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Nov. 19th, 2013 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeshyrLife has been weirdly dramaful today
First stupid messing around because the shopping lady was sick and then the replacement wanted to change the time twice .. but eventually the shopping got done.
Then the wheelchair servicing guy came and sorted my wheels out - joystick now firmly attached and shuddering is eliminated. He said I’ll need new castors next servicing, but nothing today luckily.
And then I took Mr Anekin cat to the vet … he had been throwing up so on Saturday an awesome friend took him to the vet for me … he mostly stopped throwing up but still won’t eat, which makes it day five of not eating and he was all lethargic and unhappy with life and his coat is ungroomed even, so I took him back today.
The vet was very cute! He thinks Ani has a bunch of something in his gut blocking him up, probably a fur ball since he’s not known for eating random things. Plus he’s a bit dehydrated, probably from the nausea. He offered to keep him overnight but I really can’t afford it so the vet gave him a bunch of laxatives and gave me some to bring home and I have to take him back if he’s not eating in 24 hours or so. Cats end up at risk for kidney damage or something if they don’t eat, so hopefully he’ll pass whatever it is soonest.
Just got home from the vet and collapsed on my bed and the phone rang… I hadn’t grabbed it on my way to bed so I ignored it but it rang again right after, plus my mobile rang too, so I answered the closest one… it was the police saying they’d found my wallet! The other phone kept ringing, when I finally answered that it was Dad checking that the police had got onto me - he’s listed as my emergency contact so they’d phoned him first and he’d given them my number. Apparently it even has my $20 still in it, so that’s a relief! They were so quick at finding it that I hadn’t even noticed I’d lost it yet which was fairly impressive … I must have dropped it on the way back from the vet, which goes directly past the police station. Anyway I can pick it up any time so I’m feeling like a dodged a bullet there!!
So today was way too eventful!! I slept a bit after that, then this evening I gave Anekin his last anti-arthritis injection (Cartrophen) and more of the liquid laxative from today’s vet visit. I’ve got him set up in the bathroom because with that much laxative inside him I’m a bit afraid for the carpets!! Unsurprisingly, he’s in an awfully bad mood but if he hasn’t drunk anything when I go to bed I’m going to stick a bunch of the electrolyte solution in a 5ml syringe and dribble it into him too, dehydration ain’t fun folks. I do hope his insides decide to start working because if he doesn’t pass this obstruction by tomorrow we’ll have nasty decisions to make … that really scares me. I don’t want to spend my life savings on him but it would be inaccurate to say I can’t afford treatment - I could afford it, it’s just that those savings are for my one-day-some-day-hopefully house and that’s really important to me too. Also, he’s thirteen and he has a wicked nasty case of old age arthritis, he’s an old man cat … but he’s my buddy and my friend and I’ll feel like a nasty evil undeserving person if I don’t feel like I’ve done everything. Ugh.
Send good thoughts?
Love you all,
r
First stupid messing around because the shopping lady was sick and then the replacement wanted to change the time twice .. but eventually the shopping got done.
Then the wheelchair servicing guy came and sorted my wheels out - joystick now firmly attached and shuddering is eliminated. He said I’ll need new castors next servicing, but nothing today luckily.
And then I took Mr Anekin cat to the vet … he had been throwing up so on Saturday an awesome friend took him to the vet for me … he mostly stopped throwing up but still won’t eat, which makes it day five of not eating and he was all lethargic and unhappy with life and his coat is ungroomed even, so I took him back today.
The vet was very cute! He thinks Ani has a bunch of something in his gut blocking him up, probably a fur ball since he’s not known for eating random things. Plus he’s a bit dehydrated, probably from the nausea. He offered to keep him overnight but I really can’t afford it so the vet gave him a bunch of laxatives and gave me some to bring home and I have to take him back if he’s not eating in 24 hours or so. Cats end up at risk for kidney damage or something if they don’t eat, so hopefully he’ll pass whatever it is soonest.
Just got home from the vet and collapsed on my bed and the phone rang… I hadn’t grabbed it on my way to bed so I ignored it but it rang again right after, plus my mobile rang too, so I answered the closest one… it was the police saying they’d found my wallet! The other phone kept ringing, when I finally answered that it was Dad checking that the police had got onto me - he’s listed as my emergency contact so they’d phoned him first and he’d given them my number. Apparently it even has my $20 still in it, so that’s a relief! They were so quick at finding it that I hadn’t even noticed I’d lost it yet which was fairly impressive … I must have dropped it on the way back from the vet, which goes directly past the police station. Anyway I can pick it up any time so I’m feeling like a dodged a bullet there!!
So today was way too eventful!! I slept a bit after that, then this evening I gave Anekin his last anti-arthritis injection (Cartrophen) and more of the liquid laxative from today’s vet visit. I’ve got him set up in the bathroom because with that much laxative inside him I’m a bit afraid for the carpets!! Unsurprisingly, he’s in an awfully bad mood but if he hasn’t drunk anything when I go to bed I’m going to stick a bunch of the electrolyte solution in a 5ml syringe and dribble it into him too, dehydration ain’t fun folks. I do hope his insides decide to start working because if he doesn’t pass this obstruction by tomorrow we’ll have nasty decisions to make … that really scares me. I don’t want to spend my life savings on him but it would be inaccurate to say I can’t afford treatment - I could afford it, it’s just that those savings are for my one-day-some-day-hopefully house and that’s really important to me too. Also, he’s thirteen and he has a wicked nasty case of old age arthritis, he’s an old man cat … but he’s my buddy and my friend and I’ll feel like a nasty evil undeserving person if I don’t feel like I’ve done everything. Ugh.
Send good thoughts?
Love you all,
r
no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 09:35 am (UTC)*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 11:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 10:47 am (UTC)If he isn't eating/drinking by tomorrow there's always IV fluids -- it's a nice balance between "not doing anything" and "prolonging cat's life at great expense and without caring about quality-of-that-life". You can also sometimes get a dehydrated cat to lick ice chips or ice cubes from your hand, or dip your fingers in water and get the cat to lick your fingers. (From experience, I know that if you can get the cat drinking, that will usually get the cat peeing, which will usually cause the bowels to move, too.)
To give you some ideas about how I've made the decisions-in-advance for my old man cat: we're doing thyroid meds twice daily and subcutaneous fluids 3x/week for Gabe, whose kidneys and thyroid are starting to break down. The vet suggested some more invasive tests to make sure it isn't cancer, but the poor boy is 18 years old and I made a deal with him (and myself) a few years ago: I'll try any non-surgical, non-invasive treatment he tolerates reasonably well, but anything surgical and anything involving anaesthesia we'll skip, and anything he absolutely despises to the point of still seriously stressing him out after a week of trying it, we'll stop. In our case it's not "not being able to afford treatment" -- we could absorb quite a large vet bill, and have in the past for various of the little darlings (like the month that Brandy and Noah combined cost us over $5k, yeesh) -- it's more that Gabe is 18 years old (or thereabouts, the shelter was vague about his age when I got him, but I got him almost 16 years ago now and they thought he was between 2-3 years old) and although he swears to me that he's not slowing down (and still regularly rediscovers his tail in the middle of the night) I'm not going to force him to go through all that.
I think you'll know what to do if it comes to that. Every situation's different. And count me in for $50 or so towards the hat if it comes to that, too :)
no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 11:05 am (UTC)Thank you for sharing about the decisions-in-advance thing, it's helped me think and made me realise that (of course!) there are web pages for this too which I have been reading a bit of. Figuring out what my lines-in-the-sand are is a good idea.
Love & hugs,
r
no subject
Date: 2013-11-19 03:32 pm (UTC)