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.