Pets are Family

This is my cat, Raz. She'll be 17 in April, and last month, she almost died. Let me back up, to explain from the beginning.

Raz loves her toys, and often picks one up in her mouth to carry into the kitchen, where she'll eat, and then carry it back into the living room. So one night in October, she had a toy in her mouth and was walking all over with it. I thought it was adorable and wondered where she was taking it, but she never put it down so I grabbed her to see why. It was stuck on her left bottom fang, so I got it out of her mouth and assumed that the old fabric on the well-chewed toy was the reason. It happened again another night, but then my mother, who I lived with every day of my life and who was my best friend, unexpectedly died, which left me in a state of utter despair.

I work from home, but I took a leave of absence until March, as I'm in no fit mental state to work. In November, I took Raz to the vet, who said that she has tooth-resorption gum disease, and would need the fang and 2 other teeth removed. So they did bloodwork and her liver values were high, and 2 kidney values were at the maximum number. They suggested an ultrasound to check the liver, which they did, and found colangerhepatitis, which isn't deadly. They determined it to be chronic, not acute, so treatment was considered pointless, (especially after she couldn't tolerate the antibiotics). So she went in for the dental surgery on Dec 20th and I was beside myself with fear because of the anesthesia at her age. She handled it fine, thank God, but the vet called and said she was dehydrated and to take her to Oceanstate Animal Hospital. My brother Dave drove me to pick her up and took us down there, and the doctor said to me, "Did you know she has high blood pressure?" I was like, "What?!" Apparently, cats should have the same BP as us, (120-140) and hers was 220!

That Wednesday through Friday night, I literally think I was as close to a heart attack as I'll ever be. Raz stayed there that long while they hydrated her and medicated her for the high BP. My brother Dino took me to pick her up, and they told me to give Raz fluids every day for the rest of her life, because of the dehydration. They're saying she has kidney disease, even though she's only just over the border. I thought it would be a tiny needle, no big deal, (I used to give a cat insulin shots years ago) and the vet takes out a freakin' IV bag to give her what's called subcutaneous (under the skin) fluids. So I'm stunned, and she shows me what to do, (the needle is NOT tiny) and we come home.

Raz was so different at first; it was obvious how ecstatic she was to be home! She went through hell at the hospital...not anything they did wrong, but the fact that she's old and gentle and has never left the house...she probably thought she'd been abandoned. She's been sleeping beside me every night, her body touching mine. I still feel so guilty for what she went through, even though it wasn't my fault.

The reason she'd been dehydrated that day was because the day before, she'd still be taking amoxicillin and it nauseated her so badly that she wouldn't eat, and lost fluids from both ends. I truly believe that if that had not happened the day before her dental surgery, she wouldn't have been dehydrated at the vet and would never have ended up at Oceanstate. Daily fluids would not have become a thing...but I would never have found out about her high blood pressure, because it's not a standard thing that my local vet does. (Why, I cannot comprehend!)

Giving Raz fluids became a nightmare; my brothers both came over to help on different days, but Raz resisted more and more. I took her to her regular vet, who said that if I want to stop the fluids, she has to drink a ton of water every day. So I've switched her to like 90% wet food and I pour water in every plate. I feed her every two or three hours, three or four paper plates of food each time. She licks up all the water and watery food, but she leaves the rest of the food on the plate, which is why I have to give her so many at a time. It's very frustrating, because sometimes she'll decide she doesn't like that food anymore, and I start to panic, because I don't want to give her the subQ fluids. There are times that I'll just take her to my local vet and have them do it for me, and whenever she has an actual appointment I have them give her fluids just for the heck of it. I also discovered that when she's lying on a bench in front of a window in an upstairs room, I can corner her there and give her the fluids myself, thank God. The trouble is, I get so nervous to stab her with the needle that my hand shakes as if I have Parkinson's; no exaggeration.

I hope this article doesn't seem boring to anyone reading this, but I just have to get it out. I'm a very nervous person, and it's really, really hard to deal with this. Today she ate, and I gave her a little dry food too, but she unexpectedly threw up, and I panicked because I don't want to do the subQ fluids. I kept trying to feed her again and she didn't cooperate, probably because she'd already eaten and simply didn't want more. I know that she didn't feel sick, because she immediately went back to the dry-food bowl. (I keep that bowl empty until I deliberately feed her some, because I don't want her to fill up on it instead of the hydrating wet food.) So I gave her a few pieces, and she licked up some Friskies tuna lil' soup, but it wasn't good enough to replace the liquid she'd lost so I got out a hydrating liquid called Hydracare by Purina, but she wouldn't drink it. I felt that I had no choice but to get the IV bag, shaking as I went. I put it in hot water to warm it up, but then I thought of crushing up a few treats in the Hydracare and trying again. IT WORKED! She licked up almost an entire packet, and I put the IV bag away.

So that's my current story. If any of you are Christians: PLEASE pray for me and Raz. Life is an awful daily struggle with what I've been through the past few months. I have to start work again on March 1st, (from home, thank God) but it's all on the phone, so it's gonna be hard to deal with Raz at the same time, especially if she's picky or needs fluids. I need God to give me a miracle, and I trust that He will.

Thank you for reading! My next articles won't be boring, I promise!