Today Weasel and I headed to the Holistic Vet in Newmarket. I unfortunately have a very smart kitty who recalls getting poked with needles 4 weeks ago and therefore was incredibly difficult to work with today. Luckily Dr.Haghighat has the patience of a saint and a calm demeanour so we eventually had success.
On a plus note, the vet was very happy to see how healthy looking Weasel is and he hasn't lost a single bit of weight since our last visit which is remarkable. I know that the different treatments we give him each day have been quite effective but of course, being the type of cat he is, it's becoming increasingly challenging to administer them. Just this evening he snuck upstairs and stole chicken from the tenant we rent to. He seemed thoroughly excited to have such delicious food so I grabbed it from him, inserted a capsule of Yunnan, wrapped in cream cheese, cut open macaroni noodles (from a macaroni salad that he liked the smell of), coated it with liverwurst and wrapped that in the chicken he snagged. The Yunnan had 4 layers around it! Do you think he touched it? Heck no. These are all foods he loves but he knows what's in the middle. I've tried pork based pâté and every sticky substance known to mankind. Nothing works anymore. It's frustrating beyond belief when we've made so much progress to date. His intelligence is infuriating and I never thought I would say that.
I may have to prepare these treats and intentionally leave them on our tenant's counter so that he 'thinks' he stole food which he thoroughly enjoys doing. Maybe then he'll eat it.
One unusual 'ailment' I'll call it, although it may not be one, is that 4 days ago, Weasel's eyes started discharging pus. He doesn't have an inflamed iris or any other symptoms that would fall under one of the eye diseases cats can get, nor is this really a consequence of the cancer, just based on the fact that the eyes look clear. The vet stated that it's his body detoxing which would make sense based on how much stuff he ingests each day. It's quite the peculiar thing to see and unfortunately has irritated the corners of his eyes. We picked up natural based eye drops today. I can't literally drop them in his eyes unfortunately so I put the drops on a cotton ball and rub that on his eye, hoping it achieves something.
And on a side note, the Cothivet arrived in just one week from the UK! Not bad! Shipping was just over $1 which blew my mind to begin with. I assumed it would be over a month before it arrived.
Weasel
Tuesday 23 April 2013
Wednesday 17 April 2013
Showing Signs of Improvement
I didn't think it was possible but Weasel is showing signs of improvement. For 4 days now he's had amazing energy and is back to how he was prior to the cancer developing. He doesn't sit in a little ball, crouched up in pain with this tail twitching anymore. His tail still twitches almost non-stop every day but he's alert, energetic, has a great appetite and looks good. His eyes are a bright green and haven't turned yellow; however there are small dark orange veins in them around the edges. This could have always been there though. I wasn't paying attention previously.
Another good sign is that the skin in his ears are still a healthy pink so I believe he remains jaundice free.
We've been applying the Naltrexone every night in his ears and I believe that's the source of this unusual improvement. He still eats a treat each day that consists of Essiac Tea, Amino B-Plex, Life Gold and Omega-3. In his regular meals he receives Schuessler tissue salts - #10 (Natrum Phos 6x) and #11 (Natrum Sulph 6x) as well as the drops that the vet provided.
We've had to give up on providing the Lypo-spheric Vitamin C as he became miserable with it on his fur and refused to groom. It caused a few dreadlocks in his long fur as well. I'm really disappointed about this as Vitamin C is a powerful agent against cancer.
Weasel has also discovered that if he chews persistently, he will break through any hidden capsules so no matter how tasty the treat, he seems to inevitably discover the Yunnan Baiyao. We've had to give up on this as well but it may not be an issue as he doesn't appear to be in pain. This was almost serving as a natural pain killer. I'm sure there were other unseen benefits as well.
I'm not sure if anyone reading this post, who is facing a similar ordeal, may have noticed this on their kitty but Weasel has removed all of the fur on his stomach. I believe it was fragile to begin with but his licking ensures that it can't return. He grooms fastidiously to the point where he's created wounds around his hind legs - where they meet the stomach. My impression was that he was attempting to remove the tumor; however, in researching this topic it seems to be a specific disorder that one vet described on a site I came across. I wish I had kept a link to it as it may be useful for others. At the bottom of the page a lady remarked that all she did was change the litter and her cat stopped licking, so it turned out to be an allergy. In the event that this is the same issue with Weasel we purchased a dust free newspaper based litter and are crossing our fingers that that does the trick. I suspect he's irritated by the tumor though as the type of fur that was growing there wasn't thick, likely affected by his condition.
As for treating the small wounds that he's creating. The holistic vet recommended a product called Cothivet. It's an all-natural wound spray that aids in the formation of connective tissue on healing wounds and chronic sores. I was able to save some money and purchased it from the UK for $20 CDN (which includes shipping). The only downside is the length of time it takes to arrive here.
Another good sign is that the skin in his ears are still a healthy pink so I believe he remains jaundice free.
We've been applying the Naltrexone every night in his ears and I believe that's the source of this unusual improvement. He still eats a treat each day that consists of Essiac Tea, Amino B-Plex, Life Gold and Omega-3. In his regular meals he receives Schuessler tissue salts - #10 (Natrum Phos 6x) and #11 (Natrum Sulph 6x) as well as the drops that the vet provided.
We've had to give up on providing the Lypo-spheric Vitamin C as he became miserable with it on his fur and refused to groom. It caused a few dreadlocks in his long fur as well. I'm really disappointed about this as Vitamin C is a powerful agent against cancer.
Weasel has also discovered that if he chews persistently, he will break through any hidden capsules so no matter how tasty the treat, he seems to inevitably discover the Yunnan Baiyao. We've had to give up on this as well but it may not be an issue as he doesn't appear to be in pain. This was almost serving as a natural pain killer. I'm sure there were other unseen benefits as well.
I'm not sure if anyone reading this post, who is facing a similar ordeal, may have noticed this on their kitty but Weasel has removed all of the fur on his stomach. I believe it was fragile to begin with but his licking ensures that it can't return. He grooms fastidiously to the point where he's created wounds around his hind legs - where they meet the stomach. My impression was that he was attempting to remove the tumor; however, in researching this topic it seems to be a specific disorder that one vet described on a site I came across. I wish I had kept a link to it as it may be useful for others. At the bottom of the page a lady remarked that all she did was change the litter and her cat stopped licking, so it turned out to be an allergy. In the event that this is the same issue with Weasel we purchased a dust free newspaper based litter and are crossing our fingers that that does the trick. I suspect he's irritated by the tumor though as the type of fur that was growing there wasn't thick, likely affected by his condition.
As for treating the small wounds that he's creating. The holistic vet recommended a product called Cothivet. It's an all-natural wound spray that aids in the formation of connective tissue on healing wounds and chronic sores. I was able to save some money and purchased it from the UK for $20 CDN (which includes shipping). The only downside is the length of time it takes to arrive here.
Thursday 4 April 2013
Still Doing Well!
So although I have the most impossible cat to administer anything to, Weasel is still - cross our fingers, doing extremely well.
So far, we've had success putting the Naltrexone on his ear each night and up until today, he's taken his Yunnan treat (which morphed into a capsule wrapped in cream cheese within tasty cat food) and at night, the Amino B-Plex, the Life Gold, Omega-3 and Essiac Tea in a treat. BUT, since he is the most finicky and difficult cat, possibly in the universe, he's decided today that treats aren't worthy of his time. Food that only a week ago had him excited, he's sniffing at and walking away from. He doesn't appear to be in pain today, having not taken the Yunnan but with cats it's very hard to tell.
He also just walked away from his night time treat which even included a new type of tuna in a different canned sauce. I just finished cooking a strip of bacon and added bits of that to his food so he finally ate the treat but was still tentative so I can see that this may work two times - tops.
Weasel is the strangest kitty. He's no longer interested in pill pockets, cream cheese or sardines, salmon, cooked chicken, tuna, etc. etc. He still eats his normal meals that don't include any vitamins or herbal remedies but if we throw our hands up and let him 'win', it's the end of everything we've achieved so far. I have to say, I imagine that many people may just do that and quite possibly, we as well may hit that point, but for now I still have a very small amount of hope remaining. I love the little guy to death. I wish he knew why we did what we do.
On another note, I've discovered accidentally that wheatgrass is used to treat cancer. I recently bought a juicer and was excited about making myself health drinks each day. In my frustration of discovering that the wheatgrass simply shoots out into the disposal bin, after which I 'Googled' this issue, I came across not only 'wheatgrass juicers' but pages and pages about how wheatgrass treats cancer. Thankfully, cats enjoy eating grass so for the past two days, both kitties have had a bit of this on their plate that they don't mind chewing on. Weasel already is getting bored of it though but his brother will certainly be extremely healthy. My goal is to eventually purchase a wheatgrass juicer and add the juice of it to their food as I doubt it would be offensive in flavour.
So far, we've had success putting the Naltrexone on his ear each night and up until today, he's taken his Yunnan treat (which morphed into a capsule wrapped in cream cheese within tasty cat food) and at night, the Amino B-Plex, the Life Gold, Omega-3 and Essiac Tea in a treat. BUT, since he is the most finicky and difficult cat, possibly in the universe, he's decided today that treats aren't worthy of his time. Food that only a week ago had him excited, he's sniffing at and walking away from. He doesn't appear to be in pain today, having not taken the Yunnan but with cats it's very hard to tell.
He also just walked away from his night time treat which even included a new type of tuna in a different canned sauce. I just finished cooking a strip of bacon and added bits of that to his food so he finally ate the treat but was still tentative so I can see that this may work two times - tops.
Weasel is the strangest kitty. He's no longer interested in pill pockets, cream cheese or sardines, salmon, cooked chicken, tuna, etc. etc. He still eats his normal meals that don't include any vitamins or herbal remedies but if we throw our hands up and let him 'win', it's the end of everything we've achieved so far. I have to say, I imagine that many people may just do that and quite possibly, we as well may hit that point, but for now I still have a very small amount of hope remaining. I love the little guy to death. I wish he knew why we did what we do.
On another note, I've discovered accidentally that wheatgrass is used to treat cancer. I recently bought a juicer and was excited about making myself health drinks each day. In my frustration of discovering that the wheatgrass simply shoots out into the disposal bin, after which I 'Googled' this issue, I came across not only 'wheatgrass juicers' but pages and pages about how wheatgrass treats cancer. Thankfully, cats enjoy eating grass so for the past two days, both kitties have had a bit of this on their plate that they don't mind chewing on. Weasel already is getting bored of it though but his brother will certainly be extremely healthy. My goal is to eventually purchase a wheatgrass juicer and add the juice of it to their food as I doubt it would be offensive in flavour.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)