Etta has taken a turn for the worst

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laura mae

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It's 6:44 AM. Waiting for the vet to open and I'll be taking Etta in. I think the fluid in her abdomen is pushing against her diaphram and making it hard for her to breath comfortably.  She's had two drainings of her abdomen, the last of which was a week ago. 

Her blood count at that appointment showed lowered red blood cells and hemoglobin--so I worry that it has gone down even more.  She'd been on a liquid vitamin complex that has iron and B vitamins along with her thyroid meds, Atenolol, prednisolone and pentoxifylline.  The last is something that one use is anemia...so obviously that's not working. 

Last test of her abdominal fluid showed more cells but the same sort of make up as before neutrophils, reactive mesothelial cells and some macrophages. The fancy cytology report said "modified transudates" for the fluid but last sample seemed different.

I suspect the worst for my Etta. I love that cat. 
 

betsygee

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I'm so sorry, how worrying for you.  Please let us know how it goes at the vet's.  Sending good 
 for you both.
 
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laura mae

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I dropped her off at 7:45 AM. The receptionist thinks they will be able to see her at 10. Her breathing isn't any worse than last night, but she was starting to hide in the closet which she never does.

Even though it was unpleasant for her, I made sure she still got the thyroid med dose with her pet-tinic. I figured the thyroid stuff was the most important of the 4 things I have to give her. Wrote all that down for the drop off sheet.

I didn't want to force the other medication into her if this is her last day.

She came up by me on the bed last night which she hasn't been doing because that's the best surface for me to towel wrap her and give her the medications. Even though they are liquid, she moves her head back and forth to avoid getting it so I still have to wrap her.  So the bed was no longer a comfy place. But last night she came and laid down by my head for a while for comfort.

I've done everything I can short of agreeing to exploratory surgery for cancer.
 
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laura mae

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For now they are going to drain some of the fluid again and check her red blood counts. The vet said "this is about all we can do for her now."  They have her on oxygen because she is having a tough time breathing.

I really had hoped the prednisolone and the pentoxil/trental would have helped along with the thyroid medication. She has been on Atenolol too for fast heart beat but once the thyroid medication was at the right level that would take care of the fast heart beat.

Overall she's very bony. None of the tests show cancer per se but she has that look physically. I thought maybe it was because of the thyroid.

While she was part of the heard of stray kittens we took in 13 years ago, I've tried to feed them right. High end canned food and kibble for snack. I wonder deeply about the can linings and hyperthyroid and if I would have been better off with dry food (despite the issues with hydration).

Her kidneys are excellent. So were Charlies. In fact the day Charlie was put to sleep in July (Etta's litter mate) she had excellent blood work. Just a big fat tumor in her abdomen.
 

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So many :hugs: to you. Thinking of you and your sweet girl Etta.
 
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laura mae

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Etta is gone. The vet tried two things to relieve her breathing difficulty. First she went to drain some of her abdominal fluid and interestingly there wasn't much. But the skin outside of her belly was like jelly. We both thought it was fluid. It wasn't. The vet hadn't ever seen anything like that. In any case there was less than 100 ml of fluid. She checked her chest to see if there was fluid there and there wasn't. 

Her blood test showed that her red blood cells were still about where they were last week so it wasn't something with her anemia. She was on 6 hours of oxygen therapy and when I talked to the vet she said that Etta just wasn't improving. It was her opinion that there probably was cancer that hat metastized to her lungs----going back to July and the ultra sound showing nodules on her omentum. 

I wanted to be there with her when she passed and so the appointment was at 6:15 PM. It's so weird to wait for that. It was weird to wait for that with Charlie in July too.  Oddly I had to get more cat food for the others and return a beam saw to an equipment rental store so I did those errands and waited thinking of all my memories with Etta.

They brought her to me to spend about 15 minutes with her. It was a real struggle for her to be off the oxygen. She meowed the best she could and it was a crackly short sound. Her eyes weren't dilated so she wasn't scared (she knows the vet people and the vet techs and so she was okay.   I told her I loved her and that we loved that she was our little pest and that she no longer had to worry about me giving her all the medicines. I apologized for doing that twice a day but we had to try everything to help her.  The people at the clinic were sad too because she was such a great cat. She was a tuxedo (my profile picture) She had a lightning strip on her lower back left leg. She was such a character.

Last night she came up and laid down by my head one last time. I knew then. I'm so sad. I'm so relieved she isn't struggling any more. 
 

betsygee

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So very sorry to read this.  On behalf of the TCS Team, we offer our condolences.  We'll lock the thread now out of respect for your loss, and invite you to post a tribute to your sweet Etta in our Crossing the Bridge forum.  
 
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