Feeding and Relief of mouth sores in cat with oral cancer

My cat has inoperable mouth cancer.

I need advice on getting him to take in more food and if there is any
topical pain killer that I can use on the sores in his mouth. I know
I can't use human products like benzocaine or benzyl alcohol.

He's doing pretty well right now aside from weight loss. He is
getting oral pain killers and antibiotics and behaves like he's not in
pain, is affectionate, etc. He doesn't vomit it up. We're not going
to put him down as long as he seems to get some joy from life.

But: he's not eating a lot and I think it's because he has pain in his
mouth. Also, he's lost some teeth and has trouble gripping food.
We're going to take him to the vet this week but we want the advice of
the net mind as well.

He seems to be hungry: he looks longingly at food, and does his usual
bolting into the kitchen when he hears the can opener. But he takes
only one bite, then looks real disappointed and looks away. We've
tried soft foods, which get a nothing from him. He likes to drink
milk and cream. I try to hand feed him people food and sometimes I can
get him to take a couple of strips of roasted chicken, which he chews
only on one side (the less affected one). He won't eat NutraCal
voluntarily but I'm just going to start shooting it in his mouth with
a syringe when I give him his twice a day antibiotic and pain killer
pills.

Any advice as to techniques, medications, better nutritional products,
webpages, etc. would be more than appreciated.

Also, even though we've decided not to go with surgery and radiation
for cure if anyone has experience with PALLIATIVE surgery or radiation
for this I'd really like to hear about it. (The only treatment for
this cancer is extensive surgery followed by radiation and since he's
an old cat and the prognosis is lousy even with treatment, we decided
not to do aggressive treatment and just try to keep him comfortable.)

Help!

Thanks.

P.S. If you can, send a carbon copy to my e-mail so I get it as soon
as possible. My news server is slow.


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Camilla Cracchiolo
Registered Nurse
Los Angeles, California

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