This past week has been so stressful for me. Last Monday Carson had school and then Tuesday all hell broke loose. My cat Tink who we've had for 13 years threw up on the floor Tuesday about 6pm. We put her out back and then I left to take Baylee to dance class. When we got back I asked Mike if he had let her back in and he said no. Apparently she hadn't come back to the door so he forgot that she was even out. That right there is weird because she HATES to be outside. I went out to look for her and found her up underneath my outdoor table practically screaming. I thought that she was just upset/scared from being out in the dark but when I brought her inside she was acting really weird. First she went and hid behind a chair and then when I got her out her whole body went stiff and she fell over onto her side. After that she went into very violent seizures. All four limbs were flying all over the place and she was howling. It was so scary. After about an hour she had calmed down and went to sleep. My sister has a dog with epilepsy so I knew to just make sure she was safe with her surrounding and just giver her space. You can actually do more damage trying to contain her during a seizure.
It was so upsetting to see. I thought maybe she was just so scared from being outside that it made her seize. I got Carson to bed and when I came out she was seizing again. This time I thought she was dying. Her body was so stiff, no flailing and her breathing was very shallow and very spaced out. She would take a gasping breath and then not breathe again for about 30 seconds. I have had many animals in my life and I have never seen anything like this before. But also having this many animals I know that 13 is about when cats can start to go downhill and die. I thought that her organs were just shutting down and it was her time to go.
I stayed up with her until 3 am, holding her, petting her, (bawling), and telling her good-bye. I wrote Mike a note telling him where she was and that she would probably be dead by the time he got up for work in a couple of hours and just to leave her and not let the dogs mess with her.
When I got up the next morning (at 6 am) I saw that Mike had texted me and told me that not only was Tink alive, she was doing great! He had covered her with a towel to keep her warm. I couldn't believe it. I ran out to where she was and sure enough she was alive and alert. So much different from the way she was when I had gone to bed 3 hours before.
I got Baylee up and ready for school. By the time we got back out to the living room again she was seizing again. She had pooped and peed all over herself. It was awful. Baylee was so upset to see what Tink was going through. I promised her that I was taking her to the vet as soon as they opened. I called our vet and of course they were closed for the day so I found the next closest one and called to see if they would see her. I hurried to wake Carson and get him fed and his insulin in him. I put Tink in a box and drove to the vet.
As soon as I pulled into the parking lot one of the techs came to the car and grabbed the box out of the front seat. She took one look at Tink and rushed her to the back. When she came back out to ask what happened I was crying so hard I couldn't even talk. She handed me a questionnaire and told me to fill it out. It was more of a timeline than anything. I filled out what I could and waited. I was holding Carson in my arms and he kept motioning to the door they had rushed Tink through. I just kept telling him that the kitty was sick and she was at the doctor. He so sweetly took my head in his hands and kissed me on the forehead. He then wrapped his arms around my neck and hugged me until they came back out. It's amazing to me how supportive he could be for me in that situation.
After about ten minutes they came out and told me that they had medicated her to stop the seizures. They wanted to do blood work and keep her to figure out what was going on. I signed the forms and left with Carson.
To keep a long story short Tink was at the vet for 2 days. They told me that she either had a brain tumor or a cat encephalitis. The vet kept telling me that she wouldn't be normal again. She had brain damage and was blind and could barely walk. They told me that her blood sugar was very low and her white cell count was high. Infection or an insulin producing tumor that would make it difficult to keep her sugar up. Once she was 'stable' she told me that I could take her home and make her as comfortable as possible or I could put her down.
I went to the vet knowing in my head that I was probably going to be bringing home a corpse. When I got there they brought Tink out and placed her in my arms. She immediately started snuggling my neck and purred. After telling me that she had brain damage I was expecting her to not have a clue who I was. I decided there that I wasn't going to give up on her that easily. I decided to take her home. They put her on a course of Prednisone in case it was encephalitis and it would help with the swelling in her brain.
It's now been 5 days since she's been home. She is now walking without any problems and while she is 'blind' she still seems to be able to see shapes/movement or something. I can't believe we almost put her down. The stress of everything that has gone on with Carson has now been compounded by having to take extra care of my now blind cat. For the first few days we had to take her to the litter box, water dish, food dish etc. Now she is getting along much better. I guess it's possible she will go downhill again but I am optimistic at this point. I now have a special-needs cat to go along with my special-needs child.
I don't know how much more stress I can handle at this point though. I have an eye that has been twitching for a couple of days (lol) and I'm pretty sure I've spent all of my miracles for the next 100 years or so. I know there are some people who would say it's just a cat but she's not to me. She's one of my fur babies and I love her just as much.
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