Book sale & Cafe Press products to save Magoo

[kuhio98]

I met Chris right after hurricane Katrina. Her story of survival and rescuing her cats is amazing.
She, along with many residents, continues to struggle to put their lives back together and recover financially.


One of her rescues is Magoo. He had been losing weight and not too interested in eating. She rushed him off to the vet and found that Mago has squamous cell carcinoma under his tongue. Chris is beyond devastated that she is low in funds to save her baby. She has a great vet who is keeping the costs down. She is gathering the financial information required by IMOM.org to help raise funds but hasn't been accepted as a PIN (Pet In Need) yet.

One of the ways Chris makes ends meet is selling books (mostly textbooks) she finds at flea markets or garage sales. All of the proceeds go to the veterinary care and feeding of rescued cats, some with disabilities.

She has an online store at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/shops/cmbookmaker

I'm spreading the word in case you are in the market for some books or know someone who is. Please check out her store. If/when her application is accepted at IMOM, I'll post the link to her fundraising thread here and in Cat General.

If you have any experience with squamous cell carcinoma in cats or words of encouragement, please let me know and I'll pass them on to her.

Thank you.

[sasvermont]

I had a seven year old cat diagnosed with the same type of cancer under her tongue. My vet told me that cats need their tongues to survive and eat and that it was not possible to remove the cancer and save the tongue. Mandy was sent to Rainbow Bridge to save her the pain and torture of suffering a horrible death from the progression of the cancer. I say this sweet kitty should be sent to the Bridge and save the cat the pain of surgery etc. only to die from starvation because it will not have the ability to lap its food and water.

Sorry to hear of this but it does happen quite often.

[kuhio98]

I had a seven year old cat diagnosed with the same type of cancer under her tongue. My vet told me that cats need their tongues to survive and eat and that it was not possible to remove the cancer and save the tongue. Mandy was sent to Rainbow Bridge to save her the pain and torture of suffering a horrible death from the progression of the cancer. I say this sweet kitty should be sent to the Bridge and save the cat the pain of surgery etc. only to die from starvation because it will not have the ability to lap its food and water.

Sorry to hear of this but it does happen quite often.

I'm so sorry about Mandy. I will pass this info onto Chris. I'm posting an update below. I'm not sure at this point what the vet plans on injecting the tumor with.

[kuhio98]

Update from Chris this morning.

My vet wants to try to shrink the tumor down and then do an injection into it - I am not yet clear about the details - I asked about having it excised and she said that she could send me over to a surgeon if I wanted. However, she said that these things almost always grow back - so she wants to try injecting it, while treating it holistically. Again, I do not know the details until the vet has a chance to go over the forms and come up with a concise plan. Labs, biopsy, to start with - Once I know all of the options, then we will take it from there. I do know that I am not going to put him through anything too traumatic - meanwhile, I am grateful that for now, while he must be in some discomfort, he is not unhappy.

This has all happened so fast - up until Thursday, I thought that I was dealing with itchy skin, hair pulling and a possible neurological problem with his extreme sensitivity. Finding that under his tongue was one of the biggest shocks that I've had with rescue cats. And one of the guiltiest as I had been in the cat's mouth three times a day for months - yet not once, looked underneath his tongue.

Anyway, I will keep all posted on his progress - hopefully, he will soon have his own posting. And recover from this - though he just turned 12 years old, he's a big strong cat - his mother was a seal point siamese (unspayed neighbor's cat) and his father was the "Monster Cat", an enormous, big headed grey/black tabby cat. It took me about a month to finally trap him - and he is one of about 4 feral cats who survived Katrina and the flooding in my old neighborhood. So Magoo does have that going for him for what that's worth.

[kuhio98]

Here's a link to a story the LA Times did that mentions Chris rescuing her cats after Katrina. She and Steve (the man with the boat) remain friends to this day. http://articles.latimes.com/2005/sep...ion/na-haves12

[kuhio98]

Some encouraging news from Chris and Magoo today.

...All of Magoo's xrays were clear - they revealed a slightly enlarged heart and liver but absolutely no signs of malignancy. His lab work was also good - normal liver and kidney function. He does have slightly elevated white blood cells due to a UTI that he does have. I had treated him for a suspected UTI about a month ago when another cat had one.

But the tumor in his mouth looked a little differently than it did last week. Then it was an angry red thing with ragged edges. Today, it was more of a pink color with smooth edges. My vet thinks that there is a shot that it might be lymph related and not SCC.

So he has been put on minoclycline for 8 days to treat the UTI and possible lymph node issue. The vet also told me to keep doing what I have been doing - using the calendula mouth rinse with the few drops of grapefruit seed extract in it. She was not too wild about the Low Dose Naltrexone that I had started him on a few weeks back - but I will keep him on that.

She wants to wait and see until next week before referring him for a biopsy. Keeping fingers crossed that we might not even get to that step.

The total bill came to $172.97 which was not as bad as I feared.

So overall, it was somewhat encouraging - a heck of a lot better than the alternative.
Thanks for your support!

Chris and Magoo