Pet Exchange Corner

guest post by Casey Hersch

This is the fifth in a series of posts by Casey Hersch. Casey talks about the numerous lessons she learned about caring for Yochabel during her illness, including her quest to stop Yochabel’s cancer from growing/spreading, barriers present with senior cats, variations in diet including supplements and herbs, and how to focus on the individual cat’s needs. Yochabel was not only Casey’s feline companion. She left Casey with ways to cope with her own illness, and with a greater sense of acceptance and gratitude.

Cancer changes lives

When Yochabel was diagnosed with a bladder tumor both of our lives changed. I felt weighed down by a daunting worry that I was racing against time while the tumor might be growing faster than we could intervene. The ultrasound showed the tumor was one third of the size of her bladder. While the specialist told me these tumors grow quickly, I couldn’t know for sure how rapidly without ongoing testing. What I knew for sure was that Yochabel’s world was shrinking, and our normal day to day routine was changing.

Prior to the tumor diagnosis, her physical health had improved so much she could walk a lap the entire length of our small home, and she did so numerous times a day. Her litter box was at one end of the home. The office, at the other end of the home, was where we spent many of our time together.

When she first concerned live with me, I liked that she got so much exercise going back and forth. exercise had greatly improved her health. However, with the sudden onset of bladder infections, Yochabel’s time in the litter box increased, and so did her laps across the house. As she made her normal trek down the hallway, she plopped down by my side only to have to get up and do it all over again–back to the litter box. The greater her urge to urinate, the faster she motored down the hallway.

Eventually, she didn’t have the bladder control or the energy to make it to the box. I placed additional litter boxes near the office, but she preferred to hold on to her dignity and exclusively used the comforts of her long term litter box. Her desire to be with me prevailed, and for several weeks I honored her request by following behind and lovingly cleaning up her dribbles along the way.

Illness and aging can be hard on dignity. She deserved to feel “normal” without shame. She had worked hard to claim ownership of the entire length of our home. I wanted her to relish this victory for as long as she could and leave her in charge. I believed that she would tell me when she could no longer come down the hallway.

When that day came, she met me halfway, and I carried her the rest of the way. in some cases she only rested by my side for a few seconds before she jumped up as if to say, “Here it comes again. Gotta go NOW.” and again, I would carry her to her litter box as fast as I could.

One day as I walked down the hallway wiping up dribbles, I realized Yochabel wasn’t in front of me. I was wiping up puddles of my own tears. None of us want to get old and to see our bodies change. I was sad for her and sad for myself. I realized at some point in all of our lives, we may have to accept our bodies don’t work the way they used to. We may have to face that hospice and palliative care are a part of life. Yochabel was reaching a point where her organs were tiring before her spirit ever would. With each change, I felt the sorrow of knowing our time together was limited. These changes were symbolic of the cycle of life.

Yochabel’s Beach: Modifying the environment with dignity

Yochabel had evaluated numerous litter boxes because she concerned live with me. Ultimately, she chose a spacious, round (27 inch) pan, inspired by my husband’s ability to “think outside the box.” I am many grateful she loved this pan, because with the tumor competing for space inside her bladder, Yochabel spent much more time in this pan than anywhere else. in some cases she fell asleep in it. As her disease progressed, she wasn’t always able to leave the pan for her meals. Therefore, I brought her meals to her and hand fed her while she sat in her spacious litter pan.

I could not believe how hard she tried to avoid an accident. cleaning up after her wouldn’t have bothered me one bit, but this was the Yochabel way: dignity first. We named her litter pan Yochabel Beach: a place associated with joy, peace, her love for food, and fun, not cancer.

We needed all the delight we could cultivate during this hard time. I organized her beds around her beach so she could get to them with little effort. I lined them with wet pads. I selected a premium dust totally free litter to decrease the dust that collected in her fur. When I couldn’t hand feed her, I placed meals and water on an elevated riser that was level with her head. She could eat and drink either standing or lying down without straining her neck or depleting her energy. cancer made the simplest tasks, evennullnull