On the 26th, I had to put my baby Logan to sleep. He had just turned 7 months old
, and was a gorgeous Ragdoll.
This all happened SO suddenly, it's really shocking. On Christmas night around 10pm, he was perfectly fine when my boyfriend put him in 'his' room for the night (I kept him in a spare bathroom so he could have free access to food since he was always tiny, red flag #1 maybe?). At 8am on the 26th, I went to get him, and he was just laying in his bed, didn't want to move.
So I figured he got into something on Christmas, and maybe ate something he shouldn't have, and just didn't feel good. I left him alone for a bit, ate breakfast, and when I came back upstairs, he had thrown up. He also had diarrhea, and was so lethargic. I picked him up, and he just cried out, like he was in pain, so then I called the vet. That was around 10am. Got him to the vet by 10:15, and they did a CBC, fecal, and abdominal xrays. Chest sounded clear, but he did have a fever, I believe it was 103.2.
So we got the xrays back, and they look normal other than a slightly enlarged liver. Got the CBC back. He was anemic, dehydrated, and his white blood cell count was so low that the vet questioned the accuracy of his machine. He had 20% of what he should've had. He also had some other counts (that had to do with the liver) that were off. He also had some blood in his stool. There was also a bacterial overgrowth in his intestines.
The vet gave him some fluids, and 2 shots to help with the vomiting, and to calm his intestines. Told me to come back if he hadn't improved, but that he probably just ate something, or just had a bad stomach ache (obviously the vet didn't phrase it this way, I'm just trying to remember everything). Sent me home with 3 different meds.
So I left the vet around 1. Checked on him every 15min. after I got home, because I knew something wasn't right. He wouldn't even get out of his carrier, just was laying flat out. By 3, he still hadn't moved. I picked him up to try to see if he'd walk, and he wouldn't even try to stand. So I took him back to the vet. In the 5min. it took me to get him there, he had lost his reflex to blink when you put something toward his eye, and stopped breathing on his own. They intubated him, and gave him drugs to try to stimulate his breathing, but none helped. They also told me later that his veins were 'going crazy', like they were all wiggly or something.
They took chest xrays, because he sounded crackly, and when I saw them, my heart just dropped (I have been shadowing there, so I kind of know what a good/bad chest xray looks like). Everything was fluid filled. My vet told me that the results from the machine he did the CBC on had been coming out accurate all day, so he was fairly certain that Logan's results were correct. Meaning, he had absolutely nothing to fight with.
So I made the hardest decision I think I've had to make and I put him down. It was AWFUL. That's the only way I can describe it. That whole night I questioned if I did that right thing, if I should've fought for him.
Around 6:30, the vet called and said that he had started the necropsy. He said everything was 'bad'. I think almost all of his organs were enlarged. And he has growths all throughout his chest cavity. He said this was bound to happen, it was just a matter of time. So now I do feel like I did the right thing, not that it makes it any easier.
He sent away 10 specimens to try to figure out what happened. I can tell he's somewhat baffled that he really never showed any symptoms of something to this degree.
But now that I look back, Logan never thrived like our other boy, Ozzy (who is one month older) is. He was about 5 1/2lbs. when he died, whereas Ozzy is 8 or 9lbs. He had been to the vet once for a URI, and most recently was there when he had some kind of allergic reaction to our Christmas stuff (runny eyes, red, itchy ears). In his last week or so here, I did notice that I was constantly telling Ozzy to leave him alone, because he didn't want to play as much. He had also become obsessed with licking the bricks on our fireplace, and the ceramic pots we have plants in (not sure if that has anything to do with this).
I am just in shock that this happened. I want to know what caused this. I'm praying that the test results tell us something. I was reading up on FIP, and he did have a lot of symptoms of it.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what this may have been? I know it's a long shot, but it's killing me to sit here and just wait for results.
Here's some pictures of my baby.. god I miss him
(the last 2 are of Logan and one of my other cats, Sneak)
http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/36...425x425Q85.jpg
http://inlinethumb14.webshots.com/37...425x425Q85.jpg
http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/34...425x425Q85.jpg
This all happened SO suddenly, it's really shocking. On Christmas night around 10pm, he was perfectly fine when my boyfriend put him in 'his' room for the night (I kept him in a spare bathroom so he could have free access to food since he was always tiny, red flag #1 maybe?). At 8am on the 26th, I went to get him, and he was just laying in his bed, didn't want to move.
So I figured he got into something on Christmas, and maybe ate something he shouldn't have, and just didn't feel good. I left him alone for a bit, ate breakfast, and when I came back upstairs, he had thrown up. He also had diarrhea, and was so lethargic. I picked him up, and he just cried out, like he was in pain, so then I called the vet. That was around 10am. Got him to the vet by 10:15, and they did a CBC, fecal, and abdominal xrays. Chest sounded clear, but he did have a fever, I believe it was 103.2.
So we got the xrays back, and they look normal other than a slightly enlarged liver. Got the CBC back. He was anemic, dehydrated, and his white blood cell count was so low that the vet questioned the accuracy of his machine. He had 20% of what he should've had. He also had some other counts (that had to do with the liver) that were off. He also had some blood in his stool. There was also a bacterial overgrowth in his intestines.
The vet gave him some fluids, and 2 shots to help with the vomiting, and to calm his intestines. Told me to come back if he hadn't improved, but that he probably just ate something, or just had a bad stomach ache (obviously the vet didn't phrase it this way, I'm just trying to remember everything). Sent me home with 3 different meds.
So I left the vet around 1. Checked on him every 15min. after I got home, because I knew something wasn't right. He wouldn't even get out of his carrier, just was laying flat out. By 3, he still hadn't moved. I picked him up to try to see if he'd walk, and he wouldn't even try to stand. So I took him back to the vet. In the 5min. it took me to get him there, he had lost his reflex to blink when you put something toward his eye, and stopped breathing on his own. They intubated him, and gave him drugs to try to stimulate his breathing, but none helped. They also told me later that his veins were 'going crazy', like they were all wiggly or something.
They took chest xrays, because he sounded crackly, and when I saw them, my heart just dropped (I have been shadowing there, so I kind of know what a good/bad chest xray looks like). Everything was fluid filled. My vet told me that the results from the machine he did the CBC on had been coming out accurate all day, so he was fairly certain that Logan's results were correct. Meaning, he had absolutely nothing to fight with.
So I made the hardest decision I think I've had to make and I put him down. It was AWFUL. That's the only way I can describe it. That whole night I questioned if I did that right thing, if I should've fought for him.
Around 6:30, the vet called and said that he had started the necropsy. He said everything was 'bad'. I think almost all of his organs were enlarged. And he has growths all throughout his chest cavity. He said this was bound to happen, it was just a matter of time. So now I do feel like I did the right thing, not that it makes it any easier.
He sent away 10 specimens to try to figure out what happened. I can tell he's somewhat baffled that he really never showed any symptoms of something to this degree.
But now that I look back, Logan never thrived like our other boy, Ozzy (who is one month older) is. He was about 5 1/2lbs. when he died, whereas Ozzy is 8 or 9lbs. He had been to the vet once for a URI, and most recently was there when he had some kind of allergic reaction to our Christmas stuff (runny eyes, red, itchy ears). In his last week or so here, I did notice that I was constantly telling Ozzy to leave him alone, because he didn't want to play as much. He had also become obsessed with licking the bricks on our fireplace, and the ceramic pots we have plants in (not sure if that has anything to do with this).
I am just in shock that this happened. I want to know what caused this. I'm praying that the test results tell us something. I was reading up on FIP, and he did have a lot of symptoms of it.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what this may have been? I know it's a long shot, but it's killing me to sit here and just wait for results.
Here's some pictures of my baby.. god I miss him
(the last 2 are of Logan and one of my other cats, Sneak)
http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/36...425x425Q85.jpg
http://inlinethumb14.webshots.com/37...425x425Q85.jpg
http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/34...425x425Q85.jpg