New cat with old issues

[Susanna72]

Hi. I just adopted a cat with some interesting issues. I got him last night and his name is Clarence. First vet visit is tomorrow morning and we see a surgeon on June 1st. He has a 1 cm hole in the roof of his mouth and is chronically congested. Snorts all the time. I feel like he's struggling to breathe at times. His nose is crusty and he gets Cerenia nose drops every day. He's hungry, but seems nervous to put his face in the dish. I'm going to try a wider dish. What he ends up doing is dipping his paw in the mushy food and licking it off his paw. His paw is therefore perpetually stained. They found him as a stray and they think he's about 12 and that he's been living with this his whole life. I don't know how or what he ate on the street. A vet tried to close the opening with a suture but it obviously opened right back up. I'm hoping the doctors can fix all of this, but I wanted to share in case someone else has had this experience. I've searched for cleft palate here and read a lot about it, but I don't see anything about congestion, so I wonder if he has other stuff going on. He also has a lot of food allergies and gets scab breakouts on his skin. (She said he's had ringworm before. Please, please, please let that be all gone.) He's a very sweet cat, so I hope they can give him some relief.

Just thought I'd start a thread to share his medical journey and see if anyone else has been through this.

 

[Furballsmom]

Bless you for helping this baby

 

[Susanna72]

Bless you for helping this baby

Thank you. He came with his own personal comfort cat, Liam. They're bonded. He's a cute, round, little orange tabby. He has allergies, too, but no other health issues thankfully. I am SO curious what this surgeon is going to say. I don't understand the congestion. Makes me think it's something else.

 

[Furballsmom]

Awww, orange kitties are the best! If/when he gets to scratching try some chamomile tea. Grocery stores have it (garden grown isn't safe for cats). Brew it, cool it and dab it on his hot spots. The tea is anti fungal, anti bacterial, safe if he ingests it and it will help ease discomfort and itchiness .

 

[FeebysOwner]

I am not sure the congestion isn't related to the hole in his mouth - food can travel through and reach into the nasal/airway passages. Also, if he has allergies, that too can cause congestion. From all that I have read cleft palates can cause things like a runny nose - which I consider congestion to be an offshoot of - and difficulty breathing. Eating can sometimes also cause aspiration pneumonia which could easily involve congestion and breathing issues. The fact that he has survived for so many years is a good sign that has managed his issues quite well - but I am sure he will do even better under your care!

You might even try a plate or paper plate to spread food on and see if that helps him any.

I hope the vets/surgeon have some good news for you and Clarence.

 

[Susanna72]

Awww, orange kitties are the best! If/when he gets to scratching try some chamomile tea. Grocery stores have it (garden grown isn't safe for cats). Brew it, cool it and dab it on his hot spots. The tea is anti fungal, anti bacterial, safe if he ingests it and it will help ease discomfort and itchiness .

Fantastic tip! I'm going to try that! Thanks!

 

[Susanna72]

I am not sure the congestion isn't related to the hole in his mouth - food can travel through and reach into the nasal/airway passages. Also, if he has allergies, that too can cause congestion. From all that I have read cleft palates can cause things like a runny nose - which I consider congestion to be an offshoot of - and difficulty breathing. Eating can sometimes also cause aspiration pneumonia which could easily involve congestion and breathing issues. The fact that he has survived for so many years is a good sign that has managed his issues quite well - but I am sure he will do even better under your care!

You might even try a plate or paper plate to spread food on and see if that helps him any.

I hope the vets/surgeon have some good news for you and Clarence.

Great tip. I'm going to try that!

He just snorts and sniffles CONSTANTLY. I don't know how he stands it. I guess he's just gotten used to it. That makes sense about congestion and the hole, though.

 

[fionasmom]

This is the cat you were considering adopting in early May? Thank you so much for giving him a chance, along with his little social bridge buddy. I am not a vet, but these symptoms all sound related to the cleft palate.

Please let us know what the vet says today.

 

[Susanna72]

Clarence was a hit at the vet. They all loved him. The vet said he doesn't want to interfere with whatever treatment the specialist prescribes but he said two weeks of antibiotics can't hurt and wants to try it. He said it’s bigger than 1cm and it’s like a patch. He showed me. He said it looks like a mesh so maybe it tried to heal? He said he's curious what the tests will show. He said it could be a stomatitis kind of thing where the body attacks itself. We did bloodwork and he got his rabies updated. They got some urine and I will get a fecal sample. June 1 is specialist appt. I can’t wait!

 

[fionasmom]

That all sounds very promising, especially that Clarence was so popular with the staff. Keep us posted as to what happens on the 1st.

 

[Susanna72]

Hi everyone. We saw the surgeon yesterday. He is considered an expert in the region, so I put a lot of hope into this visit. Clarence cried in the car for the first half hour, but settled down and fell asleep (it was 1.5 hours). He slept on the way home, too. He's such a great cat.

Okay. First of all, this hole is not 1cm. It is in his words, "huge." I'm attaching a drawing he made of it. The cleft palate is the dotted line triangle. If I recall, the small circle is the entry to his nasal cavity? Anyway, he said "I'm not sure I can fix this. There isn't enough tissue. I could pull some teeth and once that heals, we could try. I need to get in there and see better what's going on." Then he said if we fix the palate, that leaves the damage to the nose. He's had chronic infections forever and it damages the lining of the nose.

The rescue found him in a colony two years ago and apparently he was in rough shape. The foster has done a good job of keeping him fed, which is difficult. I have a video of him eating, but it doesn't look like I can post it. It's so pitiful. He only eats a little at a time. Next step is they are going to call with an estimate and to schedule a scope so he can see exactly what's going on. I'm trying to remain positive, but he wasn't optimistic. It's just too big. He was surprised he has survived this long.

If he can't fix this, I will just do my best to keep him fed and loved and see where it takes us. He loves to be brushed and pet. It's so hard to tell if cats are in pain, so it's hard to judge his quality of life. He's not eating a lot, though. OH! and he's got ringworm. Not happy about that at all, but the shelter is going to help me dip him Monday night. He's on medication. I adopted his bonded friend Liam with him and he gets tested on Monday. Most likely, he has it too, although I don't see any signs of it.

 

[fionasmom]

How to upload a video

So not great news, which I am sorry to hear. Are you going to do the scope? He may have adapted to his predicament and understand that he has to eat slowly. This may be more inconvenient for him than painful as he has lived that way his whole life. If you can, take this step by step and continue to evaluate as you go which sounds like what you are planning to do.

And ringworm...there is definitely a special reward for you somewhere along the line someplace.
How to Deal with Ringworm in Cats [Inc. the Housecleaning Regime] - TheCatSite

 

[Susanna72]

How to upload a video

So not great news, which I am sorry to hear. Are you going to do the scope? He may have adapted to his predicament and understand that he has to eat slowly. This may be more inconvenient for him than painful as he has lived that way his whole life. If you can, take this step by step and continue to evaluate as you go which sounds like what you are planning to do.

And ringworm...there is definitely a special reward for you somewhere along the line someplace.
How to Deal with Ringworm in Cats [Inc. the Housecleaning Regime] - TheCatSite

I got a quote for the scope. I guess I didn’t realize how much it would be. $2100-3600. I’m really surprised. Now I don’t know what to do. He was discouraging at the appointment. Would it be a waste of money? Part of me wants to know for sure that nothing can be done. I know that sounds crazy.

 

[fionasmom]

Any of these veterinary procedures are expensive and I rather expected that you would receive a pricey quote. This may not help, and certainly don't approach it this way if it feels wrong to you, but several years ago I stopped doing all "academic" procedures. By that I mean the invasive or the very expensive diagnostics if I would not do anything with the information. If I would proceed, regardless of those factors, I considered doing them. You might even ask the doctors you are working with what they would do if he were their cat...proceed or try to give him as good a life as possible now.

 

[Susanna72]

Any of these veterinary procedures are expensive and I rather expected that you would receive a pricey quote. This may not help, and certainly don't approach it this way if it feels wrong to you, but several years ago I stopped doing all "academic" procedures. By that I mean the invasive or the very expensive diagnostics if I would not do anything with the information. If I would proceed, regardless of those factors, I considered doing them. You might even ask the doctors you are working with what they would do if he were their cat...proceed or try to give him as good a life as possible now.

I am leaning towards your approach. He’s been living like this for at least a decade. What if this surgery makes it worse? As in he has to completely adjust and struggles even more? Or what if it hurts and the pain makes him not want to eat? The doctor said “if I can’t fix this, just keep him comfortable and when he stops eating, you know it’s time.” He was really pessimistic.

He doesn’t eat a lot and kudos to his foster mom for keeping weight on him for two years. Apparently he was in really bad shape when they found him in a colony. I am trying smelly kitten food (he can’t smell) and I'm buying some baby food today.

 

[fionasmom]

You bring up some very good poinst. If this all went badly, you would feel as if you took away what decent quality of life he had.

If he has made it for a decade, some of that time on his own, he has developed some adaptation to this. He must be so happy to have a home with you and his friend Liam. Some of what you are seeing, like the snorting, might look worse to you than it is for him. Personally, I would probably not do any procedures, especially given that he has made it for this long.

 

[Susanna72]

Hi all. Clarence goes for a scope on Monday morning. I decided to go for that because his breathing is so labored and one nostril is always blocked. It makes me wonder if there is something obstructing his nose. My goal is to get the full picture and go from there. I'm not looking at surgery at his age. I just want to know for sure what's going on in there. No one has ever looked, other than to just look in his mouth and see the gaping hole. What if something else is also going on and we can fix it? It's probably an incredible waste of money, but thankfully I have Care Credit and it's a little easier to swallow if I have a year to pay for it. I've gone back and forth on this all summer and I just want to make sure something else isn't going on. I want to make sure it's just a hole in his mouth and not something else going on. Also, they can test so we know what antibiotic to use to attack the congestion in his nose. He has to fast and that part will be hard. His appetite has really grown and he loooooves that kitten food. He's very vocal about it, too. It's 1.5 hour drive without much traffic so it's going to be a long ride.

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[fionasmom]

I think that you are doing the right thing and hope that you might get some optimistic news. With labored breathing, it is probably best to see what is going on. Please let us know what you find out.

 

[silent meowlook]

It’s not a waste of money. You need to know what’s going on.