Author Topic: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)  (Read 40602 times)

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Offline Middle Child

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #30 on: October 31, 2018, 06:16:33 AM »
Except later last night I had to repeatedly chase her away.  Jennie was down there doing her thing and Queen Eva was determined to set up a roadblock either on the stairs or at the top of the stairs.

I had to keep chasing her away, telling her each time WHY.  Queen Eva wasn't interested in my whys. When Jennie was at the top of the stairs (makes my heart heart to see how she cautiously peeks around coming up now, because of the bully) Queen Eva had herself set up in her tunnel for the ambush.  Before she could charge I poked my foot at the tunnel which caused it to move to another direction effective blocking the pounce.

Jennie's method of play has always been the ambush so Queen Eva probably learned if from Jennie in the first place.  But this isn't play, this is clearly a reaction to Jennie's illness.  Who knew my baby girl would turn out to be a bully. She was only a year and a half old when Tolly was sick but she was his little devoted nursemaid for that short period. Other than that time she's never shown any nurturing qualities to anyone.

I mean she's a loving cat to me, but she's not a Nurse Cat by any stretch.

Sigh.....

Offline Middle Child

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #31 on: October 31, 2018, 06:29:36 AM »
Jennie wouldn't come for her second breakfast just now so I fed her on the bed where she is.  Queen Eva wanted to get involved so I shut and hooked the screen door which has given me an idea for protecting Jennie.

 I won't do it yet, but if I find signs that Queen Eva has blocked Jennie completely from getting to the litter box when I am not here, I will put one in the bedroom and close the screen door and let Jennie live in there during the hours I am not home.

Look at her trying to find a way in.  It blurred so I missed it but she was eyeing the top of the screen door trying to figure out if she could climb it. When I first peeked over she was right in front of it but moved back when I looked at her.


Offline Middle Child

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #32 on: October 31, 2018, 06:39:20 AM »
Probably wondering if she can still do this, and then get up over the door frame, like this

  funny2 funny2 funny2

Offline Pookie

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #33 on: October 31, 2018, 08:20:17 AM »
I like the screen door idea!  Will it make Jennie feel . . . I don't know, ostracized to be separated from the rest of the apartment?

I wonder if reminding Queen Eva about Tolly and asking her to be as nice to Jennie as she was to Tolly would make a difference.  It doesn't sound like it, but it's just something that came to mind.
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Offline ThreeStep

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #34 on: October 31, 2018, 11:49:09 AM »
I am a stranger to you, your pride and facilities. Just brainstorming.

The pride knows and reacts accordingly? Previous relationships do not apply.

Offline Lola

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #35 on: October 31, 2018, 01:00:33 PM »
Are there two doors in that room?  One door has an actual door and the other is a screen door? 
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Offline Middle Child

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #36 on: October 31, 2018, 04:58:00 PM »
I like the screen door idea!  Will it make Jennie feel . . . I don't know, ostracized to be separated from the rest of the apartment?

I wonder if reminding Queen Eva about Tolly and asking her to be as nice to Jennie as she was to Tolly would make a difference.  It doesn't sound like it, but it's just something that came to mind.

Thanks Pookie.  I don't know if she will be bothered by it or not. I won't do it unless I start coming home and finding poop around the house indicating Queen Eva did not allow her to get to the litter box, or other signs of altercation.

Yes I have been reminding Queen Eva about how she now behaves with Mazy cat now (no longer rolling her) I don't know if she will remember Tolly, she was only a baby then, but I wil mention it to her.

I am a stranger to you, your pride and facilities. Just brainstorming.

The pride knows and reacts accordingly? Previous relationships do not apply.

I am bit slow.   :-[ can you explain what you mean here?  HeadButt

Are there two doors in that room?  One door has an actual door and the other is a screen door? 

The bedroom door is there, yes.  I installed the screen door on the other side of the door jamb when Jennie first came here. She had to be quarantined for two weeks so she lived behind the screen in the bedroom and the other 3 cats (Ootay, Tolly, Mazy cat) and I lived in the rest of the apartment sleeping on the floor.

It was also used to keep Queen Eva safe when she first came.

 Either door can be closed, though I never close the actual bedroom door.  I kept the screen door because it is incredibly useful to have and when I have my own house I intend to always have a room with a screen door for contain cats. It's nice for them, when they have to be contained for safety,  to be able to see and hear what is going on if they want to, or hide if that's better for them.


Offline Middle Child

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #37 on: November 01, 2018, 06:13:32 AM »
Oh dear, poor Queen Eva! She's actually been doing much better.  But this morning I thought Jennie was still downstairs and Queen Eva kept running to the stairs and I kept stopping her. Finally, when Jennie didn't come up I went down and discovered she'd already come up. Poor Queen Eva just wanted to go down and poop!  funny2

I know our routine will develop.  Jennie is no longer taking the gabapentin in her food, I have to decide which way will be easier on her to give it to her. I can shoot it down her throat with the syringe which is quick (and shocking to her but she will get used to it) or I can put it in a tiny amount of food (0.25 oz) and swipe the blobs of food into her mouth, it takes 5 swipes.

Right now with the gabapentin solution I don't worry too much about aspiration with the syringe method but the new medicine is a suspension (not a solution) compounded with an oil base and would be more risk if she should aspirate.

Maybe she'll take the new version in her food.  fingerscrossed

I'll be glad when the piroxicam gets here.  The gabapentin does help with pain, but she needs an anti inflammatory desperately now. I'm thinking it will help her with these frequent trips to the litter box, straining to pass bits (usually just blood or tiny bits of poop and blood) She has a normal sized BM in the early mornings, then passes those bits 4-5 times during the day.

Still eating, still asking for her Game every day (being patted with her Flyswatter on the bed) but not active otherwise.

Offline Pookie

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #38 on: November 01, 2018, 06:27:39 AM »
You've probably already thought of this, but is there any room upstairs for another box so that Jennie doesn't have to go down and has one closer?  Just wondering.

Poor Queen Eva!   shadow1
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Offline ThreeStep

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #39 on: November 01, 2018, 06:58:34 AM »
I like the idea of the additional box. We had one in our bathroom for ShadowCat for a while.

Offline Middle Child

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #40 on: November 01, 2018, 06:43:09 PM »
Thanks all, good idea. I don't think it's time yet for a litter box for Jennie up here, unless of course I find I have to keep her shut in the bedroom for her own protection.  Queen Eva is doing very well though, this morning when Jennie had her second breakfast in bed (she ate her first in the kitchen) Queen Eva sat across the room on the shelf and watched but stayed still, which is why I let her stay there.

I think it's important for Jennie to move around, and she shows no trouble taking the stairs down or up.  She needs some exercise.

Regarding Queen Eva the bully, I have to take some responsibility here, I've been in such a fog, Queen Eva has not been getting the amount of interactive play she is used to.  I've remedied that now, and I also make a point of playing with her after I've paid attention to Jennie..

You know I've been through something very similar with Ootay and Mazy cat.  When Ootay started needing a lot of special care, her fluids, and meals so many times a day, and medications 8 times a day, Mazy cat started bullying her.  I realized quickly that Mazy cat was feeling jealous and began immediately giving Mazy cat special one on one time after doing anything for Ootay.  This helped a lot.

 I did have to put a litter box in the bathroom for Ootay, for two reasons.  It was time, for one, her arthritis was really troubling her but also I discovered Mazy cat blocking her from getting down to the boxes.  Same as Queen Eva has been doing. Back in those days Mazy was not as open to suggestion as Queen Eva seems to be now (Mazy cat was only 3 and we were barely bonded yet, she was still quite unsocialized) and the day I came home to find poor Ootay had had to poop on the rug in the bedroom I set up the new box (I already had it ready)

The funny thing was Ootay knew immediately that box was just for her and began using it exclusively. Almost, sometimes she did like to go downstairs but not often.  But the really funny thing was Mazy cat, who was the dedicated Littler Box Police, had a FIT about that litter box in the bathroom.  She HATED it in there and kept trying to get rid of it. 

She would get in it and dig all the litter out.  Once I even saw her lying on the floor next to it and pulling the litter out with her paws.  I think I have some pictures of her fussing at Ootay's box.  It was a clear large tub with high sides (so Ootay had something to lean against when pooping) with a hole cut flat to the side so she could walk in.  After a while when I noticed her feet getting a bit slippy on the litter I put a layer of paper towels under the litter so her feet had a better grip.

Anyway the next time I put the litter box in the bathroom was for Tolly, when he was so swelled up with fluid he could no longer go up and down the stairs.  However he flat out refused to use it.  Mazy cat used it, and did her kicking the litter out thing though not as vehemently, but Tolly couldn't adjust. So I simply carried him up and down the stairs several times a day for his last week with us.

Let me see if I can find those pictures...found them  funny2

Offline Middle Child

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #41 on: November 01, 2018, 06:47:36 PM »
I'll update on Jennie tomorrow. I'm beat and haven't had supper yet. I just noticed it's almost 8:00.

Offline Pookie

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #42 on: November 01, 2018, 11:12:23 PM »
You're smart!  I probably wouldn't have realized that Queen Eva (or Mazy with Ootay) was jealous of the attention the sick kitty was getting.   DrLisaPiersonWorthy DrLisaPiersonWorthy DrLisaPiersonWorthy

And I had to laugh when I ready how much Mazy hated that bathroom litterbox.  Thanks for sharing the story and the pics!  I'm glad Queen Eva's getting better and letting Jennie use the stairs.   thumbsup1
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Offline Lola

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #43 on: November 02, 2018, 02:47:50 AM »
She dumped the litter box?
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Offline Middle Child

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Re: Jennie has been diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer)
« Reply #44 on: November 02, 2018, 05:44:10 AM »
Thanks Pookie! Nah you would have figured it out. When I saw how she would watch me with Ootay, it wasn't hard to understand.  Mazy cat was still in the process of learning how to live with me in those days.  Her biting reflex wasn't curbed yet, I had never heard her purr, she'd never had a cuddle or slept on me. She was devoted to Tolly, that's all. Back then I never would have dreamed we'd have the bond we have now.

(edit) just had a thought.  I wonder....realizing her issue with Ootay and starting to help her with it maybe was the beginning of what we have now. I was already doing paw work with her, but I amped it up, when I realized she needed to be "done" when Ootay was "done".  I would medicate Ootay, then do paw work with Mazy cat.


She dumped the litter box?

Numerous times. I finally put the lid on it to stop her doing it. I hate lidded boxes, but Ootay was so tiny it didn't affect her comfort, and it stopped Mazy cat from tipping it over.

When I tried a box for Tolly I didn't use that one, he woudn't have been able to get in it (not that he used it anyway) I have a big low sided one I keep stored away I put out for him. I don't use it regularly because there's really no room for it downstairs.


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