Anyway, we brought him in and he definitely had teeth problems, they thought they might have to do some extractions, but he'd probably be home in a day or so.
Well, it wasn't so simple. He had grown gum flaps over parts of his teeth, and so food had gotten trapped and rotted into the pulp. Plus while extracting they saw a mass they didn't like and biopsied it. Thank goddess it came back negative for cancer, but he was diagnosed with some gingivitis thing (I forget the full name) and they needed to keep him in a few days longer to make sure he was eating on his own. So we weren't happy he had to stay in, and indicated that if it was just force feeding that he needed that we'd prefer to have him home (being confident that in a day or two he would be eating on his own anyway). But by that Friday he was showing interest in eating, so the vets said it was ok to send him home. Though on Thursday we spoke to one of the vets at the hospital that we find somewhat obnoxious and not good partners in our cats' health care.
When we picked him up, the vet (one we like and trust, who apologized for the other vet's phone manner, and said he would be happy to be the main vet to speak to us) showed us some pictures that had taken while Brendan was being worked on. Pretty gruesome! He was sent home with an antibiotic and a pain pill. Well, I was able to do the liquid antibiotic, but the pain pill was too difficult for me because I was really scared of making his mouth hurt more. I should have gotten a pill gun immediately, maybe things would have been a little different, but maybe not.
Anyway, by Monday (Labor Day) he was not wanting to eat again (maybe because the pain medication had worn out and I hadn't been able to dose him properly), and he was sneezing. And hacking, which at first we thought was a hairball, but then rethought it in combination with the sneezing. So we drove out to the Valley Stream hospital office for an emergency visit (and which took us much longer than it should have because we were given bad directions and got lost...even though we had been out there several times related to P. Kitty, without being given the right exit off the Southern State, it wasn't familiar and we ended up all the way out by Hofstra University, many towns east of Valley Stream, what a nightmare trip that was!) and he was readmitted. He was there all week, on an intravenous line, and being force fed for the first few days (apparently cats must eat, unlike humans who can survive for a week on sugar water intravenously, or they develop some kind of liver problem pretty quickly, like within 48 hours).
We picked him up yesterday (Saturday) finally. The poor guy has lost some weight, and he has sores on the outer part of his mouth (I'm afraid to look inside!), and he's on a superduper antibiotic and prednisone (which will be tapered off within a month), in addition to a separate antibiotic administered through his nostrils. The antibiotic and pred are pills, and we bought a pill gun which works just fine. On the trip home he sneezed a zillion times, and we were really worried he was severely ill, but he's been better since he got home.
We have him isolated in the bedroom (because of the sneezing, which could be something contagious), which he isn't happy about but has settled into. Right now he's sleeping underneath the computer hutch. The other cats aren't happy, they know SOMETHINGS up there, and I've been spending most of my time up there this weekend. (Not what we had pictured for our anniversary weekend). Kevin's been doing his best to spend some time with them, but I'm sure it's not the same for them. They like patterns, and the regular pattern is definitely broken!
So, in answer to KAKe's question about there being episodes of Eight is Enough, I'm thinking it's not likely. We just don't have the funds to take on another cat at this point. If we end up needing to declare bankruptcy, it'll definitely be because of cat health issues! And I can't stress enough the importance of cat oral care; I'm sure that the severity of this could have been avoided if I had pushed myself to ignore their protests and gotten into even a monthly oral cleaning habit. By this, I mean that I would have been aware of Brendan's mouth condition, and likely would have brought him in before it got to that point; clearly he appeared to be happily eating while he must have been in some severe discomfort. :-(
And right now I'm worried about Georgie, who started sneezing today along with some watery eye discharge. I'm not as concerned about the eye discharge, because his normal is to have a lot of eye cheese, but in conjunction with the sneezing I'm concerned that it's whatever Brendan has. Ugh. Wish us good luck that it's just a temporary allergy or something. If he doesn't get better in a day or two, he'll be going to the money pit, too.
1 comment:
Oh my goodness! Poor, poor Brendini! That picture is horrendous. Has Brendan had any dental work since you got him? I'd be surprised if the vets didn't notice anything during his annual visits, especially considering they knew Brendan was prone to teeth and gum problems. (Casey had some gum redness when I got him at 6 months old, too.)
I don't brush my cats' teeth, either, but they have a dental cleaning annually at this point. I think Casey once needed 2 in a year. Basically, if the vet says I need to do it, I do it. I trust my vets, but I did wonder if they were being overly cautious with the dental cleanings because it's probably beneficial to their bottom line, but seeing that photo, I'm not even thinking twice about it anymore.
Well, I'm really sorry you guys (and Brendan) had to go through all this. I feel your pain with the vet bills, though I don't think I've had any as bad you have this time or with Twinks. I hope Georgie is okay, too. And if things get really bad and you need a small loaner, I'd certainly be willing. My terms are good!
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