Hi. I'm Misty, Page's cat mom. Page is my first cat I have ever owned and cared for. I feel ignorant and stupid at times, but I find owning an animal is a learning process. Page has many nicknames, Pagey and Pagelious are my favorites. She is a short hair with grey and white markings. She turned five in May of this year.I joined this forum because she was rushed to the veterinarian's office today only to be turned away and rushed to the veterinarian hospital nearby. I don't have any experience with feline diabetes, no one in my family does either. I just kind of want to get the story of what happened off my chest. To make sense of all the news I received on my kitty baby's health today.
Page had been vomiting on and off since Sunday. Mostly hairballs, but it got progressive worse and more frequent. Yesterday (6/28) into today (6/29) she vomited 10 times in less than 24 hours. I knew then that something was seriously wrong. This morning she vomited five times within 5-10 minutes. I quickly jumped out of the shower, grabbed the cat carrier and the cat and rushed to the vet. It was in the process of putting her in the carrier that my fiance' and I noticed that she had defecated on herself as well. The vet I normally used saw us within five minutes. She unfortunately had to turn us away as she did not have the technology or tools to properly help Page. She did not charge me a dime and was extremely helpful. She recommended the veterinarian hospital down the road.
I quickly drove over there and got Page in the see the doctor. It was not pleasant. He confirmed she was dehydrated (which my original vet had noticed as well). He tried to draw blood from her neck and was unsuccessful. So he tried her leg, but the blood flow was too slow. So he decided to feel of her stomach. Page jumped out of the vet assistant's grip and across the table when he did that. He knew it was serious and when he listened to her lungs, he said, "Your lungs sound rough kitty." She also started drooling at this time. The vet decided our best bet was to sedate her for blood work and x rays.
When the blood work came back, he said, "Your cat is probably, more than likely a diabetic." Not sure, what "probably, more than likely" means to him, but okay. I can handle and understand that she is diabetic. She is overweight, but she refuses to do anything but eat or sleep. So her glucose was high. Her liver enzymes were high. The x-rays found something entirely different. We expected to find a wad of plastic Page had eaten and it just was not coming up, but what we found was different. Her right kidney was twice the normal size. It even looked weird. The vet said it could be that her left kidney was not functioning, and her right kidney was growing to compensate for the left kidney. However, the blood work did not disprove or prove that theory. He proceeded to tell me that she could have a tumor in her kidney and she could have cancer. He proceeded to tell me the process of what we could do, but I had already made up my mind.
If my cat does in fact have diabetes, I want to give her the help and care she needs...even if I cannot afford it. I know I could not afford chemo or surgery. I believe if she does have cancer I just want to give her a comfortable life and just deal with the diabetes. Is that selfish of me? I know it is to each their own, but I'm not sure I would even take chemo if I had cancer. I think I would just deal with the ailments I had and lived as much as I could before I died. Is it selfish to wish the same fate for my cat?
I'm sorry, I know I'm rambling. So my cat may, probably have diabetes and may, probably have cancer too. It is kind of a lot of sad information to take in at once. I'm just wondering if anyone had the same problems (excessive vomiting) that lead to their diagnosis? Any tips or suggestions? Any brand of products you recommend or not? I know this may be in another topic and/or thread, but like I said. I just wanted to get this story off my chest and to hear from other kind cat parents who understand the situation.
Thank you so much for reading Page's story and my emotions/ramblings. Thank you for any advice as well.
Page had been vomiting on and off since Sunday. Mostly hairballs, but it got progressive worse and more frequent. Yesterday (6/28) into today (6/29) she vomited 10 times in less than 24 hours. I knew then that something was seriously wrong. This morning she vomited five times within 5-10 minutes. I quickly jumped out of the shower, grabbed the cat carrier and the cat and rushed to the vet. It was in the process of putting her in the carrier that my fiance' and I noticed that she had defecated on herself as well. The vet I normally used saw us within five minutes. She unfortunately had to turn us away as she did not have the technology or tools to properly help Page. She did not charge me a dime and was extremely helpful. She recommended the veterinarian hospital down the road.
I quickly drove over there and got Page in the see the doctor. It was not pleasant. He confirmed she was dehydrated (which my original vet had noticed as well). He tried to draw blood from her neck and was unsuccessful. So he tried her leg, but the blood flow was too slow. So he decided to feel of her stomach. Page jumped out of the vet assistant's grip and across the table when he did that. He knew it was serious and when he listened to her lungs, he said, "Your lungs sound rough kitty." She also started drooling at this time. The vet decided our best bet was to sedate her for blood work and x rays.
When the blood work came back, he said, "Your cat is probably, more than likely a diabetic." Not sure, what "probably, more than likely" means to him, but okay. I can handle and understand that she is diabetic. She is overweight, but she refuses to do anything but eat or sleep. So her glucose was high. Her liver enzymes were high. The x-rays found something entirely different. We expected to find a wad of plastic Page had eaten and it just was not coming up, but what we found was different. Her right kidney was twice the normal size. It even looked weird. The vet said it could be that her left kidney was not functioning, and her right kidney was growing to compensate for the left kidney. However, the blood work did not disprove or prove that theory. He proceeded to tell me that she could have a tumor in her kidney and she could have cancer. He proceeded to tell me the process of what we could do, but I had already made up my mind.
If my cat does in fact have diabetes, I want to give her the help and care she needs...even if I cannot afford it. I know I could not afford chemo or surgery. I believe if she does have cancer I just want to give her a comfortable life and just deal with the diabetes. Is that selfish of me? I know it is to each their own, but I'm not sure I would even take chemo if I had cancer. I think I would just deal with the ailments I had and lived as much as I could before I died. Is it selfish to wish the same fate for my cat?
I'm sorry, I know I'm rambling. So my cat may, probably have diabetes and may, probably have cancer too. It is kind of a lot of sad information to take in at once. I'm just wondering if anyone had the same problems (excessive vomiting) that lead to their diagnosis? Any tips or suggestions? Any brand of products you recommend or not? I know this may be in another topic and/or thread, but like I said. I just wanted to get this story off my chest and to hear from other kind cat parents who understand the situation.
Thank you so much for reading Page's story and my emotions/ramblings. Thank you for any advice as well.
