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It is with a heavy heart, indeed, that I report the latest news on Ra. The severe anemia is being caused by both kidney and liver failure. With his current med and food regimen, Dr. Medinger at VCA internal medicine gives Ra three to four more months at best. We're adding Aranesp for the anemia and Ursodiol for the liver. Fortunately we were able to get the Aranesp through Costco Pharmacy; I understand it's somewhat hard to come by. It'll be here tomorrow afternoon. Our poor, sweet old man...Our hearts are breaking...
Ra went for post VCA internal medicine follow up this morning with Dr. Lehal at Brookville primarily for a blood draw to check his blood chemistry to check his kidneys and liver and CBC to check his anemia...
From my Facebook post on the matter:
Ra's blood work has come back from earlier today. His liver enzyme ALT has gone down from 1390 down to 950, so going in a good direction. His potassium is normal at 4.4. His creatinine is okay at 2.4. The rest? Not so good. Bilrubin (another liver value) went up from .4 to .5 which is high normal. His BUN (kidney value) went up from 35 to 56, which Is Bad. The most concerning is his anemia is worsening--was at 31% red cell count last week, now at 17%. That's a serious drop and an indication that something is seriously wrong. Dr. Lehal suspects it's in the GI tract (ulcers), or in the bone marrow (related to the Chlorambucil). It could also be related to the worsening state of his kidneys, too, though, so... Sigh.
While the blood's still at the lab, Dr. Lehal is going to have them run a more concrete test for what type of anemia Ra has--there are two types to be concerned with, and Dr. L spoke of them so fast I couldn't keep up notes wise, but whichever type it's determined to be determines what sort of treatment Ra will get for it. Dr. Lehal is generally of the opinion Ra needs a blood transfusion for the quickest rectification of the anemia, but is waiting for more counsel from Dr. Medinger from VCA Aurora. We're both really scared for our boy--severe anemia and worsening kidney disease is what took our Diva kitty from us last summer, so...yeah...Shit. Shit. Shit! This so totally sucks. Will know more tomorrow after Dr. Lehal talks to Dr. Medinger...
If you're of the praying sort, please include our Ra into your rituals. He's gonna need all the help he can get, methinks...
From my Facebook post on the matter:
Ra's blood work has come back from earlier today. His liver enzyme ALT has gone down from 1390 down to 950, so going in a good direction. His potassium is normal at 4.4. His creatinine is okay at 2.4. The rest? Not so good. Bilrubin (another liver value) went up from .4 to .5 which is high normal. His BUN (kidney value) went up from 35 to 56, which Is Bad. The most concerning is his anemia is worsening--was at 31% red cell count last week, now at 17%. That's a serious drop and an indication that something is seriously wrong. Dr. Lehal suspects it's in the GI tract (ulcers), or in the bone marrow (related to the Chlorambucil). It could also be related to the worsening state of his kidneys, too, though, so... Sigh.
While the blood's still at the lab, Dr. Lehal is going to have them run a more concrete test for what type of anemia Ra has--there are two types to be concerned with, and Dr. L spoke of them so fast I couldn't keep up notes wise, but whichever type it's determined to be determines what sort of treatment Ra will get for it. Dr. Lehal is generally of the opinion Ra needs a blood transfusion for the quickest rectification of the anemia, but is waiting for more counsel from Dr. Medinger from VCA Aurora. We're both really scared for our boy--severe anemia and worsening kidney disease is what took our Diva kitty from us last summer, so...yeah...Shit. Shit. Shit! This so totally sucks. Will know more tomorrow after Dr. Lehal talks to Dr. Medinger...
If you're of the praying sort, please include our Ra into your rituals. He's gonna need all the help he can get, methinks...
I've been trying to get him to eat his kibbles on his own, but no love. So, we continue with the A/D syringe feedings. We've been doing 32ml twice a day, and are probably going to increase that to 32ml three times a day.
Got up at the ass-crack of dawn today to get his metoclopramide (one of his anti-nausea meds) into him so we could wait a half hour before we fed him before J had to get ready to leave for work. He's getting feistier with each feed, which is probably a good sign that he's feeling a bit better, but it's hard to know if that's the case or if he's Had Enough of the syringe feeding. Still, he generally took it like a champ. I'm ever so glad J is so good at doing it, and that I can help where ever I can--it's really a two person job to make things go as smoothly as possible.
I think the liver supplement did a number on him, poor fella. That's when the liquid/pudding poops started, when the lethargy got worse, when the appetite went into the crapper. Far too coincidental for it not to be that.
Our big concern right now is that his liver function will continue to falter and/or worsen. Fatty liver disease is an all-too-real possibility right now. I lost my Smudge kitty to that damned disease back in '06 when she was only six years old, I'll be damned if I'll lose another kitty to it without a fucking good fight. :(
Calls are in to both Dr. L. and to VCA Aurora internal medicine to give them both updates on Ra's condition. I fear a trip out to Aurora is probably in order given Ra's anorexia as of late, but perhaps they'll defer to Dr. L to do the work to spare Ra the trauma of the long car ride. He *Hates* that car ride, and I hate to do it to him if I don't have to.
Sigh. Our poor, poor kitteh...
Got up at the ass-crack of dawn today to get his metoclopramide (one of his anti-nausea meds) into him so we could wait a half hour before we fed him before J had to get ready to leave for work. He's getting feistier with each feed, which is probably a good sign that he's feeling a bit better, but it's hard to know if that's the case or if he's Had Enough of the syringe feeding. Still, he generally took it like a champ. I'm ever so glad J is so good at doing it, and that I can help where ever I can--it's really a two person job to make things go as smoothly as possible.
I think the liver supplement did a number on him, poor fella. That's when the liquid/pudding poops started, when the lethargy got worse, when the appetite went into the crapper. Far too coincidental for it not to be that.
Our big concern right now is that his liver function will continue to falter and/or worsen. Fatty liver disease is an all-too-real possibility right now. I lost my Smudge kitty to that damned disease back in '06 when she was only six years old, I'll be damned if I'll lose another kitty to it without a fucking good fight. :(
Calls are in to both Dr. L. and to VCA Aurora internal medicine to give them both updates on Ra's condition. I fear a trip out to Aurora is probably in order given Ra's anorexia as of late, but perhaps they'll defer to Dr. L to do the work to spare Ra the trauma of the long car ride. He *Hates* that car ride, and I hate to do it to him if I don't have to.
Sigh. Our poor, poor kitteh...
He was doing pretty well for the bulk of yesterday, but then petered out for dinner and, then again, at breakfast this morning.
Because two big meals went south on him, I put in a call to Dr. L. this morning first thing. He told me to take Ra off the liver supplement and give him his Mirtazepine (the appetite stimulant) early--this evening vs. tomorrow morning. He also said to feed him whatever it is he'll manage to eat--be it people or kitteh food. Additionally, if things continued to go south for Ra appetite wise, I am to call and leave him a voice mail and he will respond as soon as he checks it after hours.
As for the rest of the day, Ra's not eaten but a small amount of any kibble we give him, and that's about all he'll eat. I gave him his Mirtazepine probably a little earlier than Dr. L. intended at around 1830; it has yet to kick in and do its thing. We picked up some fresh chicken breast to bake for Ra, which just came out of the oven, in fact...Hoping he'll want to eat that up big time.
We'll have to check Ra for signs of jaundice later on, I'm afraid. He's simply not eating enough and I'm, personally, desperately afraid of fatty liver disease setting in. I lost my Smudge to that back in '06--it was a horrible way to go. :(
Things continue to go poorly for our boy. We're both so desperately afraid we're going to lose him. It's just one thing after another, dammit! I just hope it's not too much for him to take...
Because two big meals went south on him, I put in a call to Dr. L. this morning first thing. He told me to take Ra off the liver supplement and give him his Mirtazepine (the appetite stimulant) early--this evening vs. tomorrow morning. He also said to feed him whatever it is he'll manage to eat--be it people or kitteh food. Additionally, if things continued to go south for Ra appetite wise, I am to call and leave him a voice mail and he will respond as soon as he checks it after hours.
As for the rest of the day, Ra's not eaten but a small amount of any kibble we give him, and that's about all he'll eat. I gave him his Mirtazepine probably a little earlier than Dr. L. intended at around 1830; it has yet to kick in and do its thing. We picked up some fresh chicken breast to bake for Ra, which just came out of the oven, in fact...Hoping he'll want to eat that up big time.
We'll have to check Ra for signs of jaundice later on, I'm afraid. He's simply not eating enough and I'm, personally, desperately afraid of fatty liver disease setting in. I lost my Smudge to that back in '06--it was a horrible way to go. :(
Things continue to go poorly for our boy. We're both so desperately afraid we're going to lose him. It's just one thing after another, dammit! I just hope it's not too much for him to take...
Yep, as if things couldn't get more interesting, I finally got curious about the chemo medication info pamphlet after I gave Ra his evening meds.
I have already erred. Twice...
GLOVES MUST BE WORN WHEN ADMINISTERING THIS MEDICATION! was the first thing I read. I gave him the chlorambucil with bare hands this morning. *NO SKIN CONTACT WITH MEDICATED ANIMAL'S SALIVA, FECES OR URINE WITHIN 48 HOURS AFTER ADMINISTERING THE DRUG!* I gave him his PM pills/Enulose bare handed, too. Mind, he's taking the chemo drug every 48 hours, so that means WHENEVER I administer a pill or clean the boxes I should be wearing gloves as he'll always have the drug in his system as he goes forward with the treatment.
No, I'm not worried that, with that limited exposure, that *I'm* in any sort of medical trouble. We bought gloves at Walgreens today to use at the shelter to help avoid as much contact with sick kitties at the shelter as possible, so we've got a whole box of extra gloves for me to wear for whenever I pill Ra. We are, however, a bit concerned about how to handle the litter boxes as they all use all four boxes regularly. If humans aren't supposed to have contact with the medicated cat's waste products, what about other kitties coming into contact with it?
Obviously a call into the VCA folks is in order in the AM. We need to know how to handle the litter boxes while Ra's waste is basically potentially toxic to the other two kids. I'm not overly worried--I just think it'll mean scooping the boxes religiously, especially after I know that Ra's used one--but...yeah. Stress I didn't anticipate on top of all the stress I/we have already. If it means segregating Ra from the other cats for the duration we might be in for a bit of trouble. He's already acting stressed/depressed with his new med/food regimen--to have to segregate him from the rest of his family at this time would probably devastate the poor ol' fella. We just can't see doing that to him, too, on top of everything else he's going through!
Sigh...This all became a million times harder...I don't know how much more we all can take...and we've only just begun the treatment! :/
I have already erred. Twice...
GLOVES MUST BE WORN WHEN ADMINISTERING THIS MEDICATION! was the first thing I read. I gave him the chlorambucil with bare hands this morning. *NO SKIN CONTACT WITH MEDICATED ANIMAL'S SALIVA, FECES OR URINE WITHIN 48 HOURS AFTER ADMINISTERING THE DRUG!* I gave him his PM pills/Enulose bare handed, too. Mind, he's taking the chemo drug every 48 hours, so that means WHENEVER I administer a pill or clean the boxes I should be wearing gloves as he'll always have the drug in his system as he goes forward with the treatment.
No, I'm not worried that, with that limited exposure, that *I'm* in any sort of medical trouble. We bought gloves at Walgreens today to use at the shelter to help avoid as much contact with sick kitties at the shelter as possible, so we've got a whole box of extra gloves for me to wear for whenever I pill Ra. We are, however, a bit concerned about how to handle the litter boxes as they all use all four boxes regularly. If humans aren't supposed to have contact with the medicated cat's waste products, what about other kitties coming into contact with it?
Obviously a call into the VCA folks is in order in the AM. We need to know how to handle the litter boxes while Ra's waste is basically potentially toxic to the other two kids. I'm not overly worried--I just think it'll mean scooping the boxes religiously, especially after I know that Ra's used one--but...yeah. Stress I didn't anticipate on top of all the stress I/we have already. If it means segregating Ra from the other cats for the duration we might be in for a bit of trouble. He's already acting stressed/depressed with his new med/food regimen--to have to segregate him from the rest of his family at this time would probably devastate the poor ol' fella. We just can't see doing that to him, too, on top of everything else he's going through!
Sigh...This all became a million times harder...I don't know how much more we all can take...and we've only just begun the treatment! :/
...and it's not particularly great.
He's got active Irritable Bowel Disease in his small intestine, which we expected, and they also found very pre-pre cancerous cells in his small intestine. They're cells on the verge of "malignancy transformation" as Dr. M. said. It's very treatable at this point with two primary meds--prednisone (which he's already on) and another one which begins with a "C" or a "K" (whose name I'll find out for sure tomorrow when I get the diagnostic summary from Dr. B's office, where it's being forwarded for Dr. B to continue Ra's care), and special diet in the form of hypoallergenic kibbles.
His kidneys are functioning at stage two renal failure level according to both his blood work and his urinalysis--a small amount of protein was found in his urine, which is not unusual. He is to have kidney bloods drawn every six months to monitor where he's at in that department; no special diet or meds for the kidneys. Speaking of which, must find out whether the potassium is considered a kidney drug and, if so, if we're to continue that one. He *hates* the potassium pill, which is so big it needs to be split into two half doses for him to swallow it. :/
I neglected to ask for a time frame on life expectancy, though a friend whose cat had a similar diagnosis lasted relatively happily for a year after diagnosis with similar treatment regimen. Sigh. Pre-fucking cancerous cells. Shit, shit, shit. And he's already on so many pills twice a day plus the Enulose which he also got put back on today, and now he's going to have more meds. All of which he barely tolerates and he's a bitey bastard when he's Had Enough. It's been mostly me administering the meds since J got bit and ended up hospitalized with that bad bite that got terribly infected back in March--it makes more sense for me to do the deeds because I'm a bit more patient with Ra when he gets squirelly and I've got smaller fingers which have got to make him receiving the pills a bit more pleasant. It's a lot of work, though, work I'm glad to do, but still a lot of work. I'm logging virtually everything behavioral about Ra now like I did with my two girls I lost last year to renal failure. I'm an underqualified cat nurse. :/
Dr. M wants me to contact Dr. B first thing in the AM to get started on the new treatment protocol. Hopefully I won't be needing to bring Ra out to Aurora with me for anything--that I can bring everything back and do everything from home. We shall find out soon...
Sigh. Our poor, sweet boy... :(
He's got active Irritable Bowel Disease in his small intestine, which we expected, and they also found very pre-pre cancerous cells in his small intestine. They're cells on the verge of "malignancy transformation" as Dr. M. said. It's very treatable at this point with two primary meds--prednisone (which he's already on) and another one which begins with a "C" or a "K" (whose name I'll find out for sure tomorrow when I get the diagnostic summary from Dr. B's office, where it's being forwarded for Dr. B to continue Ra's care), and special diet in the form of hypoallergenic kibbles.
His kidneys are functioning at stage two renal failure level according to both his blood work and his urinalysis--a small amount of protein was found in his urine, which is not unusual. He is to have kidney bloods drawn every six months to monitor where he's at in that department; no special diet or meds for the kidneys. Speaking of which, must find out whether the potassium is considered a kidney drug and, if so, if we're to continue that one. He *hates* the potassium pill, which is so big it needs to be split into two half doses for him to swallow it. :/
I neglected to ask for a time frame on life expectancy, though a friend whose cat had a similar diagnosis lasted relatively happily for a year after diagnosis with similar treatment regimen. Sigh. Pre-fucking cancerous cells. Shit, shit, shit. And he's already on so many pills twice a day plus the Enulose which he also got put back on today, and now he's going to have more meds. All of which he barely tolerates and he's a bitey bastard when he's Had Enough. It's been mostly me administering the meds since J got bit and ended up hospitalized with that bad bite that got terribly infected back in March--it makes more sense for me to do the deeds because I'm a bit more patient with Ra when he gets squirelly and I've got smaller fingers which have got to make him receiving the pills a bit more pleasant. It's a lot of work, though, work I'm glad to do, but still a lot of work. I'm logging virtually everything behavioral about Ra now like I did with my two girls I lost last year to renal failure. I'm an underqualified cat nurse. :/
Dr. M wants me to contact Dr. B first thing in the AM to get started on the new treatment protocol. Hopefully I won't be needing to bring Ra out to Aurora with me for anything--that I can bring everything back and do everything from home. We shall find out soon...
Sigh. Our poor, sweet boy... :(
Ultrasound and x-rays both came back negative of signs of cancer or other problems. Dr. M suspects that Ra's chronic Irritable Bowel Disease is active again and his intestines inflamed, causing him to not want to eat and to not really digest food/vomit a goodly share of his food that he does manage to get down. Poor fella. He's been under good symptom control for all the 8ish years I've been with J and known Ra, but, it seems, this is no longer the case.
The only way to see what's up with his intestines is to do an endoscopy. Because his kidneys and his serum potassium values are wonky right now, he's been admitted into hospital for continuous fluids with potassium overnight in hopes of getting both of those stable so they can do the endoscopy tomorrow sometime. He'll also be getting a full kidney work-up to see just exactly how bad his kidneys are doing. He already had the ultrasound this afternoon, all that's left is blood work and urinalysis, which will be done over the course of this evening/overnight.
Ra's had bad IBD symptoms as young one; he had an endoscopy done way back in '01ish? and we called his former vet's office and they still had his records so they faxed them to Dr. M at VCA; he was curious to see what things looked like last time Ra had very active symptoms/problems and was hoping to see the records to help with diagnostics.
The good news is IBD is very controllable with meds and special food, but the type of meds is contingent on the type and location of the irritation and how kidney friendly they are because of his stage two kidney failure. So Dr. M wants as much data as he can get before he decides on a treatment program. The cost for all this testing? You could've knocked me over with a feather. Hell, you could've probably knocked J over with a feather, too. But Ra is worth it and J has the means to take care of it, so that's what we're going to do...
Here's to hoping that things work out in the best way possible and Ra can have his golden years with us in relative health and happiness going forward!
Wow, this day has been SOOO stressful! :/ I've either been in the car traveling to or from the VCA out in Aurora or waiting at their office for more information. And, since visiting hours are until 2200, if J can manage to get home at a decent hour tonight after his crazy day at $work, then we'll be heading back out there again to visit with Ra and give him some much needed comfort. Poor old bastard so totally hates the vet--he must be going NUTS over there, even though the techs all said he was being a good boy...
Continued thoughts/prayers/healing energy/etc. are very welcome right now...
The only way to see what's up with his intestines is to do an endoscopy. Because his kidneys and his serum potassium values are wonky right now, he's been admitted into hospital for continuous fluids with potassium overnight in hopes of getting both of those stable so they can do the endoscopy tomorrow sometime. He'll also be getting a full kidney work-up to see just exactly how bad his kidneys are doing. He already had the ultrasound this afternoon, all that's left is blood work and urinalysis, which will be done over the course of this evening/overnight.
Ra's had bad IBD symptoms as young one; he had an endoscopy done way back in '01ish? and we called his former vet's office and they still had his records so they faxed them to Dr. M at VCA; he was curious to see what things looked like last time Ra had very active symptoms/problems and was hoping to see the records to help with diagnostics.
The good news is IBD is very controllable with meds and special food, but the type of meds is contingent on the type and location of the irritation and how kidney friendly they are because of his stage two kidney failure. So Dr. M wants as much data as he can get before he decides on a treatment program. The cost for all this testing? You could've knocked me over with a feather. Hell, you could've probably knocked J over with a feather, too. But Ra is worth it and J has the means to take care of it, so that's what we're going to do...
Here's to hoping that things work out in the best way possible and Ra can have his golden years with us in relative health and happiness going forward!
Wow, this day has been SOOO stressful! :/ I've either been in the car traveling to or from the VCA out in Aurora or waiting at their office for more information. And, since visiting hours are until 2200, if J can manage to get home at a decent hour tonight after his crazy day at $work, then we'll be heading back out there again to visit with Ra and give him some much needed comfort. Poor old bastard so totally hates the vet--he must be going NUTS over there, even though the techs all said he was being a good boy...
Continued thoughts/prayers/healing energy/etc. are very welcome right now...
Got Ra in to Dr. B first thing this morning. He did a physical exam and said our next course of action would be to get Ra to an internist for possible ultrasound of the belly to rule out cancer. An appointment was hastily arranged with Dr. Medinger at VCA Aurora for 1000.
Drove like a bat out of hell in the rain to get there in time, it was a bit of a hoof from Aurora Cat Clinic, and through a bit of gnarly road construction to boot. Got there and had to keep calling J to have him help me fill in the health questionnaire, but I got 'er done. Ra was weighed--9.2 lbs, not much different than his last weigh-in, which surprised me because he looks so much more skinny. Got asked a bunch of questions about Ra's past health history by a regular vet, had to call J again, LOL, but, again, we got 'er done.
Dr. Medinger did a physical exam, asked me still more questions, did some thinking and dropped two bombshells on me. Bombshell the first-did we know Ra was in stage two renal failure according to his latest blood work? No we sure as hell had not been told that! Bombshell the second--did we know Ra has a slight heart murmur? No, we sure as hell did not!! Sigh. What a new set of eyes can find out for you, I guess...
Game plan is to get Ra a thoracic x-ray and an abdominal ultrasound to check for growths that might be cancer as well as anything else that might be amiss. He's scheduled for his ultrasound at 1500. I didn't want to wait in the very active and noisy VCA waiting room for that long, so I've come back home to wait it out--they're open til 1900 so I might try to wait to pick up Ra when J's gotten a chance to get back home so we can get the diagnoses together. Dr. M asked me what our worst thoughts were as to what is going on--I said our worst fear was that it was cancer. The Big C. He said that was definitely worst case, to try not to fret about it while we waited for the diagnostics to come back, and to go home and relax for awhile until Ra's done with his imaging and possible other testing.
This is gonna cost us. I had to put down half on the low end estimate for the cost of diagnostics before they would agree to work on Ra. Ouch, is all I'll say, but he's our Grand Old Boy and worth every penny. Thank Bast for good credit limits and low spending from same.
We're preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. Requesting prayers, healing energy, etc. for our Ra and for us. Poor J has to be at work today fighting the IT fires, so I'm taking care of all this on my own, calling him regularly with updates. Both of us have had tears this morning because of all of this. I just really hope we're both wrong and nothing is drastically wrong with our Ra kitty.
Drove like a bat out of hell in the rain to get there in time, it was a bit of a hoof from Aurora Cat Clinic, and through a bit of gnarly road construction to boot. Got there and had to keep calling J to have him help me fill in the health questionnaire, but I got 'er done. Ra was weighed--9.2 lbs, not much different than his last weigh-in, which surprised me because he looks so much more skinny. Got asked a bunch of questions about Ra's past health history by a regular vet, had to call J again, LOL, but, again, we got 'er done.
Dr. Medinger did a physical exam, asked me still more questions, did some thinking and dropped two bombshells on me. Bombshell the first-did we know Ra was in stage two renal failure according to his latest blood work? No we sure as hell had not been told that! Bombshell the second--did we know Ra has a slight heart murmur? No, we sure as hell did not!! Sigh. What a new set of eyes can find out for you, I guess...
Game plan is to get Ra a thoracic x-ray and an abdominal ultrasound to check for growths that might be cancer as well as anything else that might be amiss. He's scheduled for his ultrasound at 1500. I didn't want to wait in the very active and noisy VCA waiting room for that long, so I've come back home to wait it out--they're open til 1900 so I might try to wait to pick up Ra when J's gotten a chance to get back home so we can get the diagnoses together. Dr. M asked me what our worst thoughts were as to what is going on--I said our worst fear was that it was cancer. The Big C. He said that was definitely worst case, to try not to fret about it while we waited for the diagnostics to come back, and to go home and relax for awhile until Ra's done with his imaging and possible other testing.
This is gonna cost us. I had to put down half on the low end estimate for the cost of diagnostics before they would agree to work on Ra. Ouch, is all I'll say, but he's our Grand Old Boy and worth every penny. Thank Bast for good credit limits and low spending from same.
We're preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. Requesting prayers, healing energy, etc. for our Ra and for us. Poor J has to be at work today fighting the IT fires, so I'm taking care of all this on my own, calling him regularly with updates. Both of us have had tears this morning because of all of this. I just really hope we're both wrong and nothing is drastically wrong with our Ra kitty.
It started sometime early to mid last week, like Wednesday night we noticed he was walking very carefully yet tentatively and was having trouble jumping up onto J's desk in the office or onto our recliners in the den. He started eating less, drinking more. Peeing a lot, but not much on the downloads.
Was able to get him seen on Friday morning with yet another case of the "Just Not Rights". Physical exam, full blood draw, x-rays. He was fully impacted with stool again. Sigh, and we've been giving him the Enulose religiously, too! An enema was in order to clean him out, so he spent a goodly share of the day at the clinic cleaning out. Some of the blood work came back during that time, and it indicated (as did the x-ray) that his gallbladder is once again slightly inflamed. None of the other numbers really concerned Dr. B. but he didn't have the whole panel back yet, either, so...yeah. Dr. B increased his Enulose to 6cc a day for two weeks to keep his system moving and downloading and added 18.25 (1/4 of a 75mg tab) of Zantac for other tummy upset. We're also to give him 100ml sub-q fluids every other day for five days. If things don't improve, the next step is ultrasound of the belly area come Monday or Tuesday. We picked him up around 1830 that night.
Ra perked up a bit on Friday night, but by last night he was once again moving slowly. He struggled to join me on my recliner when I was watching TV, then also struggled again in getting down a short while later. Still not eating nearly enough, he barfed up his post-Enulose snack, too. Convinced him to eat about an eighth of what he would normally eat for dinner, but he kept it down...for awhile...
This morning he didn't want to eat hardly at all, and when he went to use his litter box after eating he vomited in the box while attempting to go. I heard it, but did not see it, so I don't know if he was straining to download a poo or if it was just peeing that made him hurl. Regardless, it was pretty epic--probably everything he had eaten last night and this morning. Try googling "cat vomiting in litter box" and you don't get many educated answers save for "Bring your cat to the vet or at least call your vet for further instructions". Yeah, nice. No "it could be this" or "it might be that", really, save for possible constipation problems which we 1) know he already has and 2) hasn't eaten nearly enough to get clogged back up again. Sigh.
We don't have an on-call vet save for the emergency vet clinics in the area and neither of our two vets are open on Sundays. Just for shits and grins I did call both the e-vets to see what they might advise and both said to bring him in. What will inevitably happen is they'll run the same blood panel he's already had run and do the ultrasound that Dr. B promised, all at highly inflated emergency vet prices. Not that money is necessarily the problem, but he's already in the midst of treatment with Dr. B and aside from the one incident of barfing in his litter box he seems to be relatively alert and getting around basically okay albeit slowly still. I think we've decided to wait to talk to Dr. B first thing tomorrow and bring him in then unless something else, like barfing while going to the bathroom or continued worsening of his motion/jumping, happens.
I feel so helpless. I want to help our cat, but can't really because the vets we see aren't open on Sunday and don't have anybody on call. I *did* leave a message on Dr. B's answering machine for them to call me back ASAP upon receiving the message, but I don't expect to hear anything until tomorrow morning now. Sigh. This really sucks. :(
Was able to get him seen on Friday morning with yet another case of the "Just Not Rights". Physical exam, full blood draw, x-rays. He was fully impacted with stool again. Sigh, and we've been giving him the Enulose religiously, too! An enema was in order to clean him out, so he spent a goodly share of the day at the clinic cleaning out. Some of the blood work came back during that time, and it indicated (as did the x-ray) that his gallbladder is once again slightly inflamed. None of the other numbers really concerned Dr. B. but he didn't have the whole panel back yet, either, so...yeah. Dr. B increased his Enulose to 6cc a day for two weeks to keep his system moving and downloading and added 18.25 (1/4 of a 75mg tab) of Zantac for other tummy upset. We're also to give him 100ml sub-q fluids every other day for five days. If things don't improve, the next step is ultrasound of the belly area come Monday or Tuesday. We picked him up around 1830 that night.
Ra perked up a bit on Friday night, but by last night he was once again moving slowly. He struggled to join me on my recliner when I was watching TV, then also struggled again in getting down a short while later. Still not eating nearly enough, he barfed up his post-Enulose snack, too. Convinced him to eat about an eighth of what he would normally eat for dinner, but he kept it down...for awhile...
This morning he didn't want to eat hardly at all, and when he went to use his litter box after eating he vomited in the box while attempting to go. I heard it, but did not see it, so I don't know if he was straining to download a poo or if it was just peeing that made him hurl. Regardless, it was pretty epic--probably everything he had eaten last night and this morning. Try googling "cat vomiting in litter box" and you don't get many educated answers save for "Bring your cat to the vet or at least call your vet for further instructions". Yeah, nice. No "it could be this" or "it might be that", really, save for possible constipation problems which we 1) know he already has and 2) hasn't eaten nearly enough to get clogged back up again. Sigh.
We don't have an on-call vet save for the emergency vet clinics in the area and neither of our two vets are open on Sundays. Just for shits and grins I did call both the e-vets to see what they might advise and both said to bring him in. What will inevitably happen is they'll run the same blood panel he's already had run and do the ultrasound that Dr. B promised, all at highly inflated emergency vet prices. Not that money is necessarily the problem, but he's already in the midst of treatment with Dr. B and aside from the one incident of barfing in his litter box he seems to be relatively alert and getting around basically okay albeit slowly still. I think we've decided to wait to talk to Dr. B first thing tomorrow and bring him in then unless something else, like barfing while going to the bathroom or continued worsening of his motion/jumping, happens.
I feel so helpless. I want to help our cat, but can't really because the vets we see aren't open on Sunday and don't have anybody on call. I *did* leave a message on Dr. B's answering machine for them to call me back ASAP upon receiving the message, but I don't expect to hear anything until tomorrow morning now. Sigh. This really sucks. :(
...to bring her in. She's slightly dehydrated from not eating and Dr. Choy is concerned about the fact she's not eaten or pooped well in the past days.
She got a short blood draw, which verified signs of dehydration, but was otherwise very good numbers. Therefore they administered fluids to boost her hydration levels. Physical exam turned up nothing save for that she's lost just over a pound since her last weigh in back in December. Teeth and mouth are fine. Belly palpation was fine. Heart and lungs clear.
The trick now is to figure out why she's not eating and to get her to eat. Just in case, she got a shot of the antibiotic Baytril to stave off any possible infections that might be going on, a vitamin shot to boost her immunity and a quarter of a tab of mertazepine (a strong appetite stimulant med) and hand/force fed about half a can of A/D crisis food. They tried to get her to eat it on her own, but I think she might have been too shy/scared to eat it in front of Dr. Choy and Veronica; damned cat. :/ She got some sub-cutaneous fluids for the dehydration and I'm to watch her intake of water along with the food intake.
Dr. Choy suggested feeding whatever it is that Dorene will eat, so I went over to PetSmart and asked the folks there what they would suggest for a gravy loving small morsel eating cat. They suggested Nature's Recipe in chicken flavour--their experience with sick cats is they prefer poultry flavours over the stinky fishy flavours, with cats having colds being an exception to that rule (as it's the only thing they can really smell, and they rely on sense of smell to want to eat). So I picked up one each of the chickeny flavours of that brand that they had and I'll sort through the bag of Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers cans for the poultry flavours and feed those as well. They also, interestingly, suggested I try putting her back on kitten kibbles temporarily because it's full of calories and more nutrients than adult kibble and tastier to them to boot. I picked up Blue Buffalo Freedom grain free kitten in chicken flavour as well. Will be slowly integrating those into her diet. The last thing I want is for her to get a more upset tummy from switching over to a new food(s).
Sigh. All this and my other set of eyes (J) is leaving for an out of town work trip tomorrow morning and he won't be back until Tuesday. So all this sick kitteh stress is all mine. Sigh. Like I said in my other email--can't not have a broken kitteh in our household... :/
She got a short blood draw, which verified signs of dehydration, but was otherwise very good numbers. Therefore they administered fluids to boost her hydration levels. Physical exam turned up nothing save for that she's lost just over a pound since her last weigh in back in December. Teeth and mouth are fine. Belly palpation was fine. Heart and lungs clear.
The trick now is to figure out why she's not eating and to get her to eat. Just in case, she got a shot of the antibiotic Baytril to stave off any possible infections that might be going on, a vitamin shot to boost her immunity and a quarter of a tab of mertazepine (a strong appetite stimulant med) and hand/force fed about half a can of A/D crisis food. They tried to get her to eat it on her own, but I think she might have been too shy/scared to eat it in front of Dr. Choy and Veronica; damned cat. :/ She got some sub-cutaneous fluids for the dehydration and I'm to watch her intake of water along with the food intake.
Dr. Choy suggested feeding whatever it is that Dorene will eat, so I went over to PetSmart and asked the folks there what they would suggest for a gravy loving small morsel eating cat. They suggested Nature's Recipe in chicken flavour--their experience with sick cats is they prefer poultry flavours over the stinky fishy flavours, with cats having colds being an exception to that rule (as it's the only thing they can really smell, and they rely on sense of smell to want to eat). So I picked up one each of the chickeny flavours of that brand that they had and I'll sort through the bag of Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers cans for the poultry flavours and feed those as well. They also, interestingly, suggested I try putting her back on kitten kibbles temporarily because it's full of calories and more nutrients than adult kibble and tastier to them to boot. I picked up Blue Buffalo Freedom grain free kitten in chicken flavour as well. Will be slowly integrating those into her diet. The last thing I want is for her to get a more upset tummy from switching over to a new food(s).
Sigh. All this and my other set of eyes (J) is leaving for an out of town work trip tomorrow morning and he won't be back until Tuesday. So all this sick kitteh stress is all mine. Sigh. Like I said in my other email--can't not have a broken kitteh in our household... :/
Dorene continues to be eating poorly. She'll eat a bit of kibble that's left over out of Lars' or Ra's bowls, but barely touches that which is in her own bowl. I started her back on Fancy Feast Gravy Lover's wet food about a week and a half ago and she was at least eating that with gusto, but now she seems bored with more than a couple of flavours of that food, too. Two days in a row she ignored the Salmon flavour, so when she rejected it this morning I gave her chicken liver and liver flavour and she ate about 3/4 of the half a can I gave her. Because she's barely touching her kibbles, that's not enough food to sustain her. The last thing I need is for fatty liver to set in because she's not eating enough food... :/
Lars' kibble bowl has lower sides than Dorene's kibble bowl, and she eats his leftovers, so I decided to buy her a bowl similar to Lars' bowl to see if that would change her kibble eating habits. It really didn't change anything; she still pretty much ignored her evening kibble feed last night with the new bowl. :/
A call to the vet was in order. Veronica the tech asked if I knew if Dorene was pooping properly--come to think of it, it's been at least a few days since I've seen a Dorene like poop in the box. :/ Could she just be constipated and not being fussy? And if she *is* constipated, is it her Science Diet Adult formula that's making her so? I've been wondering for awhile if that could be the culprit for constipation in our cat household.
I think what's going on is a combination of factors. She's decided she really doesn't like the Science Diet Adult kibble, she doesn't like eating locked in the safe room (but I'm unsure of what to do about that, because if I don't lock her in there she *totally* ignores all her food and wants to run around and bother her brothers while they're eating. I guess I could try feeding her in the office with me in there with her with the door closed...That way she'll be in a different environment but no one will bug her and she won't be able to bug them because the door will be closed and I'll be in there with her to keep her company.
I'm simply at a loss. She's acting normally otherwise--her usual zippy, spastic self, questionable pooping as of late aside. I think it's past time to change up the kibble situation for sure. Hopefully the boys will like whatever new kibble I try out for them; they seem to like Science Diet Adult just fine, although Lars does leave a bit of his in the bowl every feed.
Sigh. It just isn't life at our house if we don't have a broken cat... :/
Lars' kibble bowl has lower sides than Dorene's kibble bowl, and she eats his leftovers, so I decided to buy her a bowl similar to Lars' bowl to see if that would change her kibble eating habits. It really didn't change anything; she still pretty much ignored her evening kibble feed last night with the new bowl. :/
A call to the vet was in order. Veronica the tech asked if I knew if Dorene was pooping properly--come to think of it, it's been at least a few days since I've seen a Dorene like poop in the box. :/ Could she just be constipated and not being fussy? And if she *is* constipated, is it her Science Diet Adult formula that's making her so? I've been wondering for awhile if that could be the culprit for constipation in our cat household.
I think what's going on is a combination of factors. She's decided she really doesn't like the Science Diet Adult kibble, she doesn't like eating locked in the safe room (but I'm unsure of what to do about that, because if I don't lock her in there she *totally* ignores all her food and wants to run around and bother her brothers while they're eating. I guess I could try feeding her in the office with me in there with her with the door closed...That way she'll be in a different environment but no one will bug her and she won't be able to bug them because the door will be closed and I'll be in there with her to keep her company.
I'm simply at a loss. She's acting normally otherwise--her usual zippy, spastic self, questionable pooping as of late aside. I think it's past time to change up the kibble situation for sure. Hopefully the boys will like whatever new kibble I try out for them; they seem to like Science Diet Adult just fine, although Lars does leave a bit of his in the bowl every feed.
Sigh. It just isn't life at our house if we don't have a broken cat... :/
This morning was The Great Debut of Wellness wet food...
...and it largely flopped!
I gave her the sliced chicken with gravy along with a bit of Fancy Feast Salmon Gravy Lovers mixed in with the hopes that the mix of old and new would help with any potential tummy upset that might result in a food switch. She ate off all the gravy from both, ate the salmon meaty bits, but largely left the Wellness chicken bits alone. :/ It wasn't until I put more Fancy Feast on top of the leftover Wellness meaty bits that she showed any interest in the Wellness meaty bits at all, and only when I was in the room sitting with her, watching her eat. Odd, that, but at least she ate about 2/3 to 3/4 of the Wellness meaty bits when I kept her company. She, like her two brothers from other mothers, is an odd duck. ;)
Seems as though Dorene, like her brother from another mother Lars, is A Gravy Lover, and not a fan of bigger sized meaty bits. :/ I did give Lars a tiny portion of the Wellness (we're talking maybe a half teaspoon to a whole teaspoon) and he LOVED IT--wolfed it down before it even had a chance to stain his wet fud bowl. ;) He then downloaded a not exactly solid one in the litter box soon thereafter. At least he left it in the litter box and not on our living room floor, thank Bast, but...yeah...I think even that little bit upset his tummy somewhat so I'm not sure if I'll give him a taste again tomorrow morning...
I've not ruled out the possibility that Dorene might have something weird going on with her mouth/teeth that's made her adverse to the kibble. It might also be part of why she didn't want to initially eat the larger Wellness meaty bits, too. I tried taking a looksee in her mouth this afternoon but she was having none of it. Hard to say--she's only two years old so I would think her mouth and teeth should be fine and she checked out fine with the vet back right before we took her home in February, so...who knows?
At a buck forty nine a small can, I'm decidedly not amused that she's not liking it better so far. :/ I just might have to give up the fight after a good College Try with the Wellness brand stuff I bought and go back to feeding her the Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers stuff that I know she'll eat with whole-hearted enthusiasm. Sigh. She's just plain weird! :/
...and it largely flopped!
I gave her the sliced chicken with gravy along with a bit of Fancy Feast Salmon Gravy Lovers mixed in with the hopes that the mix of old and new would help with any potential tummy upset that might result in a food switch. She ate off all the gravy from both, ate the salmon meaty bits, but largely left the Wellness chicken bits alone. :/ It wasn't until I put more Fancy Feast on top of the leftover Wellness meaty bits that she showed any interest in the Wellness meaty bits at all, and only when I was in the room sitting with her, watching her eat. Odd, that, but at least she ate about 2/3 to 3/4 of the Wellness meaty bits when I kept her company. She, like her two brothers from other mothers, is an odd duck. ;)
Seems as though Dorene, like her brother from another mother Lars, is A Gravy Lover, and not a fan of bigger sized meaty bits. :/ I did give Lars a tiny portion of the Wellness (we're talking maybe a half teaspoon to a whole teaspoon) and he LOVED IT--wolfed it down before it even had a chance to stain his wet fud bowl. ;) He then downloaded a not exactly solid one in the litter box soon thereafter. At least he left it in the litter box and not on our living room floor, thank Bast, but...yeah...I think even that little bit upset his tummy somewhat so I'm not sure if I'll give him a taste again tomorrow morning...
I've not ruled out the possibility that Dorene might have something weird going on with her mouth/teeth that's made her adverse to the kibble. It might also be part of why she didn't want to initially eat the larger Wellness meaty bits, too. I tried taking a looksee in her mouth this afternoon but she was having none of it. Hard to say--she's only two years old so I would think her mouth and teeth should be fine and she checked out fine with the vet back right before we took her home in February, so...who knows?
At a buck forty nine a small can, I'm decidedly not amused that she's not liking it better so far. :/ I just might have to give up the fight after a good College Try with the Wellness brand stuff I bought and go back to feeding her the Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers stuff that I know she'll eat with whole-hearted enthusiasm. Sigh. She's just plain weird! :/
In the past couple of days, Dorene has decided she does not want to eat her Science Diet kibble. She will, however, deign to eat gushy wet fud. Lovely, eh? :/
I used to feed Lars Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers, but stopped when I thought it was causing him to be more likely to poop outside the box. I never resumed because he eat just his kibble like a champ, didn't seem to miss the gushy fud and besides all that he's getting a little chunky so he doesn't need the extra noms.
I realize that Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers is not exactly the best gushy wet fud I can be feeding my girl. My last social media poll on what people fed for kibble got me the most votes for Taste of the Wild and Blue Buffalo Wilderness. Thanks also to SBG for his endorsement of Halo Spot's Stew, another good brand I've also heard of elsewhere. Today when I go to PetSmart I plan on choosing a selection from all three of the aforementioned brands and see if I can't get Dorene to eat some of those brands' various types of gushy fud.
Sigh. If it ain't one thing it's another... :/
I used to feed Lars Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers, but stopped when I thought it was causing him to be more likely to poop outside the box. I never resumed because he eat just his kibble like a champ, didn't seem to miss the gushy fud and besides all that he's getting a little chunky so he doesn't need the extra noms.
I realize that Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers is not exactly the best gushy wet fud I can be feeding my girl. My last social media poll on what people fed for kibble got me the most votes for Taste of the Wild and Blue Buffalo Wilderness. Thanks also to SBG for his endorsement of Halo Spot's Stew, another good brand I've also heard of elsewhere. Today when I go to PetSmart I plan on choosing a selection from all three of the aforementioned brands and see if I can't get Dorene to eat some of those brands' various types of gushy fud.
Sigh. If it ain't one thing it's another... :/
IT SUCKED!! I bowled for SHIT!
Here's how it panned out...
135
95 (yes, no "1" before that 9...)
135
series 365
weekly average 121
YTD average 144
handicap 59
That 95 was the worst I've bowled all season, and I usually make average at least one game. This week I didn't for the first time in a long time...
Very frustrating! :(
Here's how it panned out...
135
95 (yes, no "1" before that 9...)
135
series 365
weekly average 121
YTD average 144
handicap 59
That 95 was the worst I've bowled all season, and I usually make average at least one game. This week I didn't for the first time in a long time...
Very frustrating! :(
Woke around 0200ish to hear Ra wretching in the hallway leading to the bedrooms. Poor fella. Called Dr. B this morning who thinks something might be up but not necessarily related to the rabies vax itself. I call shenanigans; Ra didn't start acting funny until after he got the vax booster, so...yeah...and I recall he acted similarly for several days after his last rabies booster back in '10. Advised me to give Ra half a 25mg tab of Benadryl, which I did, but no anti-nausea medication, which surprised me a little given how much he's been puking the past few days in comparison to normal...but hey, he's the doctor, so...
If Ra's not acting significantly better by tomorrow, Dr. B wants me to bring him in. I advised that Ra's the cat who gets terribly upset about going to the vet, particularly the longish for a cat 20 minute drive to his office. No matter, his answer was still the same. I have a nagging feeling there are several things going on at once here--somewhat adverse reaction to the vax, and I know from cleaning the litter boxes that his downloads have been small and pebbly, which could mean his guts are blocked with poo again. Which means x-rays and and enema and a day's worth of stay at the clinic to clean out. And that sort of tx is not cheap, either. Not that Ra's not worth it, but money's tight for both J and I right now. Sigh. It's always something...
Ra's been quiet today, but he's quiet most days and his bit of breakfast has stayed down just fine. He's been lounging on the leather chair in the living room, a favorite place of his. So hopefully tonight he'll be back to taking his evening meds like a champ and eating like one, too. One can only hope... :/
If Ra's not acting significantly better by tomorrow, Dr. B wants me to bring him in. I advised that Ra's the cat who gets terribly upset about going to the vet, particularly the longish for a cat 20 minute drive to his office. No matter, his answer was still the same. I have a nagging feeling there are several things going on at once here--somewhat adverse reaction to the vax, and I know from cleaning the litter boxes that his downloads have been small and pebbly, which could mean his guts are blocked with poo again. Which means x-rays and and enema and a day's worth of stay at the clinic to clean out. And that sort of tx is not cheap, either. Not that Ra's not worth it, but money's tight for both J and I right now. Sigh. It's always something...
Ra's been quiet today, but he's quiet most days and his bit of breakfast has stayed down just fine. He's been lounging on the leather chair in the living room, a favorite place of his. So hopefully tonight he'll be back to taking his evening meds like a champ and eating like one, too. One can only hope... :/
Well we went about 2 1/2 weeks this time without a poop in the living room. Found a big one this morning by the entertainment center next to the dining room table.
Sigh. He was doing so well, too! Last run without pooping in the living room was about 2 1/2 weeks, too. Should he get points for being consistent? :/ Sigh.
We've almost entirely switched over to Cat Attract litter now, and his box is uncovered. He won't go near any other box save for the one in the safe room, although he has been "caught" going into "Ra's" box on the very rare occasion. That box has a hinged lid so to take off the lid to make it more accessible would make the box itself unstable so we can't take the lid off that box.
I'm at a loss for what to do next. I refuse to try medication options--it's too expensive and he's too young for that. Besides, it's obviously behavioural so I daresay I don't know how much medication would help with that. It's not malice or acting out, either--I keep all the boxes meticulously clean. I keep him locked in the safe room for at least an hour after he eats so he's forced to use the box in there, and he's not soiling the floor in there. But still, every couple of weeks or so, he slips and has a mess in the living room, and I've only caught him doing it in the living room once, so I can never correct him with the spray bottle right after it happens. He's one stealth motherfucker!
Any and all suggestions welcome! :/
Sigh. He was doing so well, too! Last run without pooping in the living room was about 2 1/2 weeks, too. Should he get points for being consistent? :/ Sigh.
We've almost entirely switched over to Cat Attract litter now, and his box is uncovered. He won't go near any other box save for the one in the safe room, although he has been "caught" going into "Ra's" box on the very rare occasion. That box has a hinged lid so to take off the lid to make it more accessible would make the box itself unstable so we can't take the lid off that box.
I'm at a loss for what to do next. I refuse to try medication options--it's too expensive and he's too young for that. Besides, it's obviously behavioural so I daresay I don't know how much medication would help with that. It's not malice or acting out, either--I keep all the boxes meticulously clean. I keep him locked in the safe room for at least an hour after he eats so he's forced to use the box in there, and he's not soiling the floor in there. But still, every couple of weeks or so, he slips and has a mess in the living room, and I've only caught him doing it in the living room once, so I can never correct him with the spray bottle right after it happens. He's one stealth motherfucker!
Any and all suggestions welcome! :/
I've got 50mg of Benadryl on board, which is allegedly supposed to make one sleepy, but I can't sleep. I laid there for just over an hour before getting up a few minutes ago to take a sleeping pill. Gods, please let it kick in quickly! :/
Life around the house is going to be weird for awhile. The boys are very clingy with me during the day and I give them lots of pettins, lovins and reassurances that everything is going to be okay. Lars still looks worried most of the time and Ra is moping around the house, tail slung low, whiskers droopy. They miss their sister as much as J and I do. I'm still obviously finding myself wanting to call out to Jazz to get her to come sit on my lap or lay by my side. Every time that happens I get even more sad than I already am.
We decided to put Jazz's bed back where it was for Ra's sake, as he tends to lay in it a lot and is seeming to get great comfort from it right now. It's difficult to look at that bed with her blankie in it, empty save for when Ra's in it, knowing she'll never use it again. I miss her "singing the songs of her people" throughout the day and into the night. I even miss the routine of all the care taking and note logging, though I never thought I would say that. I just plain miss that Grand Old Dame of a cat. I know that's perfectly normal, and that I'm going to feel that way for awhile to come. But that doesn't make the now any easier...
We got rid of the half empty fluids bag and its accompanying IV line in this week's garbage. J also took down the hooks off the wall to the entry way of the den from the kitchen that both Diva's and Jazz's fluids bags hung from. I still have two bags of unused fluids in the cupboard; I wonder if I can sell them back to the vet's office, if returning prescribed medications is even legally allowed. There's a bunch of sealed and still sterile needles in the cupboard, too. I've got several cans of Rx food I know I can return to them for a refund as they are sealed. We took the "BEWARE OF FLOOR PEE" sign off the guest bathroom door on garbage day, too; obviously we don't need it any more now that our errant pisser is over the Bridge. Hell, even the slanket on top of my recliner that she used to hang out on haunts me...:(
It's been a bad week or so for kitties in our lives--our friends Brendan and Lydia's Cailet kitty went over The Bridge last Saturday. Cailet was such a curmudgeonly thing; she was totally bonded to Lydia and partially to Brendan and everybody else could sod off, but she was a fixture in their home and we both grew to love her all the same. Our hearts were already aching for that loss...then we had to send Jazz to meet her a mere two days later. The loss of Diva back in July is still lingering in our hearts, too, especially with Christmas coming. Diva liked to hang out under the tree when there weren't any gifts under it and there was room for her to squeeze under. So many memories, all coming back to flood our minds and hearts.
All I can think of is how maybe we waited too long to help Jazz on to the next part of her journey, that maybe we should've ended things when she got the first pleural effusion the Monday before Thanksgiving. She only made it a week after that, and it was a pretty gnarly week at that. I fear she was suffering in her final days, that we missed signals telling us to send her on her way sooner. If that's the case, I hope she forgives us for putting her through that. Somehow I think she does...she was always a very good-natured and very forgiving creature. I hope we showed her enough love before we sent her on her way...
Next task that will suck is to pick out an urn for her ashes. Dr. B says it'll take about two weeks for the ashes to be returned to them, and then on to us, so we've got plenty of time. I've found a couple on amazon that are suitable. I might even go to the pet crematory here in town that's connected to the people funeral home and see what they've got. I want something special for my girl.
Looks like another fitful night of sleep for me...
Life around the house is going to be weird for awhile. The boys are very clingy with me during the day and I give them lots of pettins, lovins and reassurances that everything is going to be okay. Lars still looks worried most of the time and Ra is moping around the house, tail slung low, whiskers droopy. They miss their sister as much as J and I do. I'm still obviously finding myself wanting to call out to Jazz to get her to come sit on my lap or lay by my side. Every time that happens I get even more sad than I already am.
We decided to put Jazz's bed back where it was for Ra's sake, as he tends to lay in it a lot and is seeming to get great comfort from it right now. It's difficult to look at that bed with her blankie in it, empty save for when Ra's in it, knowing she'll never use it again. I miss her "singing the songs of her people" throughout the day and into the night. I even miss the routine of all the care taking and note logging, though I never thought I would say that. I just plain miss that Grand Old Dame of a cat. I know that's perfectly normal, and that I'm going to feel that way for awhile to come. But that doesn't make the now any easier...
We got rid of the half empty fluids bag and its accompanying IV line in this week's garbage. J also took down the hooks off the wall to the entry way of the den from the kitchen that both Diva's and Jazz's fluids bags hung from. I still have two bags of unused fluids in the cupboard; I wonder if I can sell them back to the vet's office, if returning prescribed medications is even legally allowed. There's a bunch of sealed and still sterile needles in the cupboard, too. I've got several cans of Rx food I know I can return to them for a refund as they are sealed. We took the "BEWARE OF FLOOR PEE" sign off the guest bathroom door on garbage day, too; obviously we don't need it any more now that our errant pisser is over the Bridge. Hell, even the slanket on top of my recliner that she used to hang out on haunts me...:(
It's been a bad week or so for kitties in our lives--our friends Brendan and Lydia's Cailet kitty went over The Bridge last Saturday. Cailet was such a curmudgeonly thing; she was totally bonded to Lydia and partially to Brendan and everybody else could sod off, but she was a fixture in their home and we both grew to love her all the same. Our hearts were already aching for that loss...then we had to send Jazz to meet her a mere two days later. The loss of Diva back in July is still lingering in our hearts, too, especially with Christmas coming. Diva liked to hang out under the tree when there weren't any gifts under it and there was room for her to squeeze under. So many memories, all coming back to flood our minds and hearts.
All I can think of is how maybe we waited too long to help Jazz on to the next part of her journey, that maybe we should've ended things when she got the first pleural effusion the Monday before Thanksgiving. She only made it a week after that, and it was a pretty gnarly week at that. I fear she was suffering in her final days, that we missed signals telling us to send her on her way sooner. If that's the case, I hope she forgives us for putting her through that. Somehow I think she does...she was always a very good-natured and very forgiving creature. I hope we showed her enough love before we sent her on her way...
Next task that will suck is to pick out an urn for her ashes. Dr. B says it'll take about two weeks for the ashes to be returned to them, and then on to us, so we've got plenty of time. I've found a couple on amazon that are suitable. I might even go to the pet crematory here in town that's connected to the people funeral home and see what they've got. I want something special for my girl.
Looks like another fitful night of sleep for me...
Took Jazz into the vet at 1130. Exam done, situation explained. Dr. B says he could distinctly hear fluids in her abdomen again, and possibly in her chest cavity as well. The only things that could be causing this to occur is severe heart failure and/or a malignancy in her body somewhere. Because of these factors, it was a question of how many more times should we put Jazz through removing the exess fluids collecting in her body, as it is such a stress for them to do that.
The time has come for J and I to discuss humanely ending her life with us. After I collected myself at the vet's office I went right out to my car and sat there and called J to ask him to try to come home as soon as possible, that things were Very Bad, that euthanasia needed to be discussed and decided. He's in the process of getting things buttoned up quickly at work so he can be with me/us.
I made it the 20 minute drive home without a tear, but broke down as soon as I started writing about it in my various social media accounts. I'm teary as I write this to you. I can't bear the thought of her not being here with me in my life, alive and breathing. My heart is shattered.
She's been with me since she was 18 months old, came to live with me the week before Thanksgiving of 1996. She'll likely be leaving me a few days after Thanksgiving 17 years later. We've had an incredible 17 years together, been through so much together, both good and bad and in between. She's always been my rock, my go-to when things got to be too much--be they good times or especially the bad ones. There will be a void I daresay will be nigh impossible to fill once she's gone from this Earthly plane. She'll always be a part of my heart, but life will never again be the same. She's my heart, people! I'm losing a HUGE chunk of my heart, probably later today...I am shattered...
The time has come for J and I to discuss humanely ending her life with us. After I collected myself at the vet's office I went right out to my car and sat there and called J to ask him to try to come home as soon as possible, that things were Very Bad, that euthanasia needed to be discussed and decided. He's in the process of getting things buttoned up quickly at work so he can be with me/us.
I made it the 20 minute drive home without a tear, but broke down as soon as I started writing about it in my various social media accounts. I'm teary as I write this to you. I can't bear the thought of her not being here with me in my life, alive and breathing. My heart is shattered.
She's been with me since she was 18 months old, came to live with me the week before Thanksgiving of 1996. She'll likely be leaving me a few days after Thanksgiving 17 years later. We've had an incredible 17 years together, been through so much together, both good and bad and in between. She's always been my rock, my go-to when things got to be too much--be they good times or especially the bad ones. There will be a void I daresay will be nigh impossible to fill once she's gone from this Earthly plane. She'll always be a part of my heart, but life will never again be the same. She's my heart, people! I'm losing a HUGE chunk of my heart, probably later today...I am shattered...
She was with us on the bed most of the night, I think. Gave her the AM meds and once off the table she sneaked off and hid on us. Took us about 15 minutes to finally find her hiding under the cover on the living room futon. She has since relocated several times in more open areas like hers and Lars' beds.
Hiding behaviors are not the best sign, and I was going to call the vet anyway based on how she was eating and how she's not had hardly any output over the course of the weekend. Managed to get us in at 1130 with Dr. B. I don't know what he's going to be able to do for us, but...yeah.
If you're the praying/chanting/healing energy sending sort of person, do send some of your positive energy our way. I think we're going to need every single bit of positive energy we can get right now...
Hiding behaviors are not the best sign, and I was going to call the vet anyway based on how she was eating and how she's not had hardly any output over the course of the weekend. Managed to get us in at 1130 with Dr. B. I don't know what he's going to be able to do for us, but...yeah.
If you're the praying/chanting/healing energy sending sort of person, do send some of your positive energy our way. I think we're going to need every single bit of positive energy we can get right now...
Today has not been the best of days. She's eating very little without a lot of coaxing. We've tried different flavors of fancy feast gravy lovers. We've tried shredded turkey. No love. She'll lick at it enthusiastically for a minute or two, then walk away. This is with the cyproheptadine appetite stimulant on board, too. Sigh.
She's been very tired and sleepy most of the day again. We thought perhaps she might be feeling a bit uncomfortable this afternoon so we tried the ketaprofen pain med at half the prescribed dose. She seemed to perk up a bit--spent part of her afternoon sunning herself in the den, then retired to her bed in the office rather than retreat to the master bedroom to lay half-asleep in the darkened room with me. I should've been at the Humane Haven cattery with J tending to the homeless kitties for our regular Sunday shift, but I decided to stay home with the intent of keeping an eye on Jazz while J was gone. Instead, because I was depressed and not feeling good, I fell asleep for most of the time he was gone tending to the homeless kitties. :/ Whoops.
So far today we've tried shredded turkey twice, once with minimal success this morning, the second time this evening with better success. Tried the ocean whitefish gravy lovers, but she might've licked it once before letting Lars push her out of the way of her bowl so he could snarf it down while I was out of the room for a minute fetching something else. He's currently in a "Time Out" in the safe room for that trick. He's just being a hungry cat, I know, but he needs to know he can't bully any other cat in this house out of their food! I then tried beef gravy lovers and took it to her in the master bedroom (yeah, she's back in there; daddy's reading in there and she likes his lap to lay on) to eat and she ate a bit more of that, though not much.
In addition she's not drinking much, so she's not been going to the bathroom at all, either duty. I fear she's shutting down. She still looks pretty alert and is getting around alright, but she won't get off the kitchen table after she gets her meds by herself any more--we have to pick her up and put her on the floor and then she goes on her way.
I just don't know what to do! I guess I'll be calling the vet tomorrow morning first thing and seek out their guidance. There's always that different, stronger appetite stimulant pill to try. I haven't tried bringing out the tuna/tuna juice to supplement on her food again. J thinks I should go to PetSmart again tomorrow and ask the staff to steer me to what they think is the most appealing and stinky/smelly of all their gushy foods to try to see if she'll eat that. So there are options. I daresay, though, that I don't think they're going to work. I think I'm losing my baby. And this thought is breaking my heart into tiny bite-sized pieces... :(
She's been very tired and sleepy most of the day again. We thought perhaps she might be feeling a bit uncomfortable this afternoon so we tried the ketaprofen pain med at half the prescribed dose. She seemed to perk up a bit--spent part of her afternoon sunning herself in the den, then retired to her bed in the office rather than retreat to the master bedroom to lay half-asleep in the darkened room with me. I should've been at the Humane Haven cattery with J tending to the homeless kitties for our regular Sunday shift, but I decided to stay home with the intent of keeping an eye on Jazz while J was gone. Instead, because I was depressed and not feeling good, I fell asleep for most of the time he was gone tending to the homeless kitties. :/ Whoops.
So far today we've tried shredded turkey twice, once with minimal success this morning, the second time this evening with better success. Tried the ocean whitefish gravy lovers, but she might've licked it once before letting Lars push her out of the way of her bowl so he could snarf it down while I was out of the room for a minute fetching something else. He's currently in a "Time Out" in the safe room for that trick. He's just being a hungry cat, I know, but he needs to know he can't bully any other cat in this house out of their food! I then tried beef gravy lovers and took it to her in the master bedroom (yeah, she's back in there; daddy's reading in there and she likes his lap to lay on) to eat and she ate a bit more of that, though not much.
In addition she's not drinking much, so she's not been going to the bathroom at all, either duty. I fear she's shutting down. She still looks pretty alert and is getting around alright, but she won't get off the kitchen table after she gets her meds by herself any more--we have to pick her up and put her on the floor and then she goes on her way.
I just don't know what to do! I guess I'll be calling the vet tomorrow morning first thing and seek out their guidance. There's always that different, stronger appetite stimulant pill to try. I haven't tried bringing out the tuna/tuna juice to supplement on her food again. J thinks I should go to PetSmart again tomorrow and ask the staff to steer me to what they think is the most appealing and stinky/smelly of all their gushy foods to try to see if she'll eat that. So there are options. I daresay, though, that I don't think they're going to work. I think I'm losing my baby. And this thought is breaking my heart into tiny bite-sized pieces... :(
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