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- Aug 16, 2018
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Buttons was overweight her whole life. I tried to put her on a diet a few times but she loved food so much she would bite at my ankles from wanting to eat so I let her eat as she wanted most times. She always had stomach issues her whole life, she would often get sick for a few days and be throwing up. Every vet visit was clear except for a couple UTI's early on in her life so I usually just waited for it to clear. This week was different. I am only 21 and currently moved into my boyfriend's mom while we wait to get our house, we pretty much stay fully upstairs so Buttons mained the downstairs and was taken care of by my boyfriend's mom (She feeds them all down there, there is a whole cat room for our babies). A few days ago she mentioned to me Buttons seemed sick again. I didn't think much of it, I was worried but figured same old stuff. Two days ago I felt her nose and it was so dry, she was lethargic and acting worse than her usual sickness. So I scheduled her for the vet. Banfield Pet Hospital like my mom always took our pets and I've always taken mine. Those little ones inside Petsmart. When we were called into the room I set Buttons up on the table and she just didn't care about anything. Within moments the vet said she was yellow and based on everything she thought it was fatty liver disease. I didn't really know what that meant, and I definitely wasn't going to just believe her so I let her do all her tests. $550 and about 20 minutes later I find out that yes, she has fatty liver disease "hepatic lipidosis." She tells me the care is hospitalization and the first night will be $1,500, averaging about $1,000 a day after that, and if she makes it the care will take 4-7 days and then outpatient therapy as well with them. As a 21 year old, my immediate thoughts were not great. I talked it over with the vet for a long while and told her I was going to wait on my decision, clarifying that there was no way Buttons would just like "die overnight" and I had time. After hours of research (which is how I discovered this site, this site helped me so much) I found I could syringe feed her back to health at home. I was so excited! I even went and talked it over with the vet and she said yes it's possible but not recommended because of aspiration pneumonia. I read up over 10 success stories and people made it seem so easy. I went home with all my supplies and began the syringe feeding every 2 hours, starting slow so she wouldn't get sick. I set alarms on my phone for the intervals. Every time I did it she seemed worse, fought it more, and not feeling better. I wasn't surprised based on what I read and had every intention of continuing. Until about 6 AM that morning. No one warned me the syringes get looser. I had kind of found the perfect way to get it into her mouth by angling it from the side as the web suggested and squirting quickly 1 ML at a time so she couldn't spit it out but it wouldn't choke her or anything. I don't know what happened, I had 10 ML loaded in this syringe and 5 of them just randomly disappeared into the abyss of her mouth when I didn't do anything different. She immediately coughed and looked at me strange so I set her down, she sat up like she would be sick. Okay good she's going to throw it up, I thought while panicking. A few minutes later she laid down and let out a quiet, drawn out, miserable meow followed by several raspy breaths. I freaked the hell out. I called my bf's mom and told her what happened she said she's aspirating. I call the vet up the street and tell them and they tell me I just have to bring her in. I decide to wait a little bit to be sure it wouldn't just clear up, my boyfriend's mom was about to be home anyway. It didn't clear up. I checked every 20 mins and she would just lay there quietly and if she did make sounds it was the raspy breaths. I bawled my eyes out feeling like I killed my cat. Finally rushed her to the vet and he only charged me $100 or so to tell me about her liver issues (granted I got the previous tests faxed over so it makes sense). He then proceeded to tell me he could hospitalize her overnight for $200. Two Hundred. That was nothing compared to my previous quote. He said we would give her 24 hours and see if she improved, but he wasn't feeling great about it. So of course I did! He also told me he listened to her lungs and he was SURE she wasn't aspirating and there was absolutely nothing in there. That doesn't make any sense to me and I think he might have known she was probably going to die and didn't want me to feel the guilt, but I hope not. I'll never know. He told me if anything happened he would call me, and if not to call back at 4 PM (24 hours from the time of care). I went in and loved on her, sad little face laying still on the heated blanket with her arm in a cast for the IV. Honestly, it looked pretty comfortable. The most comfortable I'd seen her in a week. I told her I loved her and I'd be back soon. I struggled that day yesterday, I had to go have some drinks to calm my anxiety. Finally time for bed and I set my phone so loud. I kept waking up hourly checking if I missed a call and was relieved everytime. 7:45 AM on the dot, I hear the ringtone I never hear because my phone is always on vibrate. My heart sank. Maybe it was just a scam call or a debt collector or something. Hello? Hi this is Doctor Blah Blah, I have some bad news. A piece of me was relieved because the way the vet was talking, I was going to have to put her down today anyway. I tried my best to stay realistic but man, I really was hoping for a miracle. He said it was peaceful and she just kind of fell asleep, she actually made it over the night but this morning she just couldn't. Half of me feels like I gave her my all, I invested as much as I could into this and was willing to go all the way with the care if I had to. I am filled with guilt for not finding this hospital sooner and even attempting the at home care. I know it's not my fault and it's bad to do the whole "what if's" but my heart can't help it. She was only 7 and a half. One thing that has me feeling okay is she seemed to have so many health problems, even if I had saved her this time it probably wouldn't have been long at all until we were right back there. I am sorry for the long post, I don't have anyone to share these feelings with and this forum helped me through a lot when I was freaking out trying to care for her. RIP Buttons, Oct 2010-Aug 2018. My butt butt, my lil butterbean. </3
Buttons is the one on the right side of the picture, the Maine Coon.
I am posting this because I find it comforting and I'm hoping someone might have some words to help me, if not, thanks for the read.
Buttons is the one on the right side of the picture, the Maine Coon.
I am posting this because I find it comforting and I'm hoping someone might have some words to help me, if not, thanks for the read.
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