Life and death

Life is funny sometimes. You can live your life one day and everything's fine, and then that could all change in a matter of moments.

A cat came in this morning to be neutered. No big deal, happens every day. The owner told me he vomited last night. Okay, so that happens sometimes. He vomited 4 times. Right, now this is sounding a little more serious. So we decided to run some diagnostics. Most of the bloodwork was normal, with the exception of elevated white blood cells. He tested negative for pancreatitis. He had an elevated temperature of 104.2 (normal is 99.5-102.5). We let the owner know what we found, and made some more suggestions. She approved radiographs and IV fluids. So we got the cat (his name is Moe, by the way) all hooked up to the fluid pump and set up the x-ray machine. When we took him out of the kennel to take x-rays, he vomited again. A lot. Once we got that mess cleaned up, we positioned him to take the radiographs. They showed a small ring-like object in his small intestine near his stomach, and several inches of blockage in his colon. It was looking like we would have to perform a foreign body surgery on Moe. So we put him back on the fluids while we waited for his owner to call us back with the decision of whether or not to do the surgery. He seemed to perk up a little bit in the meantime. Then we got a phone call. It was Moe's owner. She told us she wouldn't be able to afford the surgery, and wondered if there was anything else we could do for him. Unfortunately, our only option at this point was to wait and see if he would get better with some more fluids and supportive care. But it was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened. So the owner reluctantly, and in tears, came to the decision that is the hardest one for anyone to make. She decided to euthanize.

The most depressing part of this story? This lady had only had Moe for about 2 weeks. She found him abandoned in an apartment building. He was less than 2 years old.

To end on a lighter note, I got to play with a 6 week old kitten today. He was a gray tabby named Simba. There was also a 5 month old long haired dachshund puppy named Remy that came in to be spayed today. She was the happiest little puppy! Even after her spay when she was probably really sleepy and in some pain, she would sit up and wag her tail really hard every time somebody walked by.

Moral of the story: a) Don't let your pets eat anything other than pet food. EVER. b) No matter how attached you are to a pet, remember that there are many other animals out there that are waiting to steal your heart.