putting under pets with a heart murmur, so that it's not so risky. She put him under and took X rays & then did a biopsy. So, he was pretty bad off. His bone was deteriorating, and he had tooth resorption. So, we waited around for them to finish digging around in his mouth, then he woke up.
He was waking up when we got him home. He was very wobbly, yet at the same time he was trying to run around the house. It was a little scary. The vet had given us some opioid painkiller, so we gave it to him after an hour as prescribed and he calmed down and went to sleep.
So, we were giving him an anti-inflammatory and the opioid as well. He definitely ate more and slept more with those meds. He still was spunky and jumping on tables and counters, but the only obvious problem his mouth. One Sunday, we ran out of meds, and he wasn't eating again. So, I got him Temptations treats, because I knew it was the one thing that he liked to eat. So I gave them to him. And he scarfed them down. And then there was blood. It was all in his mouth, and he shook his head and ran around freaked out, so the blood spattered everywhere. I came to the realization that Stinksy could no longer ingest solid food. So, I would have to grind the treats with chicken stock for him to eat them.
Yesterday, we took him back to the dental vet. The biopsy had confirmed that he did indeed have oral cancer. So, because it was so widespread and he is a small cat, treatment was not advised. Not only would treatment probably cost as much as a car, but it would involve either chemotherapy, or surgery to take away a huge part of his jaw & his eye. And Stinksy might still not survive more than a few more years at best. He had lost about half a pound of weight in 2 weeks. The tumor had not grown much, which was a little bit of a relief. The vet gave us more of the liquid opioid, buprenorphine. She thought about it some more, and she went to see if she could get us a fentynal patch. This would last for 5 days and would give Stinksy continual relief. She would have to shave some of his hair and put the patch on him. Then after 5 days, we would have to take the patch off and flush it down the toilet. So, we went to the CVS that the vet called. The pharmacist who helped us looked at the prescription and said, "We don't have that in stock." So we told her that the doctor had just called and verified that they had it. So she asked around and found out that the patches had been put aside, so it was not listed in the inventory. We waited while they filled the prescription. Then we were called back up to the drop off desk, and we were told that the doctor's license was listed as expired in July. So we went back to the vet and collected Stinksy and his buprenorphine and took him home.
He has been pretty chill for the past 24 hours. He has been sleeping either on his little green blankie that I put on the couch, on the bed, or upstairs in the carpeted bedroom floor. The blood is leaking from his mouth more frequently. He will have blood on his paws or legs, and his nose is crusted with blood and mucus. But he still gets around fine, and he uses his litter box. I've been buying different canned cat food and canned fish, and blending them with stock to see if Stinksy likes any one more than the others. I want to put together a bucket list of foods he might like, because it really doesn't matter what he eats - as long as he is eating something. So, we just have to watch him closely and decide when quality of life is not good enough for him to keep going. The vet did suggest tube feeding - the vet would put a hole in Stinksy's trachea and we would push the food through with a syringe. I think we both agree that we don't want to get to that point. So, it's just a waiting game now.
Stinksy probably doesn't have much more than a few weeks, or maybe a couple months. It's such a difficult truth to deal with. I've been openly talking about it for a while to prepare myself for the inevitable. But, it's still hard to accept. Choosing to end your pet's life is so much worse than having him pass away peacefully in his sleep. Yet, at the same time, I feel like it's a pet parent's responsibility to do what is in the best interest of the pet - above the parent's wishes. How do you decide when is the right time? How do you know when a pet's suffering is greater than his will to live? How do you willingly agree to let someone kill your pet. Because you love him and you want his to not hurt.
About a year and a half ago, we euthanized our other cat, The Fuzz. It was one of the most heart wrenching experiences of my whole life. I didn't want to ever experience it again. Yet here we are, facing the prospect of euthanasia. As difficult as it was to watch our other two cats - Tiki Tee and Chester - both pass away, euthanasia is worse on the soul. But, I wouldn't trade this feeling for not having pets. With great love comes great responsibility.
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