Bloody Friday
Half of this blog's purpose is to keep interested parties up-to-date on Leo's condition, and the other half is just to help me remember what is happening when.
And that's mostly what this post is about.
Leo seemed his usual hungry self this morning -- but before he could eat I had to give him half of a rather large (about the size of a human aspirin) Baytril pill. He took it pretty well, and went over to eat his food -- but ate just a couple bites and walked away.
His mouth was bleeding again -- bright red blood, not mixed with drool or saliva.
I couldn't tell where exactly the blood was coming from in his mouth (other than on the side where the tumor grew on his jaw.) Blood seemed to be pooled around his lower front "fang"...but it may have just drifted there.
Oh, and a few minutes later I heard retching and found he had barfed in several places on the living room rug -- there may have been a tiny little hairball in the midst of what appeared to be every bit of food he had just eaten, and probably most of the Baytril.
A short time afterwards, he seemed to be feeling pretty okay -- at least he was lying about as usual, wanting to be petted.
But throughout the morning he would approach his food dish, maybe put his nose to it, but then walk away without eating.
I actually left the house today (as opposed to my usual hermit-like existence)...and when I returned several hours later, I found Leo with pretty much his entire chin covered in blood. He looked like he was feeling rather rotten too.
However, when I whipped out my Secret Weapon (AKA Chicken of the Sea) he was magically revitalized. I took the mushiest parts from the can and gave it to him and he ate probably a quarter of the can.
He seemed to perk up too with some food in his system, and the tuna didn't trigger any further bleeding.
Got to the vet office 5 minutes before closing (just me, no kitty -- too late to talk to vet, but who knew they closed at 4 PM?) and picked up 10 cans of a/d food (high calorie, very soft food.)
When I fed the a/d to Leo tonight, he tore into it. The main ingredient (after water) is liver, and evidently, it's quite the foie gras. He's able to eat it just by licking because it's so runny, and it didn't make his mouth bleed.
He was cleaning (or try to clean) his face throughout the day, and it doesn't seem to hurt him at all as he rubs his paw over both sides of his face. So whatever was causing the bleeding isn't making for any extraordinary amount of pain.
Unfortunately, even though there's no bleeding right now, he's losing the battle with grooming -- doesn't seem to be able to remove the mucus/food from his chin. It's rather disgusting. Okay, it's really, really, disgusting.
But I love the beauty inside this beast and Leo enjoyed a lot of attention and purred his approval tonight, as caffeine (and watching A History of Violence on DVD) has kept me from falling asleep at a decent hour.
The vet is supposed to call me back on Tuesday (being a holiday weekend and all) regarding the antibiotic situation and the horrible drool smell.
Oh, one more note -- twice today I saw Leo drinking water from his dish. Usually, well, I guess he drinks from it - that's why I put it out for him - but normally I never actually see him drink. And my husband witnessed his drinking another time today.
It could just be that his mouth is feeling particularly dried out because the tumor has grown so large that he can't quite close it all the way. But this concerns me because Leo's brother Zeke started to drink large amounts of water as his kidneys failed.
And that's mostly what this post is about.
Leo seemed his usual hungry self this morning -- but before he could eat I had to give him half of a rather large (about the size of a human aspirin) Baytril pill. He took it pretty well, and went over to eat his food -- but ate just a couple bites and walked away.
His mouth was bleeding again -- bright red blood, not mixed with drool or saliva.
I couldn't tell where exactly the blood was coming from in his mouth (other than on the side where the tumor grew on his jaw.) Blood seemed to be pooled around his lower front "fang"...but it may have just drifted there.
Oh, and a few minutes later I heard retching and found he had barfed in several places on the living room rug -- there may have been a tiny little hairball in the midst of what appeared to be every bit of food he had just eaten, and probably most of the Baytril.
A short time afterwards, he seemed to be feeling pretty okay -- at least he was lying about as usual, wanting to be petted.
But throughout the morning he would approach his food dish, maybe put his nose to it, but then walk away without eating.
I actually left the house today (as opposed to my usual hermit-like existence)...and when I returned several hours later, I found Leo with pretty much his entire chin covered in blood. He looked like he was feeling rather rotten too.
However, when I whipped out my Secret Weapon (AKA Chicken of the Sea) he was magically revitalized. I took the mushiest parts from the can and gave it to him and he ate probably a quarter of the can.
He seemed to perk up too with some food in his system, and the tuna didn't trigger any further bleeding.
Got to the vet office 5 minutes before closing (just me, no kitty -- too late to talk to vet, but who knew they closed at 4 PM?) and picked up 10 cans of a/d food (high calorie, very soft food.)
When I fed the a/d to Leo tonight, he tore into it. The main ingredient (after water) is liver, and evidently, it's quite the foie gras. He's able to eat it just by licking because it's so runny, and it didn't make his mouth bleed.
He was cleaning (or try to clean) his face throughout the day, and it doesn't seem to hurt him at all as he rubs his paw over both sides of his face. So whatever was causing the bleeding isn't making for any extraordinary amount of pain.
Unfortunately, even though there's no bleeding right now, he's losing the battle with grooming -- doesn't seem to be able to remove the mucus/food from his chin. It's rather disgusting. Okay, it's really, really, disgusting.
But I love the beauty inside this beast and Leo enjoyed a lot of attention and purred his approval tonight, as caffeine (and watching A History of Violence on DVD) has kept me from falling asleep at a decent hour.
The vet is supposed to call me back on Tuesday (being a holiday weekend and all) regarding the antibiotic situation and the horrible drool smell.
Oh, one more note -- twice today I saw Leo drinking water from his dish. Usually, well, I guess he drinks from it - that's why I put it out for him - but normally I never actually see him drink. And my husband witnessed his drinking another time today.
It could just be that his mouth is feeling particularly dried out because the tumor has grown so large that he can't quite close it all the way. But this concerns me because Leo's brother Zeke started to drink large amounts of water as his kidneys failed.
posted by Cyn | 11:59 PM
1 Comments:
I'm so sorry that Leo's going through rough times. I smiled at the thought of Chicken of the Sea as a secret weapon. :-) (You know, it worked for my mom, too, with 9 cranky kids on Friday nights during Lent! Tuna to the rescue!) :-)
Hope you guys are having a good Memorial Day weekend.
Post a Comment
<< Home