Watson's Chemo

[unclejoe]

I'm glad he's responding so quickly. I know it must be expensive. Best of luck!

[Deleted]

I need some ideas on how to help Watson with his weight. This is our first summer with him that was supposed to be "normal" (1st year he was chubby as a kit, last year we were working through figuring out he had adrenal, this year we were going to see him at a normal summer weight... which isn't happening).

I know with the meds he is on for chemo the can cause weight loss. He has already gone from 2.1lbs to just under 2 lbs in the last week+ and I want to get ahead of this before it gets worse. Sherlock is normally around 2.4 during the summer.

I'd like recommendations on how I can help him hang on to the weight he has or even bulk up and bit to help counter the chemo medications.

He is still on his raw diet, and he seems to eat more often now in smaller amounts. Anything we can try to give to him separately so as not to impact his siblings would be preferred.

[Deleted]

If he is underweight and not eating enough on his own to keep weight up, you could sit with him and offer food more often. Also, if you offer at least one meal in grinds or thick soup, he may eat more than normal (since they tend to be lazy and favour mushed food). Also, maybe you could try adding some carnivore care to his meals if he likes it, it's high calorie - high vitamins. I did that with one of my sickies and it worked really well, i just added a bit to ground meat/meat smoothie, he did manage to grow from skeleton to ferret

[Sherry]

I would definitely look at offering more grinds, and some hand fed meals. Mine tend to eat more at a time then.

[Deleted]

I am happy to read that he is responding well so far ((hugs to your wee one))

[Heather]

I agree, high fat grinds (if tolerated) and hand feeding. I do something I call a top up. At the end of the day, I sit with the ferret in my lap, do some major snuggling and I hand feed a ground soupy. Any commercial grind or our soupy mix will work.
ciao

[Deleted]

Wednesday night was rough. Watson's first time getting Cyclophosphamide 20mg. I it a liquid that has to be kept cold and though they added liver flavor to it, it smells horrible. For his daily Pred, I break up his .2ml to .1 morning and evening. I checked with the oncologist and they said I could not do this with the Cyclophosphamide, that he needed it all at the same time or within a few minutes.

I had to try to give him .2 twice. He hacked, coughed, gagged, foamed at the mouth through the whole thing. I felt horrible doing it to him even though we were trying to help with ferretone between.

Within a few minutes he was curled up in bed in their cage with a hazy look in his eys, struggling to keep his head still and was shivering noticeably. After staying with him to watch him for about 10 minutes I moved some blankets to their room and decided to try to stay near them all night to listen for him. He didn't want to be held at all.

Every so often he would get up and try to vomit. I would get him ice water (recommendation on the instructions instead of food) he would drink for 20-30 seconds straight and then go back to his bed. This went on throughout the night.

His shivering was over within the first hour after his siblings curled up to try to sleep with him thankfully but the attempts to vomit didn't stop for a few hours.

It's been a very long and restless night. I hope he gets some good sleep today while we're at work. As of right now he just ate for the first time and is going back to bed.

[Deleted]

To at least add a bit of good news to end this morning's update, I had mentioned that the two tumors near his spine had gotten so small we could no longer find them - we can also add his tumor on his lower left abdomen.

The only one left we know of is on his hind leg. He has made amazing progress so far in a very short amount of time.

Thank you all for the prayers and support, we can see them working.

[abbeytheferret6]

Wow, that is good news.

[Sherry]

Poor lad While I am glad to see how well the regimen is working- talk to the oncologist about something to help his nausea out. If it is legal in your state, cannabid oil may also help it.

[Deleted]

This is just a personal update to the whole process to share where my wife and are right now.

We're ten days into the treatment (two weeks if you count when he started the Pred) and I'm beginning to question if we're doing the right thing.

Watson was always a bit difficult to get to play. He is never interested in toys, though he enjoys boxes with things in them occasionally so we can't buy him new things to cheer him up. He is deaf and we never got him to connect with any clickers or things like that to play with him. His normal excitement is getting into the shower with one of us in the morning and getting wet. When we try to dry him off with the towel he becomes very playful, leaping everywhere and attacking everyone in the family playfully.

I asked my wife this morning if she had seen him play at all since we started his chemo, and neither she nor I can remember him being playful. He sleeps pretty much all day and gets up to eat and potty. Thankfully he is still eating like a machine and keeping his weight up at 2lb. After he is done eating though it is right back to bed.

I know chemo wipes people out as well and saps them of energy, its just a struggle to know if what we're doing is worth it to him since he can't understand what is happening. Wednesday night's episode was so bad that last night when my wife was holding Watson and brought him into sight of me in the kitchen (where I prep his med syringes) he went berserk trying to get down, and as soon as he was on the floor he ran and hid.

When I came over later on and he was just walking around I picked him up to try to calm him down some and he wasn't having it. A bit later I had to scruff him to give him is pred like normal, and he refused with more strength than he ever has (and he has always been strong willed against scruffing, refusing to yawn and will turn his head away from me). He scratched up my arm decently in an attempt to get away. I felt so badly about it I didn't give him his pred this morning because He just wanted to sleep even after he got in the shower and I dried him with a towel. He slowly just walked to my laundry basket and tucked himself in. He is still physically doing well with weight and strength thankfully.

I'm worried he feels like he is just being punished for something because right now his life is sleep/potty/food/medicine, and normally we have to wake him up to give him his meds.

I know we are trying to help him, and I know we are already seeing great results, but it is painful to think he is beginning to resent or fear us, or that he is constantly trying to understand why he is being punished with having to take nasty medicine. It is a difficult thing to work through - trying to care for a pet you can't explain things to. He can't even hear our sympathy or apologies or the tone of our voice to know we're trying to calm him down and help him.

Emotionally this is one of the more difficult things I've had to do, and we're just getting started. I do pray that he goes into full remission and all of this discomfort he is going through is worth it not just to him in the end but us as well, and that he can "forgive" us for putting him through this.

[abbeytheferret6]

Does he have to stay on prednisone forever? And how long does he have to do chemo?

Is there something he likes really good that is very nutritious that you can give him afterwards?
If I would give them to her, I bet my Annabelle could eat a handful of quail eggs.

[Deleted]

We have an appointment with our normal vet tomorrow, and I'm going to ask if he can come off the Pred (really hoping he can) because that would bring him down to only needing his chemo meds once a week.

We could give him egg yolk. He likes that pretty decently, but I'm not sure it would be good to give him that daily, even if we split it up with his two siblings it might be too much egg too often?

I'd need some feedback from someone else on that idea. We already give him more ferretone or salmon oil after meds than we should to help him wash down the bad taste, so something like that isn't really an option. I ordered Carnivore Care this week and tried to get him to taste it. He wasn't interested so I thinned it out a bit and used a syringe to get some. As soon as he saw the syringe in my hand he fought like crazy to get away from me and run away.

[abbeytheferret6]

No, that would not be good:)) as they say too much egg will make them lose their hair--but once a week would be fine.That could take care of one day, at least. Maybe someone will come up with something.

Have you tried putting him on your lap and finger feeding him the carnivore care--maybe even warming the plate?
Sometimes it takes a few times of doing something before it takes hold. Like my Annabelle needs me to hold and finger feed her a few seconds before she will eat from saucer on her own. edit:(lamb organ soupies)

[RedSky]

I was going to suggest carnivore care. My guys love it. Hopefully it's something he can learn to love and then you can use that.
It might also be an idea to get an empty syringe and put it on the floor (or on a plate) covered in salmon oil or a dollop of egg. Hopefully you can teach him that the sight of a syringe isn't a bad thing.
When I had to give Mako or Bolin meds they hated (Bolin hated everything) I made a point of syringing salmon oil or carnivore care or even just the 'meat juice' to them a few times a day, so they wouldn't become stressed when seeing a syringe as that creates half the battle. I figured that out after Bolin started running and hiding when I got his meds out and that was after he had them twice.

As for wondering if you are doing the right thing, only you can really decide that.
With Mako I would have done it without a second thought, he would have coped with extra cuddles, kisses and fuss. Bolin I would have been where you are, is it worth it, is it too unfair. With Korra I think I would just have to give up, I'd probably want to try it for my sake but I think it would be too much for her.

But if it's working so well (tumors are shrinking away already) then I'd stick with it. It might be h*ll for the little guy now but you are giving him a chance. It seems to be working and once he's out the other end hopefully he will be back to full strength. Plus he's so young, if he was older he may have only a few months in remission, but Watson could have years.