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IN A NUTSHELL: Christmas 2012, I fell in love with an emaciated one-eyed, half-dead cat in a paper bag. I took her home, fattened her up, and voilà: Piglet. Three weeks ago, she stopped eating entirely. Two hospitals and $11,000 later, we're still not out of the woods.
Piglet: Three years ago, after the first surgery
Piglet (fat and sassy) with her boyfriend, Crackers
Piglet's nasal/gastric feeding tube, and the E-tube she gets to go home with. This tube is the only way she is getting any food at all. Soupy, but nutritious.
MAKING A LONG STORY, SHORT
We had three wonderful years together where she stole my heart in a way that no other animal has in my 50+ years of life with animals. She's five-years-old and since August 17, she's been at the vets office getting appetite stimulants, force-feedings, tube feedings, Valium (yes, Valium!), steroids, IV fluids and lots of love. And she still wasn't eating. We moved her to a 24-hr veterinary hospital where an exploratory surgery showed a swollen, yellow, fragile liver that "fractured at the touch" and half her pancreas was just sort of...missing. They biopsied everything. Then her blood pressure dropped and they gave her a blood transfusion.
Her BP has since stabilized, she's on pancreatic enzymes that should help with that teeny pancreas work properly. The morning I was prepped to take her home they called and said that he red blood cell count dropped inexplicably.
I expected I'd spend somewhere between $5000 - $7000 when we brought her to the 24-hr veterinary hospital. We've hit a wall, financially. I took her home, and am feeding her through a tube in her neck and we're hoping for the best. If I could buy even a few more days of 24-hr care I think it would make a huge difference in her getting back on her feet.
Initial dental work : $686.35
1 week at the vet including ultrasound & x-ray : $714.70
Initial deposit for the 24-hr veterinary hospital : $6,802.48
Balance due at the 24-hr veterinary hospital: $1,753.12
Every additional 24 hours: $1,111.80
Total so far : $11,068.45
THE LONGER STORY :
How My Cat is A Secretly a German Shepard
Three years ago someone walked into the veterinary office where I worked with a cat in a paper bag. She was emaciated, her ribs and hip bones poked through her long matted hair, and one eye was ruptured and hanging out of the socket. She didn't have the strength to lift her head or make a sound. I looked into the bag, it was love at first sight and I said, "That's my cat."
The vet on duty turned to me, "Don't get attached. I doubt she'll make it through the night." Two weeks later, she gained weight, the eye had been removed, and she was living with me. It's been a lovefest ever since. She ran to the door to meet me every night, like a puppy, a little Mae West hitch in her giddyup probably the result of some of the damage she'd sustained. She slept on my head like a mohawk, grooming my hair. She sat and watched me eat breakfast, followed me into the bathroom and watched me there, too. She drooled when she purred and all my shirts had little water stains where she lay her head and purred.
Three years later, early this past August, I noticed she was getting thin, and I could feel those hipbones. On a Thursday morning she went in for dental work (the culprit, we supposed, especially two tooth extractions later), but she had a bad reaction to the anesthesia and it was hard to get her body temperature back to normal. It took her a full day to walk again, and she still wasn't eating. Monday I brought her back to the vet.
She clearly wanted to eat, but wasn't. She was Bright. Alert. Affectionate. Talkative. But not eating anything. The ultrasound showed nothing terribly unusual. The x-ray looked normal. We tried force feeding her. Tempting her with beef broth, fish, seventy kabillion different cat foods, baby food. Nothing. She was severely dehydrated, and the IV fluid therapy helped her spirits but not her appetite, so a feeding tube was started through her nose.
A friend did Reiki on her twice. Another friend, an animal communicator reached out in her way.
The following Monday, she still wouldn't eat on her own and was getting weaker and more depressed.
We moved her to a 24-hr facility on August 24th where she had another ultrasound that confirmed the last one. Every possible next step: E-tube, liver biopsy, or endoscopy involved anesthesia, so we went for the brass ring and she was prepped for exploratory surgery. I knew she might not come out of it, but just to take her home she'd need an E-tube (feeding tube in her neck) and would have to go under anyway.
It was costing a small fortune. Ten days in two hospitals and thousands of dollars and they still couldn't figure out what was wrong or how to fix it. We'd tried everything: dental work to remove two badly decayed teeth, two different appetite stimulants, force feeding, feeding tube, even steroids. Her liver enzymes were through the roof when they'd been fine before the dental. I crossed my fingers and hoped, one way or another, I would be able to take her home in a few days. There may be more treatment needed, but at least she'd be home.
What they found was not good. Exploratory surgery revealed a swollen, yellow, fragile liver that "fractured at the touch" and half her pancreas was just sort of...missing. They biopsied her liver, pancreas, stomach, and intestines. They placed a permanent E-tube in her throat for feeding, her blood pressure dropped dangerously to 74. That night they did a blood transfusion which didn't do anything to help, in fact her levels dropped even lower to 54. I refused to OK an infusion of plasma, and told the docs to just make her comfortable, then I had myself a good cry and waited for them to call me and say she was gone.
During the night they stopped one of the blood pressure meds meant to raise her pressure, and inexplicably her BP shot up to a nice normal 110.
No one can say why she stopped eating or if she can come through the other side, if her liver is too far gone to repair itself. Last night I thought she was done fighting and was ready to go. This morning, she seems to be fighting back again. She is a new breed of superhero.
Diagnosis: Piglet is actually a small German Shepard.
Apparently, the reason for her tiny/missing pancreas is something called EPI, not uncommon in German Shepards, but very rare in cats. So rare that they don't even bother looking for it. She has EPI, Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency, which can be treated with supplements. All the hospitals are back-ordered on the supplements soooo.....the surgeon ordered something similar from Amazon (fingers crossed).
This won't address the liver issue, but her BP is normal and steady, it should help her absorb nutrition from the food she eats (or what gets pushed down the tube) and it's a little ray of hope.
This cat comes from a long line of tough broads, and she continues the tradition.
Piglet: Three years ago, after the first surgery
Piglet (fat and sassy) with her boyfriend, Crackers
Piglet's nasal/gastric feeding tube, and the E-tube she gets to go home with. This tube is the only way she is getting any food at all. Soupy, but nutritious.
MAKING A LONG STORY, SHORT
We had three wonderful years together where she stole my heart in a way that no other animal has in my 50+ years of life with animals. She's five-years-old and since August 17, she's been at the vets office getting appetite stimulants, force-feedings, tube feedings, Valium (yes, Valium!), steroids, IV fluids and lots of love. And she still wasn't eating. We moved her to a 24-hr veterinary hospital where an exploratory surgery showed a swollen, yellow, fragile liver that "fractured at the touch" and half her pancreas was just sort of...missing. They biopsied everything. Then her blood pressure dropped and they gave her a blood transfusion.
Her BP has since stabilized, she's on pancreatic enzymes that should help with that teeny pancreas work properly. The morning I was prepped to take her home they called and said that he red blood cell count dropped inexplicably.
I expected I'd spend somewhere between $5000 - $7000 when we brought her to the 24-hr veterinary hospital. We've hit a wall, financially. I took her home, and am feeding her through a tube in her neck and we're hoping for the best. If I could buy even a few more days of 24-hr care I think it would make a huge difference in her getting back on her feet.
Initial dental work : $686.35
1 week at the vet including ultrasound & x-ray : $714.70
Initial deposit for the 24-hr veterinary hospital : $6,802.48
Balance due at the 24-hr veterinary hospital: $1,753.12
Every additional 24 hours: $1,111.80
Total so far : $11,068.45
THE LONGER STORY :
How My Cat is A Secretly a German Shepard
Three years ago someone walked into the veterinary office where I worked with a cat in a paper bag. She was emaciated, her ribs and hip bones poked through her long matted hair, and one eye was ruptured and hanging out of the socket. She didn't have the strength to lift her head or make a sound. I looked into the bag, it was love at first sight and I said, "That's my cat."
The vet on duty turned to me, "Don't get attached. I doubt she'll make it through the night." Two weeks later, she gained weight, the eye had been removed, and she was living with me. It's been a lovefest ever since. She ran to the door to meet me every night, like a puppy, a little Mae West hitch in her giddyup probably the result of some of the damage she'd sustained. She slept on my head like a mohawk, grooming my hair. She sat and watched me eat breakfast, followed me into the bathroom and watched me there, too. She drooled when she purred and all my shirts had little water stains where she lay her head and purred.
Three years later, early this past August, I noticed she was getting thin, and I could feel those hipbones. On a Thursday morning she went in for dental work (the culprit, we supposed, especially two tooth extractions later), but she had a bad reaction to the anesthesia and it was hard to get her body temperature back to normal. It took her a full day to walk again, and she still wasn't eating. Monday I brought her back to the vet.
She clearly wanted to eat, but wasn't. She was Bright. Alert. Affectionate. Talkative. But not eating anything. The ultrasound showed nothing terribly unusual. The x-ray looked normal. We tried force feeding her. Tempting her with beef broth, fish, seventy kabillion different cat foods, baby food. Nothing. She was severely dehydrated, and the IV fluid therapy helped her spirits but not her appetite, so a feeding tube was started through her nose.
A friend did Reiki on her twice. Another friend, an animal communicator reached out in her way.
The following Monday, she still wouldn't eat on her own and was getting weaker and more depressed.
We moved her to a 24-hr facility on August 24th where she had another ultrasound that confirmed the last one. Every possible next step: E-tube, liver biopsy, or endoscopy involved anesthesia, so we went for the brass ring and she was prepped for exploratory surgery. I knew she might not come out of it, but just to take her home she'd need an E-tube (feeding tube in her neck) and would have to go under anyway.
It was costing a small fortune. Ten days in two hospitals and thousands of dollars and they still couldn't figure out what was wrong or how to fix it. We'd tried everything: dental work to remove two badly decayed teeth, two different appetite stimulants, force feeding, feeding tube, even steroids. Her liver enzymes were through the roof when they'd been fine before the dental. I crossed my fingers and hoped, one way or another, I would be able to take her home in a few days. There may be more treatment needed, but at least she'd be home.
What they found was not good. Exploratory surgery revealed a swollen, yellow, fragile liver that "fractured at the touch" and half her pancreas was just sort of...missing. They biopsied her liver, pancreas, stomach, and intestines. They placed a permanent E-tube in her throat for feeding, her blood pressure dropped dangerously to 74. That night they did a blood transfusion which didn't do anything to help, in fact her levels dropped even lower to 54. I refused to OK an infusion of plasma, and told the docs to just make her comfortable, then I had myself a good cry and waited for them to call me and say she was gone.
During the night they stopped one of the blood pressure meds meant to raise her pressure, and inexplicably her BP shot up to a nice normal 110.
No one can say why she stopped eating or if she can come through the other side, if her liver is too far gone to repair itself. Last night I thought she was done fighting and was ready to go. This morning, she seems to be fighting back again. She is a new breed of superhero.
Diagnosis: Piglet is actually a small German Shepard.
Apparently, the reason for her tiny/missing pancreas is something called EPI, not uncommon in German Shepards, but very rare in cats. So rare that they don't even bother looking for it. She has EPI, Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency, which can be treated with supplements. All the hospitals are back-ordered on the supplements soooo.....the surgeon ordered something similar from Amazon (fingers crossed).
This won't address the liver issue, but her BP is normal and steady, it should help her absorb nutrition from the food she eats (or what gets pushed down the tube) and it's a little ray of hope.
This cat comes from a long line of tough broads, and she continues the tradition.