Today Mr. Creme was started on the Zobaline B12 which is hopefully going to help his weak legs. He will get one each day. It’s a very small pill so I didn’t crush it. I put it in a pill pocket. He wasn’t interested in eating the pill pocket, so I had to push it down his throat. Then I gave him a treat and he forgot to be mad at me.
We’re still concerned about his vomiting. It has been occurring regularly, although I didn’t see any signs of it today...so far.
We called the doctor last week and she got back to us yesterday afternoon. Of course we missed the call and she left a message. She didn’t seem to think the vomiting was caused by the changed dosage of insulin we made last week. In fact, he had been vomiting sometimes, before the decrease.
She said we could pick up some anti-nausea meds if we wanted to try that. We will consider it.
Mr. Creme is very nonchalant about his food most of the time, but he does eat. I’ve been staying with him after I put his food down, to see just how much he eats.
Most mornings when I go out to feed him, Jason and Jonesie are also in the garage. They like to sleep out there and that’s fine. Of course I feed them too. They have no problem eating.
After Mr. Creme starts to eat, I go over to the door to watch him and see how much he eats. He licks and picks at his food. I would just love to see him take bites and really eat instead of licking the juice, but he doesn’t.
If Debby thinks I’ve gone back in, she will rub up against Mr. Creme. She likes him and I’m sure she gets her share of his leftovers, which is fine. But, when she rubs against him, he leaves his plate and may have eaten more if she would wait until he was finished. He’s easily distracted. If I try to chase Debby away, that distracts him too. I will start staying closer to him while he eats. Debby won’t approach him if she sees me there.
The main thing is that he eats enough and can take his insulin. That way his weight will stay up and he will feel fine.
I was reading an article last week in our paper about the medical advances in pet health care and medicines. It said the consumer spending on veterinary care is up from $9.2 billion in 2006 to $13.4 billion in 2011. I believe it.
It mostly talked about dogs and their treatments, but of course it includes cats and other animals. One man had a 10 year old dog who was diagnosed with lymphoma. She had chemo treatments at her vet in Florida, then the man drove her to North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., where she became one of the first dogs to receive a bone-marrow transplant at its college of veterinary medicine.
Healthy stem cells from the dog’s blood were harvested and radiated to eliminate cancerous cells. Then they were introduced into her marrow. After two weeks of painless treatment and a $15,000 bill, she was cancer-free and they returned to Florida.
Pet owners are given new hopes that their older pet’s life can be extended or saved. How much to spend in the process though?
Looking back at what we went through with Taz, his chemo treatments, surgery and eventually losing him to the disease, we don’t regret the fact that we did all we could for him. It could have turned out differently. Sometimes it does. He could have gone into remission and stayed with us awhile longer. That is what our hope was.
But, as it was, his life was extended maybe by two months. Would we do it again now? It would be something we’d have to decide if and when we ever face this trauma again. We do love our pets and our feeling has always been that if something can be done to cure or make their lives better when they become ill, we will do it if we can. We’ve also become aware of maybe trying to keep them alive longer than they would like because they are really not having a good quality of life anymore.
I can understand why people want to keep their pets with them for as long as they can. It’s hard to say goodbye to a companion you’ve had constantly for years. They are family and sometimes you spend more time with them than you do with anyone else in the family. If there’s a chance they can be saved, you can make a decision to try or not.
I also understand when the choice to not pursue medical treatment of cancer or other terminal illnesses for a pet is made.
Shortly after Taz was diagnosed with lymphoma and starting chemo treatments, I was at my dentist’s office one day. I started talking to the dentist’s wife who works as a receptionist there. We were talking about our pets and I told her about Taz. She said that their dog had lymphoma, but they decided to not do any special treatments for her.
The little dog was happy and really didn’t have any problems for a few months, but then one night when the lady came home, the dog was not at the door. They found her on the bedroom floor and took her to the vet where she passed away.
The dog from Florida, who had the bone-marrow transplant, developed liver cancer 9 months later and soon passed away. But, that was still 9 months that the man wouldn’t have had if not for the bone-marrow transplant. It’s a personal decision and I’m sure he has no regrets for that extra time.
If not for the new innovations in veterinary medicine, our cat, Rowdy, wouldn’t have lived as long as he did. He was only about 7 years old when he had his urinary tract blockage. We made several visits to the vet to unblock him, but he continued to block. Our only option was to have perineal urethrostomy surgery.
I found the description at PetPlace.com: {Perineal urethrostomy is the procedure that is done to make a new opening in the urethra in the perineal area (the area between the scrotum and the anus). The procedure is most commonly done in male cats that suffer from Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD) and to bypass an obstruction of the urethra in the penis. It is also indicated if there is trauma to the penis or lower urethra.}
The procedure was developed in 1962 and published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association in 1963. It was modified in 1967, and further modified in 1971. Rowdy’s procedure was done in 1995. It saved his life. He had no further urinary tract problems and he went on to live a normal life until he developed diabetes.
He was 14 years old when he passed away of complications from diabetes. That was 9 years ago and today the vets know more about feline diabetes than they did then.
When our dog, Chelsi, was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in her lungs in March 2007, we consulted with her doctor, a specialist. He was optimistic about removing it. She was 14 years old. We had surgery scheduled. The doctor wanted to do an MRI just to make sure there were no more tumors. It showed that there were several smaller tumors throughout her chest area. Although he could have still done the surgery, the other tumors were there and growing. We opted not to do the surgery. We brought Chelsi home to be with us as long as she could be here.
She had a happy and normal life for another year and about 4 months. Then in July 2008, she started losing her appetite and losing weight. We nursed her along, but on September 15, 2008, she let us know that she was ready to go. We reluctantly said goodbye to this dog that we’d had since she was six weeks old. She was just a month short of her 16th birthday.
We say today that we regret trying to keep her with us longer than we should have. We just couldn’t make that decision to let her go.
When she stopped eating, we gave her pills to make her have an appetite. We force fed her. We were not doing her any favors. It was hard on everyone. We suffered because we were trying to help her feel better, and we were just seeing her deteriorate. She suffered because she was having a hard time breathing, the tumor was taking up most of her lungs by now, and she just plain didn’t feel well.
It’s a blessing and a curse that veterinary science has come so far. A blessing because now vets can diagnose and treat cancers, urinary-tract disorders, kidney ailments, and joint failures with the prospect of a cure or greatly improving health. They have the latest imaging technology, better drugs, new surgical techniques and holistic approaches like acupuncture and herbal medicines. A curse because these treatments come at a price, both monetary and emotional.
Years ago, I’m sure cats and dogs had cancer, hyperthyroidism, diabetes, etc., but we were unaware. We didn’t take our pets to the vet like we do today. I remember when growing up, the cats and dogs, always in the yard, sometimes lost weight and then one day you never saw them again. They would go off and die somewhere. It was just the way it was. I would never want to go back to those days again.
I sure hope the sun comes out soon. It’s only a week before May begins. We are already getting into “May gray” and “June gloom” here in “wonderful sunny California”....not.
Later.......
I like the new look!
ReplyDelete