But Update Today: What a day. And "miles to go" yet. Dear kitty Doufus started getting insulin for his diabetes and an antibiotic for a urinary infection on July 4th. Was doing great & then we began to notice labored breathing. So off to the vet and then the vet specialist emergency hospital and exams by cardiologists. David just called from hospital:
Full blown heart failure in progress. Four more Meds and care---they estimate 3-18 months. Need to get our safe room ready to keep him confined for just 2 days, thank the gods....Many complications in management in a multi-cat home where all 8 are seniors and one other is on a thyroid med and one more has mouth cancer....Damn.....Blessings
oh no, somehow I missed this new update. My first tortie Tess had heart failure also- we took her to bobst animal medical center and they saved her life. she was on meds for 3 years and did very well until kidney failure and eventually anemia from that took her. I hope he gets 18 months or more.
Hi Judith--not a happy update on Doufus, but you're giving him a good as well as extended life. I know something about this--our 14 y.o. Aggie requires a lot of care to keep her going. Phenobarbital to prevent seizures and frequent walks at the park to keep her muscles working, a little extra care to deal with her being mostly deaf, mostly blind. The park walks work for her--she loves park trails. The two younger dogs give her extra care, too. One happy pack! I imagine your senior kitties all offer comfort and companionship to each other as well.
Oh my---Thank you all. I feel lifted up by your empathetic souls....
It's been an exhausting night and day because they wanted us to keep him confined for 24 hours, but he hates it and yells (and like some kitties, the pitch/tone of his yell is the same wave length as a crying infant's!). So David slept on the floor overnight in the Kitty Safe Room and then we traded off every 4-5 hours all day. He is also exhausted from yesterday, and it is hot, so he had many calm, sleepy times.
The main thing is being sure the meds are at least not causing things to be worse and it looks like after his 9AM insulin/Lasix dose, we can throw open the door and just "be aware" of him....
Our 20-year Kitty Safe Room has been upstairs, but when it is trending toward 90 degrees, that is not feasible! So it took some "arranging" for it to be the ground floor TV room, but we got it!
All your posts mean so much to me.....Thank you, and Blessings.....
