Wednesday
The last week-and-a-half has been the most stressful of my life to date. A week ago this past Wednesday I got home from work and my cat, Charlie was acting strangely. Usually, he meets me at the door meows at me for a few minutes and then wonders off to do whatever he does. On this particular day though, he wasn’t at the door to greet me. I walked around the house and couldn’t find him so I called his name and he started making a weird yowling (sp?) sound. Unfortunately, I don’t actually speak cat, so I asked Facebook. I have a couple of friends that do pet rescue and are on the medical side so they always have good insights. They suggested getting to the vet (which was closed) sooner rather than later. I watched Charlie for a couple hours until he tried to use his litter box and couldn’t go. That’s when I knew we needed help. So I found the closest open night-time animal hospital, called, and we went there.
The vet, Animal Emergency Center looked at him and said it was a UTI, which is common in cats as they get older, and so the admitted him. I drove home slowly, kind of freaking out. I got Charlie just a few months after I bought my house. Rescued from St. Louis Pet Rescue. He has been my buddy for almost 9 years, and I can’t recall a single day where he hasn’t been there in that time. I got home and got ready for bed. It was strange with Charlie not following me around from room to room. I didn’t get much sleep that night, I was too worried about my buddy.
Thursday
The next day, the vet called me in the morning early, like 6:30 am to tell me that Charlie was doing so much better. They had given him some antibiotics and some fluids and he had used the box a couple of times already and was doing well. They said for this sort of thing, they like to keep pets an extra night just to make sure it’s all cleared up. They told me I would be able to pick him up Friday morning at 6:30. I was so happy that Charlie was better. It was still weird that Charlie wasn’t at home, but at least I knew he’d be home the next day.
At 11:30 pm, my phone rang, which I was not expecting, and it was the vet. She told me that Charlie’s UTI had fully cleared up, but there was something wrong. She said that he couldn’t stand up and that he might be blind. I don’t know why it was necessary to call me right when I am trying to go to bed with news that clearly would keep me up all night. They still needed me to pick Charlie up in the morning, but she said she would monitor him all night and see if there were any changes. There weren’t.
Friday
On Friday morning, with whatever little sleep I got, I headed to the vet to pick up Charlie. His symptoms hadn’t changed. I asked them what I should do, and they said that their small vet couldn’t handle these types of issues. They made two recommendations, either to take him to Four Paws Animal Hospital, his normal vet or to take him to St. Louis to see a specialty vet. Being as 4paws was close, I decided to go there. I know they have a lot of doctors, and they are really good.
We were at 4paws for a grand total of 40 minutes. The vet looked at him real quick and said that whatever was wrong was neurological (this is a scary word) and there was nothing they could do there. I would have to go to Veterinary Specialty Services (VSS) in St. Louis. They called ahead to make the appointment, and we were on our way.
When we got to VSS, I walked up to the counter and told them who I was, and they had a vet tech right there that was waiting to take him in. They rushed him into the back and had me go wait in one of the exam rooms. It took a long time before a vet came in, and that really didn’t help me any. I was totally freaking out about what was going on. Eventually, the vet came in, apologized about the wait, and informed me that Charlie had just had a seizure. At this point, I am pretty sure I was in shock, had been sedated, and they had a plan to try and figure out what was wrong, but they were going to need to admit him and keep him a few days. I agreed and left for work. It was a gut-wrenching morning. That afternoon while I was at work, they did an MRI and got some spinal fluid. Tests to be completed by Monday.
Saturday
On Saturday, my mom came with me, and we went to visit Charlie at VSS. This was the worst day, it was worse than Friday by quite a bit. They brought Charlie in, but he was acting really strange. He would look right at me, and then his eyes would change, he would lean his head all the way back for like 20 seconds and then would just curl back up into a ball on my lap. He did this a dozen or more times while we were there. I totally lost it. I don’t know if I have ever cried like that in my life. The doctor came in again and started with all the medical speak, and I was really glad my mom was there. As a nurse, she knew all the important questions to ask. The MRI results showed 2 dark spots on his brain that shouldn’t be there. They didn’t know if it was cancer or if it was just a bad infection.
Sunday
My mom and I went back to visit on Sunday. Charlie was a lot better on Sunday. He wasn’t doing the weird lean back thing and was content with me just holding him. He couldn’t move very much, but he wiggled his feet and just the tip of his tail would move. It wasn’t much but it was an improvement.
Monday
On Monday, I took my lunch break at VSS. My mom met me there. I was super worried and borderline ready to lose it all morning. Monday was the day they would know if it was cancer or not. Leading up to going and visiting, I was almost sick with worry. I couldn’t eat at all. I ran to the bathroom several times that morning at work because I was sure I was going to hurl. Luckily that didn’t happen and when the vet called just before I was leaving to go to VSS, she said that the cultures were not cancerous.
I don’t think I can explain to you the amount of stress and pressure that was lifted from me during that 5-minute phone call. For the first time in six days, I had hope that I would get my little buddy back. The visit was similar to Sunday, but I could tell that Charlie was more alert and that he was able to move everything just a tiny bit more.
Tuesday
Tuesday was my first VSS visit without my mom being there. It went fine but leading up to me going over, maybe that last hour, I was strangely nervous. I think I was worried something else would have happened. Luckily, that was not the case. He was definitely a little more alert than Monday, and I even put him in the windows in the exam room, and he seemed to enjoy trying to look at the stuff outside. He still couldn’t stand, but he could kind of throw his weight back and forth to try and move about. One of the ICU nurses talked to me and said that everyone loves Charlie in the back, but they were worried because they couldn’t get him to eat anything. She suggested that I bring in some kibbles from home.
Wednesday
Wednesday morning when the Vet called she talked about his refusal to eat food and started talking about a feeding tube. I relayed the info from the nurse from the previous day. The vet said that was a great idea. She also said that if I could get him to eat his kibble, she would let me take him home on Thursday.
When I got to VSS, I brought three days worth of kibble, some Charlie snacks, and some Charlie soups. I was so excited. All he had to do was eat something and he could come home. I had made fun of myself Wednesday morning. There are certain things that I have learned to do over the years. I always close my bedroom door when walking out, because I don’t want Charlie in there when I’m not in there. I always close the door to the landing (little space between the basement, door to the garage, and door to the kitchen) at night because I don’t like Charlie going down there at night either. He has a tendency to climb up high, and the start crying until someone can come to help him down. I laughed at myself that I was still doing those things, even though Charlie wasn’t there.
They put Charlie and me in the fancy room at VSS. It has a super comfortable leather couch. I tried everything, but Charlie wouldn’t eat anything. The vet said they would put the feeding tube in, in the afternoon to try and get some nutrients in him.
Thursday
When the vet called Thursday morning, I was seriously down. I was worried my buddy would never get better and would never come home. When the vet said that he could go home that day, I was understandably elated. When I went to visit, he had so much more energy than the day before. He still couldn’t stand up, but he was wiggling all over the place. He was ready to go. I left work a bit early, picked him up and then worked from home the rest of the day.
At home, I have a large dog crate and lots of pee pads, so I made a little condo for him. The whole thing is sitting on the desk in my office so I can hang out with him when I am on the computer. His digs are fairly swank. He’s got food, water, a soft place to sleep, and the whole thing sits up against the window, so he can look outside all day, which is important for a cat.
Five minutes after sitting down in the condo, Charlie started eating some kibbles. I was so happy.
Friday
Tube feeding is not that difficult. Really, it’s not. It’s super intimidating, but it’s not difficult. You just have to make sure the food is at room temp and to go slow. If it’s too cold or too fast, he could puke it all up. Since he is on 4 medicines, it’s actually super helpful. I don’t know how I would get him to take that stuff otherwise.
The big drama for Friday morning was getting Charlie to pee. The vet said it was important to make sure that Charlie pee’s every 18 hours or less. Friday morning at seven, we were at 17.5 hours. I was all ready to have to take him to 4paws so they could press the magic pee button. Then something weird dawned on me. For 9 years, every time Charlie has gone outside his box, he has gotten in trouble. So I took him out of the condo and put him into his box. After some complaining, he peed. It’s stupid, but I was so happy he was able to pee.
Saturday
It is important to keep a routine with cats. So instead of some much-needed sleep, today I got up at 6. I took Charlie’s food out of the fridge, and I put Charlie into his box. While he was complaining about that, I got all his tube stuff ready. Four medications, food that smells, all loaded up into the syringes that allow me to push the food through the tube. I was again worried that he wouldn’t pee. I had put him into the box two separate times Friday night to see if he would go. By Saturday morning it had been almost 24hrs since the last pee. Luckily, he went. After the tube feeding, he started getting whiny. I didn’t know why, so I put him back into his condo. He got more and more agitated until he liquid pooped in the condo. I let him finish, said some encouraging words, and then I was at a loss. I needed to get him clean but wasn’t sure the best method. This is not the correct method:
First I took him out of the condo and put him in the litter box (mistake 1). I cleaned up the condo, threw the soiled pee pads away, and threw the towel into the laundry. Then I picked him up and put him back into the condo (mistake 2). He didn’t clean himself, and so the leftover poo on his butt was covered in litter from the box, and now was smearing onto the fresh pee pad. Worse, when I had picked him up, a bit of poo goo got on me. Luckily I wasn’t wearing a shirt. First I tried using some baby wipes to clean him (and me) up. They work great on skin, not so much on fur.
There was only one thing to do. I picked him up again, we walked to the sink, and I turned the water on, and used the sprayer to clean him off. I momentarily considered just taking him into the shower, but I think there would have been too much water spray. I was definitely worried he would freak out in the sink, but he was chill. I grabbed a towel, and we went and sat down in the living room where I dried him off. He fell asleep while I was doing this, and we just sat there like that for about 40 minutes.
He’s back sleeping in his cleaned (again) condo. Really need to take a nap, but I have some Saturday things to take care of first. More news when I have it.
-Josh