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- Dec 27, 2017
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Sorry this is long but it's been a long stressful, sad two months for me...My 9 year old cat who I was more attached to than anything has always had a vomiting issue. When I did tests at the vet several years ago, nothing significant came up so just continued to try different foods and I seemed to have found one he did better with, only vomiting a couple times a month usually....up until beginning of last month, he all of a sudden vomited 4 days in a row and then acted very lethargic, not bothering to eat all day.
I took to the vet the very next day and they did blood work finding him to have very high liver values and pancreatitis. They gave him antinausea medicine, fluids, antibiotic shot, and suggested easy to digest food. Initially after returning home he seemed to perk up and eat some but then the next few days he again wasn't eating. I took back to the vet and left over night so they could monitor him giving him fluids thru an IV. At this point the vet noticed he started to show signs of jaundice. This was on a Friday and they were only open a half day on Saturday so I picked him up the next day and they said I could either transfer him to the emergency vet to continue care or I could care for him at home with giving subcutaneous fluids, which I chose to do myself.
For the next week he continued to do okay. Eating at least a little bit, tho not nearly as much as he used to. Otherwise was active, seeming normal as far as roaming around the house, using his scratching post. I brought back to the vet a week later to redo bloodwork hopeful I would see improvement. Liver values did improve slightly but were still very high and he was still jaundiced. I got discouraged with current vet because he didn't seem to have many suggestions for treatment.
Everything I started giving him (milk thistle, denamarin, appetite stimulant...was all from my own research.) So I took him to a second vet for another opinion. Second vet held off on doing new tests and just looked at blood work done from 1st vet. She had me give more subcutaneous fluids, two different antibiotics and also gave him pain medication...By this point my cat was no longer eating again so I started syringe feeding. He was actually very cooperative with the syringe feeding and I managed to work up to giving him a can and a half a day.
This went on for about 3 weeks...syringe feeding, fluids, antibiotics, supplements....He continuad to not eat tho and jaundice appeared to be getting worse. After a month having gone by since last blood work was done, 2nd vet did new blood work....some liver values had improved but others got worse, bilirubin was extremely high now, now had anemia, she also ran test for FELV, FIV, and FIP. First two negative but he did have a high FIP titer....at this point the vet suspected he did probably have FIP and nothing could be done.
I left crying but continued to hope that she was wrong and he could improve...however that week he started to decline rapidly. It was on a Monday she told about new blood work. By mid week I noticed him walking different, back legs appeared weak...then he started having accidents peeing on my bed...then Friday morning he had what appeared to be a seizure after i force fed him. It only lasted a few seconds but he remained very weak and had labored breathing. I thought he for sure wouldn't be alive by the time I returned from work that day. Thankfully he was. I didn't want him to suffer, so seeing his rapid decline I decided I should put him down.
I put him in his carrier and was going to take to the emergency vet that night, only vet open at that time, but I looked at him and broke down and couldn't do it. I spent all day Saturday with him laying around. He had several more seizure episodes Saturday and Sunday as well as continued to urinate where ever he was laying. I knew I couldn't let this pain go on, feeling like I was torturing both of us with prolonging the inevitable. So I finally gathered the strength to bring him in on Sunday evening to be put down.
I read all about it online, I planned to be with him, I wanted it to be peaceful for him...It didn't go that way. Vet tech took him to another room to get him ready and he had another seizure. I could hear his yeowling from the other room which still haunts me. Vet tech returns to the room I'm waiting in and says he had another episode, we don't think you should be in there.
At this point I'm crying and can't think straight so I just say okay...that's my biggest regret out of everything. I bring him to this vet to be put down peacefully and instead he dies surrounded by strangers having a seizure! How do I get over the guilt of that!? I know it was time to put him down and he was suffering but at least at home he had the comfort of being in a familiar setting with me.
I have so many regrets. I should have figured out why he has always vomited, maybe it was due to something I let progress. I should have done more tests at the beginning of last month when he stopped eating. I should have done an ultrasound, an x-ray...found out for sure what was going on instead of just trying different medicines! Was it for sure FIP, or was it something else that could have been treated with the right diagnosis?
I know by the end it was too late and it was right to let him go and not let him continue to suffer but I should have been with him at the end! That kills me more that anything. I loved him so much and I miss him so much and now I have all these regrets of things that I should have done differently.
I took to the vet the very next day and they did blood work finding him to have very high liver values and pancreatitis. They gave him antinausea medicine, fluids, antibiotic shot, and suggested easy to digest food. Initially after returning home he seemed to perk up and eat some but then the next few days he again wasn't eating. I took back to the vet and left over night so they could monitor him giving him fluids thru an IV. At this point the vet noticed he started to show signs of jaundice. This was on a Friday and they were only open a half day on Saturday so I picked him up the next day and they said I could either transfer him to the emergency vet to continue care or I could care for him at home with giving subcutaneous fluids, which I chose to do myself.
For the next week he continued to do okay. Eating at least a little bit, tho not nearly as much as he used to. Otherwise was active, seeming normal as far as roaming around the house, using his scratching post. I brought back to the vet a week later to redo bloodwork hopeful I would see improvement. Liver values did improve slightly but were still very high and he was still jaundiced. I got discouraged with current vet because he didn't seem to have many suggestions for treatment.
Everything I started giving him (milk thistle, denamarin, appetite stimulant...was all from my own research.) So I took him to a second vet for another opinion. Second vet held off on doing new tests and just looked at blood work done from 1st vet. She had me give more subcutaneous fluids, two different antibiotics and also gave him pain medication...By this point my cat was no longer eating again so I started syringe feeding. He was actually very cooperative with the syringe feeding and I managed to work up to giving him a can and a half a day.
This went on for about 3 weeks...syringe feeding, fluids, antibiotics, supplements....He continuad to not eat tho and jaundice appeared to be getting worse. After a month having gone by since last blood work was done, 2nd vet did new blood work....some liver values had improved but others got worse, bilirubin was extremely high now, now had anemia, she also ran test for FELV, FIV, and FIP. First two negative but he did have a high FIP titer....at this point the vet suspected he did probably have FIP and nothing could be done.
I left crying but continued to hope that she was wrong and he could improve...however that week he started to decline rapidly. It was on a Monday she told about new blood work. By mid week I noticed him walking different, back legs appeared weak...then he started having accidents peeing on my bed...then Friday morning he had what appeared to be a seizure after i force fed him. It only lasted a few seconds but he remained very weak and had labored breathing. I thought he for sure wouldn't be alive by the time I returned from work that day. Thankfully he was. I didn't want him to suffer, so seeing his rapid decline I decided I should put him down.
I put him in his carrier and was going to take to the emergency vet that night, only vet open at that time, but I looked at him and broke down and couldn't do it. I spent all day Saturday with him laying around. He had several more seizure episodes Saturday and Sunday as well as continued to urinate where ever he was laying. I knew I couldn't let this pain go on, feeling like I was torturing both of us with prolonging the inevitable. So I finally gathered the strength to bring him in on Sunday evening to be put down.
I read all about it online, I planned to be with him, I wanted it to be peaceful for him...It didn't go that way. Vet tech took him to another room to get him ready and he had another seizure. I could hear his yeowling from the other room which still haunts me. Vet tech returns to the room I'm waiting in and says he had another episode, we don't think you should be in there.
At this point I'm crying and can't think straight so I just say okay...that's my biggest regret out of everything. I bring him to this vet to be put down peacefully and instead he dies surrounded by strangers having a seizure! How do I get over the guilt of that!? I know it was time to put him down and he was suffering but at least at home he had the comfort of being in a familiar setting with me.
I have so many regrets. I should have figured out why he has always vomited, maybe it was due to something I let progress. I should have done more tests at the beginning of last month when he stopped eating. I should have done an ultrasound, an x-ray...found out for sure what was going on instead of just trying different medicines! Was it for sure FIP, or was it something else that could have been treated with the right diagnosis?
I know by the end it was too late and it was right to let him go and not let him continue to suffer but I should have been with him at the end! That kills me more that anything. I loved him so much and I miss him so much and now I have all these regrets of things that I should have done differently.