Eyes of Gold a Soul that's Old, Emergency Medical

With Eyes of Gold and a Soul that is Old, Roary, the purest Soul I know, had to be rushed to emergency rooms Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. What started out at 5:30 am Monday as a strange sneeze/cough/hard swallow escalated to him being oxygen dependent by Wednesday and also on Thursday. An endoscopy revealed half of his esophagus was completely ulcerated, and his entire stomach was inflamed.

The doctor explained it is like having canker sores covering half of his esophagus. She said, “You know what it feels like to have a canker sore, and you feel pain and don’t want to eat…imagine what it feels like if half of your esophagus is completely covered with canker sores."

Roary was up most of the early am hours of Monday chasing/hunting/ looking for some bug in the house. (Roary is an indoor-only cat). Whatever it was, he was determined to catch it.

That morning, I found a dead spider on my desk, with a greenish bulbous body about 1/4” long, it's legs curled up around it. I figured Roary had something to do with it.

Around 5:30 am, I noticed he had a strange cough/sneeze. It would happen every couple of minutes. I said, “ok, I will take you to get checked at the vet today.

A full body x-ray revealed excessive gas in the belly and intestines. No blockages or anything unusual. They gave me antibiotics and determined that he caught a cold from my other cat, Dobie, who was sneezing the week before and on antibiotics.

I took video of these Roary episodes and showed them to the vet. He determined it was a sneeze. However, when Roary sneezes, it sounds like an actual sneeze; what Roary was doing was more of a cough.

We got home and the sneeze cough started again. Worsening and happening every five seconds for at least an hour. I rushed him to the Access Emergency Hospital.

A chest x-ray determined everything was o.k. They told me to let the antibiotics take their course and sent us home. They told me to take him into the bathroom and run the hot shower and let the steam release the congestion. I tried that once it seemed to help a little.

Next day, no improvement. Took him back to regular vet. Another full body x-ray did not reveal any blockages. He offered to do exploratory surgery for $3800. I was not interested. He told me to get Roary an abdominal ultrasound ASAP a few blocks away at the VCA Emergency Animal Specialty Hospital.

VCA completed the ultrasound; it did not reveal any issues. They told me not to use the antibiotics that he was given and to let his body heal on its own. They sent me home. I bought a warm air vaporizer. It seemed to help a little.

The next morning, at 5:30 am, I found Roary under my bed, eyes half open, labored breathing, tongue swollen, hanging out of his mouth, thick stream of drool that reached the floor. I immediately ran into the garage, started my 25-year-old car, and grabbed the cat carrier. Roary did not put up too much of a fight as he had not eaten since Monday morning. I called Access Emergency Hospital and explained what was happening and they told me they would take him to the back immediately.

On the way,I stopped for a red light, taking forever to change, waited for what seemed like ever. Roary’s breathing was still labored, looked around, saw there were no cars coming and I went through the light. A few seconds later, I realized traffic cameras were at that intersection.

Access checked his breathing, took him in the back right away.

While waiting, I was emailing the photos and videos of Roary’s condition to the staff so they could get a complete idea of what was happening. I also called the regular vet and the VCA emergency hospital to have them send their records over ASAP!

They performed an Endoscopy, showing half of the esophagus was completely ulcerated and the entire stomach inflamed. Roary was oxygen dependent. They had to keep him overnight to determine what was going on.

The next morning the doctor called and told me Roary was still oxygen dependent and they will have to keep him at least another day.

He was put on medication to heal his stomach, and esophagus, keep him calm and stimulate his appetite and for pain.

Before visiting Roary, I wore an old shirt that I knew he liked to sleep on. With my scent on it, I took it off and rubbed it all over Dobie to get Dobie’s scent on it too. I brought it to Roary during visiting hours with his favorite food and treats. He was in the oxygen enclosure. I pet him through the little door. I combed his fur and gave him tuna and chicken soup. It was very important that he eats on his own. Otherwise, he would have to have a feeding tube put in. I wrapped the shirt around him, after a couple of sniffs, he felt Dobie and me and settled in for a nap.

The next day I brought another shirt with my scent and Dobie’s. He ate and breathed on his own. Lots of head-butting.

The next morning, they called me with the good news that he was ready to go home. They told me to come get him at 2 pm.

I was informed his recovery would be a “process” with 5 medications. If his appetite is not what it is supposed to be, give him the stimulant or feed him with a syringe. The first couple of days, I did feed him baby food with the syringe.

He is happy to be home and getting back to himself.

This ordeal has been a tremendous strain for all of us, and we must recover. We need to recover physically, emotionally and financially. I have hardly slept at all the past 10 days as Roary was needing round the clock care.

We might never find out what caused this to happen. The vets do not think it was the spider. To me, it looked like he was poisoned… and something toxic was in his body. He is only about two and a half years old.

I am exhausted and depleted beyond measure.

Any amount that anyone can donate to our Gofundme cause will be greatly needed and appreciated as the veterinary bills from our regular vet, and the two emergency hospitals are:

$5951.89 Access Specialty Animal Hospitals

$1267.20 VCA Animal Speciality & Emergency Center

$559.85 Regular Vet

$649.85 Regular Vet

$115.00 Recheck at Access Specialty Animal Hospitals

$42.00 L-Lysine

$248.99 transaction fees

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$8834.77

Thank You Very Much,

Alan, Dobie ={^.^}= and Roary ={^.^}=