Poo-Poo

I mentioned that yesterday was a pretty busy day of life and death cases. The final appointment was no exception. I was expecting to do a check up on a long-time patient, Gypsy, an elderly cat with a very devoted owner who has faithfully treated her friend for heart disease for 4 years. In the hands of virtually any other owner, I had no doubt Gypsy wouldn't have survived a year, much less 4. She took her to the veterinary cardiologist periodically for ultrasound exams of her heart and fine tuning her numerous heart failure medications. But a few months ago another problem of older cats started becoming a problem for Gypsy-her kidneys started to fail. On top of the heart and blood pressure issues, she was now losing weight, vomiting, and just not eating more than licks of gravy off her canned foods. Always a tiny girl anyway, she was wasting away rapidly despite all of her owners best efforts. Gypsy's owner was concerned because she was crying a lot and acting ravenous, but just wouldn't eat. She was also acting like she couldn't see or was maybe confused or lost in her own familiar house. We had tested her for some issues that older cats get that can result in these symptoms-hyperthyroid cats often start to vocalize, especially at night. Cats with high blood pressure can often develop vision problems. Gypsy checked out fine on those tests. We tried confining her to a single room in the house, and even though she didn't like that much at first, we really think it helped her vocalizing and apparent confusion.

We were planning to test her blood to see where her kidney values were today. One look at Gypsy told us what the blood levels would be with out ever needing to draw a sample. She had lost another pound of body weight and now was only 4 pounds. She was breathing with rapid, shallow breaths-no doubt fluid was building up in her lungs. She still loved the company of her humans-on her terms. She is a cat, after all! But is was evident that she was tired and weak, a mere shadow of her former self. Her hair coat had some shine, but nothing like the luster of years gone by. Her eyes were a bit sunken in the sockets-she was dehydrated despite drinking well.

Gypsy's owner always did everything her doctors said should be done. She faithfully gave multiple medications every day, several times a day, all those years. She gave Gypsy special diets, took her to the specialists, she spent a huge part of her life and money taking care of this special family member. There was just no question to her that if it needed to be done, she would do it for Gypsy. What a lucky cat to be loved and card for so well!

Last night she was emotionally drained and crushed to learn of Gypsy's weight loss. She needed to hear from me that it wasn't just OK but that it was THE right time to let Gypsy give up the fight. Her relief was instant. She couldn't make the decision for Gypsy, but she had obviously spent oh so much time thinking and praying about it and just needed confirmation that her dear friend needed this one last gift from her.

Did you see the title of this blog? "Gypsy's" owner had a confession to make to me on this last visit with her. We had known her for years as Gypsy because her family was embarrassed to let other people know her real name-"Poo-Poo." This, her owner explained, was even a bit of a compromise because actually she started out as "Little Shit" when she was a crazy, frisky kitten so long ago. Her true personality sneaking out a bit.

I got the beautiful picture above and this bittersweet email this morning:

Good morning, Dr. Gray,

I wish I could stop crying. I miss her so much.

Thanks again for everything you do for God's animals. You're a blessing!

Here's the picture I promised.....

Although a passing is a sad, sad thing, we can truly celebrate the human-animal bond remembering this wonderful relationship. Don't all pets deserve this?

Peace,
DrReneigh