Tiger's Home! 'The butter incident!'

[Catty1]

Hi, EG - I am sure you could email those two cat owners and see if a) the addresses are still current, and b) about getting details and how the cats are doing now, etc.

Thanks for being so gracious...I really went on overload there for Tiger baby! But you are doing everything you can for him. :-)

Hey - if the TFs turn out to really work - your vet would be thrilled!

[Emeraldgreen]

Wow has this been a long day. Tiger made it through the surgery!!!!
My husband and I got up at 4:30 to get everything ready, including ourselves and then headed out on the first ferry at 6:15. Drove for 2 hours with Tiger meowling the whole time. Poor guy. My husband had to drive like Mario Andretti to get us to the float plane on time. The flight was at 8:15 and by 8:10 we were a minute or so away. I called them and asked them to hold the plane and we got there with one minute to spare. Way too stressful!!!
We watched the plane take off and I was in a bit of a panic. Took me hours to calm down.
They ended up doing his surgery around 1:30 so we could have put him on a later flight. But, at least it was finally happening. My vet called me about an hour ago and said it was a long surgery and Tiger was under anesthesia for quite some time. He said that they cut through the soft palate and removed as much of the tumor as they could see. He said they removed about 6 times more than the first two times, in all, about half the size of a ping pong ball. He said that it was growing in two directions, towards the sinuses and down towards the throat, which would explain why he was starting to choke a bit on food and stuff in the last few weeks.
My vet warned me that there may be some blood coming from Tiger's nose over the next few days to a week. He said that Tiger started hemorraging a couple of times during the surgery because of all the blood vessels in the area that were being cut in the process of the tumor removal but that they managed to get it under control each time. That scared me!
He said that it was a really complicated surgery and asked me if I knew what a big deal it was. I told him I did and that I'd been praying alot!
I also think that was his way of prepping me for the bill, which I don't have yet.
The biggest hurdle right now is going to be the swelling that Tiger is going to have to contend with from the surgery. My vet said that it might become so bad that he will have to breathe through his mouth. That is going to be so difficult for him but I'm praying that each day it gets a little better. He wants me to keep him on the pred for the swelling and he thought Piroxicam was a waste of time. He also said I couldn't mix it with the pred. He said that there was no real evidence that it had much of an effect on Squamous Cell Carcinoma and that it can cause ulcers in the stomach. So, I'm ordering the Transfer Factor a.s.a.p. and will begin mixing that in with his food once he's eating without struggling. I will wean him off the prednisone over the next few weeks.
My vet is sending home some painreliever that just involves putting one drop in his mouth so that won't be too hard to administer.
He didn't know how much time this might give Tiger because he said that this kind of cancer gets 'angry' when you mess with it. He said each time you resect it, it seems to come back stronger and more aggressive so it will be a wait and see thing. But, I'm not waiting, I'm going to attack this thing with the Transfer Factor and the L-Arginine and anything else that is safe. (thanks Catty1!)
In the meantime, he is staying the night at the vet and I have to call them tomorrow to make sure he is well enough to travel back home. Hopefully all will go well and Tiggys will be home with us by tomorrow night around 7:00.
Please pray that he will be able to get through the worst of this swelling and be able to breath okay. Thank you so much!!!

[Medusa]

You're right, it was a long day. Poor sweet little Tiger. I'll be sure to say an extra special prayer for our boy tonight and always until this thing stops giving him so much grief. No swelling. No swelling. No swelling.

[Freedom]

Oh my, what a lot for one we cat to get through! Healing prayers for Tiger from RI.

[jennielynn1970]

Goodness... Tiger has been through so much, I really hope he comes out of this ok and it will not come back quickly or at all.

Big thoughts and prayers going out to you, Tiger and your family!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Thanks for the update. I'm glad to hear that Tiger's surgery went well and I hope that he'll make a quick recovery. Lots of prayers and positive thoughts are being sent his way.

[Catty1]

Hugs and prayers....omg, I hope the Transfer Factor and the amino acid helps...I've heard Omega 3 oils help too, which you can get in the form of salmon oil, so Tiger would like that!

Cancer, you came from nothing, and to nothing - return! You are NOTHING!

{{{{{hugs}}}}}

[momtomany]

Goodness, all of you have been through so much. Healing prayers for Tiger and prayers for you and your husband also.