Vomit

Believe me, there will be lots of Vomit for awhile.  Rumble was throwing up twice a day until we leveled a few things out.  They originally gave us a liquid medicine that I filled at our local Walgreens called Metoclopramide.   Through some trial and error we found that if you give this liquid medicine about 20 minutes before you feed them, then everything seems to stay down pretty well.  Too early seems to make him sick on the medicine itself and too late just does nothing. 

So my husband wraps Rumble in a towel and I try to squeeze the entire syringe into the side of Rumble's mouth.  They give you instructions and tell you to make sure and get it into the side pocket of his cheek to make sure that he doesn't inhale any of the liquid but to be completely honest, we are just glad to get the liquid into his mouth at all.  I try to hold his head still and work the syringe tip into the back corner of his mouth and separate his lips and I just squirt.  I usually get about half of it in there, wait a few seconds, give him some verbal praise and a kiss and then try for the second half.  Not the easiest or cleanest process.  Did you know cats can spit?

Another medicine that we like better is Mirtazepine.  We only got this medicine because I asked for it.  It is an appetite stimulant and anti nausea.  They are very tiny pills that you are supposed to cut into even tinnier fourths and give to your cat.  I tried dividing a few with a knife and a razor blade but it didn't work very well.  Instead we went to Petsmart and bought two things: a pill cutter and a pill popper.

The pill cutter has a V-shaped slot that you drop the pill into and a razor blade that cuts through the center of the V, cutting the pill in half.  Because I need to cut mine into fourths, I drop the pill in long ways first and then drop each piece in horizontally and cut them that way.  It's easier. The pill popper works by pulling out the center of the syringe type part, dropping the pill into the empty center, putting the syringe part back in, sticking the whole thing as far into your cat's mouth as possible and pushing the syringe part, dropping the pill into the cat's throat.  I always have a regular syringe filled with water or tuna juice and give it to him immediately following the pill hoping to aide in the swallowing process. 

I find that with the pill Mirtazepine, Rumble's vomiting is reduced from twice a day to once a week, maybe.  It's great, we love the pill.  Plus, he seems to be hungrier which is always what we are aiming for.  The pill maybe more of a pain to administer, but I don't care because it works.  The pill should only be given every 2 to 4 days and we usually aim for 3.  I find that Rumble starts to drool alot if he's feeling nauseous so if I ever see that, I immediately give him a pill, whether it's been 2 days or 4. 

Good luck with your medicine.  It's been trial and error for us, but these are the best medicines and how we try to make it work.

Post Chemo

Rumble is "toxic" for 48 hours after chemo.  That's what chemotherapy drugs are, poison they are using to try to kill off certain rapidly dividing cells and that poison has to leave his body eventually.  So, for 48 hours, he is not allowed to leave his comfortable guest bedroom living quarters that we have made for him. 

Litter Box:  They give you specific instructions on how to change his litter box.  Wear a double layer of latex gloves, a surgical mask so you don't breathe anything in, and wash your hands immediately afterwards.  That sounds like alot of trouble to me.  Instead we take a kitchen trash sack and rip it down one of its long seams and lay it awkwardly open inside his litter box and put litter inside the trash sack.  That way all we do is gather the edges of the trash sack and immediately throw it away in the outside trashcan so we actually never come in contact with the litter at all.  Way easier!

During this 48 hours, we always leave Rumble's window partially open.  He likes to sit on the window seal and yell at the birds anyways (through a screen of course). 

We were a little freaked out about the whole "toxic" situation at first but as I've sat in that waiting room for hours I've listened to a bunch of cancer conversations and most owners aren't freaked out at all.  I feel comfortable reading a book in there with him for a few hours but they advised me against sleeping in there with him during the 48 hours.  Post-op, I felt the need to be with Rumble as much as possible so I had slept a few nights in there with him.  I think it was more for my comfort than his because I've always enjoyed when he sleeps against me, right behind my knees.

So, just be smart about cleaning the litter box.  You can use our trash sack trick if you like.  We also don't let any other house hold pets play with Rumble until the 48 hours is over.