Where I've been, in Derek's words.
(This is about Yahoo, who is Derek's cat. She's currently doing so-so, but we're hoping she'll continue to improve.)
A few weeks ago my kitty started having some serious problems, that seemed to happen quite quickly. It was getting impossible to get her to eat. She was very weak, and didn't even have the strength to get up and pee. I would have to take her to the litter box every 3 hours and sometimes hold her up while she peed. I really didn't know what to do. Then I noticed that part of face was swollen, and so I took her to the vet. The problem is that the all the vets by my place suck, and so after spending a day researching, I found a vet in the area (well about a half hour away) that seems to specialize in cats and are of good at what they do.
The vet took her in and said he'd give me a call later that day. When he called, he told me that she had a massive abscess in her gum above her top left fang. Normally, he would put her under anesthesia and pull the tooth, but she was so weak and frail that she couldn't be put under. Additionally, she was anemic, meaning her red blood cell count was low. On top of that, she was very underweight, and very dehydrated. To top things off he thought her condition was part of a wasting syndrome, meaning that she probably has cancer.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It's not like I don't take care of my kitty. In fact, I baby her to death. She'd always had trouble eating because she has food allergies to corn and wheat gluten, which is in a lot of store bought cat food, but is no good for them. In fact 95% of the cat food you see in stores are about as good for your cat as twinkies are for you. I had spent a lot of time figuring out what exactly her allergies were from her vomiting certain kinds of food, and had managed to get her on a corn and wheat gluten free diet (rather expensive diet to boot), which had left her without throwing up for quite some time. She'd also always been a picky eater, so it was frequent that she had 6 or 7 bowls of food in front of her to pick from, and still she wasn't eating. Sometimes I'd even break down and buy her KFC or canned tuna to eat, and tear the KFC into kitty bite sized bits. Things are further complicated that she's always been a petite kitty ever since she was a kitten, and for that reason it's always been hard to tell when she is at her optimal weight, much less get her to maintain that weight. Add to that she is 16 now, and cat's digestive systems break down far less of their food than when they were younger, meaning they get less nutrients from their food. Cats have inefficient digestive systems as it is, which is why dogs will sometimes eat cat poop…they can smell the leftover protein.
In any case, the vet suggested that my baby might need to be put down, but I told him that I wanted everything done for her that could be done, unless if she has cancer, which I wouldn't want her to suffer through. The doc informed me that he could very well do that, but treating her could very quickly become expensive and in the end she had a very good chance that she wasn't going to make it. I told him that whatever it took to make her better I'd do it, and so I needed to come back in and put a deposit down. I told him I would. I had already put down $150 before I left. When I got there I put down $500 dollars and told the receptionist, that money isn't an issue. Luckily for me I had savings of 5 grand, and I decided then and there that if it took 5 thousand for her to get better, then I'd spend it.
So the doc cleaned out her abscess, and cleaned it as much as possible mechanically, which I'm guessing means vacuuming out the puss. Unfortunately, half of her gums on the left side of her face was inflamed, which required some serious antibiotics. To make problems worse, her dehydration problems made her constipated, and she had to get a lubricating enema. The vet couldn't add too much fluid to her, despite that she was so dehydrated, because her red blood cell count was so low. Adding too much fluid would dilute the red blood cells she already had, depriving her body of much needed oxygen.
So the vet told me he was going to give her several X-Rays to check and see if she has cancer, and he would give me a call back around 6 pm with the results. This was around noon when he told me this. That was the longest 6 hours of my life. Several times I thought I was going to vomit from just the stress of waiting for the answer. At 6 pm he called and I got the answer: he did NOT find any cancer in the X Rays. I thought I could have pissed my pants I was so relieved. Of course, they would continue treatment, but it looked like she would have to stay overnight for the next couple of days.
The next day the vet called me and said she was going good considering, but she wasn't very interested in eating and seemed quite depressed. So I asked if I could come in and visit her to get her mood up, and he welcomed it, hoping she could eat for me. I came in, and saw her, very frail and cold, but happy to see me. I cradled her up in my arms like I always do and let my body heat keep her warm. She would pass in and out of sleep, but she tried to stay awake to enjoy my company. I put her down from time to time and petted her. They brought in some food and gave me a wooden tongue depressor (really it's a big pop icicle stick) to help her eat. I gave her one spoon full and she nearly broke the tongue depressor in half in her jaws! She eagerly ate the rest of the food without my aid, but I would stir it up and put it into a mound so she could eat it more easily. The one thing I noticed immediately was that the food was quite a different texture. Hell, it even smelled pretty good, and I'm a vegetarian!
The third day the doc called me and said she seemed to have made quite a good recovery, and that she could now come home. She looked a hell of a lot better, that's for sure. The vet had a consultation with me on what she needed to help her get back to health. Unfortunately, at her age, she was what looked like in the early stages on chronic renal failure, which means kidney failure. This was why her red blood cell count got so low, because the kidneys produce a protein that stimulates red blood cell production. To help fix this, they said she would have to come in 3 times a week and get an injection of procrit, a simulated hormone that acts to boost red blood cell count. Ideally, her red blood cell count should be about 35%, and she was at 20%. The vet thought that with her on-going fluid injections her red blood cell count would drop to 17%, but luckily it remained stable at 20%. She would also have to get subcutaneous (under the skin) fluids 3 times a week as well. Additionally, I had to continue her aggressive antibiotics treatment by giving her liquid antibiotics twice a day. Unfortunately, the stuff tastes like your average human cough medicine…at least judging from it's smell. You can imagine how much she liked having that given to her.
I got her home and although she seemed quite weak, she was very happy to be home. At first she was so weak I had to help her up her kitty stairs that I made so she could climb up on the couch with me. She was quite happy to be home, and she was eating like a pig. Luckily, the vet gave me a prescription diet for her to eat that makes things easier on her kidneys. Judging how much she was eating, it tastes pretty damn good too. Because of her infection in her mouth, I couldn't leave any food out for her beyond an hour because of additional bacteria growth. On top of that I had to heat the food up in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds. Older cats often need this because like most senses when you get older, they don't work as well. Cats begin to loose their sense of smell, and so food seems less appetizing. Heating your cat's can food up in the microwave 5-10 seconds seems to do wonders for my baby. Of course you have to remember to stir the food around after it's done cooking so the heat is evenly distributed and it keeps her from being burned when eating.
Since she's been home she has been eating a quarter can of food every 3 hours, and she's gone from 4 pounds even to 4 pounds 6 ounces. After 2 weeks of liquid antibiotics twice daily she's been switched to a twice a week antibiotics pill, which so far she seems to eat just fine in her food. Unfortunately, once she went off the liquid antibiotics she became constipated again because she isn't drinking enough water on her own. So now we're having to add some canned pumpkin to her food to add fiber in her diet and we're adding a little bit of clam juice to her water to encourage her to drink. We're still waiting to see if that fixes her constipation/dehydration issue. Beyond that, my baby is doing very good and regaining strength just about every day. All in all the bills so far have cost me in the neighborhood of $2000, and its been well worth every penny.
A few weeks ago my kitty started having some serious problems, that seemed to happen quite quickly. It was getting impossible to get her to eat. She was very weak, and didn't even have the strength to get up and pee. I would have to take her to the litter box every 3 hours and sometimes hold her up while she peed. I really didn't know what to do. Then I noticed that part of face was swollen, and so I took her to the vet. The problem is that the all the vets by my place suck, and so after spending a day researching, I found a vet in the area (well about a half hour away) that seems to specialize in cats and are of good at what they do.
The vet took her in and said he'd give me a call later that day. When he called, he told me that she had a massive abscess in her gum above her top left fang. Normally, he would put her under anesthesia and pull the tooth, but she was so weak and frail that she couldn't be put under. Additionally, she was anemic, meaning her red blood cell count was low. On top of that, she was very underweight, and very dehydrated. To top things off he thought her condition was part of a wasting syndrome, meaning that she probably has cancer.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It's not like I don't take care of my kitty. In fact, I baby her to death. She'd always had trouble eating because she has food allergies to corn and wheat gluten, which is in a lot of store bought cat food, but is no good for them. In fact 95% of the cat food you see in stores are about as good for your cat as twinkies are for you. I had spent a lot of time figuring out what exactly her allergies were from her vomiting certain kinds of food, and had managed to get her on a corn and wheat gluten free diet (rather expensive diet to boot), which had left her without throwing up for quite some time. She'd also always been a picky eater, so it was frequent that she had 6 or 7 bowls of food in front of her to pick from, and still she wasn't eating. Sometimes I'd even break down and buy her KFC or canned tuna to eat, and tear the KFC into kitty bite sized bits. Things are further complicated that she's always been a petite kitty ever since she was a kitten, and for that reason it's always been hard to tell when she is at her optimal weight, much less get her to maintain that weight. Add to that she is 16 now, and cat's digestive systems break down far less of their food than when they were younger, meaning they get less nutrients from their food. Cats have inefficient digestive systems as it is, which is why dogs will sometimes eat cat poop…they can smell the leftover protein.
In any case, the vet suggested that my baby might need to be put down, but I told him that I wanted everything done for her that could be done, unless if she has cancer, which I wouldn't want her to suffer through. The doc informed me that he could very well do that, but treating her could very quickly become expensive and in the end she had a very good chance that she wasn't going to make it. I told him that whatever it took to make her better I'd do it, and so I needed to come back in and put a deposit down. I told him I would. I had already put down $150 before I left. When I got there I put down $500 dollars and told the receptionist, that money isn't an issue. Luckily for me I had savings of 5 grand, and I decided then and there that if it took 5 thousand for her to get better, then I'd spend it.
So the doc cleaned out her abscess, and cleaned it as much as possible mechanically, which I'm guessing means vacuuming out the puss. Unfortunately, half of her gums on the left side of her face was inflamed, which required some serious antibiotics. To make problems worse, her dehydration problems made her constipated, and she had to get a lubricating enema. The vet couldn't add too much fluid to her, despite that she was so dehydrated, because her red blood cell count was so low. Adding too much fluid would dilute the red blood cells she already had, depriving her body of much needed oxygen.
So the vet told me he was going to give her several X-Rays to check and see if she has cancer, and he would give me a call back around 6 pm with the results. This was around noon when he told me this. That was the longest 6 hours of my life. Several times I thought I was going to vomit from just the stress of waiting for the answer. At 6 pm he called and I got the answer: he did NOT find any cancer in the X Rays. I thought I could have pissed my pants I was so relieved. Of course, they would continue treatment, but it looked like she would have to stay overnight for the next couple of days.
The next day the vet called me and said she was going good considering, but she wasn't very interested in eating and seemed quite depressed. So I asked if I could come in and visit her to get her mood up, and he welcomed it, hoping she could eat for me. I came in, and saw her, very frail and cold, but happy to see me. I cradled her up in my arms like I always do and let my body heat keep her warm. She would pass in and out of sleep, but she tried to stay awake to enjoy my company. I put her down from time to time and petted her. They brought in some food and gave me a wooden tongue depressor (really it's a big pop icicle stick) to help her eat. I gave her one spoon full and she nearly broke the tongue depressor in half in her jaws! She eagerly ate the rest of the food without my aid, but I would stir it up and put it into a mound so she could eat it more easily. The one thing I noticed immediately was that the food was quite a different texture. Hell, it even smelled pretty good, and I'm a vegetarian!
The third day the doc called me and said she seemed to have made quite a good recovery, and that she could now come home. She looked a hell of a lot better, that's for sure. The vet had a consultation with me on what she needed to help her get back to health. Unfortunately, at her age, she was what looked like in the early stages on chronic renal failure, which means kidney failure. This was why her red blood cell count got so low, because the kidneys produce a protein that stimulates red blood cell production. To help fix this, they said she would have to come in 3 times a week and get an injection of procrit, a simulated hormone that acts to boost red blood cell count. Ideally, her red blood cell count should be about 35%, and she was at 20%. The vet thought that with her on-going fluid injections her red blood cell count would drop to 17%, but luckily it remained stable at 20%. She would also have to get subcutaneous (under the skin) fluids 3 times a week as well. Additionally, I had to continue her aggressive antibiotics treatment by giving her liquid antibiotics twice a day. Unfortunately, the stuff tastes like your average human cough medicine…at least judging from it's smell. You can imagine how much she liked having that given to her.
I got her home and although she seemed quite weak, she was very happy to be home. At first she was so weak I had to help her up her kitty stairs that I made so she could climb up on the couch with me. She was quite happy to be home, and she was eating like a pig. Luckily, the vet gave me a prescription diet for her to eat that makes things easier on her kidneys. Judging how much she was eating, it tastes pretty damn good too. Because of her infection in her mouth, I couldn't leave any food out for her beyond an hour because of additional bacteria growth. On top of that I had to heat the food up in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds. Older cats often need this because like most senses when you get older, they don't work as well. Cats begin to loose their sense of smell, and so food seems less appetizing. Heating your cat's can food up in the microwave 5-10 seconds seems to do wonders for my baby. Of course you have to remember to stir the food around after it's done cooking so the heat is evenly distributed and it keeps her from being burned when eating.
Since she's been home she has been eating a quarter can of food every 3 hours, and she's gone from 4 pounds even to 4 pounds 6 ounces. After 2 weeks of liquid antibiotics twice daily she's been switched to a twice a week antibiotics pill, which so far she seems to eat just fine in her food. Unfortunately, once she went off the liquid antibiotics she became constipated again because she isn't drinking enough water on her own. So now we're having to add some canned pumpkin to her food to add fiber in her diet and we're adding a little bit of clam juice to her water to encourage her to drink. We're still waiting to see if that fixes her constipation/dehydration issue. Beyond that, my baby is doing very good and regaining strength just about every day. All in all the bills so far have cost me in the neighborhood of $2000, and its been well worth every penny.