The Everything Pet Thread
Posted by biodancer on Jul 04, 2008 · Member since Jul 2007 · 978 posts
I wanted to start this thread to be all about our pets. Ask questions, help answer questions, tell a funny story about something your cat/dog/ferret/bird/rat, etc did, update everyone on your pet's health, tell us about a new pet, vent, grieve, laugh, etc. I know I'll be posting here a lot and I hope you'll join me!
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Oh god, Shell, I'm so sorry. So what happens now?
So sorry Shell.
I randomly cried today for Gary. I tried to explain I was upset for a cat and they thought it was my cat. I explained that Gary used to live in England and now lives in New Zealand. They kind of didn't understand why I was so upset for a cat I never met in person and they kind of understood that she is so extra special that distance doesn't make a difference.
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erin - How did administering the drops go?
I'm so sorry Shelloid. My heart goes out to you and Gary :'(
Sorry for being awol but here's and update on Gary. I've just spent a while typing out an email to my dad, so a copy and paste of that I'm afraid:
'Over the last maybe week her appetite had decreased - still eating just not quite as much. So I decided to take her to the vet just to check - this was Tuesday night.
Anyway, he checked her over physically and couldn't really see much or feel much - her teeth looked a bit manky but probably not enough to put her off her food. So I decided to go for a full blood and urine test to get more detail. The results came back last night and it's bad news I'm afraid....she has severe kidney failure and it's a build up of the toxins that have caused her appetite to go. She is still eating bits but over the past 2 days it's really decreased. And today has been even worse.
We have got some famotidine tablets for her to try to reduce the amount of stomach acid as that may be making her nauseous, and so the tablets may make her eat a bit more. Apart from that I'm not sure what else we want to do. There's options of anabolic steroid injections to stimulate the appetite, which would be the next step and then probably onto subcutaneous fluids.
But we're trying to think of the cat here and not us just wanting her to stay with us, and I think we both agree that the injections and fluids and stuff wouldn't really be the best for her comfort. Yeah it may stimulate her appetite but is it really going to make her suffer less. I think the stress of taking her to the vets for injections is just not worth it.
We'll try the tablets and see what happens. Niall had the fun last night of finding out how difficult it is getting a cat to take tablets! That was at least mildy amusing (through my tears)....he hid it in a bit of food and gave it to Gary, who wolfed it down. Niall was well pleased until the cat got out of her bed...to leave the tablet behind! He then tried to force it down her neck and down it went. Then she stood up and there was the tablet. Seriously it was like some magic trick with the great disappearing reappearing tablet.
So, anyway - in terms of how she is in herself. I haven't noticed that she's lost weight (yet), her coat is still glossy, she's still behaving normally (so yes, still a fussy, bossy madam). I have noticed that she is drinking more now too, which is a sign of kidney failure too, but at least she's still drinking.
We're going to get her all her special treats to entice her to eat. Chicken, tuna and such like. Niall is currently feeding her some chicken and she's is pretty fair going for it.
Anyway, the vet really can't say how much longer she's got left, but we're not really expecting too much longer to be honest. It's all come as a bit of a shock, because she is just so well in herself and normal.'
I'm feeling better about it all now. I wasn't at work, but when I got home, Gary was just so normal that I think it's best just to carry on and be normal with her. After all she's still alive now, so I should be happy for that. As Niall said when I was crying over it last night 'she was always dying, and we knew it. Everyone is dying as soon as they are born, but now we know Gary's is soon-ish we can at least we can appreciate her more than if it was sudden'
Thank you for sharing this, shell. I can't even imagine how hard it must be to get news like this, especially when there weren't even other signs that anything was wrong. I am so sorry. But I'm glad that you're feeling a bit better now and will be able to enjoy the time you still have together. And that magic reappearing tablet sure is impressive. Hugs to you and cuddles to Gary. xoxox
oh, Shell, I'm so sorry about Gary. How old is she? This makes me so sad.
erin - How did administering the drops go?
we don't get them until tomorrow, but then the vet wants to discuss how the trial will work, so I'm not sure when we'll start it all.
we have no real idea how old Gary is. We've had her 6 years and was told that she was 3 when we got her, nut from her mannerisms I think she was much older when we got her.
The vet we saw last year thought she was over 10 and the vet this week said she appeared to be a cat well past 10 but couldn't really say much more than that.
We tried giving her a tablet crushed and dispersed in water last night before wee went out but we used too much water and couldn't get much of it down. We'll try with less water today.
But bad news is last night when she was giving us the usual 2 mins of attention in bed, we noticed she has a bald patch on her neck. She definitely didn't have that at the beginning of the week. Poopy.
Again.... Shell, I'm so sorry you, N and Gary are going through this difficult time.
I'm so sorry Shell. I'm not sure how much I shared here about my first cat, Magic, but he was 5 years old when he developed congestive heart failure and started vomiting foamy blood. We were told he could live for a few years if we kept up with his pills (several a day, every day, for the rest of his life). He died while we were giving him a pill. Our other cat, Splash, went a few months later. He was 13, and stopped eating. He seemed to have a mystery illness. He let us know when his last night was, and we all spent some time petting and hugging him, and he went in his sleep.
I'm really hoping that Gary can get better! I know you'll do the right thing by putting her interests first. At the very least, I'm sure she's enjoying the chicken and tuna!
Oh, I'm so sorry Shell. My Rajah passed away in Jan '10 due to kidney failure and his story was similar to Gary's... very normal, didn't show any signs previously. I hope that Gary gets better and if not, she will pass peacefully and knowing that you love her very much.
(((Shell, Gary & N)))
Erin, have you tried the drops yet? How did it go?
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Well, it's amazing how quickly Gary has gone downhill. It's almost as if now she knows we know she's ill, she can just be ill properly and not have to act normal (if that makes sense).
When the vet told me on Thursday about her diagnosis, she said to phone back on Monday (tomorrow) to discuss if the tablets work and next options. I thought I wouldn't have to phone as Gary really wasn't showing many symptoms and was still eating. Now I know I will need to contact the vet tomorrow to see what to do next.
Also, when I first told N on Thursday he just couldn't see that we'd have to make the horrible decision about euthanasia within the next month. Whereas now we're both resigned to the fact it will probably be within the next couple of weeks.
I emailed my dad about her yesterday (it was a friend of a friend of dad's that had her previously) and he found out that actually her previous owner had had her for four or more years and that she was at least 18 months old when he got her. So that puts her at at least 12 years old, and dad thinks she may even be as old as 15. Which makes more sense about her kidneys, if she's that old.
Anyway, sorry to keep this thread on a downer, but wanted to get it off my chest.
I randomly cried today for Gary. I tried to explain I was upset for a cat and they thought it was my cat. I explained that Gary used to live in England and now lives in New Zealand. They kind of didn't understand why I was so upset for a cat I never met in person and they kind of understood that she is so extra special that distance doesn't make a difference.
....and if someone walks in on me right now, I'll have to try to explain this very thing. :'(
I'm so sorry about Gary, Shell. Seems like You're doing the right thing by focusing on Gary's comfort and happiness and not doing all kinds of painful things to keep her alive. I hope some sort of recovery is possible...6 years just doesn't seem like enough time to have such a special cat friend, but I guess no one can be picky about that kind of thing...
I'm feeling better about it all now. I wasn't at work, but when I got home, Gary was just so normal that I think it's best just to carry on and be normal with her. After all she's still alive now, so I should be happy for that. As Niall said when I was crying over it last night 'she was always dying, and we knew it. Everyone is dying as soon as they are born, but now we know Gary's is soon-ish we can at least we can appreciate her more than if it was sudden'
...too true.
Two of the family cats, Cinnamon and Super Buffet, are around 15 years old and have just recently gotten bald patches in their fur. :-\ They're both eating less lately, and they're almost certainly nearing their respective ends. We're all just trying to accept the fact that life-extending vet treatments would be too costly and painful for them; and at this point, it wouldn't be fair to them to keep them with Us longer than their bodies are willing to stay.
Euthanasia is such a painful thing for Us to endure, but of course that's all meant to spare Our little friends the extra pain they'd have to live with. ....I still hope Gary can get better, because I'm stubborn like that. But whatever happens, We're here for You!
((HUGS)) to everyone!
thank you or your kind words, CW.
How's Gary doing? Give her a big kiss from me - the kind that will leave her so nonplussed that it take her a moment to become fully indignant.
ok, so my last post was pessimistic or Gary was just having a lazy weekend!
I really thought she was getting more and more lethargic over the weekend, and maybe she was. Or maybe she was just cold and wanted to curl up.
I'm kinda gong with the cold theory......we had a heater on for a bit on ?Saturday morning. Later on in the day I find Gary sitting in front of the (now turned off) heater in an attempt to keep warm. Silly girl. She did that quite a bit last winter too.
I got home from work today and she did the usual running to the front door to see who it is and then run away straight away once she saw it was me.
She is eating a bit - tuna which is her favourite. Nearly a tin a day. I phoned the vet today and she said not to do anything at the moment as it seems like she's doing ok (Gary that is, not the vet). She suggested getting some scales and weighing Gary every so often to monitor her.
So we'll keep an eye on her, and keep you all updated.
Well, Gary seems to be doing pretty good right now. I like this news!
So yeah, just keep on with regular weigh-ins and pet-ins, and keep Us posted. :)
I miss my babies :'(
I miss my babies :'(
They are probaby missing you too. Maybe you can have someone put the phone by their ears, so you can tell you love them :^
I think I have good news!!!
We started Jonah on the antibiotic on Saturday - we have the drops for the diabetes, but I didn't feel comfortable doing everything at once even though the vet said it was fine - so we have been just doing the antibiotics. We noticed he's been drinking a lot less water, so we started measuring it. He went from drinking an average of 8 cups a day to 4!!! So I texted the vet this morning about it - she said that he might have had some sort of urinary infection and thats why he was drinking so much - so we have to keep him on the antibiotics for a full 4 weeks then take a urine sample in for testing....I'm really hoping that's all it was! Although it makes me mad that we've spent $1000 on a urinary tract infection....
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