Toby vomiting and losing weight, fine otherwise

[barbb]

Hi there,
Im sorry to hear about TOby and I hope he feels better soon. In your last post you said he was grinding his teeth and licking his lips a lot? Those are tell tale signs of nausea in a cat. Very often, cat with nausea will grind their teeth and smack their lips. This may or may not be accompanied by vomiting. I would look into administering anti-nausea meds. The two that are commonly used are cerenia and ondansetron (zofran). Is he on pain meds?

He has cerenia but the vet said she did not think it is nausea and to hold off for now and use pepsid. I did give him cerenia on Sunday. If he is on schedule post chemo he should improve more tomorrow. I hope so!

 

[barbb]

I keep posting separately, so please do read the last two before this one! Augh. I just wanted to say that when we took Toby to his regular vet before we went on vacation and before any of this was diagnosed, she told us to stop his blue buffalo crunchies and she told us that her last fifteen cases of renal failur/damage/death all of them were on the bb crunchies and she believes it is why, as it is the only common factor. She said she believes they do not use care in sourcing their ingredients. We thought we were doing everything right bc it was grain free, dr. Royal was extremely adamant about this. So, yes Toby has cancer and kidney involvement would be expected, but we only switched to blue buffalo in the last three months or so. So for whatever it is worth, I do thin
Bk there could be a connection there too and advise people to avoid blue buffalo.

 

[barbb]

My ipad repeated my post several times, so I am editing this one and the next one and putting in a picture of Toby so that it won't be the same post over and over augh. These are pics we took outside a day or so ago.Here is toby outside

toby outside.JPG

• barbb
• Apr 30, 2013

 

[barbb]

toby and barbara outside2.JPG

• barbb
• May 1, 2013

my ipad posted my thread several times so I am editing my post to substitute a picture. Augh! Here are me and Toby outside after he was at the vet. I still had a stupid eye patch on. He was happy to be outside. I was laying in the position the doctor told me to lol.

toby and barbara outside.JPG

• barbb
• Apr 30, 2013

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Barb, my Sven used to received his sub-qs, then jump down from the table and go immediately to his water dish and drink

.  We never could figure that one out..how he could possibly be thirsty after just receiving 150 ml of fluid.  But he did it without fail every time

.

So glad Toby seems to be feeling better after you assist fed him.  Not sure I understand why it might be a problem to give him the 150 if you do 100 in the am and the 50 in the p.m. after the Baytril, expecially since he doesn't seem to mind getting them.  Do you have some specific questions?  Or do you just mean because you can't see well right now?  Is John not always available to help?  Not seeing well could definitely pose a problem. 

I guess with everything else going on, we were remiss in sending you this link on kidney disease.  It's got everything you ever needed to know, and more:  http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm

Great pictures!  Toby actually looks quite healthy

I sense that you need answers about the kidney disease, but I'm not sure what your questions are, so as you think of them, jot them down and ask.  Too many of us have been thru it with our kitties

 

[barbb]

I am going to read the link you gave me. I am not sure what my questions are. I know nothing about it so I think what you provided is a good start. Thank you so much for sharing it!

On the fluids, I was just worried about doing them twice a day. But he doesn't seem to mind, so I will stick with that. I wasn't sure about giving him 150ml all at once. I  think 2 times daily works well because his meds are in the evening. So that will be the routine, so long as he is ok with it. This is new to all of us so I am just kind of taking it day by day, hoping he doesn't suddenly rebel.

Yes this is the mystery, Toby has been super healthy even with his cancer until all of a sudden he just crashed, hard. That is why we took him to the regular vet the nite before his ultrasound, the not eating at all was a huge red flag. If you saw him in person you would be able to see how ragged his fur is, and also if you pet his back and get to his haunches, it feels very bony back there. His fur is worse than it was and the bony feeling is new. 

Toby just now came to me and wanted wet food. I opened a can and he is eating a great deal of it and also having more water. This, after not eating anything for three days. I am just amazed. The Baytril must be knocking out the infection and the chemo is doing its work. He still  has permanent renal damage and cancer involvement in his kidneys but I am simply amazed to see him rebound like this. 

I am very glad I stayed up late tonight or I might have missed this eating moment. I am just very happy right now. He is by no means better but he is not kicking it yet. 

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Great news that he got his appetite back.  Maybe he just needed a "jump start"

 

[feralvr]

AWWWWW, love, love the pictures of momma and baby outside. He definitely looks VERY happy. Good to hear that he is holding his own right now!!! :cross: and that it continues.

 

[barbb]

Here he is after his fluids last night. He got the fluids and then laid right down. He was purring. He is still a large cat but obviously affected by the renal failure.  I started reading the CRF link- thank you very much!! And I have a lot of questions for when Toby's vet calls yet today. I am going to see about getting his renal food. Even though he is sick with large cell lymphoma anyhow, there is no reason to put him into any further discomfort. I am giving him fluids but they are electrolyte sodium chloride and the CRF link says those are hard on the kidneys. What about Lactated Ringers Solution, I have that too! Of the renal specialty foods, which do you recommend? Hills or Royal Canin? I am not sure what I can get at the vet's but will go for the better of the two if both are available. Right now I am giving him Hill's A/D, I hope it is not bad for him. 

toby after fluids last night.JPG

• barbb
• May 2, 2013

 

[ldg]

Barb, I'm so sorry about the Blue Buffalo! But I'm so relieved to hear his appetite seems to be back! I wonder if there was an infection... or if stopping the BB helped in some way?

Did he like raw food? Because that's the healthiest option for him, if he liked it. With CRF, if you use eggshell powder instead of bone, that brings the phosphorus down to 0.8%, and if he likes egg white, it is both a phos binder, and a way to increase protein without the phos impact. Just a thought.

Continued vibes for you and Toby!

 

[barbb]

He is still taking the antibiotics, baytril. I have to pick up some painkillers from the vet for him and also she is giving me a phosphate binding powder that I can add to the food that I syringe feed to him. I will also get a few cans of kidney wet food for him.

The doc said the most important thing is to get him to eat anything he likes. He is not taking the lead right now, but if I syringe feed him he gets energetic again and wants to eat, play etc. Otherwise he is like the rest of our kitties, sleeping most of the day lol. 

I already syringe fed him and gave fluids today, plus his prednisolone. I still have to give him baytril which I will do in a few minutes and then more food. Augh. Picking up his stuff from the vet later. 

I do think the antibiotics helped the infection plus the chemo, but it could have also been the BB(?) The vet said his kidneys were way smaller again and she believes it was the chemo.

On raw food he loves his sushi lol, I have not seen him eat the stella and chewys but somebody in the house likes it. Maybe he munches at night? He is up at night when we are asleep. 

I will try egg whites in his food too!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I would probably stay away from feeding him a solid diet of Stella and Chewy's, simply because they use BONE, and you need to try to steer clear of bones now. If you feed raw, you will need to use eggshell powder for calcium rather than bones.  Plus the eggwhites are a natural phos binder...IMHO much better than using a chemical phos binder.  Is your Vet familiar with a raw diet? 

My Callie has just test with high BUN and Creatinine, so I'm going thru the throes of investigating a different raw diet for her, and I know Laurie has helped another poster whose cat has CRF.

I think I would stick with the A/D for right now rather than switch to a specific kidney food, since it has extra nutrients in it and extra calories, and Toby has just been thru a crisis.  It's  recovery food.  I, personally, cannot recommend any of the kidney foods, because Sven didn't like any of them.  'Course, we didn't syringe feed him, since he really fought that.    Our Vet was like yours and said let him eat anything he will eat. 

 

[barbb]

Well we were just at the vet today and she said his kidneys feel larger again. Last night he threw up the A/D with phosphate binder that I gave him. She believes the chemo shot turned him around but just for a very short time, which, because it is rescue chemo, is what happens especially when the lymphoma starts to take over. 

His weight is still good, he is over 10lbs but is not eating much and is steadily losing weight. The doctor told us he is dehydrated but nothing horrible. She gave us more fluids and more A/D and told us  to keep an eye on how much he eats on his own, and whether he is throwing up what I am giving him by syringe, and only to give him the one baytril tonight which is pretty much his last dose. He has 1/4 of another left but she said don't bother with that. 

She said there isn't much she can do at this point and I can call the oncologist to see if there is anything they want to do with maybe a different rescue chemo. I said the last time I spoke to the oncologist (not the one who left, his new one at the other place) she wished us well and said she was sorry she hadn't gotten to meet us when she treated Toby- and I took that to mean she did not expect to see him again as she had also discussed how the lymphoma had taken over his kidneys and was discussing his life in terms of weeks or months.  

The vet said yes, it seems like it is getting to be his time to go. So we are going to watch him in the next few days, take him outside as he still is interested in that, and see what other things he might still be interested in as far as life is concerned. 

toby and lola bathtub.jpg

• barbb
• May 9, 2013

 

[ldg]

Barb, my heart aches miserably reading this update. :heart2: :heart3: :heart2:

What can I say? I'm not ready for Toby to go either.

Lymphoma sucks.

 

[finnlacey]

Oh Barb, this is breaking my heart. We love you and Toby and we're here for you! 

 

[jcat]

Barb, I'm so sorry. You've been going through such a tough time with Toby and it's so heartbreaking when there aren't any options left. I wish you peace of mind and precious moments with him.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I'm so sorry things aren't getting better with him.  My heart is breaking for you

 

[cailea]

Oh sweetie I am so so sorry. 5 weeks ago tonight was my last night with my beautiful girl. I know you can't bear to lose him but I also know you love him so much that you will let him go when the time comes.

Heart is breaking for you but hugs for your baby, enjoy every moment with him xo

 

[thetigerden]

I am very sorry for you and your baby. I cannot even imagine what you must be going through.

 

[ritz]

I'm so sorry.