Hello all,
I got recommended to post here for some advice on my girl, and I apologise in advance for the length of the post, but any advice would be very gratefully recieved!
My cat Portia (approx 11) has been a bit poorly for a while. We took her to the vets back in September for her boosters and cos she was sneezing a bit every now and again. The vet said she had a couple of infected teeth which is why she wasn't eating a lot and the cause of her sneezing. He gave her a course of antibiotics for a week, then took her in to take the teeth out.
We had a call saying they weren't going to operate cos her bloods were slightly abnormal on the kidney side of things and they wanted a urine sample. So we provided that and they told us to wait another month before re-testing and going ahead with the op.
2 weeks ago Friday we went in to settle her down for the night and I noticed she had a bubble of blood coming from her right nostril. I rang the emergency vet for advice and he was very dismissive. So I booked her in on the Saturday to have her checked out. She was also a total mess as she had a severe case of the runs a few days before so she was very sore and inflammed and smelt awful! The vet said she wasn't concerned as the area didn't smell and it was probably something stuck in her nose. So another course of antibiotics via a long lasting injection and got told to bring her in about day 10 for her op.
So we took her in Weds and hadn't heard anything, so we got home, checked the answerphone and found they hadn't operated again cos she was too dehydrated and her kidneys were still showing slightly abnormal, so they were keeping her overnight on a drip to rehydrate her and decide in the morning. More bloods tests showed her kidneys were still slightly abnormal, so did the urine test, so they decided again not to operate. They sedated her quickly to x-ray her face, which showed a mass, so they took a biopsy. We should get the results next week.
Now all this time she is in pain with her teeth, sneezing horrendously (its horrid to watch) and now she isn't eating again, so we can't get her antibiotics, painkillers and anti inflammatories into her. She ate like a horse Thursday night - she had a bowl of Whiskas before she left the vets and when she got home she had a tin of food (one of those mini Sheba like ones) and a sachet. We got advised to warm it up so it smelt stronger, but she's still not taking it.
Now they said it's either going to be a tumour or infection, but I cannot understand how it can be a tumour as big as they say, in the position they have said (the right side of her face) without noticing any obvious changes in her. There's nothing protruding outwards to indicate a mass, so if it was going inwards, surely it would be pressing on vital areas like her optical nerves, her muscles and nerves feeding her brain and her vocal cords? Therefore surely we'd notice co-ordination and balance problems etc? The other option is infection, because the vet we saw on the Saturday said she had lost two teeth from that side. I also can't understand the kidney problems as she is drinking a bit less, not more, than normal.
If anyone could provide any advice on how to at least get food into her with her tablets, I'd really appreciate it. We have tried cheesy scrambled eggs, tuna, mackrel and fresh chicken as well as her tins and sachets.
Laura x