Simon has a mass on his stomach

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Les
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Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:23 am

Simon has a mass on his stomach

Post by Les »

Hello all, I haven't been on here in awhile but I hope that you are all doing well. I had to take Simon, our oldest cat, almost 13 to the vet this morning as he threw up quite a bit yesterday morning and was very lethargic and out of it last night and this morning. He had an episode of vomiting several weeks back and it had a bad odor to it, but it didn't look like coffee grounds which is what I read was bad, and we watched him and he seemed to be fine after that, but yesterday he did it again and din't eat this morning and that's not him as we used to call him an "eating machine", so when Deb told me that he didn't eat and was looking "spacey" I took him to the vet and they said his temp was low and x-rays showed something as his stomach didn't look right even though his bloodwork was okay. They did an ultrasound and said he had a "prominent" mass by his stomach, and they believe it to be cancer :cry: . They said they'd only be certain if they did exploratory surgery and I said "no way" as he is weak and we don't want to put him through that and she said he might not make it being in a weakened state. I asked her "is it time to put him down?" and she said no they can try taking the inflammation down with steroids which reminded me of Serenity, a cat that I talked about on here before that was diagnosed with a brain tumor years ago, and we were ready to write her off but between prednisone and Transfer Factors she lived another 1 1/2 years, but I don't know about Simon, but time will tell. The ultrasound also showed his kidneys were not as good as they should be even though the bloodwork was fine. We noticed that he had been losing weight but thought it was because he was getting older, and we had him at this same vet last August for something simialir but he got over it. He also never could care less about our woodstove, always went upstairs by himself, but this last Winter he came down and loved it which was unusual for him but we loved it....so right now he is at the vets getting IV and vitamins and prednisone and they are trying to warm his temp up, and we are going to see if he responds or if it is time to let him go. We all know this is the downside of having pets, and we feel so helpless right now, we just want to bring him home but know we can't, and the uncertainty of it is just breaking our hearts. But like I read before, if someone would've said to me 12 years ago "we'll give you this cat for 12 years, he's great, comical, acts more like a dog than a cat, is super friendly, would you take that deal?" you know we'd say "YES", but right now our hearts are breaking-it's just not the same without our little Simey here even though we have the 9 others.

I know you folks understand..... :cry:
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BendyMom
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Re: Simon has a mass on his stomach

Post by BendyMom »

i am so sorry :(
it is an awful awful feeling to look back and think "he was acting different" i have been there too many times. with older cats its hard to know, old cats don't keep on weight, they get cold, so what is "normal" and what not? I have not had experience with an actual mass in teh stomach itself so i can't speak to that specifically. I have had cats with different kinds of cancers and for almost all of them prednisone and some pain meds did wonders. Fluids can really help out his kidneys too.
last year (on 5/18) i lost my dear sweet fat black Baby the Cuddly cat to a fast growing i don' tknow what in his intestines. we did a follow up ultrasound a week after the first and it had doubled in size, i had just noticed that he had dropped an insane amount of weight.
he is the only one i did not try prednisone on. he seemed comfy, but then came down quite suddenly with a secondary respiratory infection that was just horrible to see, so i let him go.

If you can afford a follow up ultrasound, I would consider it in a couple weeks to see what the mass is doing. is it a lot bigger, the same, smaller? I hope the pred turns things around for him for a while.

i thought your name looked familiar, nice to know i wasn't hallucinating.
welcome back. of course you are always welcome here!
many purrrrrs.
please keep us updated.
http://www.alittletlc.com

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Bendy Kitty
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i am not the same without you.
Les
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Re: Simon has a mass on his stomach

Post by Les »

Thanks for the reply! I brought him home last night-his temperature went back to normal and his potassium level was "low normal" but was better, so I said "he's coming home!", and the first thing that he did was go to the food bowls and eat, not a lot but he ate and that was a good sign and also drank and used his litter box; he hadn't eaten anything at the vets but he was probably upset and scared as it is LOUD in there and he's not used to dogs and all, but he ate last night and even went upstairs and jumped on the bed; he's still not right but he has been through an awful lot the last few days. He has a bandage on his left paw to keep his cathereter in if he has to go back in but I am taking him back tomorrow morning to get it taken out.

We have to give him prednisone, 1 twice daily for 5 days then i each day; they also gave us pepcid for his stomach and a granular potassium supplement. He didn't eat anything this morning, and that doesn't surprise me as he's been through a lot and he's not going to snap back to normal in 1 or 2 days, but we had to give him his prednisone and pepcid so we did and also syringed some water into him; I asked Deb if maybe we should "force feed" him a little to have some food in his stomach because of the pills but she said "no"; well, 2 hours later he threw up a LOT of green-colored vomit, so that wasn't good! I think that we'll have to give him his meds with Pill pockets or maybe force a little food down, but we don't want to force him but he has to eat something to get these meds....I also got 4Life Transfer Factors today which we gave to another cat in the past that had a brain tumor and a vet said to give that to her along with her prednisone and she lived 1 1/2 years after being diagnosed. The vet wanted to do "exploratory" surgery to see if it is cancer or not or if he ate something that he shouldn't have but I doubt he would've waited 12 years to do that! And no, we're not going to put him through that-why? He has a tumor in his stomach, whether it is or isn't cancer it is there, we just have to deal with it, make sure that he still wants to eat and stick around and isn't in pain and see if it is time for him to move on, but since he ate last night the first thing shows me that he has an appetite, so we are hoping for the best. A woman here at work also said to try baby food, but I think if his appetite comes back and isn't "ruined" by these meds (he also got an antibiotic shot yesterday) he'll eat his regular food. But he still wants to eat and drink but we have to make sure that it is on his terms and not rushed but we can't let him get run down either!!!

We're hoping for the best!!! :angel:
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BendyMom
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Re: Simon has a mass on his stomach

Post by BendyMom »

the prednisone should help his appetite and the pepcid should quiet the nausea.
green vomit does not sound good, i hope it is only a one time thing.

baby food is great for sick cats. there is a prescription food called A/D that is also very very good - it is made for sick cats who dont want to eat. if he is a fish kitty try mackeral or trout, both of those really seem to makes cats want to eat. and one more thing i find works well is the cheese sauce foods. fancy feast has a whole bunch of different kidns and friskies makes a turkey and cheese that i have had amazing success with. teh nausea will make him hungry but not want to eat. if the pepcid doen't seem to be doing the trick, i woudl ask your vet about Cerenia. We have used it here and it does wonders. It isn't cheap but to get everything calmed down to the point where it can be maintained with pepcid seems to work well.

definitely sounds like he was happy to be home!! i think staying at the vet is rough on a lot of cats, too much strangness, too many loud sounds. Watch Simon's hydration carefully, getting even a little dehydrated will bring on nausea. if you find something he likes to eat, try mixing a little unflavored pedialyte (in teh baby section of the grocery store) in it. it will help keep him hydrated. we have had many cats who really liked it in their food. its good stuff.

Purrin here that Simon turns around and starts eating again, and keeping it down.
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Bendy Kitty
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critters
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Re: Simon has a mass on his stomach

Post by critters »

Poor Simon! We like the Royal Canin food called Recovery because it's softer than a/d and is easier to force feed if that's necessary. You need an RX for it, but you can get it at PetSmart.
Les
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Re: Simon has a mass on his stomach

Post by Les »

Thank you for the replies, but I took him back to the vet this morning. We syringe-fed him last night and this morning, he didn't have much but it stayed down, but he isn't eating or drinking, and just moves around from place to place and can't seem to get comfortable. Like I said he threw up a lot of green vomit yesterday, and he was cold this morning and listless. She said his temperature was lower than it was the other day, and while we had hopes that MAYBE if we could get food in him and some medicine it would recharge him and he would start his way back, but she said he is dehydrated again and should not have dropped off so fast like this and that he should've been showing more spark. When I asked her "is it time to put him down?" she said "I can tell he is a very sick cat, he's not doing good and he has a sizeable tumor in his stomach" so I guess she was basically telling me yes, so tonight after work we are going to go to the vet and let him go; he is just suffering and was way too good a cat to let him linger like this. I told him "if you have to go it's okay, don't stick around for us, but if you're not ready yet let us know and we're right here with you", but I don't think he has much fight left in him, he is just so weak and tired and uncomfortable and we don't want to see him like that. A woman here at work who has MANY more cats than we do said "the vets can tell, they can tell by their eyes and when it is time", and I know that she is right. We had hoped that he would rebound and that throwing up that vomit was just because we gave him the pills on an empty stomach, but she said no and that was a really bad thing that he threw up green bile like that. So I guess we have to do what is right and put him out of his suffering, but we are really taking this so so hard as his personality was TERRIFIC and we had him 12 years; he was just so so special but we must do the right thing as hard as it is to let him go....

Thank you all for your help but I think it is time to let him go :cry: :cry: :cry:
Christine
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Re: Simon has a mass on his stomach

Post by Christine »

Les and Deb...my thoughts and prayers are with you and your Simon.
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Les
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Re: Simon has a mass on his stomach

Post by Les »

Christine wrote:Les and Deb...my thoughts and prayers are with you and your Simon.
Thank you very much; we had a very nice farewell visit with him, and he still looked so handsome and good I kept saying "are you sure it's time, are we doing the right thing?" which I'm told is normal to try to "hold out hope", but the vet (a different vet, I think the owner, and better than our original one) said "there's a lot of things going on inside him, bad things" as he said he had been following the story all week, and he assured me it was the right thing. And Simon let me know that it WAS the right thing because I held him in my arms and they injected him and he passed away peacefully within seconds and they said "that means that he was ready to go" so THANK YOU SIMON for letting me know I did the right thing....we miss him terribly and I'm sobbing as I type this, and we know it will not be an easy adjustment not having him here, but he was suffering and we had to do one final act of kindness. I told him "we'll see you at the Rainbow Bridge someday", and have to take comfort in the fact that he was hurting even though he didn't show it until the end; the vet said "cats are VERY good at hiding things from you, unlike dogs".

Sleep well and rest in peace, our sweet little Simey boy.... :cry: :angel:
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critters
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Re: Simon has a mass on his stomach

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I'm sorry for your loss. :cry:
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BendyMom
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Re: Simon has a mass on his stomach

Post by BendyMom »

So so sorry :(
it certainly sounds like you did the right thing. I am so familiar with the second guessing and doubts afterwards, and the horrible pain their loss leaves.
everyone grieves in their own way, do whatever you feel is helpful for you.
PURRRSSS to you in this sad sad sad time
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Bendy Kitty
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i am not the same without you.
Christine
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Re: Simon has a mass on his stomach

Post by Christine »

Run with the wind, sweet Simon. I am so sorry, Les and Deb...you know we are all here for you. :grouph:
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Les
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Re: Simon has a mass on his stomach

Post by Les »

Thank you all for your very kind words; we are dealing with it and have come to accept that it was the only thing to do as he was a very sick little boy. But he had a long full life, a lot longer than he would've living outside, but it still is so so hard to handle as we miss him so....but all of us have to go through that door someday, we just were a little surprised that he wasn't around longer but who are we to know how long we have and when our time is up it's up.

I had a very nice talk with our pastor today and called upon his grief counseling training, and he told me to focus on the good memories and the good times, not on this past week and the bad things, and he concluded with a beautiful prayer which really helped. I know time heals wounds, but boy was he such a special little companion, but I KNOW that he is happy and well again and we will meet someday "at the bridge".

Thanks again, you wonderful, caring people....
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