Latest Update 12-9-09 Storm's Been Diagnosed & Sunny's Biopsy Results

[krazyaboutkatz]

Hi everyone. I thought I'd let you know how Storm's been doing. So far he's doing great. He's gained his weight back and now his fur looks so much healthier and his skin is also much less dry than it was before. He always tends to get dry flakes but now he barely has any. He's still on 5mg of pred and tomorrow he won't be getting any until Mon. Then he'll be getting 5mg of pred every other day for 2 weeks and then I'll talk to my vet and we'll hopefully be able to reduce his dose even more.

I've been feeding him mainly canned food mixed with water and I've been rotating different proteins. He's now getting Innova Evo 95% Venison and Innova Evo 95% Duck. I also tried some Nature's Variety Instinct Lamb which also has lamb liver in it. I've just ordered a case of this and I also decided to order a case of Nature's Variety Instinct Rabbit. The store didn't carry any Rabbit for me to try though. He loves it all but he's always hungry due to the pred. All of my other cats also love these new flavors except for Sunny. Sunny still only wants to eat his 95% Chicken & Turkey but he also loves the Duck.

I try to brush all of my cats teeth at least once a week. I forgot to do it last week so I just did it again tonight. So far it's getting a little easier and they're tolerating it better. Poor Sunny may have a tooth problem though. He cried out in pain when I was brushing his teeth. I then noticed that the left side of his chin seems to be a little swollen. I wasn't able to get a good look at his lower teeth though so I don't know if he has an abscess or not. Lately he only seems to want to eat his canned food. I mix in some dry with his canned and he's been leaving most of it. I just thought it was because he was being picky. Now it may be because he's been in pain.

I called my vets office and my vet works tomorrow but she's booked. I left her a voice mail and I e-mailed her letting her know what's going on with Sunny. Hopefully she'll be able to squeeze me into her schedule tomorrow like she's done in the past. If not then I'll call and try to make an appt. for tomorrow with another vet or I'll go in as an urgent care case. Sunny may now need a dental cleaning. Please send him some positive vibes. Thanks.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Well I spoke too soon about Storm. He threw up his dinner this morning and even though today was the first day that he wasn't supposed to receive pred, he threw up before the time that I would've given it to him which is 8am. Now both he and Sunny will be going to see my regular vet today at 2:30pm. I'm glad that she's able to squeeze me in today.

I asked about giving him his pred and about feeding him and I was told not to give him his pred and not to feed him. He's been bugging me all morning for food. He may need to have an ultrasound done to see what's going on. Please send some good vibes his way too. I just want all of my cats to stay happy and healthy.

[Pinot's Mom]

Prayers for both Sunny and Storm, poor babies! Keep us posted!

[gini]

Goodness Tracey, you have your hands full don't you? I hope both of your babies will soon be on the mend.

[Randi]

As Gini said, you do have your hands full! I'm so sorry that Storm and Sunny are sick, but glad you could get a vet appointment today. Hopefully the vet will find a solution for the both of them.

Fister and I are sending lots of purrs and positive vibes that all goes well and they'll be back home soon feeling a lot better!

Hugs to you, also!

[katladyd]

Prayers are going out for both you and your dear kitties! I know how bad it feels when they are not well. I hope both rebound very quickly.

[Moesha]

Oh dear. You must be going out of your mind. This has been such an ordeal with Storm. I do hope something can be figured out and that Sunny will be feeling better soon also. Will be waiting to hear the update when you get back.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Well I just got home and I was pretty much right about Sunny. He has lost one of his lower molars and he may still have some of the roots left which may be causing an infection. His teeth don't look good so my vet suggested that he get his teeth cleaned. She does surgeries on Mondays and she was able to work him in tomorrow so I'll be fasting him tonight after midnight and I'll be dropping him off tomorrow between 7-8am.

My vet said she might have to pull some teeth and maybe even do a biopsy like she did for Storm. He'll most likely be on pain meds and antibiotics when he gets home. They took blood today and he was such a good boy and just sat there very still. Please send some prayers and positive thoughts his way.

My vet wants to do a few blood tests on Storm but he has to be fasted for 12 hours so I'll also be bringing him back tomorrow with Sunny and dropping him off for the day. I think she'll also do an abdominal ultrasound because she didn't have time to do one today. She wants me to start giving him 5mg of pepcid at night and to continue with the 5mg of pred in the morning. Tonight I'm supposed to give him both the pepcid and pred together. Since he's fasting I won't be giving him his pred in the morning.

She also talked about possibly doing an ultrascopic exploratory surgery in the future where you don't open him up but you use an instrument to go inside of him to explore his intestinal tract. He would have to be off of the pred for a while though and then he'd be vomiting all the time. I don't know if I want to put him through this or not. She mentioned the possibility of cancer which I don't even want to think about. If he does have some terrible disease, I just want him to be able to be comfortable for as long as possible and have some good quality of life. Please send some prayers and positive thoughts his way. Thanks.

[Medusa]

Oh my, I know how scary this must be for you. Well, have no fear b/c PT is here! Prayers going up right now. Keep the faythe.

[Pinot's Mom]

More prayers for both - good luck tomorrow Storm and Sunny!

[Catty1]

Prayers for both your babies!

Storm has been doing well for the past while...hope something simple is found so he can continue to improve.

Bless you for doing all you can for your boys!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Thanks everyone. Hopefully everything will go well tomorrow. I'll update you when I can.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Well today was a very long day and not a very good Monday for me at work either. I have some good news and some potentially very bad news. I'll give you the good news first.

Storm's ultrasound was normal. My vet did say that he has a small cyst on one of his kidneys but she's not concerned about it and she did another blood test to check his kidney levels and they're fine. She also said that his gall bladder was enlarged but this could be due to fasting or just from old age. Part of his pancreas was also a bit enlarged and this could also be from old age. He already had a test for pancreatitis and this came back normal.

The blood tests that she did on him which were a Vitamin B12 test and a Cobalamin, Folate, TLI were also normal. He also acted normal throughout the day. When I gave him his pred with the 5mg of pepcid last night, he was able to eat without vomiting. He also slept well all night. My vet thinks that just like people, that Storm may be getting a sour stomach at night or maybe even acid refux which is helping to cause his vomiting. For now I'm going to give him 5mg of pepcid at night and his 5mg of pred in the morning. Hopefully this new formula of meds will finally do the trick.

I forgot to mention earlier that Storm only weighs 12.9lbs so he hasn't gained as much weight back as I had thought. he should be closer to 14 lbs. I'm sure the pred will help with that but hopefully he won't gain as much weight as my poor RB Starr did. So far he's doing well tonight although he's been hissing at everyone and growling too.

Now for the potentially bad news. My Sunny had to have 2 of his upper molars extracted and he's now on pain meds and antibiotics once a day for 10 days. He also has to eat soft food for 7-10 days which shouldn't be a problem because he loves canned food. My vet didn't see any roots left from where Sunny's lower molar was missing so now she's very concerned about what's causing his lower jaw to be swollen. She doesn't think it's being caused by an abscess or an infection. She told me that she fears that he may have cancer.

She took a biopsy from his swollen jaw and now there's a suture there that will dissolve or fall out in the next several weeks. She told me that I should know the results on Wed. but the post op instruction paper says that my vet will call me with the results within 3-5 days. My vet called me at work around 4pm and told me this news. It was very hard not to burst into tears. When my co-worker came to help me I told her the potentially bad news and then I started crying. She's also my roommate and she's known Sunny for years and he's her buddy. She also took it hard so work today was difficult for both of us.

My vet also mentioned that if Sunny's biopsy does come back as cancer then there's a surgery that might be able to be performed where she'd cut his jaw bone in half so he'd only have half a jaw left. She said that cats do very well afterwards but there may be a problem with drooling. The more I think about this the more I don't think that I'd want to put him through something like this. For one I don't think that I could afford the surgery and he just wouldn't be the same. I think that if he does have cancer that I'll just try to make him as comfortable as possible and hopefully he'll be able to be with me for quite a while. Please send some prayers and positive thoughts Sunny's way. Thanks.

[Queen of Poop]

Prayers for both your kitties.

[Killearn Kitties]

Oh Tracey, you have had such a lot to deal with.
Prayers for you and all your babies. Take care.