siredbyspike
Initiative Soldier
Love's Bint
[Mo0:13]
Posts: 387
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Post by siredbyspike on Nov 22, 2008 13:40:06 GMT -5
Wow, where do I even begin? I have had the worst week ever! One morning at around 6am, my 8 year old cat is lying limp on the floor gasping/choking for air. His eyes are wild, pupils dilated alot. He is drooling. He is an inside only cat, and like a child to me...so at this point you can bet i am freaking out. At first i thought maybe he had gotten into something that poisoned him during the night. My next move was to open his mouth and look into his throat to see if he was choking on something. He wasn't. I try to call 3 different vets around my area. Only one had an emergency number. I woke that one up, and she wasn't happy about it. Which, in turn pissed me off. I mean, c'mon lady my cat looks like he's dying here, and you want some beauty sleep or what? I understand that not everybody who calls the emergency number has an actual life or death emergency and that could be the source of her annoyance, as well as working long hours...but i quickly explain my cats symptoms, and emphasize the fact that "i don't think he can get any air" and she still is hateful toned. She condescendingly proceeds to tell me i can try to come on up, the tech is in the office and she will be in later, but she doesn't think the cat will make the drive there because they got 3 inches of snow the night before. I just hang up, feeling helpless, feeling guilty because Nermal is laying there suffering so and i don't know how to help him. I call my vet and leave a message on the machine explaining what is happening. I call the last vet around my podunk town, and his receptionist tells me that he doesn't take emergency cases, he doesn't take patients that he has never seen before, and gives me a number to an emergency clinic an hour and a half away. I can't even tell you the curse words that flew outta my mouth at that point. Are you kidding me? No one wants to help? I bawl and pace and call my vet and leave so many messages that i finally hear "inbox full" when i call the next time. At this point my cat is going to die while i am making stupid decisions trying to figure out if i should risk the trip to the emergency clinic, or try and wait until my vet opens. Finally, my vet calls me back and tells me to bring him up...and has a harsh tone in his voice like i have bothered him for something small. What the hell? So me and my boyfriend get the cat up there and on to the exam table, the vet says "you weren't far off the mark on the phone when you said he was dying". His temp was dangerously low, he was ice cold to the touch. He didn't even flinch when the vet stuck the thermometer up there, if that tells you how sick he was. So the vet tells me he had to run some x-rays, and see what was up, but he could hear that he had no lower lung function and if he had to drain fluid off of them he would never make it through the anesthesia, and may not make it through the handling of getting the x-ray. He says the cat is on death's door. So i speak the words i really don't want to and ask if we should help him along, because i do not want my baby to be in any more pain if there's no chance, (but i don't know if i could possibly put him to sleep either.) The vet misunderstands me and says "oh yeah we can help him i think, he may pull through". Ok, i am sooo confused, and full of so many emotions, now i have hope. Hope is good, please don't let it be false hope! So he makes me go home and puts Nermal in a heated cage and tells me "no news is good news, i will call you with an update after the tests." So after much suspense and freaking out, i will spare you all that and say that it turns out in was pneumonia, possibly brought on by choking on a piece of food at some point a while back, we don't know for sure. He had to stay two nights at the vet's on antibiotics and glucose, and we finally got to bring him home 2 days ago. At first he wouldn't eat and slept alot, and drank massive amounts of water..but yesterday he ate, and walked around a little, and even jumped on the couch to snuggle onto my lap. He is also trying to fight us when we give him his meds now, which is a good sign he's feeling better, lol. He is still having a little trouble breathing, but i think he is almost out of the woods. I actually got some sleep finally last night, and i thought i would post because i needed somebody to vent to!! I feel so awful that how could i not have seen this coming, but he had no symptoms at all until that horrible day that he could barely lift his head up to look at me. I am also still angry at those vets even though i probably shouldn't be. All i know is that i am so glad he made it, he was pretty spoiled before, but now it just might get to a ridiculous level. I hope i don't turn into one of those cat ladies!!!
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Post by wenxina on Nov 22, 2008 13:49:33 GMT -5
Hey! Good to hear that Nermal is on the mend. That's pretty freaky stuff, and I understand how you must have felt; I have a dog who is probably just as spoiled.
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Post by Skytteflickan88 on Nov 22, 2008 13:52:05 GMT -5
That vet-she-dog. Why does she have an emergency-number if she dislikes handling emergencies? And if that other vet only sees old patients, why is number available to the public?
And yes, your vet could be a bit cranky that you filled the inbox, but you were worried. i hope he didn't make you feel bad.
I'm glad that you're cat is okay. I know the feeling, my cat was sick just a few months ago and my family was talking about killing him even before they had called the vet!
He's find now, he just needed some meds and a different kind of food, but i definitly thought that he would die, so i know a bit of what you felt.
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siredbyspike
Initiative Soldier
Love's Bint
[Mo0:13]
Posts: 387
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Post by siredbyspike on Nov 22, 2008 14:01:46 GMT -5
Thanks you two! Yeah i am wondering if i should make some phone calls and complain about the vet-she-dog. And sorry that i got carried away posting and forgot the space bar existed!!! That is one honkin hella-mess of words up there!
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darkdahlia
Respected Watcher
http://thedahliapost.blogspot.com/[Mo0:24]
Posts: 584
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Post by darkdahlia on Nov 22, 2008 20:35:55 GMT -5
god that space bar is so needed, but I understand lol anyway I would report the vets to an animal wellness committee if you have one. There should always be available emergency help for animals. Thankfully I live in a large city so there are about 3 animal ER's within 6 minutes of my home for Kitty Foreman and Sandra Dee In the future though, even if you're worried, NEVER fill up a doctors inbox. the most you should leave is 2 messages. If someone else had a problem with their pet after you'd filled their inbox..that pet is USC without a paddle..ya knooooow? But I'm glad your baby is safe at home with parents that care! I know when my kitty had a big ole gash in her chin (you could see tendons) that I wanted to run over all the neighborhood cats that may have done it!!!
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Post by Jsebold87 on Nov 22, 2008 21:44:25 GMT -5
I totally understand what you're going through. My two kitties are like children to me, so naturally whenever something goes wrong with them I start to panick and worry.
Last year my younger cat Scooby had a tiny little cut on his back paw, which we never noticed until it started to swell up. One night he was fine, no swelling and then the next morning his foot was swollen 2 times the size it was supposed to be. It was Sunday and the vet clinics were closed for the day. We had to give an emergency call to the first local vet we could get a number for. Which he answered the phone right away, thank goodness. I was so worried that we weren't going to be able to get ahold of anyone to help us out.
When we took him in the vet said that the foot was infected really badly, and that if we had waited another day it would have gotten into his blood stream and he would have died. So thank God for him answering his phone.
Both of my cats go outside on occasion. Scooby stays out a lot more than Moony does, Moony is more of an inside cat. Moony just goes outside to use the bathroom and sit on our fence in the warmer months. Scooby, on the other hand is a bit wild, he'll stay out for hours and hours at a time. We unfortunately didn't fix Scooby yet, which is part of the problem, but when I can afford it next year we will get it done, I really want to get him tamed down a bit.
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Post by luna on Nov 23, 2008 3:34:10 GMT -5
Awwww, Jess.......I feel so bad about him being ill. I know what your going through my kitties have been way sick before too. I am glad he is okay and I hope him all the best. Much Love from Ohio.
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siredbyspike
Initiative Soldier
Love's Bint
[Mo0:13]
Posts: 387
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Post by siredbyspike on Dec 12, 2008 4:49:29 GMT -5
I feel so horrible, so this post isn't going to be very long. I just wanted to update this thread with the awful couple of days i had. Unfortunately, my cat started having trouble breathing again...my vet was on vacation for a week so i had to drive for an hour to go to an emergency clinic. They took x-rays and his heart was enlarged to human size. It looked so freaking big, it was hard to comprehend. And all i could think about was on the Grinch that stole Xmas the line about his heart growing three sizes that day or whatever. This is what caused the fluid on the lungs apparently. The prognosis was that he had a murmur, because of the enlargement which they said was a heart condition that usually starts in cats around age 5. Nermal's 8..so this could have been hiding in him for quite a while unknown. They said several things could cause it- overactive thyroid being the first thing they guessed, but wouldn't be sure until they did blood work. So he stayed that night on oxygen therapy, and they said he was in heart failure, but in a couple days they could get him stabilized enough with meds to send home. I did research online about it all night that night, and the best case scenario was he could make it up to a year. But at what quality of life was undetermined. Usually with cats they are so stoic about sickness that they never show symptoms until it's pretty much too late. There was also the chance that any stress to him (which giving meds practically traumatized him) would cause his heart to pump too fast and kill him. If his heart slowed too much he could possibly throw a clot and be paralyzed in the hind legs and tail. The next day my boyfriend and i made the most horrible decision ever, a decision i will regret forever even if it was the right thing to do. We decided not to put him through any suffering or progression of this illness, and put him to sleep. It has practically killed me. When we showed up to the vet to hang out with him and say goodbye, he was so happy to see us that as long as i kept my hand on him he ate. It was tuna, his favorite. And right as the vet came into the room he bit the crap out of her...she will definately have a scar. These things made it even harder. I have the biggest void in me now. That is all i can type about it right now. I just wanted to let this out, and to let everybody know that if my prescence is scarce here for awhile, i am taking time to try to heal. It's gonna be so hard, he was an inside only cat and any minute i was sitting down, he was there on my lap. He used to come running any time he would hear the Buffy theme because he knew that meant mommy would be parked in front of the t.v for quite awhile lol. It will be hard to sleep without him. I did get some of his fur that they shaved and sealed it up and put it in my locket so he will always be close to my heart. That's about all i can handle to type right now.
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Post by Emmie on Dec 12, 2008 5:18:11 GMT -5
Oh I'm so sorry, sweetie. That's just awful. Poor baby. I have two cats myself and it just breaks my heart to read about what happened to your baby Nermal. I'm tearing up thinking about what you went through - it's such a horrible loss. My thoughts are with you.
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BennyTheKey
Ensouled Vampire
The one and only, Benny[Mo0:4]
Posts: 1,023
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Post by BennyTheKey on Dec 12, 2008 6:52:24 GMT -5
Awww no I'm so sorry to read this. I hope you feel better in time <33
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Post by Skytteflickan88 on Dec 12, 2008 7:45:24 GMT -5
I am so sorry for you. I've gone though the same thing with my dog, Skorpan(=Rusky).
She was part german schäfer, and as with that kind of breed, they often get problems with their hips and need to got to sleep, and almost any german schäfer we've gotten we've had to put down, so this wasn't totally out of the blue, but only with one of our dogs, Skorpan, was I there, holding and patting until she feel asleep. It must have been so hard for you.
You're very strong for acting so quickly. I'm sorry to say that we let our dog suffer longer. And it gets better. Even if you're going to cry everytime you see a cat that looks like him for years and years.
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Post by Spike's Slayer on Dec 12, 2008 13:31:25 GMT -5
Im so sorry for your loss, siredbyspike, I know what its like to lose a beloved pet. Hope you feel better, with time.
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Iceeh★
Bad Ass Wicca
Also, Angels.
Somewhere, along in the bitterness.[Mo0:7]
Posts: 2,298
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Post by Iceeh★ on Dec 13, 2008 5:25:43 GMT -5
Oh my goodness... I am so incredibly sorry about your precious cat Your story made me tear up D: -big hug- I have cats of my own that I love more than life, and I can't imagine anything happening to them. This must be so hard for you <33333
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Post by Rebecca on Dec 23, 2008 16:34:53 GMT -5
Oh, I hope you feel better soon, sweetie. I went through something similar 18 months ago with my cat of 15 years. I was away at school and she threw a clot in her hind leg. By the time I got home (an hour away) she was at the vet and her leg was cold. We made the decision to let her go, it was the hardest thing I've ever done. I still get teary when I see a picture of her.
Thank god my mother got another cat. He looks exactly like Trouble, and has the same personality too. It's actually kinda freaky how similar they are. I hope to steal him away from my mother as soon as I get a place that will allow animals. I've decided that loving another kitty will help myself heal a bit. I hope you do too.
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