|
NoVacancy -> RE: Pet stories (6/12/2007 4:37:52 PM)
|
Deadbluebird,
I feel your pain. It doesn't sound too good for jezabelle, but maybe my story will offer you a little hope. I have what I jokingly refer to as a transgender cat. His name was Max. He had an operation that basically amputates the penis and male urethra and replaces it with an opening like a female. It was done to save his life because he had a disease that can be managed in females (with a larger uretheral opening) but can be fatal to males. We had tried to manage the disease for years and finally he had an episode with some medication that nearly killed him and we knew his time was up for managing and he would have to become Maxine. He had the surgery and it did not go well. He bled out and in order to once again save his life, the vet brought his female cat in and gave Max a blood transfusion. We jokingly said that the transformation to a female was now complete. He bled out a second time, and apparently blood transfusions in cats are like organ transplants and after the first one, you cannot do a second transfusion or they reject the blood, which would be very very bad. They could have used a synthetic plasma, but there were risks associated with that. We needed to stop the bleeding. It would have helped it we could have gotten him to eat better, but his appetite declined and eventually, while still at the hospital, he stopped eating all together. They thought about inserting a feeding tube, but Max is a pukey kinda cat and we were afraid there would be aspiration issues so we took a wait and see approach. He got worse and pretty soon all his chemistry readings said that his liver and kidneys were shutting down. They told me to take him home with me and maybe he would eat, but if he did not, they were not sure he would survive through the night. I brought him home, with his Elizabethian collar on, and his IV's in his paw, and he was very listless. I tried to get him to eat, but he would not. I cried and cried and said my goodbyes to Max. Around 2:00 in the morning I decided I had nothing to lose, so I put ground cat food on my finger and I put my finger down his throat and wiped it on the back of his throat. He could swallow, or he could choke. He swallowed. I did that four more times and then let him rest. An hour later, I forced more food down his throat, which he swallowed. I did this every hour, until finally he began to eat from a dish. I took him back to the vet on my way to work the next morning and they did another chemistry panel and his liver functions and his kidney functions showed marked improvement. He began to manufacture his own blood and by the end of the week, I was able to take him home. We still had 8 months of rigid convalescence. He had to have his butt bathed (with a hand shower) and medication applied twice a day for 8 FULL MONTHS. That was in 2004. Today I took him for his rabies shots, and the doctor and all the techs came into the examining room to see Max who they had all grown very, very fond of. He is still on medication to help keep his bladder relaxed, but he is a very happy and healthy kitty for the most part. I sometimes think I did him no favors by putting him through such suffering, but then I see how he and his soul mate Pooter love each other so much, and how much pleasure he gives me and how much joy and wonder he still has at the smallest things and I hope I did the right thing.
|
|
|
|
