Mews Update on Buster

DAPHY, BUSTER & CLEO (Kittens in 1994)

Well, we had him back on Tuesday to have his 23 staples removed. His incision was a long one! The biopsies had come back...not good. Both were carcinomas, each a different type. So the growth on the liver and also the lymph node that is wrapped around the blood suppy to his intestines were both malignant, which we suspected, anyhow.

This morning he was started on a different type of chemo, and the GOOD news is that this type will not make him sick at all! He won't even need meds this time. Last time they gave him appetite pills and another type of med, as he had just one day each time that he wouldn't feel well. After they gave us that second med to give to him, you'd never even have known he was taking chemo...he was just like he always was. This will be better for him getting it on Fridays, as my daughter will be home with him on weekends, and he can sleep in the crate and then she can keep him on a leash during the day. He and Sweet Pea can't share a litterbox for 48 hours after he has received the chemo...seems it is excreted through his stool and urine, so Sweet Pea can't be exposed to it. And we must wear rubber gloves when we scoop his box, etc. So he can be a free man again on Sunday at noon each time he gets a treatment. Before, we kept him in her bonus room by himself, and that had to be lonely for him. But I always went over every day to feed him and keep him company every afternoon for a couple of hours.

They are very optimistic with this type of chemo, stating that they are hoping instead of 3-6 months prognosis, that he will have 6-12 months, and the oncologist said they are hoping for 12 months! Like my daughter said, he isn't ready to put to sleep yet...you'd never know he has cancer at all to see and watch him. He's just like a normal cat. He loves to cuddle, he loves to play, he LOVES to eat...just like a healthy cat. So she decided to go ahead with the chemo again. He will get a treatment every 3 weeks, with a total of 5 treatments altogether. He got 8 more months of life this last time, so we are optimistic this time for him, also. He's such a sweetie! I have been going every afternoon to let him out of the crate and feed him and love on him, plus we walk on a leash around the house. But since Tuesday, they said his incision looked great and was healed, so he no longer had to be crated! So he's been a free man since Tuesday! We are looking forward to having him a while longer. But rest assured, when he starts showing signs of not doing well, we will do the right thing by him, but for now we are going to love him all we can!