Kitty Stress

[shadownyc]

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned, in general, that I have 2 beautiful kitties. Both were adopted from Animal Shelters and both are declawed and therefore are house cats only. The younger one, "Shadow", was a stray kitten (2 months old), found hiding and running on the streets of Hartford, CT. (not safe) He's 3 years old and turned out to be a Russian Blue.

The 10 1/2 year old is "Lucky". He was surrendered to the Humane Society at 3 months old when his original owner turned out to be highly allergic. He's black & white and turns out is half domestic and half siamese (vet's hypothesis). We got Lucky originally because my son is Mentally handicapped and at 4 yrs. old was still not speaking very much. His speech therapist said that he might open up more to a pet. Boy was she right. As soon as we got Lucky home, my son started talking to him. He would ask him questions and the kitten listened to him attentively. Lucky always napped with him. [One of my friends once joked that as soon as the cat starts answering back I should give her a call.]

We are all VERY attached to both kitties, and they are attached to each other. Only now, Lucky seems to be aging badly. He lost 1 pound (10% of his body weight) in just 3 months. He had blood work done this week for Feline geriatric stuff, but it came out negative. On Monday, he goes for X-rays and if those don't show anything the vet said it could be more serious and the tests would cost almost $1,000. She also said that they might just skip the tests and treat him for those possibilities that are remaining. Who knows???

Just wanted to vent. Thanks for your patience!

Comments

[moose74.livejournal.com]

When my parent's cat was sick, some kind of cancer, the vet treated it with (I think) cortisone shots. It was cheaper than the tests and it extended the length and quality of Midnight's life.

Losing a pet is so hard, especially with kids. We had to put a young dog down last year and it was awful, for all of us. :(

Thinking good thoughts. ((HUG))

[shadownyc.livejournal.com]

Feline Lymphoma was one of the vet's thoughts, thanks for the info.
Thanks for the hug, it makes me feel better! :)
*hugs back*

[mimi525607.livejournal.com]

I thought Lucky was 11. Oh well. I am quite upset. Daddy and I took a brief walk last night while you were napping and we were talking about what would happen if something happened to Lucky. What would we do with Shadow. He's been with another cat since he was a baby and I don't want him to suffer from something happening to Lucky. I'm upset too. *Tear* I hope he's ok. I mean his supposed to live at least 13 years like the bird Lucky who we named him after. It was 13 right? Oh well. Love you Mommy!

[shadownyc.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Lucky, the parakeet, lived to see his 13th b-day. We'll take this "stuff" one step at a time. I'm also wondering about Shadow, but I won't think about that unless I hear something terrible about Lucky. So far I'm going to focus on the power of positive thinking!

[ohyeah36.livejournal.com]

Aw I remember when you guys got lucky. I can't believe he's 10 1/2 already. Hi, I'm old.
I hope he's okay. You know I'm not a big cat fan, but I've always loved Lucky, even if I am allergic. Keep us posted, as I'm sure you will.

[shadownyc.livejournal.com]

I'll definitely continue to post updates--it's very cathartic! Thanks for the good wishes!

[aliciamasters.livejournal.com]

I hope things go well with your kitty. We lost our 13 year old cat to brain cancer last year, and it was shocking. We're still not over it.

I hope it's something easily fixable. Sometimes cats stop eating because of a toothache, which can cause sudden weight loss. Did the vet check her teeth thoroughly?

[shadownyc.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your support. The vet said he has mild gingivitis, but not enough to cause him to drop in weight this much (but who knows). In the mean time we've started brushing his teeth nightly--we were even given special toothpaste.

[smartwomn1.livejournal.com]

These are classic symptoms of renal failure.

There are things you can do for a beloved cat; I injected subcutaneous (sp?) fluids in my cat Abby every night for over a year. It didn't seem to unduly upset the cat, it wasn't terribly difficult (some nights there were tears because of inept insertions by humans). I would opt against the "complete flush" they're going to recommend; it terriorizes the cat to be left at the vet and the results lasted only about a month. (And it was wicked expensive.)

I had a less-loved cat that tested OK in July, OK in September, and then full-blown renal failure in October -- so the fact the first tests were OK means nothing.

[shadownyc.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that whatever it is, we can treat it reasonably and it won't break the bank. I really appreciate your support and hope alls well with you!

[strlingdragnfly.livejournal.com]

Did the vet test for diabetes? Our 17 year old cat lost weight quickly (from 10 lbs to 7.5 lbs. in two months), and I took him in thinking it was renal failure. Turned out to be diabetes, and he now gets insulin shots twice daily. He turned 20 in March.

[shadownyc.livejournal.com]

20 years old--that's great. I think that diabetes was part of the initial testing that came back negative, but I'll double check. Thanks for caring! :)

[wuthering-wind.livejournal.com]

As a "mother" to 6 cats (at any one time), I've been through this a lot. My 12-year old w/lymphoma had other symptoms as well - is Lucky vomiting? What are his bowel movements like (practically liquid)? If you place your ear to his tummy, does it sound like there's an ocean of noise going on in there? These were all present in Nickie, as well as weight loss. With Nickie, the original possible diagnosis was food allergies (I assume this has been ruled out? Also thyroid problems?) However, I believe it was the X-ray test that proved lymphoma.

If it is lymphoma, you are really looking at a balance of quality of life vs. cost. With me, I was pretty fortunate as I had a pretty flush income at the time and there was an exceptionally wonderful oncologist in my area. Nickie went onto chemo (very expensive) and I believe it extended his life, but not by a whole lot - 6 months, tops? He would have good spells and bad . . . when the bad kept getting more persistent, I opted for euthanasia. It was the most hideous thing I'd ever done, as he was presenting as being pretty much OK at the time and he purred all through the final procedure - took me several days to recover from the constant thought of "did I do the right thing? Was it the right time?" It's always hard to put a cat down, but that one somehow was worse than any others - although Nickie was my special baby, too.

If it is lymphoma (and I surely hope it's not), please know that I'll be watching your journal and would like to offer my support. My cats are truly my "fur children", so I know all too well how it feels. Plus I have a geriatric Lucky myself in my brood, so I feel especially sympathetic to what you are going through.

[shadownyc.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for all the information you offered. You are definitely more of an expert than I am. Before we had Lucky, I had only raised dogs. I'll follow all your directions and discuss all this info. with the vet. Thanks for all the help and advice and I'll post any feline medical updates as they occur.

[severina2001.livejournal.com]

Just sending happy thoughts to you and Lucky.

[shadownyc.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! That really helps. :)

[jule1122.livejournal.com]

Did they check his teeth? My cat Felicia passed away when she was 18. But when she was 14 she started losing a lot of weight and they ended up taking out 8 teeth. It wasn't cheap, but it made a huge difference. She was much healthier and happier after that. jule

[shadownyc.livejournal.com]

Several people have mentioned teeth issues and the vet said Lucky has mild gingivitis, but I'm going to ask them to recheck, just in case. Thanks for the suggestion and the support!

[twistinside82.livejournal.com]

Trying to catch up on LJ and just wanted to comment and say that I'm thinking good thoughts for you and *both* kitties. ♥

[shadownyc.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I really appreciate how caring everyone is--it means a lot to me!