Quote Originally Posted by Medusa View Post
Emeraldgreen, for what it's worth, I would do exactly the same thing as you're doing. As you say, it's the less invasive surgery and you want to give the Transfer Factor time to work. Your husband will come around and we just have to pray that your vet will be able to get Tiger in there as soon as possible, without delay! I'm rooting for you and sweet Tiger and I pray that you see the outcome that you desire and, especially, that Tiger can breathe freely and feels so much better. (((HUGS))) and handholds to you.....
It's worth alot. Thank you for posting that.
This situation with Tiger is unlike one I've ever had to deal with in 20+ years of having animals. Usually my cats and dogs live into old age and then come down with diseases (i.e. kidney failure) that I treat as best as I can until the time comes to send them to Rainbow Bridge. But this has never happened before, a cat that has an issue that is serious but for whatever reason has remained localized in one area of his body. This is an aggressive cancer and the vets all told me that at some point, it will most likely metastisize and at that point there will be nothing to do. The thing is, it just hasn't happened and I think that the recent treatment of Transfer Factor may have played a role in this. However, the tumor keeps growing back in the one spot, his nasal passage and other than his not being able to breathe well, he seems otherwise in pretty good shape. It's because of this that I am having such a difficult time. Because I love him, I cannot continue to let him struggle like this. He's counting on me to protect him from suffering. I've tried just about everything there is to try and nothing is giving him the relief that he needs. And while I think that another month or two of Transfer Factor could potentially cure him, I'm not prepared to let him go on like this in this condition.
So, I'm left with two decisions, see if the vet will do the nasal surgery or make him comfortable for another week or however long I can stand to seem him like this and then make the appointment to put him down. This decision will haunt me if I have to make it because he is alert and relatively normal except for struggling to get air in through his nose. It makes me sick to know that there is something that I could do for him and could possibly not choose it because it's expensive or too much for Tiger to go through. I think it beats the alternative and as mentioned, he recovers so well the following day and is like a brand new cat getting all that oxygen through his nose.
I haven't heard back from the vet yet but the receptionist emailed me and said that she had printed out my email and would make sure that he read it. I expect to hear back by tomorrow. And who knows, maybe once we get Tiger into the vet and he is under sedation, the rhonoscopic camera might show that his nasal area is just full of material that hopefully the vet could flush out.
I've talked with my husband about it and while he isn't thrilled with any of this, he also loves Tiger and thinks trying to treat him with all these meds (convenia, Baytril etc..) is also expensive and tough on Tiger. I think he sees that going to the source of the problem one more time and then going full scale with the Transfer Factor is an option that makes sense.
Tiger is in his spa right now and curled up in his furry donut bed. For now he seems comfortable.

Thanks everybody for your posts.