Continued from this thread, http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/911302/#new
Blake turned 18 in August, and he's been in excellent health most of his life. His vets have always been amazed at his test results and appearance, which just don't match his age.
Now, he is in critical condition. He was diagnosed 3 weeks ago with liver cancer, and it turned out to be a potentially treatable kind (lymphoma not adenocarcinoma). He went to the oncology vet and started a chemo protocol. (Therapy for cats is very different than for humans -- the goal with cats is to give them some additional quality time. Meds are given one at a time and are mild enough to be generally well tolerated. We have no intention of making him miserable in the hopes of curing him.)
Last Friday, he started with some weakness and spaciness that we thought was a medication reaction, figured it should resolve in a few days. His appetite declined, and a couple days ago I started syringe-feeding him. Yesterday, he seemed worse, and we went to the vet. He has an infection (white count skyrocketed since last Thurs), and his kidneys have shut down. In the vet's words, he's "a very sick kitty." He got some IV fluids and antibiotics yesterday, followed by SQ fluids at home, and he's at the clinic for IV therapy today. He seemed to be responding already last night and was definitely a little bit better this morning. His odds aren't good, but we are hopeful again.
The silver lining is that if he can pull through this crisis, it looks like he's been responding well to the lymphoma protocol -- his liver numbers were excellent yesterday. That was a deciding factor in going ahead with the treatments that will keep him at the clinic rather than at home during the day this week.
We'll support him as long as we think he wants to keep fighting, and we think he'll let us know when it's time to let him go.
We know he's had a good 18 years of being our loving, sweet, mellow kitty, but it's so hard to know we could lose him at any time. He became Jim's cat every bit as much as mine when we got married 10 years ago, so Jim is heartbroken also.
I'm more grateful than I can express for all the support, prayers, and good wishes from the folks who have been posting and following along on the previous thread. Thank you for pulling for our sweet kitty!
