Dollbaby Update + Torbutrol

Dollbaby had her ultrasound today to figure out why she had urinating blood clots. The results:

• A growth in her bladder
  A growth in her lung
  Pancreas is enlarged plus pancreatitis
  Enlarged adrenal glands

The vet told me that even if the growths were removed, there is nothing to be done for the other factors. Dollbaby will never get better. So we're now in a hospice stage of giving her pain medicine to keep her comfortable until her quality of life decreases (she's very active, playful, and loving right now). They couldn't estimate how long it'd be before she starts to slow down.

The pain medicine they gave me is Torbutrol which the Internet tells is an extremely powerful pain medicine comparable to Morphine that is given post-surgery/post-chemo to cats. I'm guessing that Dollbaby will be well enough for awhile, so I suspect that she shouldn't be doped with something so extremely powerful long-term.

Thoughts?

 

Sad for you. My Kaely is on hospice care too. How much Torb was ordered? DonnA

 

Quick note: I noticed that she really enjoyed the car ride, so I'll be taking her on short drives once a week to different areas to let her see a change of scenery/smell something nice. In December, I want to take her to the beach so she can see and smell the ocean for the first time.

I want to give her the very best since I can't stop this from happening meanwhile praying that she'll get no worse and we'll continue to have several more years together.

They gave her enough for six days with no refills. Unless they didn't tell me something, I don't see her going downhill that fast.

 

I have dealt w/ cancer in 2 kitties. one had successful chemo the other was on hospice. ( both had different kinds of cancer)

other ideas for palliative care you might wish to talk w/ your vet about :

1. high dose steroids. roids are powerful anti inflammatory drugs-- they can combat pain and do some limited shrinking of tumors. This I am very cautious about as I do not know how this would fit in with the enlarged adrenals. your vet should know and it is certainly worth asking. I gave high dose dexamethasone. It perked my chemo kitty up and brought her back from the brink. My other kitty had 3 extra weeks with this med -- 2 were excellent and one was slow decline, but still good QOL. this would not have been possible w/o the dex.

2. we used buprenorphine for pain. it can be given orally or injected. In my research of pain meds, I found that buprenex( brand name) was much preferred and considered superior to torb.
Here is a link to a post that is discussing torb vs other pain meds for use in a cancer kitty :
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=24666

3 symptomatic treatment of the pancreatitis . pain is already covered.
but there can also be nausea. ondansetron is very effective and a cheap generic pill.
for vomiting cerenia (injectable) works well and can be used with the ondansetron.

4. fluids can help perk up a kitty, keep them hydrated, and helps w/ the pancreatitis. not sure how extra fluid would effect the bladder disease.

Of course, you must consider how your cat responds to being pilled and needles, as QOL is most important.

Here is a link to an article on hospice care for pets. the article is so so but at the end are links to some wonderful sites with information for both the pets who are in hospice care and their human families .
I hope you find something there to help you .

http://www.myevt.com/story/veterinary-h ... cus-living

Your kitty is lucky to have you to care for her. I think the idea of taking her for rides, if she likes that, is very nice.

so sorry you have to go through this.......
hugs,