It’s 5:09AM… Maggie has just spent the last 15 minutes (for the fifth time) urgently trying to get me up to attend to a large piece of snot on her nose that had obviously got a strand of my hair stuck to it. Now that that’s fixed, I can’t get back to sleep. I have 2 hours before I need to actually wake up… *sigh*
We’ve had a mixed weekend. We still have to check in with the vet, and I think Mum’s going to do that later today.
Maggie still sleeps with me most of the night. I think she gets up periodically to have a big drink, but I always wake up with her on my bed.
She didn’t have a bad sleep last night. She slept for about an hour under the covers with me with her little head out. She got really comfy and stretched her arm out and turned her head upside down for a short time. She was very quiet; no snuffling or snorting.
We had another cuddle this morning before breakfast. In all honesty, she was terrible to try and feed this morning. She really resisted and we had to re-wrap her twice. She just spat and sprayed the food all over the place.
I went home with Dad to feed her her lunch just before. When we got in, Dad looked behind the TV and she wasn’t there, so he said she was probably in my room. He was right. As soon as I got to my bedroom door, Maggie got up and got off the bed. I thought she was going to gap it initially because she’s gotten to knowing what is coming next, but she didn’t. She came to the door and waited. I gave her a pat and her tail stood up and she looked at me lovingly. She tried to clean her nose with her paw (all by herself!) then turned around and jumped back on the bed and started chattering away to me. I got on the bed and lifted the blanket and she went underneath. She had a quiet rest for around 15 minutes until Dad was ready with her food.
Again, she was even more terrible to feed. We had to re-wrap her twice, and she growled the whole time. We did manage to get a bit of food into her though. I’m actually really surprised at how much energy and strength she has, considering she’s a very sick cat that weighs just over a third of what she should weigh (last weigh in weighed her at 2.92kg; a 30g loss). None of us believed it when the nurse at VSG said this to us, but I can safely say that she has earned the title of ‘ferocious’.
After feeding, I put her back on my bed under the covers, and she settled down. She was comfy, though miffed.
Her face has closed up nicely. It’s not weeping or bleeding, and doesn’t seem to be causing her as much pain as it was a couple of days ago. I do still think it’d be beneficial for her to have some kind of topical pain relief for that area and her nose, but I’m not a vet so it may be that the risks aren’t worth it, or there may not be any topical pain relief that’s suitable for wounds. I don’t know.
I have found a few little lumps around her neck and face that are just over the size of a pea each. They don’t seem to be causing her any discomfort, but we know it’s not a good sign.
Oh. And Maggie did big poos in the dirtbox. She hasn’t done that in a while, so we were pretty excited.
Read more "Got through the weekend"My parents took Maggie to the vet last night about her face. I wasn’t there, and the information my parents have fed me is vague and incomplete, but it sounds like the vet thinks the wound on her face is actually the cancer breaking through and spreading to her skin. It seems to have calmed down but she’s lost a bit of fur there and if she scratches it again it’ll open. Dad seemed to think the vet thought something would happen over the weekend because he made sure to remind us that VSG is open over the weekend. He also wants us to call him on Monday to let him know how Maggie is.
We’ve had a weird day today. Maggie has decided that she occasionally wants to sleep next to me with her bum on my shoulder… Well, OK then.
She’s also been outside today. It’s probably been around 9 degrees Celsius today. She went out on the back deck, and I was like, “oooooh no you don’t…” and went inside and got my onesie. She cuddled up inside it on the deck for a short time, but then she got out, walked over to where I was sitting, looked at me, then walked back to the onesie. She was telling me to bring the onesie closer to me. I did what she asked and she happily curled up inside it with her face out. She stayed there like that for about half an hour. I noticed she started shivering (surprise, surprise) so I brought her inside into my room where the heater had been on. She didn’t enjoy that one bit.
She’s also been sleeping in weird places like next to her water bowl, in the hall, and behind the TV. She hasn’t really been hiding, but she’s been almost seeking out places that are cool and have a wall for her to press he face against. She’s not been that interested in staying on my bed… Probably because I get my room nice and warm for her. The vet has said her temperature is fine, but I’m sure something isn’t right with it. She’s currently being restless. It’s 11:15PM now, I’ve not long gone to bed, and she’s already been up and down twice. I’m not sure what that’s about. She’s had one day where she was agitated like this but by the evening she was OK.
I’ll update if there are any changes.
Read more "Weird day"I found an old photo of Maggie and me. I think she’d be around 2 or 3 there; she’s 14 now.
Remember how I noticed yesterday that Maggie had some gunk sticking her fur together on the right side of her face? She’s literally just scratched it open.
There must be a scab of some kind on her cheek that she’s opened, because her actual scar is fine. The problem is lower than that. We’ve rinsed that side of her face with warm water and a soft cloth, dried it, and put some antiseptic ointment on the area. It probably looks worse than it actually is, but we’re going to get her into the vet as soon as we can regardless.
Thankfully, she tolerated having her face washed and the ointment put on relatively well, and she’s now bundled up in bed with me fast asleep.
I went home with Dad at lunch time to feed Maggie today, and she wasn’t very good with it. Mum used to help Dad to feed Maggie, but one day Mum had a family meeting and we discovered that Maggie tolerates me a little more, so now that’s my job. We gave her three tubes of food, but I think she probably only swallowed about two tubes. She spat the rest of it out.
In general, she seems cold and uncomfortable, except when she’s cuddled up with me on my bed. I make sure that she’s with me all the time that I’m home. Because of that, she’s happy and comfy a majority of the time. I’m not complaining; I get to stay in bed in the warm.
Excuse all the snotty, dribbly patches on the sheets and walls… I’ve decided not to worry about it. Maggie can’t help it, and most of those marks are made when she’s at her comfiest.
I’ve discovered a patch on her right cheek (the bad side) where the fur has been matted together with blood or some other secretion. I’m not sure what the stuff is, or what’s happening on the skin beneath the fur, and it’s a bit hard for me to see. I showed it to Dad last night and he brushed it off, but I showed it to him again at feeding time today and now he wants to have the vet take a look at it. I’m not sure when that will be.
Both Maggie and D’arcy have been more sociable. D’arcy, in particular, has been very sooky. He waits on the arm of the couch every day for Mum to come home. He licks her and purrs and cuddles right up to her. This is not entirely usual for him. She takes a photo of him almost every night. This gallery shows the sheer number of nights Mum has sent me a photo of D’arcy cuddled up to her on the couch.
Rosie has also been a bit more cuddly. She’s cuddled up next to Mum on the couch, and enjoys cuddling up near D’arcy on Mum’s bed. She usually keeps to herself and is quite a loner, but since Maggie has taken a turn for the worse, she’s needed more affection and support.
Maggie’s stopped eating on her own entirely again. She still drinks plenty of water on her own, but we’re syringe feeding her. She’s dropped down to 2.95kg despite this, so we’ve increased the frequency from twice daily to four times a day. She gets a little sulky after her feeds, but it doesn’t last very long.
The other night, she swallowed the tube off the end of the syringe. We’re a bit concerned about it, but we’ve taken her to the vet and the vet said that if she tries to pass it and if it’s going to be a problem, Maggie will let us know. So far, we haven’t had any issues but we’ve been super careful feeding her now.
She also gets quite cold, so we’ve been having all the heaters in the house on for her – one in the lounge, and one in my bedroom. I’ve started wearing my onesie when I take her for feeding too.
She was having sneezing fits for a while, but that seems to have stopped so I think the tumour has further progressed.
I tried bringing her teepee up into my room and sticking my heater behind it. I encouraged her to go in there and she did go in and sit down, but she looked at me like I’d insulted her ancestors then promptly got out and jumped back on my bed and demanded to go under the covers.
She likes having me there with her, even if she’s not under the covers with me, especially with my body heat. I think it gives her a bit of security. Last night she must have been dreaming, or was asleep and forgot where she was and woke up with a wall in her face and got an almighty fright. Luckily I was there to give her pats and calm her down, and she purred.
Her scar got a bit raw a few days ago, so we had to get her some antiseptic ointment. The ointment was red and almost bloody and wasn’t a great look for her. It seems to have calmed the scar down now though, although she’s lost a wee bit of fluff just on the right side of the scar between the scar and the bridge of her nose.
One positive though, is that on Saturday she did go outside in the sun. She hasn’t done this in at least a month. Dad let her stay out for a little bit, then brought her inside and opened the doors to the front deck so she could go out.
Poor D’arcy still gets a little down. I’ve made sure I give him plenty of cuddles and loves. He spends most of his time on my bed until I go to bed, and then I think he goes in with Mum.
We don’t actually see Rosie all that much, although she’s been sleeping on Mum’s bed or on a chair in Mum’s room a bit more lately. She sleeps with Mum at night. The other night Maggie got quite upset during her feeding time and was yowling, and poor Rosie was so concerned she came out to see that Maggie was alright.
Read more "Hunger strike again"Sorry I haven’t had a chance to post lately… I’ve been so busy!
I had a graduation ceremony for my second bachelors degree (commerce to add to the fine arts!) and then took a well-deserved trip to the Central-ish North Island with Oli, my best friend Priya and her husband Therushen while they’re over from South Africa.
When we got back to Auckland after our trip, naturally we went back to Priya’s mother’s house for curry. Priya then dropped Oli and me back at my parents’ and stopped in to see Maggie.
Maggie was so happy! She loves having visitors, and absolutely loves Priya. She’s probably well aware that, although Priya loves her to pieces, she is also allergic to cats. The visit perked Maggie right up. She was doing the rounds, making sure she got pats from everyone there. She’s started to become attached to Oliver too. She hasn’t known him as long as Priya, but has taken to him reasonably well. Still though, Priya is the favourite.
Once it was bed time, I felt really guilty about being busy and away for so long so I let Maggie sleep in with me. Good thing I did too, because the day after I got back was the coldest day of the year so far. I think it got down to around 5 degrees Celsius overnight. It’s since climbed back up again. Poor Maggie. She was so incredibly cuddly and clingy.
A couple of days ago, she started eating again! She’s not eating enough to allow that to be her only source of food, so we’re still syringe feeding her, but at least she has an interest. She eats a bit from one plate, then moves along the plates until she’s had a bit of everything. Then she goes around the corner to have a drink of Pims (water). All of the cats seem to like that particular bowl of water for some reason. D’arcy had to learn yesterday to wait his turn. He didn’t do a great job at that.
With us still syringe feeding her, it means we can easily give her her anti-nausea and her anti-inflammatory medication.
She’s due for her next chemo in a week or two.
Read more "Busy!"Maggie went to the vet last week, and she’d gained 110g since the time she was there before that. She had another dose of chemo at VSG on Thursday. Poor thing. It’s a six hour day out for her when she has it.
After our chat with the vet specialist, Maggie was taken to have her bloods done to make sure she was still a good candidate for chemo. After about 20 minutes, a nurse came out and asked if we would mind if they sedated her because she was being a bit ‘ferocious’ (actual words LOL). Poor little bubbie. Luckily, she’d have to be sedated for her chemo so we decided it was OK.
Around half an hour after that, the vet specialist came out and told us her blood results were pretty good, and that her kidney function hadn’t deteriorated since the previous time she had her chemo. Maggie was given her chemo at that point.
We had left it a bit later than the three weeks we were meant to give her her chemo because the first time took a lot out of her. She was extremely subdued and quiet and we weren’t sure if it was a good idea to do it again. We brought that up in our consultation, and she’s been given a slightly smaller dosage this time in the hopes it won’t knock her so hard.
Once she got home, she was still under the effects of the anaesthetic, and was a bit wobbly on her feet. She was also a bit tired. I brought my blanket off my bed down and put it on the floor for her so she could cuddle up on it if she wanted to. We had to separate her from the other two for two days, so she couldn’t go up to my room like she usually does during that time.
We left for work for a couple of hours (at that point, it was around 3:30pm). When we came home, she was still a little bit wobbly on her feet, but boy, was she vocal! She was prowling around and meowing, almost monotonously. She would go out into the hallway and yowl when she couldn’t see us anymore. She’d follow us around too. She followed Dad up to the toilet and yelled at him the whole way.
Eventually, she tired herself out and started falling asleep on her feet. She had a quick nap on my blanket, then bullied Dad off his seat. She looked quite peaceful, although her breathing was a bit laboured and noisy.
She’s still pretty knackered. She’s integrated with the other two again and is able to sleep up with me at night. She tends to toggle between wanting under the covers and wanting to be up at the head of the bed. She’s generally very quiet at night when she gets settled.
We’re still syringe-feeding her. She’s still refusing to eat. We’ve been given an anti-nausea pill that we give to her once or twice a day, and she’s still taking her anti-inflammatory. A few days before her chemo, she had a long acting antibiotic administered to her to thin the discharge from her nose in the hopes that it would make breathing a little easier.
In talking to the vet specialist, she said that Maggie looked pretty happy and comfortable (albeit stressed because she was at the vet). She didn’t think Mags was in any pain, although she thought that she might have been frustrated with her nose being blocked, which is fair. I have a cold at the moment, and I can tell you I get super pissed off when my nose is blocked. Maggie still has a lot of strength in her, and although the nurse called her ‘ferocious’, we take that as being quite a positive thing.
I’ve had all three cats on my bed this morning. I don’t know where I’m expected to sleep…
We’re on the downward slide again. Maggie has stopped eating again even with the anti-nausea pill, so we’re going to start syringe-feeding her. She’s snorting again and her lymph nodes are quite inflamed. Either that, or she’s growing another tumour in her neck. This seems to be making mouth-breathing slightly difficult and she’s also finding it hard to get comfy to sleep. She gets a lot of discharge out of her nose and Dad has to clean it several times a day. I brought her up to sleep in with me the other night (little shit decided the middle of my single bed was the perfect spot for her) and she did relax and stop snorting after a while. We’re going to take her to the vet tomorrow, and then to VSG for her chemo. Hopefully things perk up a little bit a few days after her next chemo.
Read more "Going downhill again"
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