Man of character....
We know so many of you love this little guy as much as we do, so here is a detailed update on Little's status...
Back in January, we ended up taking Little to the vet for a 6-month, old man check-up. His kidneys were doing only a little worse than they were at the last visit. They were fine, but the last couple of years of blood work show a definite slow decline. The concern at the January visit was the introduction of a heart gallop.
He occasionally has had a heart murmur, which has come and gone throughout his entire life. Since his blood work and general health never showed any signs of a serious problem, there was no need to have xrays or anything done. He's a big guy, after all. It comes with the big cat territory. We've been lucky that he never developed diabetes, as is common in cats of his girth.
We returned in Feb to see if the gallop was still there. If it was, the plan was to send him to a cardiologist and figure out what was causing it. But, the gallop wasn't there. He had lost some weight, but his blood work once again showed nothing serious. We had a talk with the doctor about his age and she reminded us that this is what happens...and that he probably doesn't have much time left. Maybe six months...but probably not.
Well, just this Thursday I noticed Little was having some pain in his abdomen. He'd been lethargic and a little grumpy the past couple of days...and had passed a fecal blockage just a week before, so we were pretty sure he was coming to the point where everything was beginning to fail. Since the pain on Thursday was new, I made an appointment to bring him in.
Yesterday we took him in for x-rays and more blood work. This all revealed that...
- his heart is enlarged
- he has pancreatitis
- he's anemic
- his kidneys are deteriorating faster
Long story short...our sweet old man is on the outs.
Little's new daily regiment now includes antibiotics and an iv drip. So, that's one (large) antibiotic pill, half an antacid pill, half an appetite stimulant pill, a syringe mixture of water, laxitive and cosequin (joint/arthritis medicine), and 125ml iv of lactated ringer's solution every morning.
Because of his bad heart, we can't put him on the meds that help the pancreatitis or the anemia. However, antibiotics and the iv drip have helped reduce his abdominal pain, so we're sticking with that to keep him comfortable for the next couple of weeks.
We came to terms long ago with the fact that Little has spent most of his life as the equivalent of a pretty large, 250lb man, so...17 is a pretty good, old age for this guy (which is the equivalent of a 250lb man living to 85).
We've begun to say our goodbyes to him. Since we know so many of you love him as well, we're thinking of opening the house to guests next Saturday (4/24) to let folks swing by and say goodbye to our little man of character. #^_^#
I know a bunch of folks said goodbye to him at the Twilight party last weekend, so no worries if you can't make it. And no worries if you didn't get to say goodbye. He's pretty chill and it'll be pretty informal. Just an open house day...which is probably no different for him than every other day. LOL <3 ;)
We've got lots of room for guests, so...if anyone wants to visit from farther away, let me know. #^_^# And, again, no worries about not being able to visit. We love you all and know you send your love, regardless of the time and distance that separates us.
I love you guys. Thank you all so much for your love and support. =^_^=
Back in January, we ended up taking Little to the vet for a 6-month, old man check-up. His kidneys were doing only a little worse than they were at the last visit. They were fine, but the last couple of years of blood work show a definite slow decline. The concern at the January visit was the introduction of a heart gallop.
He occasionally has had a heart murmur, which has come and gone throughout his entire life. Since his blood work and general health never showed any signs of a serious problem, there was no need to have xrays or anything done. He's a big guy, after all. It comes with the big cat territory. We've been lucky that he never developed diabetes, as is common in cats of his girth.
We returned in Feb to see if the gallop was still there. If it was, the plan was to send him to a cardiologist and figure out what was causing it. But, the gallop wasn't there. He had lost some weight, but his blood work once again showed nothing serious. We had a talk with the doctor about his age and she reminded us that this is what happens...and that he probably doesn't have much time left. Maybe six months...but probably not.
Well, just this Thursday I noticed Little was having some pain in his abdomen. He'd been lethargic and a little grumpy the past couple of days...and had passed a fecal blockage just a week before, so we were pretty sure he was coming to the point where everything was beginning to fail. Since the pain on Thursday was new, I made an appointment to bring him in.
Yesterday we took him in for x-rays and more blood work. This all revealed that...
- his heart is enlarged
- he has pancreatitis
- he's anemic
- his kidneys are deteriorating faster
Long story short...our sweet old man is on the outs.
Little's new daily regiment now includes antibiotics and an iv drip. So, that's one (large) antibiotic pill, half an antacid pill, half an appetite stimulant pill, a syringe mixture of water, laxitive and cosequin (joint/arthritis medicine), and 125ml iv of lactated ringer's solution every morning.
Because of his bad heart, we can't put him on the meds that help the pancreatitis or the anemia. However, antibiotics and the iv drip have helped reduce his abdominal pain, so we're sticking with that to keep him comfortable for the next couple of weeks.
We came to terms long ago with the fact that Little has spent most of his life as the equivalent of a pretty large, 250lb man, so...17 is a pretty good, old age for this guy (which is the equivalent of a 250lb man living to 85).
We've begun to say our goodbyes to him. Since we know so many of you love him as well, we're thinking of opening the house to guests next Saturday (4/24) to let folks swing by and say goodbye to our little man of character. #^_^#
I know a bunch of folks said goodbye to him at the Twilight party last weekend, so no worries if you can't make it. And no worries if you didn't get to say goodbye. He's pretty chill and it'll be pretty informal. Just an open house day...which is probably no different for him than every other day. LOL <3 ;)
We've got lots of room for guests, so...if anyone wants to visit from farther away, let me know. #^_^# And, again, no worries about not being able to visit. We love you all and know you send your love, regardless of the time and distance that separates us.
I love you guys. Thank you all so much for your love and support. =^_^=