Sick Cat, Unknown Reason

[arouetta]

I decided to sleep downstairs tonight, to be within earshot of Shadow. Got ready for bed, and remembered my medicine. If I take it, I will almost certainly not wake up on my own and even if I do, my body will behave like I'm really, really drunk, my mind will feel like a lead blanket is on it, my thought process slowed to a crawl and I'll be unable to process novel information. If I don't take it, I'll be sick in four hours from discontinuation, I won't sleep at all, and the sleep deprivation will make me totally useless in evaluating the situation tomorrow.

I decided to compromise with half a dose. Last time I did that I was drifting in and out of sleep all night, so hopefully it'll be a happy medium.

 

[StefanZ]

Its enough they see her leaving in the carrier. Make sure they do see it, esp if its her last journey alive on this earth.

 

[kommunity kats]

You could also bring her body back for them to see & sniff---most of their recognition is done through scent. Then you could take her back to the vet, unless you choose to bury her in your garden (this is not always legal, though).

Our thoughts are with your family & pets. ):

 

[di and bob]

I know how difficult this is, I have a almost seventeen year old who is not doing well. My heart goes out to you, all you can do now is love that precious girl and make her as comfortable as possible. I pray she goes at home, surrounded by those she loves. There is no way to prepare for something like this, it always breaks your heart.
My sweet boy has come to the brink so many times, he has lost half his weight. But somehow he'll do this for a few days and then snaps back. Maybe Shadow will do this too.
Spend as much time as you can with Shadow, give her as much comfort as you can. You have given her 18 years of love, taht is all she wants. Take care.......give her a kiss from me.

 

[arouetta]

15 years di and bob. The vet estimated her age to be 3 when she walked uninvited into my home.

So she refused food and water last night and this morning. Canned tuna is never safe around her, I held a piece to her nose last night and she turned her head away. This morning I put a bowl of water in front of her face, she got up and turned around so her back was to it. Last night I squirted some water in her mouth with an oral syringe and it was clearly disturbing her, making her very upset, her pupils were huge.

I checked for side effects of the buprenex, it wouldn't be making her breathe faster and more heavy. It could be making her more sleepy, but she shouldn't be refusing water on it.

I got really scared last night, somewhere around 4am Midway meowed 5 times. He didn't sound distressed in the slightest, he wasn't loud, but I did have a cat die at home once, the other cat yowled in the middle of the night, probably right when the one cat died. So I was afraid of the meowing. I woke up around 5:30am, stalled getting up for an hour, afraid of what I'd see.

She's lost her b****y meow sometime during the night, it's now soft and plaintive. I slept downstairs last night, I have an electric blanket so I spread it out on the couch and put her on it. That's the thing though, she has almost always jumped right off of any seat or couch if you pick her up and put her on it next to you. She definitely was the "I'll sit with you if I want to" and that wasn't very often. She also didn't struggle when I picked her up and carried her, she was limp, and she has always done her best to squirm her way out of being carried.

I called my husband, he's not sure if he wants to see her like this, not sure he wants to say goodbye. I'm waiting for him to call back and give me his decision.

Yeah I know in theory she could rally, but what if she does? She'll just swing back and forth, being a little better, being pretty bad off. I know I wouldn't want to live like that. I wouldn't want to live with my only fluids being an IV and what someone could force down my mouth. And she hasn't eaten in nearly 24 hours and there was something going on with her liver before that. And she must be in a decent amount of pain, I didn't know what buprenex was until I looked up the side effects this morning.

I figure she must be thirsty so I gave her the subcutaneous fluid this morning. I did something wrong, there was a few drops of blood on her fur after, but the fluid is in the right place and she just lay there peacefully during the whole thing. Maybe I simply had bad luck and go through a surface vessel running through the skin.

As cold as it sounds, I'm going to try to make it into work tonight. I need the distraction, I need to not think about it.

I'm going to use Montressor's carrier again, as she did seem comforted by it. I had worried about the smell of death in it after, but I'll just buy a new one. The Humane Society here does offer cremation service, you have to drop the pet off, so I can leave Midway and Montressor here and spend a few minutes at home with them having the chance to say goodbye their own way.

 

[arouetta]

Please lock this thread.

 

[StefanZ]

RIP Shadow.

Warm hugs, Arouetta.

 

[betsygee]

So very sorry. We'll close the thread now. Shadow's tribute thread is here: It's Over