How Is Madeleine?

On 30 Jan, 16:49, "catz carer" wrote:
On 30 Jan, 01:07, "Lump" wrote:





Thanks again for your kind thoughts!

When we first went to pick her up this afternoon, the veterinary
doctor seemed a bit down and said that he didn't think the pain shot
had helped as much as he thought it might. He said he was able to
feed her but she hadn't seemed to have improved. And when i went in
to get her and saw her, my heart sank a little because she still
seemed the same. They gave me their feeding syringe and asked if i'd
like to try it out on her there, so i did, and i had the same problems
as before.

However, when she got home and i put her on my (newly cleaned) bed,
she seemed more energetic. She still can't walk on her own, but when
i give her some support, she shows strength in her legs that she had
completely lost before.

She kept moving around and seemed motivated by something. I finally
took her to the litter box and she actually started to use her
forearms to try to dig! I held her up for just a few seconds, then i
turned her around the way she usually stands when she urinates, and
she went in the litter box.

I put her back on my bed and she was trying to walk around on her own,
which she hasn't done for days. When she looked at me, she was
purring, and her face and eyes had their usual lovely expression
back.

On top of that, i brought her a small bowl of wet food, without much
hope, but just in case - and she gobbled it right up, all on her own!

I think the pain shot must have helped. I think that maybe the doctor
and the assistants didn't notice because Madeleine tends to be afraid
of strangers; and she especially does not like going to the vet. So
of course she must have been scared the whole time and that is
probably why they did not notice an improvement.

But she has definitely improved! We called them back and told them of
all the changes we noticed. The doctor was very happy to hear it and
said that if she needed another pain shot, he could do another one on
Wednesday but preferrably Thursday (as he is afraid to overdo the pain
shots).

I am hoping that we can teach her to walk again, as she already seems
much stronger. She still doesn't have her coordination back, but both
my cat and i are very, very happy this evening! She is right up
beside me, purring and dozing off. She is really herself again, at
least in spirit.

I'd like to thank you all again for your advice and support, it has
really helped me!We are all thinking of you around the world (uk) and rooting for both
you & sweet Madeleine too.

Never give up hope and share as much cuddles and love as you are able
to.
I firmly believe that the power of love knows no bounds when it comes
to our feline friends..
Best Wishes and love from all here including the furrballs too of
course..
S;o)- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -

Hi, my sister just posted above(sheelagh) just to pass on regards.

She rang me to tell me all about your post because she thought it
would be of some interest to us.

A few years ago we took Lucy to be spayed (well before we got Minky
Izzy)
@ one of those Hyperstores where they have a vetinary in residence
because we didn't have a vet of our own.

After taking Lucy Boots in to be seen to, we were told to leave her
there for a few hours , then to collect her sometime later.

When we arrived to collect her, we were informed that Lucy was having
some trouble recovering after the operation.
She had some similar problem's to the ones that you describe in your
posting.
Needless to say that we were terribly worride & had to leave her there
for the following 24hours for observation.

When we saw Lucy inatially, we honestly thought that she wouldn't last
the following night.She looked terrible & was unable to walk unaided
by herself either.My wife cried herself to sleep that night & I could
have happily joined her.

The following morning I went to our local vet & got all of the crew
registered locally, because as you can imagine, I had absolutley no
faith in the hyperstore's vet at all.
I explained the whole story & current situation to him, & he told us
to collect her, then call him to see her.

I refused to accept their diagnosis & couldn't believe it, because
when we saw her, it was obvious that she was trying to walk, but
looked utterly dopey.

We settled the bill with the store & took our cat home against thier
advice, but as we had no confidence in them, the advice was moot
really!

I contacted the local vet as soon as we got her home and asked if I
could bring her down for him to assess her. After a few poke's and
proding, he looked at myself & my wife & said, "She has had a bad
reaction to the anasthetic.Take her home, care for her, & in a few
day's the reaction should recover fully & Lucy will be back to
normal".

I can remember feeling a bit sceptical about that at the time, but
the difference was that we trusted him...

Sure enough, around 12 hour's later, Lucy Boots started to help
herself to walk without our assistance & within 24 hours was almost
back to normal, appart from an infection where her stitches were.
After a course of antibiotic's, she was back to her normal self within
3days.
Needless to say that we reported the incident to the Royal College of
Vetinary
surgeons too.

I tell you this story because I think it is important to keep faith &
trust your instinct.

I knew that the staff @ the hyperstore were onto a money spinner &
probably didn't have half an idea of what they were about either.I am
so glad that we did trust our instinct in this case & hope that you do
the same too.

We wish you all the best with Madeleine & hope that in time that she
will be back to normal again, whatever it takes.

Best Wishes & Good luck to you both
Catz C &Cats


And clear off Sheelagh & use your own account lol!!

I want to thank you all again for your thoughts and kind wishes.

I was very happy on Monday, after Madsie seemed so much improved after
the pain shot, once we got her home. As i said before, the change was
amazing, although she still couldn't walk on her own.

Sadly, the next day, she was back to being limp and not eating on her
own. She'd lost that expression of hers. So, the last two days have
been very sad and depressing for me.

I think i mentioned that on Monday, after we noticed the changes, we
phoned the doctor and told him about everything. He said he could
give her another pain shot on Wednesday but would prefer to wait until
Thursday. I was torn between wanting to get her comfortable and the
idea that maybe she would recover faster. I mean, i really wanted to
take her yesterday but decided to take her in today because of what he
said. He might be afraid of causing more damage by giving her too
much pain meds too soon. And i'd rather keep her as healthy as
possible for the long term.

So, she'll be going in in about 90 minutes for her pain shot. I am
really hoping it will help the way it did last time, maybe even more.

When she gets home, i want to try to make the most of her feeling
better but at the same time i don't want to push her too hard. I am
hoping she'll eat on her own, and while she feels better, i was
wondering if i should try working with her, maybe holding her up and
trying to see if she'll walk. But i don't know if that would be too
much.

What i've been doing the last two days is basically the same except i
did made some discoveries that i think make her a bit more
comfortable.

One of them is not to feed her with any syringes or tubes. The only
thing that i use is a small eyedropper to give her water, and the
little dropper for her antibiotics. Other than that, i have started
using my hands only to feed her.

I've been warming the food just a little, as i think room temperature
at this time of year is a bit cold. I don't mix it with anything, it
is very soft food that the vet gave us. I warm it a bit, get a little
bit of it on one of my fingers, then hold her mouth open and gently
smear the food inside, onto her tongue. She is actually chewing the
food now, instead of just being forced to swallow. She seems much
more tolerant of this and more comfortable. However, i'm not
successful every time. There are a couple of times when she would not
chew or swallow, so i wiped the excess from around her mouth and
around her teeth as best i could, then gave her more water to wash
down what was left. Overall, though, i think i am getting more
sustenance down her by handfeeding her the warmed food without mixing
it.

I'm still scared and have had some very bad times these past couple of
days. From what i have read, it seems she should be improving by now
but she still can't stand up and is limp.

I've also been bending and stretching her legs, trying to keep them
moving at least a little. I noticed early on that her head seems to
flop over sometimes, which scares me. I try to be very careful about
keeping her neck supported when i am handling her. I lay her on her
side to sleep and i switch sides, so there's not too much pressure on
one side all the time. I also massage her, i don't know if that
actually helps or not, but she seems to enjoy it.

I am very hopeful for today, as these past two days have been very
hard.

I just returned from the vet with Madeleine.

When i brought her in, first and assistant looked at her and seemed
like she didn't think Madsie looked good. She said her temperature
was very low, 98 point something, i can't even remember now. But this
whole time i've kept her bundles in plenty of blankets and whenever i
felt her she was so warm. After the doctor looked at her, his face
looked down. He said she was very dehydrated again, even though i've
been feeding her and giving her water since last time.

I guess i didn't do a good enough job. I really was surprised. I
thought she had been improving, even though i guess there's nothing
that should have given me that impression except that she was chewing
on her own. And she seemed warm and breathing fine. But no walking,
very limp.

I confirmed to him that, on the first day when we brought her home
after the first pain shot, she was remarkably improved, ate on her
own, tried to move on her own, etc, but the next day she fell back to
not eating and being limp.

He said he could give her more fluid in the sking and another pain
shot, but that he didn't think it would do much. He said he didn't
think her outlook was good. I said i wanted to try the fluid and pain
shot, anyway, so he did that, and she's here with me now. It's not
the same as the last time but maybe in a few hours i'll notice a
difference, as the last time, they kept her there all day and i do not
know what time they gave her the shot that day. So maybe it will take
a while. And maybe somehow it will make a bigger difference this
time.

I should have taken her in yesterday, maybe it would have made a
diffference. I don't know what to do. Every time i take her to the
vet, she is so scared.

I just want her to be back to the way she was before. I want her to
be happy. I don't understand what happened. I think i could accept
it if she died of old age but she was so vibrant before. It's not her
time and if she dies, i don't know what to do. I can't imagine living
without her i don't know if i can live without her. She is like my
own child to me. I don't have and never will have children of my
own. I can't bear to lose her. I know living creatures don't last
forever, but it just doesn't seem right for her to die now. She
should be fluttering around with her tail in the air and jumping on my
bed and looking at me with that lovely expression, and nuzzling up to
me.

I don't know what to do.

We all have to lose people we love, i know that. I am not exempt from
loss. But it is just too much. She loves life and she is my joy in
life. Creatures like her should live and be happy forever.

If she has to die then i wish we could fall sleep together tonight and
just not wake up. But there is no way to make that happen. I don't
want to wake up without her. I am so afraid. I love her so much.

I'm sorry, i must sound crazy but she is like my own little baby.

"Lump" wrote in message
ps.com...
I'm sorry, i must sound crazy but she is like my own little baby.


It's okay, honey. We understand. It is just very hard.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

on Thu, 01 Feb 2007 21:09:38 GMT, "Lump" wrote:

I'm sorry, i must sound crazy but she is like my own little baby.

You don't sound crazy at all. You sound scared, and I don't blame you.
I would feel the same way if it were one of mine.

And quit saying or thinking that you didn't do enough. You are doing a
great job! All we can do is our best.

I have a few suggestions for you. Call your vet about administering
subcutaneous fluids and pain medication at home yourself. If you feel
confident in doing this, your vet should agree to let you do this. This
means you will have to take her in so he can show you how to do this, but
I think it will be best for your kitty. She needs to remain hydrated in
order to recover, and she obviously needs help with this, so I'd get her
in tomorrow for more fluids and a lesson in doing this and administer
fluids at least once a day, or more often if your vet agrees. It's hard
the first few times you do it, but you and she will get used to it, and I
firmly believe that cats(, dogs and people) recover better when they are
in their own home.

I also think she should have pain medication, perhaps a synthetic
morphine type drug (something similar to Ultram for humans), which does
not have any tolerance problems. In other words, you can keep giving the
same dose and it will have the same effect, as opposed to needing more
and more for the same level of pain relief. I don't know if there is a
drug like this for cats, but you should ask. Explore all of her options
for pain relief. I'm strongly opposed to being stingy with pain meds,
but of course you have to balance that with the problems of building
tolerance or other potential complications from their use.

I don't think it's time for you to let her go. I don't think enough has
been done yet, but I also don't think that is at all your fault.

Please keep us posted, and give Madeleine some love from across the wires
for me.

--
Lynne

I'm so sorry to hear Madeleine isn't doing better. I know how hard
this is. Please don't blame yourself. You sound like a great cat mom
and you're taking great care of her. Please know that you and
Madeleine are in my thoughts and prayers.

"Lynne" wrote in message
...
on Thu, 01 Feb 2007 21:09:38 GMT, "Lump" wrote:

I'm sorry, i must sound crazy but she is like my own little baby.

You don't sound crazy at all. You sound scared, and I don't blame you.
I would feel the same way if it were one of mine.

Agreed. We've all been there.


And quit saying or thinking that you didn't do enough. You are doing a
great job! All we can do is our best.

I agree she's doing a great job.

I have a few suggestions for you. Call your vet about administering
subcutaneous fluids and pain medication at home yourself. If you feel
confident in doing this, your vet should agree to let you do this.

I agree with this 100% too.

This
means you will have to take her in so he can show you how to do this, but
I think it will be best for your kitty. She needs to remain hydrated in
order to recover, and she obviously needs help with this, so I'd get her
in tomorrow for more fluids and a lesson in doing this and administer
fluids at least once a day, or more often if your vet agrees. It's hard
the first few times you do it, but you and she will get used to it, and I
firmly believe that cats(, dogs and people) recover better when they are
in their own home.

Absolutely.

I also think she should have pain medication, perhaps a synthetic
morphine type drug (something similar to Ultram for humans), which does
not have any tolerance problems. In other words, you can keep giving the
same dose and it will have the same effect, as opposed to needing more
and more for the same level of pain relief. I don't know if there is a
drug like this for cats, but you should ask. Explore all of her options
for pain relief. I'm strongly opposed to being stingy with pain meds,
but of course you have to balance that with the problems of building
tolerance or other potential complications from their use.

Yes.

I don't think it's time for you to let her go. I don't think enough has
been done yet, but I also don't think that is at all your fault.

Agreed.

Please keep us posted, and give Madeleine some love from across the wires
for me.

My heart is breaking for you and Madeleine. You and she will be in my
thoughts and prayers. Please don't give up.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.

On 1 Feb 2007 13:01:11 -0800, "Lump" wrote:

We all have to lose people we love, i know that. I am not exempt from
loss. But it is just too much. She loves life and she is my joy in
life. Creatures like her should live and be happy forever.

If she has to die then i wish we could fall sleep together tonight and
just not wake up. But there is no way to make that happen. I don't
want to wake up without her. I am so afraid. I love her so much.

Lump,

Hang in there. You're a great mommy!