This being the health topic, I'm hoping I'm in the right place...
Our cat, Gracie Allen has hyperthyroidism. She's been on tapazol for a month, and last Friday she went into our vet for a blood test. Everything was fine. They have trouble getting her blood so they shaved her neck and the tech tried the jugular on each side. Finally, the vet came in and took the blood from her jugular.
Friday she seemed fine. Friday night she didn't eat, but sometimes she just doesn't so we didn't worry about it. Saturday morning she hadn't eaten so we gave her fresh food and her treat with her pill in it. My wife came home Saturday afternoon and noticed she still hadn't eaten, and hadn't eaten the treat with the pill, which alarmed her because Gracie always eats the treat.
She went looking and finally found the cat under the bed, where she's never gone before, on her side, gasping for breath. Tried the emergency numbers and didn't get any answer from the local vets, so she called back and they told her to immediately bring the cat into the emergency hospital 25 miles away. When they got to the hospital they did an x-ray, which showed her neck and throat very distorted and swollen, constricting and blocking her airway. They put in a breathing tube and mostly stabilized her. Even at the emergency hospital, because of the swelling, they were concerned about trying to do a tracheostomy, and recommended she be transported to the main University veterinary hospital, which is open 7/24 and has an ICU.
So, along with a vet tech to maintain the anesthesia and monitor Gracie, we headed for the hospital, another 30 miles away.
At the hospital they determined that her blood count was down to 12, as opposed to the 30-40 that's normal, put her in an oxygen tent and started transfusing her. Although everyone was VERY careful not to say anything directly, all the doctors alluded to the likely cause of the swelling/blockage being bleeding from either her jugular and/or carotid. But, at this point she was so anemic from bleeding, and had so few clotting factors left, they said to try to find the bleed and fix it would kill her.
Sunday afternoon we were told they'd removed the airway, which (at least to me) was cause for hope, and that they'd transfused her again, and that hopefully her blood count and clotting times would hold. Her body temperature and heart rate were better (she'd been very cold and slow at the first hospital), but her heart rate was still slow ~115 and O2 was around 90% instead of 100. But they were going to wait and see.
This morning I went into my regular vet, and talked to the doctor, who expressed concern. She and the university hospital have talked and she's sent her medical information to the university (this is how I found it out took three tries to get blood from her on Friday).
This morning we were told they'd had to put the airway back in because she was having problems, and late this morning they did the tracheostomy. Her blood count was down to 11 and they're currently (3 pm) transfusing her again. She's apparently awake, and we'll be going up to see her shortly (well, as shortly as you can make a 70 mile trip), but so far we can't get any definite answer as to why she's bleeding (if she is), and why her blood count keeps dropping, and how long she'll be in intensive care, and pretty much any of the other thousand or so questions clogging my head for the last 2 days...
And, of course, the university hospital may not have good answers, but they are doing a VERY good job of keeping us informed about the constantly increasing cost of all this.
I'm not sure anyone out there has any answers, but I figured I'd stop in and tell the story (I normally lurk and get info from here, but rarely have anything interesting to contribute)... So, if anybody hs any ideas throw them out there 'cause at this point it can't get much worse. I'm already cringing every time the phone rings because I'm sure its the doctor calling to tell me there's nothing else they can do, and wanting to euthanize her.
Our cat, Gracie Allen has hyperthyroidism. She's been on tapazol for a month, and last Friday she went into our vet for a blood test. Everything was fine. They have trouble getting her blood so they shaved her neck and the tech tried the jugular on each side. Finally, the vet came in and took the blood from her jugular.
Friday she seemed fine. Friday night she didn't eat, but sometimes she just doesn't so we didn't worry about it. Saturday morning she hadn't eaten so we gave her fresh food and her treat with her pill in it. My wife came home Saturday afternoon and noticed she still hadn't eaten, and hadn't eaten the treat with the pill, which alarmed her because Gracie always eats the treat.
She went looking and finally found the cat under the bed, where she's never gone before, on her side, gasping for breath. Tried the emergency numbers and didn't get any answer from the local vets, so she called back and they told her to immediately bring the cat into the emergency hospital 25 miles away. When they got to the hospital they did an x-ray, which showed her neck and throat very distorted and swollen, constricting and blocking her airway. They put in a breathing tube and mostly stabilized her. Even at the emergency hospital, because of the swelling, they were concerned about trying to do a tracheostomy, and recommended she be transported to the main University veterinary hospital, which is open 7/24 and has an ICU.
So, along with a vet tech to maintain the anesthesia and monitor Gracie, we headed for the hospital, another 30 miles away.
At the hospital they determined that her blood count was down to 12, as opposed to the 30-40 that's normal, put her in an oxygen tent and started transfusing her. Although everyone was VERY careful not to say anything directly, all the doctors alluded to the likely cause of the swelling/blockage being bleeding from either her jugular and/or carotid. But, at this point she was so anemic from bleeding, and had so few clotting factors left, they said to try to find the bleed and fix it would kill her.
Sunday afternoon we were told they'd removed the airway, which (at least to me) was cause for hope, and that they'd transfused her again, and that hopefully her blood count and clotting times would hold. Her body temperature and heart rate were better (she'd been very cold and slow at the first hospital), but her heart rate was still slow ~115 and O2 was around 90% instead of 100. But they were going to wait and see.
This morning I went into my regular vet, and talked to the doctor, who expressed concern. She and the university hospital have talked and she's sent her medical information to the university (this is how I found it out took three tries to get blood from her on Friday).
This morning we were told they'd had to put the airway back in because she was having problems, and late this morning they did the tracheostomy. Her blood count was down to 11 and they're currently (3 pm) transfusing her again. She's apparently awake, and we'll be going up to see her shortly (well, as shortly as you can make a 70 mile trip), but so far we can't get any definite answer as to why she's bleeding (if she is), and why her blood count keeps dropping, and how long she'll be in intensive care, and pretty much any of the other thousand or so questions clogging my head for the last 2 days...
And, of course, the university hospital may not have good answers, but they are doing a VERY good job of keeping us informed about the constantly increasing cost of all this.
I'm not sure anyone out there has any answers, but I figured I'd stop in and tell the story (I normally lurk and get info from here, but rarely have anything interesting to contribute)... So, if anybody hs any ideas throw them out there 'cause at this point it can't get much worse. I'm already cringing every time the phone rings because I'm sure its the doctor calling to tell me there's nothing else they can do, and wanting to euthanize her.
