After electrochemotherapy

The day of

It was scheduled for a Monday. On Sunday Conan had a great day, we went outside together and I watched him sunbathe. He had extra food, extra treats and spent extra time together. I was very stressed, knowing I would be removing his food bowl that night for fasting before the procedure, and putting him into his carrier the next morning. Things that really stress him out, and I really don’t like doing. But I planned it so that he was asleep as I silently I took away the bowl, he didn’t notice. On that Monday morning, I got up early, he followed me downstairs, meowed where the food bowl usually goes. He meowed as I picked him up, resisting the carrier, finally relenting going in. At that point I knew he felt betrayed. He shook in fear the whole way to the appointment.

I took him to his appointment at 8am, the nurse took him and told me they’ll contact me after 2pm to let me know his progress. I thanked them, went home and logged into work, eagerly awaiting some news. The procedure he went through involved going under anesthesia, followed by the chemo and electrical pulses where the cancer was on his eyelid. A little before 3pm, I got a message that Conan did well in the procedure and that he’s just waking up from the anesthesia. That was great news and a relief.

When my sister and I went to pick him up, he was still high, and wide eyed. His eyelid was swollen and very weepy. The vet gave us his meds with instructions. A pain killer, Visco tears ointment and a higher dose of prednisolone. The vet even told us that after looking at his coat she thought he might have some ‘Devon Rex’ in him. I’m not good with cat breeds but my sister is, so I’m glad she knew what the vet was saying as I initially thought she was talking about some kind of dandruff. Devon Rex is an interesting breed as I’ve learned, and Conan does have an unusual coat with the slightest curls in places. She said he was a very good cat and that he was trying to hide the whole time, which is definitely something he does when he’s scared.

The first night

Conan was extremely out of it and the first night was difficult, he couldn’t settle down. At first he slept on my bed under a blanket where he loves to hide. After an hour he woke up, walking around dazed. He would walk over to his food as if he wanted to eat but wouldn’t. He was going in and out of every room, staring into space. He vomited up bile at one point. We decided to give him a pain killer as the vet instructed he could have one dose that night. He didn’t like the taste, it made him drool a puddle. It seemed to settle him down, though he still wouldn’t sleep. It was after midnight at this point, he walked into my studio where I work, sitting on the carpet staring. I sat with him and tried to give him a small dry treat. He wouldn’t eat it, but he lazily shook my hand when I gave the ‘Shake’ command, which made me feel like he’s ok just to give him more time. After that he gave me a head butt kiss. I sat with him a little longer, he ate two small treats that whole night. Then he went to sleep on my bed after I decided to pick him up and take him there, back to his hiding blanket.

Recovery begins

The next morning, he woke at 6am and ran to his food bowl. I gave him chicken which he wolfed down. I gave him his prednisolone and wiped his eye with a wet cotton pad very gently before putting some Visco tears in. He absolutely hated that as you would imagine, hiding as he does when he feels betrayed or scared. After 20 minutes, he came out and went up to my bed again where he went back to sleep. At 11am he woke up, and my sister helped me give him more pain medicine, chasing the bad taste with some treats. At 11.30, after being a bit spaced out, he vomited a huge amount, all his food and treats. I cleaned it up before starting work. Conan then felt unsettled again, I didn’t know what to do for him as he had already had his pain medicine. I picked him up and put him on top of the cat tree next to my desk where he stared out the window at lizards for hours while I worked. He jumped down occasionally to just walk around and stare. He went and visited my sister while she worked too, napping in her office. Conan definitely likes to be around people at a distance. On my break I took him outside for a supervised sunbathing. He seemed to be ok, and just needed more time to heal.

As of today, 4 days after the procedure, he hasn’t vomited anymore and naps on the back porch again. I have been having a hard time trying to tell if he is still in pain. Using the information in this article from the ABC was really helpful “How can you tell if your cat is in pain”. Conan seems to show moderate pain at times, whiskers higher than normal, ears slightly back. I hope he won’t be in as much pain tomorrow or days following. He is almost back to himself except for the drowsiness of the pain meds. The eye is slowly healing, and after some time we will see the effect of the procedure. The vet told us that the skin will heal back over the area where the cancer was. Conan will have one or two more procedures with two weeks between each. It depends on how hes doing and how much we can deal with this financially. Now that we know what to expect, hopefully it will be a bit easier to manage.