After Peggy's Monday afternoon class, before I left the parking lot, I listened to a voicemail from Sharon Theisen, DVM, regarding the results of my cat Pepe's biopsies. Not good news at all. Cancer. Pepe was born early Fall, 2004. I adopted him in May 2008. The year before he was he was rescued by an Austin Group from Town Lake Animal Center, which was at the time a kill center. He has been a wonderful pet, very sweet and loving, a gentle nature, quiet. Very much a lap cat and very social with people. Well over 2 years ago he developed allergies and was tested and found to be allergic to a wide range of pollens. I have been giving him weekly shots since then and he has seen a dermatologist, who treats allergies, regularly. He has suffered from ear issues related to his allergies as well as all the aggressive grooming and scratching that results from the relentless itching all over his body. There have been times when he itches so intensely that he will lick and scratch to the point that he bleeds, forms scabs, looses large patches of hair. Cortisone pills do provide some relief. For over a year now he has been plagued with lots of diarrhea and vomiting. I have mentioned this repeatedly to his doctors. One vet found some bacteria in his stool and prescribed an antibiotic, which helped a little, for a while. It was suggested that perhaps he had developed a food allergy so I've tried feeding him prescribed hypoallergenic cat food, and other recommended brands and flavors, with no luck. Then he was tested for hyperthyroidism, and he was negative. Finally, after dropping down to barely 8 pounds from nearly 12 pounds, he was referred to an internist (Dr. Sharon Thiesen) who recommended exploratory surgery as the most comprehensive method of getting good biopsies from his stomach, ileus, and intestine. The report came back yesterday as positive for alimentary (intestinal) small cell lymphoma. He has been put on prednisone daily which should help a lot, but the next step is to consider whether or not to begin administering chemotherapy, which comes in a pill (chlorambucil) without all the side effects associated with chemotherapy in humans. Still, there are potential side effects and at this point I haven't made a decision on what to do. I will meet next week with Dr. Thiesen to have his staples removed (24 of them), and we will discuss the options. His comfort and well-being is most important. It is my understanding that with treatment, his life expectancy should be between 1.5 and 2 years. He's probably had the cancer for about a year. I feel sad that he has this terminal illness. I feel gratitude for the wonderful years we have had together and gratitude that I was able to be his caretaker for the past 6 years. He has been such a joy. Now it is wait and see how he responds to the daily steroid treatment and possibly the chemotherapy.
I just spoke on the phone with Dr. Theisen, and we are going to move forward with the chemotherapy as Pepe has bounced back quite well from his exploratory surgery. I have a history with Sharon Theisen, DVM, as she treated one of my other cats many years ago. Sam had a really bad heart, and with her expertise, we were able to give him 5 additional years of a good quality life. He was my first rescued pet, and since then that is all I have had. So, when I took Pepe in to see Dr. Theisen, I was delighted to see a photograph of Sam on her wall. It was touching and brought tears to my eyes, and how well I remember the day we finally put Sam down, and how she and I both cried at his loss. He was quite the warrior cat for sure.
I just spoke on the phone with Dr. Theisen, and we are going to move forward with the chemotherapy as Pepe has bounced back quite well from his exploratory surgery. I have a history with Sharon Theisen, DVM, as she treated one of my other cats many years ago. Sam had a really bad heart, and with her expertise, we were able to give him 5 additional years of a good quality life. He was my first rescued pet, and since then that is all I have had. So, when I took Pepe in to see Dr. Theisen, I was delighted to see a photograph of Sam on her wall. It was touching and brought tears to my eyes, and how well I remember the day we finally put Sam down, and how she and I both cried at his loss. He was quite the warrior cat for sure.
