Mighty, Mighty Benjamin - the WONDERCAT!
Over the weekend Benjamin started having seizures again. Our friends Paul and Hiro, and their two children, came up for the weekend to visit, and that may have added to the stress (though I was VERY glad to see them) though Benjamin didn't react much to them and actually allowed the kids and Hiro to pet him some.
Anyway, they stayed overnight, and were awakened at 3:00 am by Benjamin thrashing around in the corner. Sadly, they decamped for a hotel the next night.
By Sunday night Benjamin was having seizures about once every 8-10 hours. The seizures would start with him becoming disoriented and unsteady, followed by a full blown seizure (legs paddling, jaw clenched, rapid breathing) that would last anywhere from 15 seconds to a minute, and then a period of recovery lasting from 5 - 15 minutes in which he would again be disoriented and his breathing would gradually slow.
In between seizures, however, he was still the same old Benjamin. He would eat ravenously, and would follow us around to get petted and be near us. He was, in short, still eating and still engaged.
This morning I took him in to the Cutten Animal Health Center, and got him some phenobarbitol for his seizures. His weight was actually up a few ounces since his last visit, so the clindomycin had done its job in bringing down his temperature and increasing his appetite.
Most of my animal companions have not died of old age. It has been interesting (though often emotionally draining) to follow the course of Benjamin's treatment these past months. While I have always thought of Benjamin as a wonderful companion, I never dreamed that he would be such a fighter. He has borne everything so well!
Continued thanks to Dr. Joe Humble and the staff of the Cutten Animal Health Center!
Now some of you, having followed the Benjamin saga thusfar, have probably thought at one time or another - "why don't you just put the poor cat out of his misery?" Believe me, we have thought about that - a lot. Every time there is a new problem or a new symptom, every time, we discuss the possibility with our veterinarian. But we always come back to two factors - he's eating, and he's engaged with his surroundings. We have to judge the relative quality of his life vs. the level of his problems, and all we have is his behavior to go by. And so far his behavior is telling us that he isn't ready to go.
mechanteanemone and I discussed this a long time ago, and we decided that if we were willing to take in an animal into our family we would never, as long as we were able, make a decision to get rid of that animal for reasons of convenience. So now we have an inconvenient animal - an animal that is sick and needy, but not ready to go. And that's OK for us, though it is sometimes emotionally trying.