PT Prayers for Tiger...

[Catty1]

Emeraldgreen - by all means, check out whatever you can find at health food stores and other local places.

But DO ask your vet if there are any nose drops or anything you can put in the vaporizer. I like the vaporizer idea because you said his lungs are "gargly", so if he can inhale safely medicated steam, that should help.

Also - try printing out all the vet medical stuff I found and faxing it over to your vet. I am NOT trying to play vet here, or doubt your vet at all - but you could ask which of those methods might be good.

It's written in your vet's language - "Vettinese".

HUGS!

[kb2yjx]

NO!!!!!!!!! Gold Seal is not a VINEGAR!!!!! Try to ask someone in your health food shop. It is also mentioned in the Anitra Frazier book!! This is great stuff, but not a vinegar(I googled it and came up with the vinegar!!).

[Medusa]

NO!!!!!!!!! Gold Seal is not a VINEGAR!!!!! Try to ask someone in your health food shop. It is also mentioned in the Anitra Frazier book!! This is great stuff, but not a vinegar(I googled it and came up with the vinegar!!).

Are you by any chance talking about golden seal, which is an herb?

[Emeraldgreen]

Are you by any chance talking about golden seal, which is an herb?

That's it! I found it online. I will look for it at my health food store.
Thanks kb2yjx and Medusa!

In the meantime, I picked up some Otrivin nasal drops. It doesn't say 'children's' on it but I spoke with the pharmacist and she told me that there is one that is half the strength (.005) and would be used for children so I got that one. I couldn't find the Little Noses one at a few places I checked.

My husband and I attempted to give Tiger a drop in each nostril and it didn't go very well. I got a drop in one nostril and then accidentally, a few in his mouth and one in his eye. Disaster. The dropper isn't very controlled and as soon as you turn it upside down, drops start coming out at a pretty fast rate. He freaked out and started running around and foaming at the mouth. I felt awful. But he calmed down and I cleaned him up and he did seem to be able to take bigger breaths but I can't be sure. I put him in the bathroom and steamed him. He settled right in and began grooming himself and lifted his head up towards the ceiling a few times as if he was really enjoying the effects of the steam. I'll definitely continue with the steaming.

I also spoke with the pharmacist and asked if they had a product called Mucinex (that's the one in the commercial with the cartoon mucous guys) but it's not in Canada yet, or at least not in B.C.
I did find a site that said that Robitussin DM is okay to give to pets at a dose of 0.5ml/lb and has the ingredients of Dextromethorphan and Guaifenesin in it. I will check with my vet about it and also ask them if they know of any other decongestants that are safe for cats. I will pass along the info you included in your post Candace. Thanks.

The best thing possible would be something I can steam him with or put in his food because the nasal drops really freaked all of us out. Tiger especially!

Anyway, that's the latest. I'll post an update in a few days.

[Catty1]

So far, so good. Hubby needs a saint award (so do you).

Maybe soaking a q-tip with the drops would make application easier? Even if it doesn't go right IN to the nostril, he would still inhale the med. Glad he is enjoying the steam! Tiger the Spa Kitty!

[jennielynn1970]

NO!!!!!!!!! Gold Seal is not a VINEGAR!!!!!

Isn't it called Goldenseal?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrastis_canadensis

[Randi]

I'm so sorry to hear Tiger is going through this - and you too. I hope the steam will continue to give him some releif, until you find the right thing for him.

Gentle kisses and positive thoughts to Tiger.

((((hugs))))

[Emeraldgreen]

I'm so sorry to hear Tiger is going through this - and you too. I hope the steam will continue to give him some releif, until you find the right thing for him.

Gentle kisses and positive thoughts to Tiger.

((((hugs))))

Thanks Randi.

Well, I can't believe it. I've come to a decision. Providing my vet will do it, I'm going to get Tiger in for one more surgery. Not the invasive surgery, like last time but the less invasive one where they go in through his nose with the rhinoscopic camera and debulk the tumor as much as they can. He's had this surgery two times before and he recovers within 2 days as if nothing happened. The only difference is that he can BREATHE!!! This poor cat has been put under anesthesia probably 7 times in the last year and I know that there are some people who may be thinking that is too much but the alternative at this point is euthanasia so I'm willing to risk it.
For the last 2 days I've had him on a holistic treatment that has belladonna and some other things in it that is supposed to clear his nasal passages but it isn't working that much. I thought it was at first but today he is alot worse. I've been steaming him which he does seem to like but he loves being warm (snuggles under the blankets, sleeps next to the heater, likes it when I blow dry him) so it may be that he is enjoying his own personal sauna, rather than it helping him to breathe.
I've sent a long email to my vet who just got back from Peru and is probably booked up to his eyeballs. He's probably not too keen on doing it again but my reasoning is that I want to give the Transfer Factor some more time and he is suffering right now so something has to change for him. I'm praying that he will do it.
My husband doesn't even know that I wrote the vet about this yet. I don't know what came over me, I was sitting with Tiger and feeling so badly for him and the next thing I knew, I was sitting at the computer writing my vet about another surgery! My husband is going to be mad but I will work it out.
It's just so hard because Tiger hasn't lost any weight, his coat looks great and he is still playful. He just has this blockage in his nose and it is cancer but for some reason, it isn't affecting him in other ways yet. I just can't put him down yet.
Please pray that the vet will do the surgery and that hubby won't kill me! LOL
Thanks guys!

[Catty1]

Lara - I thought 'just his lungs' were gargly. Is his nose breathing affected again?

Perhaps - just perhaps - it is not a tumour this time, but they can put some stuff up there to really clear things out?

Lara - I want to cry for Tiger and you - but you had him on the TF for three? months after the last invasive surgery.

I am just wanting to know why you think it will work this time...I am not trying to be negative, obviously this struck you as the right thing to do. Just trying to understand.

In addition to all the natural things you just tried, did you ask your vet about an inhalent that Tiger could use? Nose drops administered with a q-tip? Could a shot of "kitty dristan" be zapped up each nostril? Could this be tried to see if surgery is really necessary?

I've been running a fever today, so am not thinking clearly. But I am out of ideas.

I leave this with God.

[jennielynn1970]

Gosh.. do you think the tumor grew back that fast? Yikes!!!

I hope that the vet can suggest something that won't have to involve surgery. Maybe it's something else that affecting him?? One can be hopeful of that!

[Emeraldgreen]

Lara - I thought 'just his lungs' were gargly. Is his nose breathing affected again?

Perhaps - just perhaps - it is not a tumour this time, but they can put some stuff up there to really clear things out?

Lara - I want to cry for Tiger and you - but you had him on the TF for three? months after the last invasive surgery.

I am just wanting to know why you think it will work this time...I am not trying to be negative, obviously this struck you as the right thing to do. Just trying to understand.

In addition to all the natural things you just tried, did you ask your vet about an inhalent that Tiger could use? Nose drops administered with a q-tip? Could a shot of "kitty dristan" be zapped up each nostril? Could this be tried to see if surgery is really necessary?

I've been running a fever today, so am not thinking clearly. But I am out of ideas.

I leave this with God.

His nose has been stuffy all along, though in Denise's reading she felt it was clear which is maybe why you think that. And she may have felt that because he is able to get air through there but it's a struggle and he is worse now than when the reading was done. He has always been able to get air through his nose but each day it gets harder and he is now breathing so his cheeks puff out a bit above his teeth.
His chest area was making some sounds but the vet couldn't be sure if it was the rumbly sounds resonating from his nasal area. She thought this might be the case.
I thought that maybe Tiger had contracted the Herpes virus from my cat Stinky because she had been sick but that is something that resolves itself in two weeks generally when I put them on Lysine. He just gets progressively worse.
He has been on multiple Convenia injections which I believe is in the Clavamox family and it did nothing and he was on 10 days of Baytril and no change. I've tried nasal drops, (we did manage to get some in him finally and no change), a liquid expectorant and now this holistic product with the belladonna in it.
He's had the tumor removed 3 times and I've become very familiar with what he sounds like as it grows back. He had the surgery on St. Patrick's day and as of today it's been 2 months and 21 days since then.
The surgery he had before that, the tumor grew back in 2 months. So it's definitely reasonable to assume that it is happening again.
My reason for wanting to get the tumor removed again isn't to cure him, it's to provide some more time so that I can continue to treat him with the Transfer Factor
and he will be more comfortable while I do that. I haven't treated him with the Transfer Factor for 3 months. It's been 2 months or less and very sporadic at that because of the other treatments that he was receiving. It took awhile for it to arrive in the mail and then I waited a bit because he was still recovering from the major surgery and had the incision in his mouth that was healing etc..
I had to stop the Transfer Factor for the 10 days that I gave him the Baytril because he couldn't have dairy and the only way he'd take the T.F. was in cream cheese.
I'm 99% sure the tumor is back but my vet will be able to see if that's the case when he does the rhinoscopy. If the tumor isn't there, the camera will hopefully show my vet what is going on and at that point he will be able to prescribe something that will help him. This isn't the radical surgery where they went in through his palate. This is having a look in his nasal passages to see what's going on and if there is something there, he'll remove it. It takes half an hour and when he wakes up, he can breathe like a normal cat. It will last for 2 months and hopefully, in that 2 months he will respond to the Transfer Factor. If he doesn't and if he begins to suffer with the tumor again and nothing seems to help, I'll put him down.
I've tried everything and he needs something to change. He is happy and has an awesome appetite and scratches his cat tree and likes to hang out in his outdoor enclosure but he can't get enough air. Each day he moves a little slower because he just isn't getting the air in. You can hear him across the room. It's horrible. I can't imagine what this is like for him.
It may be that my vet won't be able to get him in until the end of the month and in the meantime I will continue with the holisitc treatment and the Transfer Factor and the steaming and hope that something will change. I'll pick up a bottle of the Otrivin pump spray and see if it has a better effect than the drops.