Abelard is near death

On Dec 27, 2:46*pm, "Joy" wrote:
"cshenk" wrote in message

...



"Christina Websell" wrote
"Pat" wrote
cshenk wrote:
I don't understand it all, least of all the rapid breathing. Also,

Don't second guess yourself. It will just drive you crazy. It sounds
like
classic renal shutdown. At that stage, not even the vets can fix it.

You did your best, kidney failure is difficult. Sometimes you can keep
them going for quite a long time and sometimes you can't despite trying
hard.

It's difficult to say goodbye. *I've not found the point to say enough is
enough easy. *It's an ethical thing, and you know when.

Yup. *I adopt older (often truely elderly) rescues. *I know this one well.
It's hard no matter what to lose a loved pet and very hard to let go but
you can tell when it's time.

Might some of mine have been forced to live longer to make *me* feel
better? Yes. *The cost to *them* was always more than I was willing to pay
just to get an extra month or 2, with them in discomfort and no quality of
life left.

Exactly. *Making the decision to let them go is the most difficult, and most
loving, decision a pet owner can make.

Joy

Making the decision to have Rusty PTS was most difficult.
Once I made it, I felt oddly peaceful. I do miss him a lot,
but am glad he didn't have to live through another brutal
winter, even as an indoor only cat.

"Pat" wrote in message
...
cshenk wrote:

Don't second guess yourself. It will just drive you crazy. It sounds like
classic renal shutdown. At that stage, not even the vets can fix it.

Reminds me of something my mother once told me: "Don't think too much,
you'll drive yourself crazy." I mostly ignored that admonition. It
didn't make sense to me.

Anyway at this point I do not believe that his kidneys failed. In his
final moments his bladder let go, and soaked through his own bed
(thick) plus two towels folded into 4 thicknesses under his bed, and
still went through to the quilt.

After sleeping for a few hours, and then burying the body, it was time
to deal with the soiled bedding and towels. In light of what I have
now read about congestive heart failure, I realize that if his kidneys
had completely shut down, his urine would have been more like plain
waiter, with a very mild odor, if any. So I smelled everything before
washing, just to be sure.

The urine smell was strong. Maybe not as strong as the urine of a
kitty with perfect kidneys, but too strong to be from one whose
kidneys were bad enough to cause death at that stage. It was actually
stronger than one would expect given the volume of excess fluid his
body was trying to handle.

If you've ever drunk beer at all, and particularly if you're like me,
not a regular beer drinker (I go years in between beers, and when I
have one, I usually cannot finish the whole bottle or can or mug) and/
or avoid sugar (beer is generally made with plenty of sugar) and thus
your body isn't accustomed to these things, you would notice within an
hour of drinking it that your own urine was voluminous and almost
clear, even if your kidneys are generally in good shape.

Indeed, any excess of fluid in whatever form puts a strain on the
kidneys and causes a dilute urine, if only temporarily. I've had the
same thing happen with coffee and tea. Also, when I feel afraid or
nervous, I pass more urine, and it is often colorless. I think the
human body is a grand machine that way. Fear activates the adrenals.
The adrenals sit atop the kidneys.

One of the first things that happens in a truly terrifying situation
is involuntary urination. The body's natural response is to prepare
one to "fight or flee", by becoming lighter through discharge of
water, which adds weight. If the situation is very dire, one can also
have an involuntary bowel movement (animals who survives being hit by
a car often poop themselves at the time of impact).

The ideas above are leading up to a thesis of his actual cause of
death. I am now inclined to believe the vet's office was negligent if
not worse. I have no direct evidence, yet, but I am working on getting
it, and I will get it, if it exists. I need to hear a few answers from
the vet first. Then I will post what I think.

In the meantime I am grieving my heart out as well as angry about what
I think probably happened to hurt my baby boy enough to kill him.
There is no doubt I will be switching vets from here on out.
------------
It's usual to get angry with the vet who could not save your beloved. I do.
From what you posted, Abelard's kidneys packed up and no vet can cure that.
It was his time to go after a nice life with you.
Tweed

Christina Websell wrote:

It's usual to get angry with the vet who could not save your beloved. *
I do. From what you posted, Abelard's kidneys packed up and no
vet can cure that. It was his time to go after a nice life with you.

I spoke with the vet today. She concurred with my idea that he had
been given too much fluid and died of CHF.

On Mon, 27 Dec 2010 16:10:42 -0800 (PST), Pat
wrote:

Christina Websell wrote:

It's usual to get angry with the vet who could not save your beloved. *
I do. From what you posted, Abelard's kidneys packed up and no
vet can cure that. It was his time to go after a nice life with you.

I spoke with the vet today. She concurred with my idea that he had
been given too much fluid and died of CHF.


I'm so sorry to hear this.

But, nothing will bring Abelard back, unfortunately.

And, given his somewhat fragile health, something like this was bound to
happen, sooner or later.

The same sort of thing happened to my Kenzie: she shouldn't have died
from a liver biopsy, but she did

If she had been younger, and healthier, it almost certainly would not
have happened.

But, if she had been younger and healthier, she wouldn't have needed a
liver biopsy, of course.

Everyone, no matter HOW HARD they try, makes mistakes.

Often, these mistakes are only realized or discovered, using the perfect
20/20 hindsight we all have

Likely, due to his dehydration, Abelard's blood chemistry lab results
were way off.

This may have lead to a less than perfect decision about how much fluid
to give him.

Or perhaps the vet simply made a mistake.

I used to make mistakes at work.

Not often, but it seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I still made
some pretty significant mistakes, sometimes. It used to drive me crazy,
when I would try to sort them out later.

Don't drive yourself crazy, trying to think of 'what if', 'or what
should have been' for Abelard.

Nothing can be done about it, now, unfortunately.

I'm sure the vet feels almost as bad as you do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ ^..^

"Life without cats would be only marginally worth living."
-TC, in loving memory of the unmercifully, relentlessly, sweet calico
kitty, Kenzie.

Every day was a treasure with Kenzie; I tried to treat them that way.
There would only be so many, and now, there will never, ever, be any
more

How you behave towards cats here below determines your status in Heaven.
- Robert Heinlein

Try to let it go.