Bloated Abdomen

It's been quite some time since I was last able to post an update. This is primarily due to giving birth at the end of January but I was also juggling an enormous workload as a new teacher prior to that.

Up until two weeks ago I believed Weasel was making fantastic progress thanks to the new Nature's Sunshine Paw Paw we had begun adding to his daily regime. He was very busy running in and out all day and had a hearty appetite. He had however escalated his 'bad behaviour' in the recent weeks, leaving bowel movements in the corners of our basement and urine next to shelves as well. Although it's not a renovated part of the house, it still holds tools and other valuables so his naughty ways are extremely aggravating. Because he's been urinating in spots he shouldn't for the past two years or so, I disregarded it as him being a fuss about his litter or not getting his way over something which he always makes a point of indicating is 'not acceptable'.

It turns out that this bathroom behaviour was likely due to the liver tumor. Shortly after Weasel left his excrement gift to us, I noticed that his sides were growing on a daily basis. My husband believed we were overfeeding him but I had my doubts that cats gain weight - or anyone for that matter, so quickly. About a week later Weasel looked as though he had swallowed a giant water mellon. I felt his sides and can only describe it as pushing a water balloon that has a thick membrane in which you can feel the water tightly pushing against the sides.

We took Weasel to have an X-ray at the vets down the street from us. They could see that it was due to the liver and in taking a fluid sample, where able to confirm this. Thankfully there wasn't any blood. We had a decision to make on the spot..is this dooms day or do we go on. I couldn't bear telling the vet to euthanize after all we had done to date so we had his abdomen drained. This may have bought us a few days, a few weeks or even months with him. It's really hard to tell.

I reached out to Dr. Haghighat and stated that it looks like we've hit the end of the road on this long journey. As always, Dr. Haghighat was very optimistic even when faced with this. Due to the fact that I didn't see much point in spending any more on tackling the cancer with funds being scarce with me out of work at the present moment, I politely stated that we were not going to pursue any more treatments. Here's where I was quite surprised (although I shouldn't be knowing how kind Dr. Haghighat is). He offered to treat Weasel for free in an upcoming visit. There aren't too many professionals that are as generous as he is. His belief that Weasel can combat this new hurdle is quite strong. He's reminded me that I need to give Weasel a fair chance and not give up just yet.

So based on this kind offer, today I visited Dr. Haghighat, lugging both the baby and the cat into his clinic (no easy feat I might add haha). Dr. Haghighat did blood therapy and acupuncture on Weasel. Weasel was very well behaved thankfully (unlike previous visits) and seemed to be in very strong spirits when we got home, running around and looking as though he didn't have the slightest clue he has anything wrong with him - an enviable quality animals have I might add. Dr. Haghighat mentioned as well that he felt that another ultrasound was required to see specifically what was taking place. I initially hesitated on this, as I felt it to be unnecessary but once again, his kindness has no bounds and he offered to pay for the ultrasound as well. I truly hope that the information he gathers through treating Weasel can benefit him somehow, as I'm blown away by his passion toward the wellbeing of our fur babies. He's definitely not in this for profit.

In contrast to Dr. Haghighat is the dreadful vet who operates the ultrasound machine in our area..I'm seriously thrilled to connect with him again this week (that was sarcasm btw). I'm sure he'll tell me that Weasel is about to explode in two weeks and there's nothing that can be done about it. He'll likely go into graphic detail about how messy the whole scene will look.  At least I'm going in with eyes wide open on his bedside manner this time lol.

This was a long post (making up for lost time). Hopefully I have a brief but positive post in the weeks to come updating you on Weasel's progress yet again - the cat who most certainly has 9 lives.