Elmo's Last Stand

As you all know, my fabulous boy Elmo has been suffering for 4 years now with Feline Lymphocytic Plasmacytic Stomatitis...Stomatitis for short. Its an autoimmune disorder where he is basically allergy to the bacteria on his teeth and in his mouth. Its incurable and kind of like Lupus in humans. Frustrating, painful and chronic - with no successful cures/treatments so far. Sometimes, a full mouth extraction will cure the issue, sometimes not.

We found a vet last summer that has been the first person ever able to put this into remission. We flew to Dallas last summer with him and started their protocol, which was undergoing clinical trials. Unfortunately, my boy has one of the worst cases they have ever seen and he is a fighter when it comes to meds. After being unable to treat him at home, we flew him back to Dallas where he spent an entire month with their team. The staff at this small veterinary office have become like family to us. Trying different combinations of compounding the proprietary blend of pharmaceuticals they have found that work. Different bases, different flavors, powdered...you name it.

After 10 months, we still can't find a way to get the meds in him and keep them in him, he is too stubborn for his own good. His mouth has gotten worse, which makes dosing him even harder as he is in chronic pain. I had a very tearful conversation with my sister a few days ago as I was seriously considering putting him down. I don't ever want to be one of those owners that doesn't do the best thing for their animal, no matter how hard it is for them.

A few hours later, I get a callback from Jim, the chief surgical tech and creator of the new protocol in TX. Here is how awesome the people I have in my life area and how totally blessed I am. After crying through a description of how my boy is doing, Jim says - death is not an option for him. If he ever gets to be too much to handle emotionally, you send him to me and he will live here and we will take care of him. If you want to send him now, we will put him back in bootcamp (he doesn't fight Jim as hard cause he knows its a losing game) for a few months and I will blend some new concentrated formulas. It also might be time to look at doing extractions also.

Long story short, we met with a local dental specialist tonight and Elmo has an appt on Wed for a full mouth extraction and a feeding tube for a few months to get his weight back up and him transferred over to canned cat food. He is a kibble junkie, but it turns out kibble is horrible for cats...and really hard on a cat with a sore mouth. He is down from 12 lbs to 8 and is too skinny. A tube will allow us to dose his meds, give him high calorie canned food and vitamins with no trauma to the mouth and no one chasing him down 2x a day. Good for his mouth, good for his psyche. Not good for my checking account as he now goes from a 7k cat to a 9k cat - but he is my son, and he is only 5.

Wish us luck, as this is really and truly our last Hail Mary play...and I love him far too much to see him go yet. And Sissy...thank you so much for the moral support the other day - it was a very bad day and you made it so much better.