It's a terrible shame that bad luck appears to run in threes...
Our cat George is inpatient at the vet's office. More than a week ago, we noticed she was reluctant to eat and drink, and becoming reclusive. Last Wednesday, we had a full blood panel and physical exam performed by a partner at our vet's clinic.
He's a good vet, but he seemed a bit overly fixated on when George's last shots were (years ago, she's fully indoors), and largely dismissive since she wasn't running a fever. Her liver values were the only thing outside of normal, and they were only a little high. I had him give her a long-acting antibiotic shot as a prophylactic.
Monday she still wasn't doing much better; eye and nose gunk was gone, but still not interested much in eating and drinking. We took her in Tuesday to see our regular vet, who also ran bloodwork, but she also gave her 250 ml subcutaneous Ringer's, and medication supporting general liver function. She also started George on a different antibiotic, and gave her an appetite enhancer.
We are a little encouraged, because George ate a little wet food. But her interest in water - a favorite fascination - is gone.
The news back this morning was bad. The liver enzyme test came back very abnormal, which likely means pancreatitis and/or serious underlying liver disease. We may have caught it in time to be able to effectively treat, but George is staying at the vet right now, and is receiving food, fluids, and painkillers (she was in a lot of pain). She's having ultrasound tomorrow morning, and needle biopsies will be performed if abnormalities are found. She will then return to our vet's office for more supportive therapy.
George is only one of our kitties, but she's about 12 years old, black domestic shorthair with golden eyes. I've had her since she was rescued from a railroad repair yard at about 4-5 weeks of age; she was so young she had no idea what to do with food, and needed bottlefeeding for another week before she figured out wet food.
It's going to be touch and go. With supportive fluids, food (including a gastric tube), antibiotics, painkillers, and a solid root-cause diagnosis, she'll have a chance of recovering. I only hope we caught this in time!
And I will NOT be seeing the partner vet any longer. She might have gotten better treatment and earlier definitive diagnostics if our vet had seen her last Thursday, instead of the other vet.
Any good thoughts you can offer up for George will be most welcome. Glenn and I are very worried, but if we can give her a fighting chance, we will. If this is not possible, and all we can do is relieve her suffering, then we know what we will do.
We need all the strength and fortitude you can lend us... we have indeed chosen the path of tears, but we've had so many lately, with Even, then Cammie... I really don't want to have another one visit the Meadow so soon!
