Hi Nathan,
First, I am so sorry the you and little Mao are having
to go through this. It must be very tough for both of
you, especially considering how young he is.
Second, I don't want to give you false hope of Mao
getting back to where he was before he got sick,
BUT...there are a lot of things you can do to help
manage/ease his pain.
Obviously, since the growth is in his trachea area,
surgery is either probably not an option, or a very
risky one, given his breathing issues. Also, cutting
into cancer cells in any mammal, if they aren't all
removed, often results in the return of the cancer,
and sometimes stronger. FeLV+ kitties are 300 times
more likely to develop lymphoma. That's the bad news.
The good news is that lymphoma is very manageable in
cats. They respond very well to chemo and steroids.
Some here have lived a lot longer than anyone thought.
Depending on what your financial situation is, as
sadly for many of us here it's a factor in determining
treatment, but if you can, I would go to a Veterinary
Internist a.s.a.p. and inquire about chemo. An
internist will be an expert in treating cancer,
assuming that's what the obstruction is. It seems the
most pressing thing right now is to get whatever is
constricting Mao's airway to shrink. The best way to
do that is chemo. And chemo does not do to cats what
it does to humans as far as illness goes; they fare
much better with it.
Depending on what the internist says and what
treatment you decide to go with, if any, there is a
steroid shot that works wonderfully for pain
management, particularly in the later stages of
cancer. It's a combo shot of dexamethasone and
depomedrol. The internist should know about this, and
possibly your regular vet. No matter who you see for
help, a good vet is SO important in treating your
furbaby. Find one you like; run from any you don't
feel good about.
Also, lysine is GREAT for strengthening the immune
system, which is very important for FeLV+ cats. My
Smookie had a horrible corneal ulcer that would not
clear up with topical or oral antibiotics, nor with
anti-viral drops. I started giving her 250-500 mg 2x
per day of lysine and it went away! Make sure they
lysine does not have propynol glycol in it as it
causes blood issues in cats. Also lysine (or
L-lysine) is tasteless, so I just put it in my cat's
wet food and they had no idea it was there. They
gobbled it right up. I got the lysine at my local
health food store.
Don't give up on Mao. My baby Cricket developed a
horrible infection over three years ago. He had
horrible fevers and the vet was just going to let him
die in that cage. I took him home, gave him his
antibiotics, water, and food every hour, and he came
back and lived two more years until anemia took him.
And I don't think he would have developed the anemia
had he not been stressed out in my home due to other
circumstances.
The two most important things you can do for Mao is to
keep him stress-free (and yourself as well) and to
feed him a GREAT diet. I feed mine Innova Evo and
cooked chicken, but there are other good foods out
there as well.
Please keep us posted on Mao's situation. Prayers
going out for both you and Mao. Know that you are
doing all you are out of love, so try not to
second-guess yourself too much. We all do though.
It's natural. And know that, unfortunately, you are
not alone.
:)
Wendy
Dallas, TX
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the
world: Indeed it is the only thing that ever has!"
~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~
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