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I have been hopping from pet forum to pet forum the last few days looking for information. I hope you can help me. My cat Sueño just went through cancer surgery that ended up removing part of her jaw. I don't know how to care for her in any particular way.
Background:
The title might be a bit misleading but it's the shortest way to put it. The whole picture is, this is her third surgery, the last one went wrong because it was supposed to be a minor intervention: we didn't realize she had a tumor hiding in the jaw bones until the vet tried cleaning the area and the whole thing broke apart. He put everything he could together - and being honest, the tumor part of the situation isn't completely taken care of either. More than half her jaw is gone. The objective became keeping the quality of life.
It's been a week since the surgery and she's finally able to eat solids, but every so often, she starts hitting her own jaw, as if it was dislocated. Also, the thing makes this horrible sound when she opens and closes it with force, which she does, almost compulsively. So it's not exactly broken, at least I have no confirmation that it is... but it's incomplete and with problems opening and closing. Also, there's a resulting gap that I worry may make her vulnerable to infection. (I'm cleaning her mouth the best I can, when I can and she lets me. I don't want to stress her too much.)
Look, I'm not gonna lie. I know just how dense cancer talk is, everybody'd rather not read further. So let me add this.
Despite all this happening, she's eating, she's hungry more often than not, she now lick/baths herself again - she's incredibly willful, but also very frustrated.
If anybody else went through something like this, I'm looking for general tips on how to care for a cat with her jaw compromised. I turned to the internet looking for advise but only found so much. So I will very much thank you for any help, in advance.
Background:
The title might be a bit misleading but it's the shortest way to put it. The whole picture is, this is her third surgery, the last one went wrong because it was supposed to be a minor intervention: we didn't realize she had a tumor hiding in the jaw bones until the vet tried cleaning the area and the whole thing broke apart. He put everything he could together - and being honest, the tumor part of the situation isn't completely taken care of either. More than half her jaw is gone. The objective became keeping the quality of life.
It's been a week since the surgery and she's finally able to eat solids, but every so often, she starts hitting her own jaw, as if it was dislocated. Also, the thing makes this horrible sound when she opens and closes it with force, which she does, almost compulsively. So it's not exactly broken, at least I have no confirmation that it is... but it's incomplete and with problems opening and closing. Also, there's a resulting gap that I worry may make her vulnerable to infection. (I'm cleaning her mouth the best I can, when I can and she lets me. I don't want to stress her too much.)
Look, I'm not gonna lie. I know just how dense cancer talk is, everybody'd rather not read further. So let me add this.
Despite all this happening, she's eating, she's hungry more often than not, she now lick/baths herself again - she's incredibly willful, but also very frustrated.
If anybody else went through something like this, I'm looking for general tips on how to care for a cat with her jaw compromised. I turned to the internet looking for advise but only found so much. So I will very much thank you for any help, in advance.
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