Jack's End of Life Medical Care

Jacky died on Friday, 14 Aug 2015 at after a brief rough spell  due to brain cancer. He was 12 or 13.

Jack was an ex-feral who we caught about 10 years ago when he was unaltered 2 year old.  He settled right in after neutering, and he loved almost all the other cats.

He had lipomas all over from the time we got him; they'd gotten larger and there were more the past 2 years. We called him Mr. Lumpy sometimes. In the past year he went deaf and lost his sense of smell, and he developed a distinct head tilt like his mother Emdee had after she developed the inner ear cancer that she died from after it affected her brain.

Jack went to the vet on 6 Aug after hurting himself getting out of the litterbox; he'd hurt a front toe earlier that day so I went wiwth him and made sure he got in safely, but I didn't watch when he was done. There was a crash and a yowl and he made it back to the bedroom was unable to use his left rear leg, which was dragging slightly. He spent the entire night in Paul's arms, refusing to lie anywhere else.

In retrospect I think he may have fallen and had a stroke or had a stroke and fallen. 

But the vet was fairly certain if we could get him eating he'd be fine and that the leg issue was a previous break. I don't think she could see what we could see; we were around him 24/7.  He came home Friday, and by Sunday he had completely withdrawn from us after being the king of the lovies for 9 years. He also completely stopped vocalising; when he'd lost his hearing, he'd gotten more vocal. He never made another sound after getting home from the vet Friday.

Anti nausea meds (rxed Friday) and appetite stimulants (rxed the next Tuesday) didn't work. We tried syringe feeding, but he fought so hard he'd hurt himself. He was still very strong, but he started to drag his entire left side by Tuesday night. His leg and foot weren't tender, but he didn't want to be cuddled and he didn't want out of the kennel. He drank well, but refused all food except for a half tsp to tsp of different new flavours. After that he'd turn away. He was very clear that he was tasting it to make me happy but didn't want to eat.

He developed nystagmus Wednesday.  He hid from the sunbeams he'd loved. Thursday evening we knew he was dying, and Paul took him to another vet as soon as they opened Friday morning. They agreed that he was dying and with their help he passed over peacefully in Paul's arms.

After his death, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tinged pink began to drip from his nose. It continued until he was wrapped for burial 24 hours later, soaking through 12 layers each of 4 folded washclothes in that time. I already knew that in humans that's a sign of brain cancer or stroke (my mother died of cancer that had metastasised to her brain; after she died, her nose also leaked some blood tinged CSF). It hurt that he had suffered, but it was also good to know that no matter what we'd done, it wouldn't have saved him. (the other vets had wanted us to consider a feeding tube after seeing him Tuesday. They really weren't able to see what we could see, that it was cancer andhe was dying.)

Paul and I are both severely disabled by chronic illness and have no discretionary income or savings left. Our cats are our babies and they mean the world to us.

If you could help us pay this off, it would be an immense blessing. We use carecredit for animal emergencies only for our beloved cats (rescues, tamed ferals, and now-11 year old kittens of a rescue who arrived very pregnant).

Thank you for your support.

Chris

PS, I will get the rewards out by the end of September (hopefully much earlier)