R.I.P Tickles
Yesterday, at around 11am we had to put our 4 year old cat Tickles to rest.
About 2-3 weeks ago we noticed that the slight loss in weight in Tickles we had noticed has become a severe loss in weight and that she started to behave differently then she did before (mostly hiding in the closet).
Vanessa took Tickles to Lost Mountain Animal Clinic and tickles was given fluids and Vanessa was given a list of possible tests for which she would have to come back later in the week. Tickles was given the series of tests that ended up costing us almost a grand. But the first diagnosis by the vet was that she had a form of cancer that caused her liver to shut down.
We were pretty much crushed that weekend and this vet (no bedside manner) had basically told us our cat was going to die. That Monday we got the results from the vet and she said that the liver test had shown no abnormal cells and that the pathologist didn't think it was cancer .. so we were given a ray of hope .. but the vet at lost mountain animal hospital basically gave us fluids and told us to try and give her fluids every 2-3 days and see if we could get her eating again.
Something wasn't sitting right with me, but we tried to do as the vet told us .. and we had about 6 different kinds of food out for her so she could eat what she wanted .. but she quickly stopped eating again. This last Friday we tried to administer liquids to Tickles in a hope it would get her strength up enough for her to eat, but when we put in the needle the cat freaked out and Vanessa and I freaked out anymore.
Saturday morning we headed off to a different vet, Cat Care of Vinings, and even though normally on Saturday they usually make you wait until all the people with an appointment have gone first. When the vet tech saw Tickles they moved us to the front of the line.
Unlike the previous vet, Dr.Mike at Cat Care took a lot of time with us and Tickles and did not let her Vet Assistant handle all the dirty work. As soon as she finished her basic assessment of Tickles she actually gave us some serious answers and options and definitely didn't take this "wait and see" posture. She immediately sent us to Cobb Emergency Animal Center for 24h care. But also told us that tickles chances were slim at best but that the doctors at the emergency care facility could inform us better on the type of care needed and the cost associated with it.
At the emergency clinic the doctor told us that what they would have to do is put Tickles under 24h care for the next 48-72 hours, which included a feeding tube, plasma , blood and fluids ... and constant care to monitor her blood levels. Once she'd gone through this care period .. another 3-7 days of care would be needed with the feeding tube just to get her to the point she'd be strong enough to actually handle the real tests needed to find out what caused the problem.
The vet gave Tickles about a 25-30% chance to survive the first 72 hours. And only because she was such a young cat, then after the 7-10 day 24h care, they would basically have to turn her inside out to find the cancer that caused this in the first place and then start a chemo and radiation therapy that she had about a 40% chance of surviving and in we'd be lucky it would extent her live by about 6 months to 2 years.
If the dismal chances of her survival wouldn't have been enough to make up my mind, the cost of it all would have been staggering.
first 72h care: ~ $2500,-
every day of care after that: ~$500,- per day
tests to find the cancer: $1000-$3000,- depending on how many tests they have to do to find it.
chemo & radiation: ... didn't get hat far, but likely another $3000-5000,-
(and all this after we've already spend around $1500,- in tests and doctor visits)
I've spend the best part of yesterday crying my eyes out, which is something I don't do often. It was in fact the first time in 5 years of marriage that Vanessa saw my cry out of sadness. I loved Tickles, she was the first thing that was wholly mine, after I moved to the united states. I owned other things, but none of them were mine in the fact that they all had parts of something else in them.
Tickles was the first thing that I connect to my American personality, the first thing that was an absolute part of my American identity and this weekend my heart was broken when I had to put her down.
Worst of all though, having the vet tell me that it would be better if we didn't stay for the moment they put her down. As she was so emaciated that it might take the doctor a few tries to get the needle in a vein and she might freak out.
Having a vet tell you that she doesn't want you there because your pet is going to suffer the last moments of her live was the worst thing that has ever happened to me in my live and I really don't know how to deal with that.
The only positive thing I can take from this is that I've found a vet that is actually good to cats and nice to people. Cat Care of Vinings is a good cat place, unlike Lost Mountain where they would have just let us screw around with liquids and slowly let Tickles starve to death.
About 2-3 weeks ago we noticed that the slight loss in weight in Tickles we had noticed has become a severe loss in weight and that she started to behave differently then she did before (mostly hiding in the closet).
Vanessa took Tickles to Lost Mountain Animal Clinic and tickles was given fluids and Vanessa was given a list of possible tests for which she would have to come back later in the week. Tickles was given the series of tests that ended up costing us almost a grand. But the first diagnosis by the vet was that she had a form of cancer that caused her liver to shut down.
We were pretty much crushed that weekend and this vet (no bedside manner) had basically told us our cat was going to die. That Monday we got the results from the vet and she said that the liver test had shown no abnormal cells and that the pathologist didn't think it was cancer .. so we were given a ray of hope .. but the vet at lost mountain animal hospital basically gave us fluids and told us to try and give her fluids every 2-3 days and see if we could get her eating again.
Something wasn't sitting right with me, but we tried to do as the vet told us .. and we had about 6 different kinds of food out for her so she could eat what she wanted .. but she quickly stopped eating again. This last Friday we tried to administer liquids to Tickles in a hope it would get her strength up enough for her to eat, but when we put in the needle the cat freaked out and Vanessa and I freaked out anymore.
Saturday morning we headed off to a different vet, Cat Care of Vinings, and even though normally on Saturday they usually make you wait until all the people with an appointment have gone first. When the vet tech saw Tickles they moved us to the front of the line.
Unlike the previous vet, Dr.Mike at Cat Care took a lot of time with us and Tickles and did not let her Vet Assistant handle all the dirty work. As soon as she finished her basic assessment of Tickles she actually gave us some serious answers and options and definitely didn't take this "wait and see" posture. She immediately sent us to Cobb Emergency Animal Center for 24h care. But also told us that tickles chances were slim at best but that the doctors at the emergency care facility could inform us better on the type of care needed and the cost associated with it.
At the emergency clinic the doctor told us that what they would have to do is put Tickles under 24h care for the next 48-72 hours, which included a feeding tube, plasma , blood and fluids ... and constant care to monitor her blood levels. Once she'd gone through this care period .. another 3-7 days of care would be needed with the feeding tube just to get her to the point she'd be strong enough to actually handle the real tests needed to find out what caused the problem.
The vet gave Tickles about a 25-30% chance to survive the first 72 hours. And only because she was such a young cat, then after the 7-10 day 24h care, they would basically have to turn her inside out to find the cancer that caused this in the first place and then start a chemo and radiation therapy that she had about a 40% chance of surviving and in we'd be lucky it would extent her live by about 6 months to 2 years.
If the dismal chances of her survival wouldn't have been enough to make up my mind, the cost of it all would have been staggering.
first 72h care: ~ $2500,-
every day of care after that: ~$500,- per day
tests to find the cancer: $1000-$3000,- depending on how many tests they have to do to find it.
chemo & radiation: ... didn't get hat far, but likely another $3000-5000,-
(and all this after we've already spend around $1500,- in tests and doctor visits)
I've spend the best part of yesterday crying my eyes out, which is something I don't do often. It was in fact the first time in 5 years of marriage that Vanessa saw my cry out of sadness. I loved Tickles, she was the first thing that was wholly mine, after I moved to the united states. I owned other things, but none of them were mine in the fact that they all had parts of something else in them.
Tickles was the first thing that I connect to my American personality, the first thing that was an absolute part of my American identity and this weekend my heart was broken when I had to put her down.
Worst of all though, having the vet tell me that it would be better if we didn't stay for the moment they put her down. As she was so emaciated that it might take the doctor a few tries to get the needle in a vein and she might freak out.
Having a vet tell you that she doesn't want you there because your pet is going to suffer the last moments of her live was the worst thing that has ever happened to me in my live and I really don't know how to deal with that.
The only positive thing I can take from this is that I've found a vet that is actually good to cats and nice to people. Cat Care of Vinings is a good cat place, unlike Lost Mountain where they would have just let us screw around with liquids and slowly let Tickles starve to death.