I've been posting a bit over the past few days because my cat, Kitty, has just been diagnosed with cancer in her abdomen. She has lost a lot of weight and now only weighs 6.75 pounds. The vet gave us the option to put her to sleep on Monday, but my Dh was not ready (and I'm not sure I was either.) So, he gave us a Rx for prednilisone (5mg daily) for two weeks. Kitty is still lethargic, but definitely eating more, drinking water, using the litter box (only to pee so far) and interacting with us.
The problem is, my DH is going out of town for 10 days from July 5-15, and we really worry that she will take a turn for the worse while he is gone - neither he nor I want for me to have to put her to sleep by myself/while he's gone. Our plan was to assess the situation again on Saturday, and if she is not markedly better (compared to the day we got the diagnosis) put her to sleep then. But now on the steroids, I don't know if we'll be able to put her to sleep like this. She is still "here" and we haven't gotten any idication from her that it's time.
So, my question is twofold. One, how long can I expect her to hold one before taking a downturn? I know this is an impossible question to answer, but if anyone has any experiences like this I'd like to hear them. And two, how long can one keep a cat on this high a dose of pred? When will it start to do more damage than help?
I'm really depressed about this today. I thought I would be able to process it over the week, but as Saturday approaches it's just really crushing me.
Thanks,
Elizabeth
The problem is, my DH is going out of town for 10 days from July 5-15, and we really worry that she will take a turn for the worse while he is gone - neither he nor I want for me to have to put her to sleep by myself/while he's gone. Our plan was to assess the situation again on Saturday, and if she is not markedly better (compared to the day we got the diagnosis) put her to sleep then. But now on the steroids, I don't know if we'll be able to put her to sleep like this. She is still "here" and we haven't gotten any idication from her that it's time.
So, my question is twofold. One, how long can I expect her to hold one before taking a downturn? I know this is an impossible question to answer, but if anyone has any experiences like this I'd like to hear them. And two, how long can one keep a cat on this high a dose of pred? When will it start to do more damage than help?
I'm really depressed about this today. I thought I would be able to process it over the week, but as Saturday approaches it's just really crushing me.
Thanks,
Elizabeth