Khan's Passing

After a tough and valient battle, Khan's liver disease began to show signs of getting worse. He had begun vomiting his food, and he had developed fluid in his abdomen. His jaundice also got worse. On Tuesday, the veterinarians recommended euthanasia for my baby boy.

Today at 2:00pm, Khan passed peacefully in a comfortable room at the vet clinic, surrounded by his family. He purred right up to the moment when the anesthesia took hold, then he took a last breath, and that was all. Afterward, I cradled him in my arms.

His remains will be cremated, and we will be giving some of the remains to Shadow Cats to be added to their memorial garden.

Thanks to all of you who read this blog and followed his progress. We are so glad that we had the opportunity to have him in our lives for a short time.

Just a Quick Note..

The steroids seem to be helping. He is making an effort to eat small bits on his own, and to drink water. We still have to tube feed him, but he is also keeping that down better. We won't be back to the vet until a week after Christmas, so we won't have test results until then, but he does seem to be showing improvements.

More Medications

Khan is not making good progress now--he hasn't gained any weight and his liver numbers have not improved--so they have just started him on steroids. I keep wondering, where is all this food that we are pumping in (via the food tube) going? He is using the litter box regularly, but I would have expected some weight gain after going from no food to about 1-1/2 cans per day. It's a mystery to me. But he is at least holding steady and getting no worse, so hopefully the steroids will jump start his liver and we'll see some improvements. If we don't see improvements by after Christmas, I don't think I will be as hopeful about a recovery.

We have all hit a low point right now that we have to get through. He is tired of the tube feedings and medications, we are tired of the tube feedings and medications. He is fighting to escape every time now, which makes the feedings very stressful for all of us. Mark and I are now sharing the tube feeding chore, which helps. Just seeing a little progress soon would help to reenergize us, I'm certain.

Improvements!

Khan is doing noticeably better. I can tell when I lift him that he has gained weight, and his fur is looking much healthier than a few days ago. He's also gotten some "life" back into him--he even tried to run off a few times during his last tube feeding! He isn't eating on his own yet, but we've added an appetite stimulant, so maybe in a day or two. I'm feeling very hopeful! They said he might have some permanent liver damage, but it is manageable with medication.

Feeding Tube Update

After a full day of force-feeding Khan small bits of soft food (which neither of us enjoyed), and after some email conversations with Shadow Cats Director, Sheila and her husband, Dr. Roy, I decided to have the feeding tube put in. The TAMU Small Animal Clinic did it this afternoon, and he was home by 6pm. At first he was very stressed and wouldn't leave his carrier; we had to do his first feeding in there. (Luckily, the top opens.) It was a little awkward, and my husband and I had to work together at it, but we managed. We realized afterward that we'd done it a little too fast, but otherwise it wasn't a bad job.

I checked on him about 5 minutes later, and he was purring and looking very contented. I was able to move him into his heated cup bed, and he stayed there instead of trying to retreat to the carrier. He still isn't happy about the "thing" in his neck, but he is resting pretty comfortably. Four feedings a day, plus 4 meds is what we start tomorrow! His prognosis is guarded, but we're off to a good start. I swear that cat started out with 20 lives! He is amazing.

Medical Update--Not So Good

Hey everyone. In September, Khan had a second ear canal ablation (on the other ear) which resulted in total deafness, but completely stopped the pain of his recurring ear infections. He'd been doing well since then. When he had his first ear ablation last December, they found cancer in the ear canal which they said was untreatable. Even though they'd removed what they could find, they said there was a 95% chance it had already spread. However, we saw no sign of it and Khan continued to thrive.

But a few weeks ago we noticed he was eating less, so we tried coaxing him with different kibble and giving him some soft food. He wouldn't eat any kibble, and was only licking at the soft food. We also noticed him starting to withdraw, hiding under desks, no longer jumping up onto the bed, etc. All bad signs, and I thought perhaps the cancer was beginning to show itself. So I made an appointment and brought him in yesterday.

On top of this, I lost my job at the end of October and I haven't been able to find another one. While we were able to finish paying off the second surgery with the help of credit cards (ick), I wasn't sure how we'd pay for anything further. But I assumed it was the cancer and all we'd be able to do was palliative care. Well, I was wrong.

They said we couldn't avoid doing blood work and an ultrasound and that if we didn't find out what was wrong, he'd be gone within a week. So we did the tests. They can't tell me exactly why or how, but Khan has developed pancreatitis and something I've never heard of, called cholangiohepatits (I don't know what the cholangio part means yet). Because he wasn't eating, he also has lipidosis in his liver (fatty deposits). Yikes. So they put him on a month's course of antibiotics --again! Will that boy ever get off antibiotics?? --plus an appetite stimulant, and a medicine for his liver that they said will probably be for life. They wanted to surgically put in a feeding tube, but that would have cost another $400, and the tests and treatment today had already cost $350. So they said we could take him home and try for 3 days to get him to eat. If he isn't eating normally by Friday, a feeding tube is our only option (other than letting him perish of starvation or euthanizing him).

Khan has been through so, so much. I can accept if this is the end of his life, but I want it to be in comfort, and to know that I did all that I could before saying "this is it." So we are trying to get him to eat, and I've given him he first dose of his medicines. I'll update the blog tomorrow or Thursday to say how it's going.

Hurricane Ike

Fortunately, the destructive Hurricane Ike became a mere tropical storm by the time it got to us. All we got was some strong wind and rain. However, we had our pet disaster kit ready to go in case we needed to evacuate. Happily, Khan and our other pets were not even bothered by the storm.

What Hurricane?

Right now Khan is taking Norfloxacin to get rid of the bacteria that was found in his ear. Three days in and it seems to not be causing any side effects. He is a champ about being pilled (much more patient than he is about getting a liquid medicine). He still has to wear his e-collar, but I try to give him a little time out of it every day, when I can be right beside him to keep him from scratching at this stitches.

The deafness seems to be a non issue, except that I cannot yet get over the habit of calling to him and talking to him as if he can hear me. I do think that cats can "read" their owners well, so hopefully he knows my intent even if his ears are not picking up sound.

Hope everyone is doing well, especially our friends (furred and not) who were in the path of Ike. Our local shelter was able to handle the small animal shelter needs of the 3000 or so people who evacuated here from other areas, and our expo center took in large animals and livestock. I called to ask if they needed a temporary home for any cats, but they had it under control.

Homecoming on Friday

I went by the clinic to visit Khan this evening. He looked good, all things considered. He tried his best to escape the kennel and come home with me, but it was a little too early for that! The good news is, he is coming home a day earlier than predicted; they said I could pick him up after work tomorrow! He isn't eating well yet, but I will do all I can to help him with that; I certainly don't mind hand-feeding. It will just be so good (for both of us) to have him at home.

He normally hates being picked up, but he let me pick him up and hold him in my arms for about 10 minutes. The other unusual behavior he exhibited was sitting in his litter box for comfort. I've seen shelter animals doing this, but not Khan. The vet tech said that some cats do it because the box smells like them and they find it comforting because of that...? I'll have to do some research on that.

I'll take pictures of him after he is home, and I'll try to get some better close ups of his ear than I did last time. The surgeon did a very good job once again.

Khan's Out of Surgery

They said they'd call, but after 3-1/2 hours I grew impatient. I called and got ahold of the student working on Khan's case. She said he'd just gotten out 20 min. ago and had just woken up. She said he was doing splendidly. They're going to try giving him food at 7pm. I asked her if he was purring....he is a purr-machine and, even at the clinic, purrs when anyone even approaches him. He never stops purring! She said she hadn't heard him purr yet, but I suppose that's understandable. Before surgery he was probably hungry and grumpy, and now he's just doped up. I'm not going to visit, because last time he was very mad when I left him after a visit, and I think that he'll be fine with other people looking in on him. He loves everyone. Besides, with his brain damage, he seems to have a very poor short-term memory. We aren't sure that he registers things like how long we've been away from him. He doesn't give us the cold shoulder when we come back from a trip, as some of our other cats have. Anyway--I'm rambling, so it's time to stop. He's ok for now, and if he does well overnight I'm sure his long-term prognosis will be excellent.

Going into Surgery Now

I just got the call from the clinic that he is currently being prepped for his TECA, and they will call me when he is in the recovery room, in a few hours. I'm a bundle of nerves! I'm glad I've been practicing meditation for the last few months. It's amazing how ten minutes of focused breathing can calm a person down. I think I'll go do it again.. Positive thoughts! Positive thoughts!