The Periphery of the Mind

Maryanne woke me up yesterday morning around 4:30, saying that her cat, Squeaky, was having problems. He was panting hard, open-mouthed, and his hind legs weren't working right. We took him to the emergency vet clinic in Springdale. Checked in around 5:00, and they quickly took him into the back. About two hours later, and the vet came back with X-rays. Squeaky was in a heated oxygen chamber, with some pain killers, to help his breathing. The vet thought he'd had cardiac failure, which caused him to have an thromboembolic aneurysm in his hindquarters and triggered a bout of pneumonia which put fluid in his lungs. He was freaking out, so sick he could barely breathe, and partially paralyzed.

But he was still alive.

The emergency clinic stabilized him enough for us to take him to our regular vet for further treatment. Our normal vet hemmed and hawed a bit, but one EKG and radiologist exam of the X-rays later, they confirmed some degree of cardiac failure. And probably diabetes to boot. The problem with going to a well-equipped, well-trained vet clinic is that they like to sell you the state of the art in animal care. Once it was made clear that the "best" treatment might kill him and that even if it didn't his prognosis was "guarded" (vet speak for "not good"), Maryanne elected to go with a cheaper treatment she could administer from home herself.

He made it home, groggy and somewhat sedated, full of antibiotics, painkillers, and steroids. She keeps him on a heating pad, so his hindquarters can stay warm. The reduced blood flow means his legs get cold and probably feel “asleep”. The drugs seem to knock him out a bit, and sometimes he's more responsive than others. He doesn't move much, but he knew when he was going to have a bowel movement or have to urinate, and he got in his litter box and almost sat up normal before wearing out. His tail wags a bit, and seems to respond to touch. I have to confess, I genuinely figured I'd be burying a cat yesterday, but Squeaky might actually pull through this. For every bad sign we get, we get another sign or two of improvement.