OT - my kitty Cayenne

Awwww Kelly, as a cat-nut my heart goes out to you. My hubby has a hard heart a bit when it comes to the cats (which he loves more than me, but IS allergic to). The last time he "refused" to take a cat to the vet (I didn't push for it, so it wasn't like he was stoically dismissive), our kitty passed away. Hubby knows better now, but it still hurts to know one of our babies is ailing and feel so powerless to do anything about it.

I remember my baby-girl Tortellina got the same summer cold all the other cats got. She was sicker than the rest, but when I gently insisted, hubby took me to the vets office where I sat for two hours waiting for them to see her. She had a high temp like your girl, and needed sub-q fluids. They didn't need to keep her overnight (or rather, they offered and I suggested it would be better to keep her at home). I reemember how much the liquid perked her up. I gave her antibiotics orally for ten days, and she was better. Perhaps she just caught a kitty flu while there for her surgery and it finally incubated, but in her case it was worse because she was weaker and diabetic. If that is the case, I'm sure the sub-Q fluids and antibiotics will really help her out. I sincerely hope she is active and well in the morning, just waiting to give you purrs.

The vet said due to her temp, he thinks she has a localized infection.  He did blood work but it was OK so he doesn't think it's a systemic thing.  But he can't find any areas on her body that look infected.  Her incisions look fine and he checked her carefully to see if she had any other cuts or scratches, like maybe she'd gotten into a fight with one of our other cats or something.  which I was pretty sure she hadn't because they never fight.  But anyway, he can't find anything that looks infected.

I would be asking the same thing.  Actually, i would have insisted on brining my pet home with me.  When my previous Scottie became very ill within a matter of hours late in the day and I took him to the vet, they ran a bunch of tests and could not tell me anything except that he was in pain and some enzymes were high, and that they wanted to keep him overnight for IV fluids and pain meds.  I felt the same way you did. I talked to them and they finally gave him a very large sub-Q injection of fluids and a pain injection and let him come home with me even though he would not even walk.  I placed him at the end of the bed with me at 10pm, and when I woke up just before midnight, I found that he had somehow moved up next to me, curled up with his back along my arm and the other pillow, and died sometime in those two hours.  It was heartbreaking, but I am glad he died curled up next to me instead of in a cage in the vet's office.

I hope your kitty recovers.

Lora

I thought about insisting.  I didn't, I guess, because the vet kept saying things like "She's really sick, she needs to be here in the hospital."  But I don't understand why she needs to be there if they are not going to do anything all night.  But I was afraid that if I insisted and brought her home and she didn't make it, then it would seem like it was my fault because he told me she needed to stay there and I wouldn't listen.  He was acting like I was being really unreasonable and wasn't really answering my questions and I was getting really upset and having trouble expressing myself.  I feel like she would be better off here at home with me but I wasn't sure I could trust that feeling and let him push me into leaving her there.  I think he was kind of talking to me like I was being stupid, like I wasn't making sense when I was staying I didn't see why it was better for her to stay there if they weren't going to be doing anything, when really he was the one that wasn't making sense.

I think it's really nice that your Scottie was able to be with you at the end.  If he put the effort into moving up next to you when he was that sick, then I think it must have been important to him to be next to you.  He was where he wanted to be, he wasn't in pain, he was comfortable.... if they can't live forever, that must be the next best thing, don't you think?

I hope she does ok!
Wonder why they aren't doing IV fluids since she will be staying?
I know it is frightening and heartbreaking to know she is sick, please keep us updated.

I was just wondering if that is what they were doing but then again could not figure out for sure what they were doing....I know you lover her so much Kelly and I will pray for Cayenne tonight that she has angels all around her so she won't be alone...  But I totally understand how you are feeling.  Wishing her a speedy recovery and you as restful and a peaceful night.

They said they would give her more sub-q fluids this evening, but they won't be doing it overnight because no one will be there overnight.  I think they usually give cats fluids subcutaneously, rather than by IV.  I dunno why.

It's 7 PM now so this is a little late for this but for future reference. A number of emergency clinics can handle things like this. My recently dearly departed had two IV's and was on oxygen so he was in kitty ICU and there was someone there 24 hours a day in that ward. This was at a teaching hospital. A big vet hospital near us has the same set-up. Open 24 hours a day. The regular emergency clinic operates nights and weekends and has a referral practice that they share the building with during the day. When we moved out of the county one of the first things I did was figure out where the nearest kitty ER's were.

The vet wants the IV access and he wants her kept quiet. The antibiotic is intravenous, the insulin is not. Remember cats like to hide when they are sick and it is easier for her to be in a controlled environment than for you having to grab her from underneath the bed by yourself and stress her out to see how she is doing. It also avoids the trauma cats go through when going to and from the vet again.

He has loaded her up on enough fluids to get her through the night. He needs to know what she passes and it is easier to measure if she is not sharing a litter box or having an accident someplace that can't be measured.

I was never happy with the no atttendant thing either but that is just how it is. I don't even like it when they stay to get spayed. I don't know what is worse--them being alone at a time like this or us not knowing. At least their instinct is to want to be alone.

Hopefully the fever will break overnight. It is sad to hear she is facing this disease again. My Bridget hid it until it was in her lungs so she went pretty fast. But she was almost 18. It is going to be a long night. You need at least some rest because you are going to be driving tomorrow and having to make decisions.

But when it was time for Bridget it was time. I waited a day too long and her organs started shutting down. But the day before I gave her the forbidden high-protein trout cat food and she lunged at it while I held her in my arms. Last thing she ate. I prefer to remember that rather than the next day. I sang his favorite songs to the recently departed as the vet put him to sleep and that also made him feel better. Me too.

You try your best for her. Remember the vet is a professional. He has known this cat for years and wants to do right by her, too. Right now he would rather concentrate on Cayenne than you so forgive him if he didn't seem to communicate the best with you.

Saying a prayer for you both and that the morning is better.

The nearest emergency vet clinic is about 90 minutes away.  But we would have taken her there if we thought we needed to but we felt it was best if her regular vet could see her since he knows her.

I don't know how to give antibiotics by IV, if that's how they are doing them, but again, they aren't going to be giving her antibiotics in any way in the middle of the night.  They will not be at the animal hospital to give them.  If it was a matter of keeping her quiet and making sure we would know if she peed or not, I have a kennel, like one that would be used for a medium-sized dog, that should have stayed in all night.  She could have had her own litter box in there, and she wouldn't have been hiding under the bed.  She would have to go through the trauma of going back to the vet tomorrow, and she does hate to ride in the car, but it is literally a five minute trip.  So I'm not sure that small amount of trauma would be more traumatic then spending an entire night there.

I know their instinct is to be alone.  I know part of this is about my instinct being to be right beside her every minute, and that's about me, not about her.  But it is also true that she doesn't like being at the vet, and it is true that she likes being in her own home where she is used to all the smells and sounds and there are no barking dogs that scare her, etc.  That part is about her, not me.  And I would be here to watch her.  There probably wouldn't be anything I could do if she seemed to be getting sicker, I realize that.  I don't know, I would feel better if she wasn't alone.  And I don't want her last memory to be of being alone in a tiny cage at the vet.  Not that it will matter to her after she's gone, but I will still be here and it will matter to me.

Hoping for the best of all possible outcomes...