First Winnie, Now Hugo. Options

[kelly]

This time last year my 14 year old dog Winnie was diagnosed with Cancer and died in October. Last night my 12 year old cat Hugo was diagnosed with intestinal lymphoma (after being treated for irritable bowel syndrome for over a year) and has been given anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to live. How crappy is that?! I just lost Winnie and now my little cat has to go too. Worse, this type of cancer will eventually clog up his lower intestine so that waste will no longer pass waste and nutrients will no longer be absorbed - in short I get to watch my kitty starve to death. My vet is giving him prednisone to shrink the swelling in his intestine and jump start his appetite a bit, so that he can eat and keep down his food at least for awhile. This is so depressing you guys and i'm wondering where I am going to find the strength to do this all over again. My best friend and I jokingly nicknamed Hugo "the boyfriend" because he has this tractor beam of love stare. How i'm going to miss him! He is such a good cat, just sweet and affectionate, never into hunting to doing "bad cat" things. Any advice you guys can offer to help make his remaining days more comfortable, let me know. Have any of you had experience with this type of cancer? Do you know if it's painful (forgot to ask my vet that, will have to call him). Thanks again for letting me fall back on you guys. I'm just sorry we all get together under dire cir%%stances. Best to all of you who have lost their friends or who have friends who are dying.

[gingerspal]

was a biopsy done?
I found a pretty good link about this. You could still have some hope depending on the situation. I guess the key is whether or not a biopsy was done.
about feline intestinal lymphoma
It is depressing indeed! but your details are a little sketchy. let us know why the doctor is convinced it is lymphoma.---hang in there!

[DJ - Edgar, Jess...]

I can't comment on his physical health, your vet would be best positioned to do that. Look into it as thoroughly as you can. But I DO have a suggestion if you think his time is limited.

Spoil him horribly. When I found out Jesse was terminal I tossed the diet food in the garbage, started feeding him from the table and hugged him whenever and wherever he wanted me to. I spent hours talking to him, cuddling him, playing with him and feeding him chicken that I roasted for him in the oven.

And if that deteriorated his health a little, so be it. He died knowing I loved him and believing he was the centre of the universe.

And he was. And spoiling him made me feel amazing - it was the only thing I could control during his illness - his happiness.

He died a very happy cat.

[Muffins]

Dear Kelly:

I am sorry to hear of your precious Hugo's illness.....

I read a bit of the link that Patti gave you.... The reason I did was because our cat Ms. Lucy has been ill herself with a
few different problems, one of which has "always been diarrhea", and today her stool is just pure watery; just pouring
out of her!!
She was mis-diagnosed with Mega-Colon.....but, we have an appointment with her veterinarian tomorrow.

I agree 100% with DJ............Spoil Hugo as much as you can............

If, because of the intestinal cancer, he is not able to digest/tolerate "treats", because it might only make his tummy very uncomfortable..........then spoil him with all the love, hugs, & kisses you can!!!!

But, I do know that the "Roasted Chicken" that DJ spoke of, that Jesse was spoiled so lovingly with.....usually chicken
is something that is A-OK for feline diarrhea.....

No doubt, it is very, very sad..............But, please remember......Your precious Hugo is here...Right now!! And he
is able to receive love, and give love..... Don't lose sight of that!! He is still here with you.

There are soooooooooooooooooo many ways in which we can spoil our furkids......... I'll quote DJ again, but,
through cuddling, playing, "conversing" in kitty talk, etc., etc., etc......
Just enjoying each other.....
That's what love is!!!

THE GIFT OF TOUCH..........THERE'S NO BETTER GIFT IN THE WORLD!!!

There have been soooooooo many different medical things going on with our beautiful Ms. Lucy....but, I know that everyday that I look at her, and she at me.....or, when I hold her paw and she starts purring like a train engine....
That, for right now...........we have each other.... She has me, her dad Ben & Mr. Yoster (our other fur-kid that we adopted on 3/6/2004, along with Ms. Lucy).....

I CANNOT LOOK ANY FURTHER THAN TODAY..........BECAUSE TOMORROW IS NOT YET HERE!!! I AM JUST GRATEFUL
THAT WE ALL HAVE TODAY!!!! You know?

Yes, of course you will miss him, but right now HE IS HERE!!!!!

Among the living, right with you, my friend.

Please, keep us all posted as to how Hugo and you are doing..... Okay????
We all care!!

Goodnight & God Bless you!!

Love, Denise

[BabyHannahsMom]

I agree with all the wonderful advice you got here. If you are not sure about your current vet, I definitely think you would feel better getting a second opinion. Do go on the Internet and read all you can about it. Make sure you know all your options and all of the possible treatments AND side effects.

Also, please, please go ahead and read about Euthanasia. I hate to mention this, but one day for your baby's sake, you may have to make this decision. There are excellent articles on the Internet and books about it too. You need to know what to expect if that choice has to be made. If you didn't go through this with Winnie, you need to know all about the process, quality of life, etc. Also, I read an article somewhere that said to talk to your pet about his situation, etc. I wish so very much I had known more about what to expect. And yes, make every day as though it is Hugo's last. Love, love, love him. I am sure you remember the guilt and all of the "I should have's," "wish I would have," etc.
.
You can go back and read the posts on this site too. I think that will help in every way. I hope that Hugh's not as sick as the vet thinks. I am so sorry that you lost Winnie too. I know how sad you are. You will be in my thoughts. If I run across any additional information, I'll post it.
Marcia
Baby Hannah's Mom and Babe's Mom

[kelly]

Thank you all for your support and kind words. Sorry if I was vague about Hugo's diagnosis. It's funny, I knew the vet was going to give me bad news after the immediacy of which he performed Hugo's x-ray. All I could think was "oh no, not again!", thus sort of tuning out all of the medical mumbo jumbo. I did get that he didn't think that a biopsy was necessary as his xray clearly showed not only a thickening of the intestinal wall but also a mass which was (to him and the other vets in the office that he conferred with) obviously was not food, or poop or hair. He said that they could do exploratory surgery, but even if they were able to remove the main mass, they would still find pockets of cancer throughout the colon. If they didn't find more cancers the prognosis still was not good. I don't want to torture my little guy with surgery so I opted out of the surgery. For now he is doing well, ah the wonder of steroids! His appetite has increased signifigantly after his prednisone injection and the food is staying down! That's good enough for me, if he can eat for a couple of months and I can spoil him (he had hagen-daz strawberry ice cream for dessert last night) and spend some time with him, i'm happy with that. I'm fortunate in that, I have time to say goodbye. I'll keep you all posted and i'm sure you'll hear plenty from me when the inevitible occurs and I have to put him down. Until then i'm following your advice and spoiling the dickens out of him! Best to all of you.

[DJ - Edgar, Jess...]

Then give him a hug from all of us - in honour of our own little ones whom we wish we could give one last hug to.

[Muffins]

Hugo is such a beautiful fur-kitty!!!!

Hagen-Daz strawberry ice cream???? I'm sure that Hugo enjoyed every last bit!!!

I agree with you..........No surgery... I would opt for the same thing if I were in the same position.

Please, give your precious Hugo plenty of hugs, kisses & belly rubs from all of us!!

Love, Denise