Another sympathy card

Today I got another sympathy card.  This one was from Daisy's normal veterinary clinic, All Creatures Great & Small.  This one has wildflowers seeds in the card for planting this year.  Nice.

Paw prints

Today I received a sympathy card from the Flathead Pet Emergency clinic that cared for Daisy.

Inside the card was a sheet with paw prints on it.

I called the clinic to thank them for the card.  I asked if the paw prints were Daisy's, or if they were a generic set of paw prints.  They told me the paw prints were Daisy's.  Which is nice to have.  They told me Daisy was a nice cat.

I'm still very sad over not having Daisy around anymore.

R. I. P.

Another tough day for me.

Daisy, rest in peace.

Burial

This afternoon I buried Daisy. The night Daisy died the Flathead Pet Emergency clinic gave me the option of them disposing Daisy for me, have Daisy cremated, or I could take Daisy's remains home.  

Cremation is ok, but I preferred to have Daisy's body buried in the front yard. Of course the ground is now frozen more solid than anything this Winter.  The clinic said they could keep Daisy for me until the weekend.

Thursday I asked my neighbor Curtis if he had a blow torch I could use so I could thaw the ground.  He asked me, "Why not have a fire to thaw the ground?"   Duh. Of course. I still have lots of tree branches piled for burning tree stumps later.

Thursday I put the pallet forks on the tractor and got some tree branches.  I wasn't sure how much fire I would need to thaw the ground so I got two loads of branches. It turns out I only needed less than one load of branches.

The end of Thursday afternoon and evening I had a bonfire.  I figured the ashes would continue to heat the ground overnight and I would start back up with a fire today.

Overnight it snowed once again.  Not what I wanted. But fortunately it was only an inch or so of snow.   This morning the ashes were still a little warm.  

The good news was the ground was thawed and I could dig a hole for Daisy.   This afternoon I got Daisy from the clinic and buried him.

I'm still heartbroken over Daisy's death.  The ranch will never be the same without Daisy to help me.

Daisy's last day

I had Daisy put to sleep Wednesday night.  It was another up and down day.

The call from the vet, Dr. Dean, before at 8 am was that Daisy was still the same.  Her urine was less yellow and her skin color was less yellow.  Dr. Dean was going off shift and a new vet would call me in the evening around 7 pm with Daisy's status after his blood test.  Dr. Dean had hopes it would be good and they could send Daisy home with me.

The vet didn't call until after 8 pm.  She had done extra tests.  Daisy blood count was 20, up from 19 the day before.  The vet said this was the only good thing about Daisy's health.  Her bilirubin rose. The count went from 6.7 to 7.8.  Not good as that would indicate more red blood cell destruction.  She also said Daisy's potassium level was low. She didn't know why, or what was causing that.

She said Daisy seemed to be breathing harder, and seemed to have extra fluid, so she did an x-ray and an ultrasound.  She said a cat has 5 lobes in the lungs.  Three on the right side and two on the left. 

The medical page on the Internet says cats have 6 lobes:

The right lung is formed by four lobes: apical (cranial), middle (cardiac), caudal (diaphragmatic) and accessory (intermediate) and it is larger than the left lung, which has two lobes: an apical (cranial) and an diaphragmatic (caudal).

In Daisy the vet said, three of the lobes were clear and only had air.  Which is good.  Two were "white", meaning they were full of either fluid or some sort of mass.  Not good.  She had texted me the images but I don't have a cell phone.

The fluid build-up may be because Daisy was on an IV for fluids and the extra fluids in her body means she wasn't processing the fluids correctly.  Eventually the fluids would make her heart stop, and could be a painful decline.  Daisy still wasn't eating, but it could be because he was nauseous. 

Overall the vet thought the prognosis for recovery wasn't good. She thought Daisy appeared to be sad.  She didn't explicitly say Daisy should be put to sleep, but built the case that this was the best thing to do.  Eventually I reluctantly decided this was the thing to do.

I had the option to come to the clinic to spend some time and to say my good-bye to Daisy.  And if I wanted to attend Daisy's euthanasia.  So I went to the clinic right away Wednesday night.  It had snowed during the day and the roads were slippery.  At the main intersection the light was green and the car in front of me turned right onto the far lane of the 4-lane highway.  Then a car coming on the highway didn't stop or even slow down and went through the red light.  Fortunately the car was in the inner lane and missed the other car.  I waited to make sure the next car was a distance away before I turned onto the highway.  The highway was slick and slippery.  Earlier in the day someone driving slipped into the ditch and came to a stop before he could hit my mailbox.

At the clinic, after I signed a release form, a technician (as the clinic calls the people help the vet and care for the animals), brought Daisy into the room.  Daisy was wrapped in a large red blanket with his head sticking out of the blanket.

Daisy has his eyes open. He looked tired.  He was wrapped in the blanket so he couldn't move. I petted him on his head which he liked.  I started to think that maybe he could still recover.  After a while when a technician asked if I was ready now, I asked if someone could go over Daisy's condition with me again.  The vet came into the room and re-explained her diagnosis and Daisy's conditions.  She showed me the x-ray and ultrasound images on her phone, and the clear lobes and the white lobes.

I asked if they couldn't drain the fluid from Daisy, and they could, but not knowing exactly what was causing the fluid build-up, it more than likely would build up again.

I could try to wait longer in case Daisy's condition turned around, but was told he could still die, or could have a painful decline.  Daisy could recover, but the odds were very slim.

So I spent me time with Daisy thinking about it. A little while later another technician came in the room.  She said she had cared for Daisy since Saturday. Initially Daisy had resisted them when they did the tests, etc.  Now he didn't resist.  Now when he used the litter box, and after going, he would then lay down in the litter box as he didn't have the strength to leave the litter box.  The technician said she liked Daisy, and Daisy was a very good cat, but Daisy was declining in health.

So I spent a little more time petting Daisy. I could have stayed and petted him all night. When he began to seem to be a little nauseous, I then said it was time.  I held Daisy as the vet administered into the tube in Daisy's left front leg the anesthesia.  Daisy kept his eyes open.  Then the drug that stopped Daisy's heart was administered and Daisy immediately passed away. 

I miss my cat and wish he could have recovered.  I'm so sad.

Daisy has died

I thought I had published this post Wednesday night.  But then, how I was feeling, I guess it would explain why I messed up trying to publish this post.

I had Daisy put to sleep tonight.  I was there and held him.

I am so sad.   

Donna sent me this.

Stabilizing

The good news is that Daisy appears to be stabilizing.

This morning it was mostly the same type of decent morning news.  Daisy's temperature was now down to normal. His urine is not as yellow.  His skin color was less yellow.  He still was not eating.

This evening's call was after they did his blood test.  His bilirubin count had dropped a little, which is good.  I don't remember the number but is was a little under 7 now.  Several days ago it was around 4, which is still higher than normal.  So we have a ways to go for improvement.  His red blood cell count was 19, down from the 21 it was yesterday.  But a far less drop that had been occurring daily.  I can't remember if the vet said his original count was 49 or 41 on Saturday. But Sunday it was 29 and on Monday it was 21.  So, Dr. Dean, the vet thinks her red blood cell count may be stabilizing.  Daisy will keep getting the IV and steroids and tomorrow we'll see what the count is.  I hope it will be at least the same or hopefully higher.

Certainly better news than I was fearing.  It's been a rough day for me.

Up and down day

Before 8 am today the vet, Dr. Dean, called me about Daisy.  His temperature was back to normal.  No blood work was done yet, but Daisy seemed to be a little more active.  He hadn't eaten yet, but had urinated.  So all this was a good sign.

The clinic did the blood work at 6 pm. Dr. Dean said Daisy did react a little bit when they drew the blood, which is a good sign.  But the blood test results were not good.

I got it wrong yesterday. Daisy didn't have a bile duct obstruction.  She had a high bilirubin count.  Daisy's count yesterday was a little over 7.  Today's count was about the same. Bilirubin is due to the loss of red blood cells.

Daisy's red blood cell count yesterday was 29.  A normal count for cats is 35.  Today Daisy's red blood cell count was 21.  So it is dropping, even with the steroids.  The vet said a count of 12 means a lack of oxygen.

I asked him what could cause a red blood cell drop. 

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is an immune system disease in which the body attacks and destroys its own red blood cells. 

AIHA may be primary (idiopathic) or it may be secondary.

With primary AIHA, the cat's immune system is not working properly, and it incorrectly makes antibodies that target its own red blood cells. Primary AIHA is uncommon in cats.

With secondary AIHA, the surface of the red blood cells becomes altered by an underlying disease process or a toxin. The cat's immune system then recognizes the altered red blood cells as 'foreign' invaders that must be destroyed. Secondary AIHA may be triggered by cancer, infections such as feline leukemia, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) or feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), blood parasites, drug reactions, chemicals, toxins, or bee stings.

The vet also mentioned a fungus could cause an infection.  Daisy could have gotten an infection or fungus a few weeks ago.  He fought it off in the week or two but then recently began attack his own red blood cells.  A fungus?  I then remembered my house has a crawl space underneath.  A few weeks ago I think I had opened the door to it for some reason and checked it out.  Daisy has been in the crawl space in the past a number of times and had no problems.  Of course he went down for a little bit to check it out.  Maybe there is a fungus down there.  It's the only thing I can think of.

So, the 6 pm news was not good.  The vet said we can give Daisy one more day of steroids and see if that finally stops her blood cell destruction.  The odds of her success is lower now.

I started out the day in better shape.  But after 6 pm it went downhill for me.

Daisy is very ill

Daisy has been fine until Friday.  Friday he mainly laid in my chair by my computer all day.  A few times in the past Daisy has had a day where he just lays around all day.  So I let him be.  Saturday morning he still was laying in the chair.  He didn't seem to have no energy.  He would only raise his head when I petted him.  He wasn't looking good.

Saturday, of course, his vet clinic was closed.  A clinic, Flathead Pet Emergency, is open all weekend.  On weekdays they are open from 6 pm to 8 am.  I called them after 9 am and had to leave a message.  They called back after 10 am and said the doctor was in surgery and people were waiting, so it would be best if I brought Daisy in at noon.  I brought Daisy in at 12:30 pm.  Due to COVID one can't go inside the building and has to wait in their vehicle.  The parking lot was full and I had to park in the back until a vehicle left.

An employee came out and I explained how Daisy was feeling.  She took Daisy inside the building and I waited in my pickup.  And waited.  I fell asleep.  At 2 pm the employee came back and told me they had a few more critical injuries and it will take longer.  So I went home.

I got a call at 3 pm saying Daisy's abdomen was tender and they would like to do an x-ray/ultrasound and also take some blood.  After 4 pm they called.  The vet said Daisy's temperature was a little high, and then something about bile duct problem (obstruction?).  He wanted to give Daisy anti-inflammatory medicine and keep him overnight and check on him on Sunday.  He also was given an IV as his fluids were low. And Daisy needed to eat.

Today, Sunday, I waited for their call.  Finally at 4 pm I called them. Apparently they hadn't gotten around to Daisy yet.  They were going to do a blood test.  I got a call a quarter after 5 pm.  Daisy's bile(?) level which was high at over 4 on Saturday as now over 7.  The blood test showed Daisy's red blood cells were dropping and the vet didn't know why.  The white blood cells were ok.  He said he checked the blood to see if there were any parasites in the blood attacking the red blood cells, and didn't see any.

About the only option was to give Daisy steroids to help the red blood cell count.  The downside was that if there was indeed parasites in his blood then the steroids would be damaging.  Or do nothing.  If I did nothing Daisy would die, and it would be painful, so euthanasia would be recommended.  Since the vet didn't see any parasites I said give him the steroids and hopefully that will make him better.  It appears it is a 50/50 chance of working.

So we'll see what 24 hours will bring.  After 6 pm tomorrow they will do another blood test.  I am hoping for the best.

So last night was tough for me, and tonight is even tougher.  I have been with Daisy for 8 years and one and half months.  Other than a short trip to Las Vegas with Tammy many years ago, I don't think I ever spent one day or night away from Daisy.  Lately with the cold weather Daisy and I had been spending lots of time together.  Daisy will come in and sleep next to me on my bed late in the morning.  In the afternoon he insists on curling up right against me when I sit on the couch.  When I start the woodstove fire he comes and lays by me near the woodstove.  If I don't lay by him by the woodstove for a short while, later he will pester me until I do so.  Last night and today I kept 'checking' as I thought I had heard Daisy at the door outside, or I would look over to see if I he was laying on the couch or by the woodstove.

This is the best cat I ever owned.  I love this cat as much, or more, as anything else in this world.  I spent over one thousand dollars so far on his care this weekend and it is worth it if it helps him.  I hope tomorrow is a better day.