Entry #8: A Sudden Trip to the Vet
Content Warning: Themes of animals in pain, animals with health problems/deformities
Lately, my leg days at the gym have been especially hard. I moved up to 5 sets of 5 reps of 245lbs for my deadlift on leg days, certainly not a lot for a lot of guys who have been lifting longer but enough to challenge my grip and legs to the point that I'm basically beat by the time I'm done. Last Friday, I did my deadlifts, a few more exercises, and headed home totally depleted. I go to bed around 10pm, ready to get some much needed extra sleep into the morning on Saturday. 9, maybe even 10 hours.
Suddenly, its 5am and I'm sort of half awake and I hear a loud, distant whining sound. My door opens and my sister comes in sort of frantically. "Adam, Disintegrator is hurt."
Some context: Disintegrator is my cat, she's about 10-11 years old now but you would never guess. When we got her she was stumbling around as a kitten in the rain near the stairs of our old apartment complex. My sister brought her in without anyone knowing. She couldn't meow, she couldn't open her eyes. We took her to the vets who did their best to care for her, but they didn't expect she'd survive. Cut to a few years later and she's fine, just a little cross eyed and small- her problems impacted her growth and now, even in her relatively old age, she's always been sort of a runt. My family wanted to call her Alencia but, because of her small size and harmlessness, my sister and I would ironically talk about naming her something more intimidating like Disintegrator. Both names have stuck to some extent.
Back to the incident. I hurry out of my room to check on her. On my way, I hear some awful sounds. She's on the floor of the kitchen; writhing, panting, and moaning in pain. I have no idea what's happening but given her past health problems I imagine the worst. Is it sudden organ failure? An aneurysm? Can cats have aneurysms? I start to fear its something fatal- something neither her nor I understand and maybe never will. Its one of the most devastating thoughts I occasionally have: that an animal is in pain and doesn't understand why. It seems so unfair. I do my best to stay calm and comfort her. Petting her head and stomach gently; calmly. For awhile she stops meowing and panting and, for a few seconds, looks at me with big, wide eyes. Her ribcage in going in and out at lightspeed, she's breathing very fast. Then another wave of pain hits her, she rolls around crying. This continues as we quickly find the number for a vet. As I talk to someone at an animal hospital, I notice she keeps trying to get up and walk but she wont put her right leg to the ground. As awful as it could be that her leg is injured, I feel slightly relieved to know what is likely wrong and, more importantly, that the problem may not be fatal.
I carefully finagle her into a large carrier, the drive over is incredibly stressful. I try to avoid taking turns too fast, slowing down too abruptly, accelerating too quickly- anything that might put her in more pain and start her crying again. We reach the animal hospital and I give them the information they need. They take her into the back for an examination. A veterinary nurse comes in and informs us something seems to be wrong with her leg and she needs to take x-rays. I consent and a few forms are signed. One asks whether or not to attempt resuscitation if the animal's heart stops beating during surgery and anesthesia. The nurse tells us very matter-of-factly that she hates doing this and doesn't recommend it. She says in the short amount of time they are technically dead the brain begins to die. When animals come back they often have some type of brain damage and have many new difficulties living. There doesn't seem to be a good option but, in this case, I think it seems cruel to me to bring an animal back to live in that condition. They take the paperwork and begin the x-ray.
After an x-ray, a nurse comes in to tell us they determined she has a "hip luxation". Basically, this is a fancy term to describe hip dislocation. Sure enough, on the x-ray, the ball at the of her femur is askew from a slot where it should be in the pelvis.
They tell us she could have dislocated simply from landing the wrong way. My sister says she jumped off a chair while one of our other cats was trying to play with her and once she hit the ground, suddenly, she was in pain.
The nurse begins about her own cats as well, saying she has one cat who is seven years old and currently has kidney failure that she is trying to treat. She continues and says the cat was born with no eyes! A friend witnessed the cat being thrown into the bushes from and car and brought the cat in. When they looked at it, it had just pink sockets where its eyes should be. I believe she said she brought it to the vets who talked about putting it down. She couldn't bear the thought and pulled the cat close to her, causing it to purr. She kept the cat and now it spends time with her and all her other cats at home. Despite having no eyes, the cat still tries to play with her and the other cats. She said the cat listens for a cat to run by and, when they get close, swipes at them. She told me her cat was in a video tutorial to putting a onesie on a cat, I'm 99% sure this is the video.
We leave while they put her under and replace the joint. An hour or so later, we come back and she's ready to go. We take her home and set her up in a large dog crate where she has her bed and a litterbox. We follow careful instructions to take care of her- when to feed her, when to give her water, when to give her medicine. The medication and pain leaves her uncharacteristically lazy. After giving her some medicine, I spend some extra time petting her. She starts to purr and rests her head on my hand like she did before she hurt herself.
All of my cats were homeless in bad condition and, over the years, we took them off the street. They now live into old age (10-11, and two 13-14 year olds) still energetic and affectionate. I commonly think I won't be too sad when they pass away because of how much life and comfort we've given them that they wouldn't otherwise have had. But this really showed me that its still going to be hard. In the meantime, I'm trying to reflect and prepare myself. Having multiple cats of an older age, I imagine there will be some period where it all feels especially tough all at once.
Anyway, after we all got home I passed out early and got some much needed sleep. This is really only the beginning of her potential journey to recovery and the adjustments I will have to make to accommodate her the best I can.
Lately, my leg days at the gym have been especially hard. I moved up to 5 sets of 5 reps of 245lbs for my deadlift on leg days, certainly not a lot for a lot of guys who have been lifting longer but enough to challenge my grip and legs to the point that I'm basically beat by the time I'm done. Last Friday, I did my deadlifts, a few more exercises, and headed home totally depleted. I go to bed around 10pm, ready to get some much needed extra sleep into the morning on Saturday. 9, maybe even 10 hours.
Suddenly, its 5am and I'm sort of half awake and I hear a loud, distant whining sound. My door opens and my sister comes in sort of frantically. "Adam, Disintegrator is hurt."
Some context: Disintegrator is my cat, she's about 10-11 years old now but you would never guess. When we got her she was stumbling around as a kitten in the rain near the stairs of our old apartment complex. My sister brought her in without anyone knowing. She couldn't meow, she couldn't open her eyes. We took her to the vets who did their best to care for her, but they didn't expect she'd survive. Cut to a few years later and she's fine, just a little cross eyed and small- her problems impacted her growth and now, even in her relatively old age, she's always been sort of a runt. My family wanted to call her Alencia but, because of her small size and harmlessness, my sister and I would ironically talk about naming her something more intimidating like Disintegrator. Both names have stuck to some extent.
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Back to the incident. I hurry out of my room to check on her. On my way, I hear some awful sounds. She's on the floor of the kitchen; writhing, panting, and moaning in pain. I have no idea what's happening but given her past health problems I imagine the worst. Is it sudden organ failure? An aneurysm? Can cats have aneurysms? I start to fear its something fatal- something neither her nor I understand and maybe never will. Its one of the most devastating thoughts I occasionally have: that an animal is in pain and doesn't understand why. It seems so unfair. I do my best to stay calm and comfort her. Petting her head and stomach gently; calmly. For awhile she stops meowing and panting and, for a few seconds, looks at me with big, wide eyes. Her ribcage in going in and out at lightspeed, she's breathing very fast. Then another wave of pain hits her, she rolls around crying. This continues as we quickly find the number for a vet. As I talk to someone at an animal hospital, I notice she keeps trying to get up and walk but she wont put her right leg to the ground. As awful as it could be that her leg is injured, I feel slightly relieved to know what is likely wrong and, more importantly, that the problem may not be fatal.
I carefully finagle her into a large carrier, the drive over is incredibly stressful. I try to avoid taking turns too fast, slowing down too abruptly, accelerating too quickly- anything that might put her in more pain and start her crying again. We reach the animal hospital and I give them the information they need. They take her into the back for an examination. A veterinary nurse comes in and informs us something seems to be wrong with her leg and she needs to take x-rays. I consent and a few forms are signed. One asks whether or not to attempt resuscitation if the animal's heart stops beating during surgery and anesthesia. The nurse tells us very matter-of-factly that she hates doing this and doesn't recommend it. She says in the short amount of time they are technically dead the brain begins to die. When animals come back they often have some type of brain damage and have many new difficulties living. There doesn't seem to be a good option but, in this case, I think it seems cruel to me to bring an animal back to live in that condition. They take the paperwork and begin the x-ray.
After an x-ray, a nurse comes in to tell us they determined she has a "hip luxation". Basically, this is a fancy term to describe hip dislocation. Sure enough, on the x-ray, the ball at the of her femur is askew from a slot where it should be in the pelvis.
They tell us she could have dislocated simply from landing the wrong way. My sister says she jumped off a chair while one of our other cats was trying to play with her and once she hit the ground, suddenly, she was in pain.
The nurse begins about her own cats as well, saying she has one cat who is seven years old and currently has kidney failure that she is trying to treat. She continues and says the cat was born with no eyes! A friend witnessed the cat being thrown into the bushes from and car and brought the cat in. When they looked at it, it had just pink sockets where its eyes should be. I believe she said she brought it to the vets who talked about putting it down. She couldn't bear the thought and pulled the cat close to her, causing it to purr. She kept the cat and now it spends time with her and all her other cats at home. Despite having no eyes, the cat still tries to play with her and the other cats. She said the cat listens for a cat to run by and, when they get close, swipes at them. She told me her cat was in a video tutorial to putting a onesie on a cat, I'm 99% sure this is the video.
We leave while they put her under and replace the joint. An hour or so later, we come back and she's ready to go. We take her home and set her up in a large dog crate where she has her bed and a litterbox. We follow careful instructions to take care of her- when to feed her, when to give her water, when to give her medicine. The medication and pain leaves her uncharacteristically lazy. After giving her some medicine, I spend some extra time petting her. She starts to purr and rests her head on my hand like she did before she hurt herself.
All of my cats were homeless in bad condition and, over the years, we took them off the street. They now live into old age (10-11, and two 13-14 year olds) still energetic and affectionate. I commonly think I won't be too sad when they pass away because of how much life and comfort we've given them that they wouldn't otherwise have had. But this really showed me that its still going to be hard. In the meantime, I'm trying to reflect and prepare myself. Having multiple cats of an older age, I imagine there will be some period where it all feels especially tough all at once.
Anyway, after we all got home I passed out early and got some much needed sleep. This is really only the beginning of her potential journey to recovery and the adjustments I will have to make to accommodate her the best I can.
Wow It warms my heart that you care so much for you animals and bringing them from outside and giving them a home is just so wonderful. I want a cat but my boyfriend is allergic, which is sad but im gonna get a bunny soon so maybe that will make up for it.
ReplyDeleteI hate it when you can't figure why your pet is in pain or sick and that's why I'm planning on becoming a veterinarian. Hopefully, one day I'll be able to help more pets, just like your cat! I'm glad that she's okay and doing well!
ReplyDelete