Our Civvie Kittie, Sawyer: perking up just a little!

So, some background:
Sawyer joined us at the beginning of the summer, at the time he was a little bit bigger than Jack (about 13#). Very shy, he refused to eat in front of us, liked to hide behind the TV. Eventually he decided that the sofa in the livingroom was home base. He continued to be nervous around us (he'd previously been living with an 80 y/o man and about 40 other cats--our guess is that he missed his other cat friends, and didn't get much human attention). At night we could hear him playing with his catnip mice, and his food was getting eaten (we left it out on top of the fridge, Jack is a lousy jumper).

A few weeks ago, we noticed that his coat was getting gross. Just looking ragged, and he didn't seem to be eating much. We brought him to the vet, and the bloodwork showed that his kidney values were elevated, so the vet suggested we put him on Hill's K/D. Since we brought him home, we noticed that at most he was eating about 1 tbsp of kibble at a time, in short, nowhere near enough. About a week later, we also noticed a lump on his side about the size of a chick-pea.

By Friday, things were getting desperate: Sawyer was NOT eating, continuing to lose weight (he was down to 8.5#) and the vet had confirmed that he was in Kidney Failure and the tumor was cancerous. She also said that with his overall health where it was, there was no way that she felt that she could safely put him under anaesthesia for surgery. That morning, in sheer desperation to get some kind of food into him I tried everything that I could think of: tuna, salmon, egg yolk, raw food, fortiflora, etc. He would sort of sniff and nibble, but no real progress. We called the vet to bring him back in and had come to the conclusion that it was time to put him down.

I felt very bad about this decision--it is not the first time I'd decided it was time, and while I always felt sad this was the first time I felt really conflicted about it. As I looked at the "whole picture" it just seemed that other than being very skinny and anorexic, he was not in pain and in full control of his faculties--he was still using the litter box, still able to walk, still loved being brushed (the only interaction he would ever really tolerate, and boy did he ever love it) I told the vet, at the appointment that I just wasn't feeling right about the decision. She said we could try fluids and appetite supressants. Starting that afternoon when we began the SubQ fluids and got some pepcid and mirtazipine into him he began perking up.

Today, it's like night and day. He's still on the mirtazipine, but we haven't given him fluids since Sat. He is eating his fancy feast and getting at least 200 Cal. per day! His coat is amazing, soft and silky and with a shine to it. And he's begun to play, in front of us, for the first time ever.

The tumor is still growing: it's almost doubled in size--the prognosis isn't great. I'm just happy that in the mean time, he's gaining weight, and his personality is starting to come out. We haven't had him for long, but he's very much a part of our family (along with our crazy dog, who thinks she's a cat). Just wanted to share with a community that can appreciate how great it is when you have even a small victory with a sick kitty.

 

awwwww, how special.

did you guys begin any treatment for the kidney disease? if not, i definitely would. i had a kitty with kidney issues and she lived a nice long two years after diagnosis. maybe the kidneys would stabilize enough he could have surgery for the lump?

either way, as i was told by a very wise lady, kitties live in the moment and right now, it sounds like Sawyer's moments are good. and that is what is most important

 

At the moment, we're just trying to get his weight up and have him eating consistently. Once he's been stable for a bit, if we can get him off the mirtazipine without any major loss of appetite, I'd like to try transitioning him to a simpler raw diet with kidney friendly numbers. There've been too many moments in the past few days where I've stressed him way out trying to get pills, fluids and food into him. Right now just letting him be happy for a bit seems the best treatment available.

 

That is great news! I'm glad to hear Sawyer is doing better.

 

Make the best of all the time you have with Sawyer.

Love on him every day !!!

 

Just wondering how vet confirmed lump was cancer and not a fatty benign tumor?

 

Vet did an aspiration and examined the cells.