Hi, I am new here and need some advice!
My husband and I went away for a couple of days and left our pets (4 kittens, 3 adult cats, and 2 dogs) with a trusted housesitter and petsitter. She called us @ 10 pm on our second night in Florida to tell us she had found Kitty B (our 14-yr old diabetic kitty) in our bathroom, immobile, having seizures, and unresponsive. My first thought was that perhaps her blood sugar had dropped so severely that she had a hypoglycemic episode. We told our friend to rub corn syrup on her gums to get her blood sugar back up and hopefully help her get better. She stayed up until 3 am doing this. After a sleepless night, we rose early and headed home. The petsitter took Kitty B to the vet at 7 am, as soon as they opened. I called the vet to let them know what had happened, so they had a heads up when she came in. When she arrived, her blood sugar was normal, so either it was not a blood sugar issue OR the corn syrup did its job and stabilized her glucose levels. We're not sure how long she was laying there (she often stays upstairs to avoid the kittens and our dogs, so it wasn't a surprise that she wasn't around a lot during the day), so she has suffered some neurological damage.
Its been a week now and she is home (after 3 days at the vet hospital to the tune of $500+) and she remains blind and immobile. She does respond to our voices, however, and seems to want to be near us as often as possible. She is still unable to eat so between the vet and us here at home, she has been syringe fed at every meal. She was taking her entire meal as directed, but yesterday and today have been BAD. She is trying to scoot around, but refuses to eat and pretty much just lays there with her eyes closed. She is running a fever and has been taking antibiotics twice a day with food (though today has been tough getting her to eat at all so she can get the meds). My husband and I are taking turns sleeping with her in the guest room, up every hour to check to see if she's ok, having seizures, or perhaps has urinated on herself and needs cleaning.
I guess my question is this: Has anyone here had a cat experience something like this? And if so, did they recover? Our vet is telling us it could take up to three weeks to recover if the attack was severe enough. Its been one week and, though tough, we will endure it if there is a chance she will recover. Everyone keeps telling us to forget it, its not worth it, just put her down, etc., but she is like our first child. We just can't. If she continues to refuse food and seems to give up, though, maybe its the right thing? I am just so upset over this whole thing and can't stop worrying about my baby! Please...any advice would be so greatly appreciated. Thank you!
-Anna
My husband and I went away for a couple of days and left our pets (4 kittens, 3 adult cats, and 2 dogs) with a trusted housesitter and petsitter. She called us @ 10 pm on our second night in Florida to tell us she had found Kitty B (our 14-yr old diabetic kitty) in our bathroom, immobile, having seizures, and unresponsive. My first thought was that perhaps her blood sugar had dropped so severely that she had a hypoglycemic episode. We told our friend to rub corn syrup on her gums to get her blood sugar back up and hopefully help her get better. She stayed up until 3 am doing this. After a sleepless night, we rose early and headed home. The petsitter took Kitty B to the vet at 7 am, as soon as they opened. I called the vet to let them know what had happened, so they had a heads up when she came in. When she arrived, her blood sugar was normal, so either it was not a blood sugar issue OR the corn syrup did its job and stabilized her glucose levels. We're not sure how long she was laying there (she often stays upstairs to avoid the kittens and our dogs, so it wasn't a surprise that she wasn't around a lot during the day), so she has suffered some neurological damage.
Its been a week now and she is home (after 3 days at the vet hospital to the tune of $500+) and she remains blind and immobile. She does respond to our voices, however, and seems to want to be near us as often as possible. She is still unable to eat so between the vet and us here at home, she has been syringe fed at every meal. She was taking her entire meal as directed, but yesterday and today have been BAD. She is trying to scoot around, but refuses to eat and pretty much just lays there with her eyes closed. She is running a fever and has been taking antibiotics twice a day with food (though today has been tough getting her to eat at all so she can get the meds). My husband and I are taking turns sleeping with her in the guest room, up every hour to check to see if she's ok, having seizures, or perhaps has urinated on herself and needs cleaning.
I guess my question is this: Has anyone here had a cat experience something like this? And if so, did they recover? Our vet is telling us it could take up to three weeks to recover if the attack was severe enough. Its been one week and, though tough, we will endure it if there is a chance she will recover. Everyone keeps telling us to forget it, its not worth it, just put her down, etc., but she is like our first child. We just can't. If she continues to refuse food and seems to give up, though, maybe its the right thing? I am just so upset over this whole thing and can't stop worrying about my baby! Please...any advice would be so greatly appreciated. Thank you!
-Anna
