Stacy Horn

Things are improving at Casa Crazy Cat Lady. A few hours after fluids and a Pepcid (and about a thousand other drugs) Buddy drank water on his own. A few hours after that he ate babyfood. He hasn’t voluntarily done that in three days, so there was much rejoicing over here. “Who’s the greatest eating cat in the whole wide world? You are!”

When he was done he was curling up and begging for pets and I spent a few hours with him back in the bedroom, where he insisted we be. I watched tv on the inferior tv (the good tv is in the livingoom) and he was purring, purring, purring.

I almost don’t want to give him his tramadol, the pain killer, because he will be out of it, and he seems so much better. But cats tend to hide discomfort, and he just had abdominal surgery on Wednesday and he does have lymphoma, so he must be uncomfortable.

Here he is right now, taking his post breakfast nap on the couch, on the comforter I spread out for him. I have to go out and run errands so I’ll take pictures of something other than my sick cat.

The biopsy said “small cell,” or low grade, which I just read has a better prognosis than the large cell or high grade. So there’s that.

The biopsies are back, and Buddy has lymphoma. AND, the oncologist is out until Monday. I called others and it’s even worse for getting appointments so I can’t do anything for him for three days while he gets worse.

My vet said a weekend won’t make the difference between life and death and gave me some instructions for what to do.

I knew he had taken a turn for the worse weeks ago and I just wish biopsies had been done then. But all his recent blood work was good, he had gained weight, so it didn’t seem indicated. I should have trusted my instincts.

Anyway, his stomach was clear, his large intestine and bowel have IBD, and the small intestine is what came back positive for lymphoma.

All the tricks I learned to make giving fluids a stress-free event worked like a charm for Buddy and he sat still the whole time, eating his catnip (the only thing he has voluntarily eaten). He even stayed on the towel when we were done.

I feel a little better. Getting some fluids in him is a good thing regardless of the final prognosis.

I had to feed Finney catnip the entire time to keep him away from me and Buddy while this was going on. So now Finney is bouncing off the walls, going after every last speck of catnip. He’s insane.

So universe? I could use a miracle now.

I am going out of my mind with worry and despair. I was up all night researching, and Buddy didn’t eat or drink and he still has diarrhea even though he hasn’t eaten in now three days. He also threw up while he was in his litterbox last night.

I’m about to give him fluids and a Pepcid and if he doesn’t eat by tonight I’m going to try a heavy duty appetite stimulant called mirtazapine. The biopsy results may not be back until Monday and it’s killing me to not address the problem until then. I asked the vet about starting him on the leukeran now, but he thought that was a bad idea.

Okay, going to give him fluids now. Here is a picture from my day walking in the park. It looks sufficiently gloomy (although I was very happy, even if the sun wasn’t shining).

I know I sound terrible. I am preparing for the worst, but I haven’t given up hope. I am pining my hopes on the leukeran, and if that doesn’t work, then I might give up hope, but for now I am hanging in there for a turn around.