My girl Isis is 14. A few months ago she began acting very odd and antisocial, then she had difficulty balancing and walking. Off to the vet. Blood work and urinalysis led her vet to believe she was in the beginning stages of hyperthyroidism. After 2 weeks on oral antibiotics and starting thyroid meds she seemed improved. Then about 2 weeks ago she started getting worse, much worse. I felt like she was dying. Back to her vet. We took x-rays that showed nothing and her blood pressure was low. Our vet referred us to see an internal medicine(IM) specialist.
An emergency vet trip, consult with 2 IMs, a neurologist and an MRI later we had the answer. A meningioma. She was diagnosed Wednesday and had a craniotomy Thursday morning. She was kept overnight so they could administer meds to help shrink the tumor but Thursday morning she stopped breathing. She's made it through surgery with complete tumor removal and was steadily improving, but still on a ventilator, until today.
She began biting her tube so they gave her valium and started pain meds. Now she isn't taking the regular breaths, though too shallow, on her own anymore. Each time they remove the ventilator she doesn't breathe on her own. She recognizes us, knows her name and was following activity in the ICU until today. We might have to let her go but I can't accept that she has survived all of this just to go now.
Does anyone have experiences with cats on ventilators? We don't want her to suffer if it really is her time but we believe her brain just needs more time to heal. Unfortunately time is money that we'll soon run out of. Any thoughts and advice are greatly needed and appreciated.
An emergency vet trip, consult with 2 IMs, a neurologist and an MRI later we had the answer. A meningioma. She was diagnosed Wednesday and had a craniotomy Thursday morning. She was kept overnight so they could administer meds to help shrink the tumor but Thursday morning she stopped breathing. She's made it through surgery with complete tumor removal and was steadily improving, but still on a ventilator, until today.
She began biting her tube so they gave her valium and started pain meds. Now she isn't taking the regular breaths, though too shallow, on her own anymore. Each time they remove the ventilator she doesn't breathe on her own. She recognizes us, knows her name and was following activity in the ICU until today. We might have to let her go but I can't accept that she has survived all of this just to go now.
Does anyone have experiences with cats on ventilators? We don't want her to suffer if it really is her time but we believe her brain just needs more time to heal. Unfortunately time is money that we'll soon run out of. Any thoughts and advice are greatly needed and appreciated.
