Ideas needed--brain tumors, steroids, pain.

.Sept 30, 2010
She vomited yesterday (clear fluid) and the day before (all her breakfast). But most concerning is that the last 2 days she has spent almost the entire time sleeping, and has had considerable trouble eating. I spoke to the vet about the return of her mouth symptoms (starts to eat, then grimaces and moves her jaw around like someone trying to get peanut butter off the roof of their mouth, and rubs the side of her face with her paws). He again said he thinks it's a brain tumor and suggested that the mouth thing might actually be "focal Seizures" as in Dobermans "fly-catching" . I am no expert, but I don't think so, as it almost exclusively occurs when she is eating. She did do it a little one time in the vet's office when she was not eating, but maybe the anxiety created more saliva (?)--and I am thinking it is not a chewing problem but a swallowing problem. He is talking about oral steroids, although he is not sure I can successfully give her pills. I don't know if I can, either, or if she can swallow them. (The long term steroid shot she got is not supposed to wear off for several weeks yet, but clearly is not doing the trick)
I asked him about gabapentin, ( she has had one major seizure) which he was not enthusiastic about. He said those also were pills that I would have trouble giving, and I forget his other reservations. I did wonder if he was a little bit defensive about my suggesting it rather than just considering him the expert.

I check on her a lot while she is sleeping. She is not in a meat loaf position, she is usually curled in a typical cat circle. But does all this sleeping mean she is in pain even if she is not in a meat loaf position? Do cats do the meat loaf for any kind of pain?

Any ideas or suggestions of things to consider are most welcome. And I wish someone could tell me how to evaluate her potential pain. Did I read somewhere about a quality of life list?

 

I don't have any advice for you, just wanted you to know you're not all alone tonight.

Best-
Michele

 

Nancy/Cody began using gabapentin recently (Cody has acromegaly, which is a pituitary tumor) and she's been very pleased with it. If you search around on health you can probably find the thread, or PM Nancy.

Jojo used to say that if you think your cat might be in pain, treat for pain and see what happens. If the all of a sudden seem better, they were probably in pain.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

Hi Judy
I'm so sorry to read all that you are going thru. Please forgive me if you have been given some of this info already.

For the ? nausea and the vomitting - are you using any pepcid at all as a preventative. My Merlin did have a brain tumor - a pituitary one that cause acromegaly. Most acromoms feel that many of our kitties have headaches and with that comes some nausea/vomitting. I often gave Merlin pepcid when he had days that looked like he wasn't eating as well. Merlin would often butt his head up against things or have a "worried" look on his face - it was quite distinctive from other days of him butting his head for a head rub. You knew when he hurt.

for pain - we used Buprenex which I felt helped. This was now more than a year ago. I wish I had known more about gabapentin. I have started using it in my 18 year old CRF kitty and it has been working wonders. Another of our acromoms is using it for her kitty and has also seen great improvements. Now remember - we are using them for arthritic pain - but for the most part - many of us have seen little to no side effects. Below is a quote from Lynette and Meow Meow who used to post her quite often when she first started using this!
"* Gabapentin (Neurontin) - We're now up to 2.5 mL (50 mg) twice daily. That's the standard starting dose, but we started lower as my vet has no experience with the drug. It's very new for use in cats - supposedly blocks the pain recepters. Only noted side effect has been drowsiness,"

As far as the quality of life scale here is a link to it:
http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/v ... scale.aspx

I hope some of this may help you a little. I wish you and your sweet kitty many happy days together!

Also the gabapentin can be liequid and flavored for the cat.

 

Sending Angels Prayers and healing green light coming to help your baby hugsssss to all

 

Animal communicator Dawn Allen is good at "feeling" the cat and getting the cat's opinion on quality of life - do they want to continue fighting or is the pain too much -- are they ready to cross the bridge

www.dawnallen.org to make an appointment.

She is also good helping with behavioral issues. I was a skeptic and her results impressed me. I have now had 8 or 9 appts in the past 2 years.


Another possibility is having a feeding tube put in.

 

Tucker has a brain tumor, he takes oral prednisolone, crushed and mixed with food or syringed with water. Injectible pepcid for when he's feeling queezy.

I have to ask a question. Are you sure there is no broken tooth towards the back of the jaw with roots exposed?

My CH kitty (a neurological problem) she did that with her mouth, pawed at her face like there were splinters in her jaw until the tooth was able to be extracted. I didn't see a broken tooth, the vet had to pry open her mouth to finally see it.

 

Thanks for all your responses! I found info on-line about Feline Orofacial Pain Syndrome which exactly matches her symptoms! It recommends treatment with neuropathic pain killers (gabapentin is one). I have an appointment with the vet tomorrow. I am SO excited--to think she can be successfully treated for this! Of course it's possible that the underlying cause is cancer, but at least I know there is something to address her pain! (You would think the dental specialist I took her to would have known about this. I found it on the internet myself---why couldn't he?!)

 

Great!! Good luck at the vet tomorrow -- hope Squamee is feeling better really soon