Thumper Update Post #22

[Craftlady]

Sunday 6-3-07
3 feedings today - total of 1/2 cup of dry kibble (ground up/wet paste consistancy) was eaten

[Catty1]

C'mon Thumper - be a little piggy!

[rosethecopycat]

I also have recently looked at the FF labels. and it DOES say Taurine .05%. Confused

I was told this by the cat food expert at the training session I attended in VA.
Maybe it doesn't meet the recommendations?

Sorry for the confusion, I will try to investigate more before I throw out any information on folks.

[Medusa]

Glad to hear that Thumper is eating better. She sure does like to scare ya, huh?

[Craftlady]

Glad to hear that Thumper is eating better. She sure does like to scare ya, huh?

Yep, she is doing a great job at it LOL

I'm getting the mixture of wet food & dry ground up pretty good. I do measure out the 1/2 cup for the days feedings. So, at the end of the day I can tell how much she consumed for the day. I'm not stressing out if she happens to not eat the whole 1/2 cup. She is getting feed 3 times a day, it's working out to be every 6 hours. The first meal of the day she is a chow hound (from over night).

I called the vet's office today and they said I'm on the right track for getting enough calories etc into her. My vet said "give her all she wants".

[Catsnclay]

I know this is very late and I apoligize for not keeping up to date, but my vet recommends Baby food!


Gerber's #2 in either the chicken or turkey. Add a little into the dry or wet foot to"boost" their interest. Have you ever smelled that stuff Ugh, poor (real) babies and kitties!!

But the stinkier and smellier = the better to get their attention! Oh well..........



P.S.

How is her tumor doing?????

[Craftlady]

I know this is very late and I apoligize for not keeping up to date, but my vet recommends Baby food!
Gerber's #2 in either the chicken or turkey. Add a little into the dry or wet foot to"boost" their interest. Have you ever smelled that stuff Ugh, poor (real) babies and kitties!!

But the stinkier and smellier = the better to get their attention! Oh well..........
P.S. How is her tumor doing?????

Fancy Feast Gourmet Chicken is now her favorite. I mix it with ground up dry food. She is now getting enough calories a day to maintain her weight, she thankfully hasnt lost anymore weight. When on wet food only which isnt a good diet, because there isnt enough calories. We found out the hard way when she dropped from 17 lbs to 12 lbs in 2 weeks.

Answer to how the tumor is doing. It's getting bigger

She can only groom under her chin, guess what happens to that area of the chest? Thumper is now bald in her chest area. I'm going to make her little bandanna to cover up that area so maybe hair can grow back.

[jennielynn1970]

Awe... poor Thumper! Isn't there anything that they can do for the tumor?? Poor sweet girl!

[Catty1]

Jenn - there was some initial progress with a Reiki practitioner, as the vets all said it was inoperable and untreatable.

There is a new practitioner now...but it's hard to believe that even a laser treatment couldn't be tried...

But Becky leaves no stone unturned!

PT PRAYERS for a MIRACLE.

[Craftlady]

Jenn, As to the question of laser treatment/radition. We discussed that with the specialist who did the biposy back in October. He does chemo (which wouldnt help this tumor, btw in case someone wanted to ask me this question) only.

The radition treatments had we chosen to do that would have to be done in Cincinnati, Ohio at the location where we saw the surgeon. This is 1 hr 20 mins (give or take) from our home here in Kentucky 1 way. We would of had to leave her there for several weeks to do treatments because going back and forth was not feasable on a weekly basis. Option of a vet school is not close either, in case some are wondering. University of Cincinnati is just as far as surgeon. University of Kentucky in Lexington is 45 mins one way.

Believe me we would of MOVED MOUNTAINS for her and have I feel up to this point in time. We have to be reasonable and practical, that sucks because you want to do anything for our fur babies.

Also, radiation treatments were not going to be cheap. Thousands of dollars to be spent WITH NO GUARENTEE that it would help her type of tumor, it's that freaken rare. Her pet insurance wouldnt pay. We dont qualify for any help from organization. She could of come out worse shape after treatment.

The specialist who did the biopsy truefully told us it would not help. We were willing to go to end of earth but facts are facts, reality is reality. IT SUCKS


We have small mircles which we take!!!!
Today Thumper decided to show mom she wanted to eat kibble and not the mashed up stuff for lunch. Again at dinner she walked over to the bowl and started eating the kibble. So she mixed her meal with kibble and mashed. Total OH JOY momemt for us.

Cathy, you are right we dont leave any stone unturned. Believe me we have run the "what if" "where if" "when if" senarios (spell?) with all the vet experts.

I hope now everyone will understand a little better what we are dealing with on a daily bases. We have sought the best professional help available to us.
Listened to their advice. IT SUCKS to hear there isnt anything that can be done in the modern vet medicine world.

I'm so thankfull that the Reiki gives us small mircles when we least expect.

Keep praying for us and Thumper.

[jenluckenbach]

Thanks for the re-cap (this old mind forgets a LOT). And you are correct, facts are facts. It is agony to know there is little to nothing that can be done. But you have the right frame of mind.....cherish the small joys.

[Catty1]

Becky - I am likely grasping at straws, but recently a young baby in our parish
was diagnosed with a growing brain tumour. I remembered the following(I had read it in the original version), and searched like crazy on the internet. JUST IN CASE it might help, I forwarded it to our priest who was working very closely with the family.

Little Larissa was diagnosed four days before Christmas, and died this spring, two weeks before her 1st birthday. This technique was not applicable.

BUT - I am sure you have grasped at every straw, too. You might want to email this to your vet specialists just to see what they think. If nothing else, it may help another animal.

Remember - this was written in 1973. Things could really have progressed with this technique since then.

HUGS and prayers for Thumper. Give her some scritchies for me. How is her mood?

************************************************** *******
Although the article says this technique "is applicable only to tumors fed by a capillary system that is easy to isolate", advances may well have been made since 1973.

I really hope this helps....

************************************************** *******************

From the Magazine | Medicine
Starving the Tumor
SUBSCRIBE TO TIMEPRINTE-MAILMORE BY AUTHOR
Posted Monday, May 28, 1973

Technical progress in areas apparently unrelated to medicine can sometimes lead to spectacular medical progress. Dr. Robert Rand, a neurosurgeon at the University of California at Los Angeles, has demonstrated a particular knack for encouraging just that sort of scientific serendipity. A decade ago he borrowed from the emerging technology of cryogenics (application of temperatures close to absolute zero*) and helped to adapt an extremely cold probe to destroy hard-to-reach pituitary tissue in brain operations. Now Rand is making use of another recently utilized phenomenon: superconductivity. With the help of a powerful "superconductive" magnet, he is accomplishing knifeless, bloodless destruction of tumors.

Rand had previously employed magnetism in the operating room. In 1966, he injected microscopic iron spheres into blood vessels of patients who had suffered aneurysms, or "blowouts" in blood vessels in the brain. He used the magnet to hold the filings in place at the site of the rupture until new tissue grew over them to close the hole.

Rand's plan for destroying tumors required an even more powerful magnetic field. To get it, he used an electromagnet cooled by liquid helium to near absolute zero. That produced superconductivity: the virtual disappearance of electrical resistance in the magnet. This allowed a greatly increased flow of current and boosted the strength of the magnet to 3½ times that of the best alternate magnet available.

Iron Pellets. Rand then capitalized on the fact that tumors cut off from their blood supply die because they are unable to obtain nourishment or pass off wastes. To starve a tumor in one of his patients, Rand injected liquid silicone containing microscopic iron spheres into a blood vessel near the tumor. He waited until the material was carried through capillaries and into the tumor itself, then switched on his strategically placed magnet, which attracted the iron pellets and fixed them in the tumor. The spheres confined the viscous, quick-setting silicone, preventing it from entering the main bloodstream, where it could cause obstructions. The solidified silicone will remain in the patient for the rest of his life. But the tumor, its blood vessels blocked, has already begun to wither and die.

Rand, who has used his new technique on only five patients so far, stresses that it is applicable only to tumors fed by a capillary system that is easy to isolate. Given that qualification, the procedure seems to be effective. A 70-year-old woman, unwilling to submit to conventional surgery for a brain tumor, underwent magnetic surgery in March. Rand cannot find the tumor with X rays any longer, and although he will not say that the growth has disappeared, there is good reason to believe that it has at least shrunk. The patient's eye, which had been forced part way out of its socket by the expanding tumor, has returned to its proper place.

* Absolute zero, the theoretical temperature at which molecular motion in all gases ceases, is -459.67° F.
From the May 28, 1973 issue of TIME magazine

[jennielynn1970]

I remember you saying that chemo and radiation wouldn't do anything very beneficial, and surgery was out of the question. I can't imagine leaving any of my babies at a hospital for weeks on end either... the stress wouldn't be good for her either.

I just hope that something will work out for Thumper. She's being such a trooper, not to mention you guys as well! I'd be in tears, I hate to say it, but I'd be a mess and probably doubling or tripling up on my anti-depressants, lol. I'm good in a crisis, but when it comes to emotional things like this with pets, I'm a goner!

My thoughts and prayers are with you, your husband and dear Thumper girl. Give her some gentle hugs and kisses for me. I'll be thinking of her!

[Craftlady]

I remember you saying that chemo and radiation wouldn't do anything very beneficial, and surgery was out of the question. I can't imagine leaving any of my babies at a hospital for weeks on end either... the stress wouldn't be good for her either.

Just to clarify for everyone.....

(1) Chemo: The type of tumor she has chemo wouldnt work for it.

(2) Radiation: The only option but that was leaving her at vet clinic hours away from home for weeks (no quarantees and big bucks) on end.

(3) Surgery: The tumor was to big and there isnt enough skin to cover that area once it would be removed.

[Catty1]

Okay....grasping at straws again....skin grafts or artificial coverings like they use in humans?

Sorry, Becky - I know you and your husband know what is best, as you are right there.

I guess I and some of us here are still going thru the part of the process where you try and think of EVERYTHING.

I'll stop thinking one of these days!

Hug the little gal for me! If anyone deserves a miracle, it's you guys!