Pumpkin - Monday
Took Pumpkin to the vet today as scheduled for the second shot of Cartrophen, and to report that his condition had deteriorated significantly. This left us facing the option that he wouldn't come home but would be put to sleep today.
He's still very sore, and his reflexes are now indicating neurological damage. However, Dr Laura wanted to try one more thing--which I'd considered might be an option but didn't have much hope for--steroids. Having had a dose of Metacam (a NSAID) yesterday, he has to wait three days until he's clean before trying a dose of thankfully liquid steroids. Pumpkin does not like pills.
(As a happy side note I'll be able to switch Princess to the liquid steroids too, so she'll have a better chance of getting medication when she needs it, not just when I'm able to shove it down her remarkably uncooperative throat.)
Dr Laura seemed reasonably hopeful that the steroids might have enough of an effect to keep Pumpkin with us, although the side effects weren't discussed. She said she had a lecturer in vet school who swore by them and said they should be tried in every single case as a last resort at the very least.
In the last few hours since his Cartophen shot he's managed a few extra steps so that is helping him somewhat, but then he's also dragging himself around a bit more too. He might even be developing a bit of a technique to push himself along a bit with one back paw. Now this still isn't sustainable, but he seems a bit happier and that's worth a lot to us while he's still here.
So again we wait and watch until Thursday when we can start steroids. If necessary we'll keep carrying him around the house and placing him like a chess piece at the food bowls and litter trays. And hand feeding him little bits of tuna and parmesan cheese :-)
Thanks to all for their good wishes at this difficult time. I know he's not human, but he has been a huge part of my life for some 13 1/2 years.
He's still very sore, and his reflexes are now indicating neurological damage. However, Dr Laura wanted to try one more thing--which I'd considered might be an option but didn't have much hope for--steroids. Having had a dose of Metacam (a NSAID) yesterday, he has to wait three days until he's clean before trying a dose of thankfully liquid steroids. Pumpkin does not like pills.
(As a happy side note I'll be able to switch Princess to the liquid steroids too, so she'll have a better chance of getting medication when she needs it, not just when I'm able to shove it down her remarkably uncooperative throat.)
Dr Laura seemed reasonably hopeful that the steroids might have enough of an effect to keep Pumpkin with us, although the side effects weren't discussed. She said she had a lecturer in vet school who swore by them and said they should be tried in every single case as a last resort at the very least.
In the last few hours since his Cartophen shot he's managed a few extra steps so that is helping him somewhat, but then he's also dragging himself around a bit more too. He might even be developing a bit of a technique to push himself along a bit with one back paw. Now this still isn't sustainable, but he seems a bit happier and that's worth a lot to us while he's still here.
So again we wait and watch until Thursday when we can start steroids. If necessary we'll keep carrying him around the house and placing him like a chess piece at the food bowls and litter trays. And hand feeding him little bits of tuna and parmesan cheese :-)
Thanks to all for their good wishes at this difficult time. I know he's not human, but he has been a huge part of my life for some 13 1/2 years.