Thursday, April 22, 2010

Stinod is dying

Stinod is not improving with antibiotics. Well, she is improving in that the swelling on the side of her face is going down. But, she will not eat or drink, is having difficulty breathing, acts like she is in pain, and I believe she is dying.

She's going to the vet again today. I was up most of the night, with her in the bathroom. I don't know what is wrong. She may have fallen, broken ribs or could have tumors. But, my guess is, since she had the abscess on her chin, that she fell out in the cat yard.

I also found a small round object imbedded in that large swollen area. It feels like a BB. I could be wrong. If it is a BB I'm not going to be a happy camper. I know who has the BB gun around here and I know those kids have snuck into my yard on multiple occasions. If she was shot and fell, as a result, I am going to be looking up some Spanish swear words and breaking a gun and putting up a big huge fence.

I shouldn't "jump the gun" on that assumption. But, it sure feels like a round bb under the skin on that swollen cheek. I would be surprised if a bb could ever penetrate her heavy hair load, however. Guess I'm looking for something or someone to blame. I'm tired and I'm sad, because I don't think she's going to make it. It's likely she fell, off a shelf or out of the tree, in the cat yard.

If I pick her up and touch her stomach she goes into fits of heaving type breathing. She's not going to make it, I have to realize. Whether she fell or has cancer, I don't know. She is suffering. She will be visiting the vet this afternoon, but I have doubts that she will be returning with me. This is very difficult. She was doing fine even a week ago, running around the cat yard, when I was out there, to clean litterboxes or pick up.

I decided to give her a clip job after I gave one to Matilda and because Stinod has extremely heavy long hair. I gave her a haircut, not a full one, in December, too, to give her some relief. A few days ago, I noticed she was sleeping too much, which was another reason to bring her into the house, to find out why. I thought she maybe had a cold. I certainly did not expect to find that huge lump on the side of her face, when I clipped her or the cut on her chin.

Did she fall? Are her breathing problems the result of a rib puncturing her lung, or a diaphramatic hernia, or blood loss from a ruptured blood vessel from the fall, or does she have cancer? I don't know. All I know is I think it's too late to save her.

It's a problem having a blind cat among scores of others. She wanted to play, climb the tree in the yard, despite her disability. But I have some bully cats who could have forced her off the shelf in the cat room or in the yard, where she loves to sit or lay in the sun. She did not like to be in the house because she couldn't learn the intricacies of all the rooms, furniture, and the other cats, some of whom are not that nice.

I am assuming she has been badly injured from a fall when in fact she could have cancer. She's gone downhill very very rapidly however. She's not skinny like this has gone on for even a month. These things make her problems more consistent with a traumatic event that occurred recently. I'm going to ask first for an X-ray which would show broken bones, maybe tumors if she has them but not soft tissue ruptures or damage, and secondy for bloodwork, to see if she shows signs of internal bleeding, from her bloodwork, or other issues that might explain how a cat seemed very healthy a week ago, and now is dying and why she now heaves when touched on the stomach and goes into fits of difficult desperate gasping breathing when she didn't do that even yesterday.

I knew a cat, owned outside Millersburg, that was hit by a car and who had some immediate symptoms but afterwards seemed fairly normal, until suddenly, two weeks later, he died, of internal injuries and bleeding.

2 comments:

  1. So sorry to hear about Stinod. Cats are so darn good at hiding their symptoms until it's usually too late to help them. It's heartbreaking. I've lost 2 this year and Charlotte was fine and then critically ill suddenly. My heart goes out to you, Jody.

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  2. Poor Stinod. It's terrible to know an animal is suffering but to not know in what way and why. It doesn't help that they are so good at hiding their pain for so long.

    I hope the trip to the vet brings you some answers and peace of mind.

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