Michelle,
I don't think you are horrible for considering euthanizing Lucy. You've
thrown everything but the kitchen sink at her and she hasn't responded
the way you hoped and now it seems you've come to the agonizing point
of resolving yourself to the fact that your intervention won't be able
to turn her around. This is only my intuition talking, perhaps I'm
wrong, but you still seem desperate to control the situation, helping
her cross is the final thing that you could do for her. I fully realize
how much you love her, that everything you've done has been with her
best interest in mind, I'm confident that Lucy feels that way too.
She's been such a trooper through all this, she's still purring when you
and Gray pet her, she's still licking at her food, she's still grateful
for the time she can spend with you. As long as she's still showing you
that she wants to stay, I would back off of all meds except those that
might make her more comfortable, (perhaps just Pred and maybe saline
nose drops for the congestion), and let her take it from here. I know
how you and Gray feel about euthanasia, if that is what you decided to
do, make sure it is coming from your heart and not your head. Listen to
her, she will tell you when/if she is ready.
My heart and thoughts are with you,
Nina
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Yesterday at one point Lucy howled and started open mouth breathing
and stumbled to the garage door where there is cold air. I assumed
(and still think) it was her anemia getting so bad she was not getting
enough oxygen. I almost reached for valium to knock her out for
euthanasia, but instead gave her a combo dex/depo shot just to see if
it would help. She settled down and lay on a pillow by the garage door
for hours, and we lay with her petting her, and she purred a lot and
eventually ate a little bit. Last night she climbed to th top of the
cat tree again at some point, and back down, and is on the couch now.
She tried to eat a little baby food, but I don't think she can taste
or smell due to congestion that came back with the steroids, so she
only ate a little. So I syringed her, thinking once a day is not that
much torture. I only pilled her once yesterday. I am just trying to
keep her comfortable, and when she is not I won't let her suffer. As
I am writing, she got up and went into the kitchen to drink some water.
I don't want to give her immuno-regulin, Kerry, because I do think
this is FIP and I-R works by jump-starting an immune response, and
with FIP it is the immune response that kills them. Plus I would need
to take her to the vet for IV shots, as the sub-q shots did not seem
to help her at all when I thought this was just a URI weeks ago and
gave them to her.
There was reason for you not to think Bandy had FIP. He might have had
dry FIP, you know. It is not unheard of for a cat to be kept going for
a year with dry FIP. But Lucy is like a huge sack of jelly at this
point. She can't even absorb sub-q fluids-- they go to her belly or
stay in her shoulders. It is like her whole body has turned to
jelly. She does not walk well. I have no idea how she got herself to
the top of the cat tree last night.
A part of me thinks that I should just get her euthanized tomorrow
(today is Sunday and I am not driving her to an ER). I hardly ever
euthanize, and when I do it is when they are actually dying or in
distress. And she purrs when we pet her, and she takes a few licks of
food at a time, and she got to the top of a cat tree last night. So I
don't want to. she looks awful, though, and I would guess her HCT is
incredibly low. Am I being horrible?
Michelle
