Moomin is Home

It's been a Rollercoaster of Emotional Hell since last Friday night.

Friday night: I finished mowing the lawn and came in to feed the kittos. Both Hobbes and Moomin didn't eat much, like they've done the past couple days. I've noticed they tend to "go off food a bit" when the weather changes to warmer temps so I didn't think anything of it other than to keep my eye on it.

But after my mower shower, I thought I saw Moomin breathing and acting funny, short staccato breaths and going off by himself which is totally not like his usual Mr. GregariousPants temperament. Finally around 9pm I took him to the emergency animal clinic after calling them. We only have two and both of them are 40-45 min away so I chose the one I felt I could get to with less travel-trouble. We showed up, they felt him up, said physically nothing they could feel/see so would need to do blood tests/X-rays and it could be a number of things including allergies stuffing up his nose. So I picked low level treatment to see what would happen - an appetite stimulant. 

Saturday morning he seemed better: dropped his usual toy at the bedroom door sometime in the night, ate about 1/3 of his breakfast, up and about, and while not 100% he seemed better. So I went grocery shopping. I came back and he wasn't better anymore. I called the emergency animal clinic, they said bring him in, I did, he got bloodwork and X-rays. The vet on duty said Moomin had "angry airways", very inflamed, which was making it hard for him to breathe, blood work normal, innards/organs except for lungs looked normal, so I went home with bronchio-dilator and steroid meds.

Sunday no real change, still not eating, I called the emergency clinic, they said could take up to 5 days for meds to take effect, and to watch for distressed breathing. Which in my mind was frickin' scary as 40 minutes in the car with a cat with distressed breathing is NOT cool (major understatement).

Monday no real change, still not eating, still having trouble breathing, I spent the night in the room he was in, cried a lot, I don't think either of us slept. 

Tuesday I called Moo's vet, got in, Dr. H was kind but he was not impressed with Moo's heart, called in a second vet to listen who agreed, Dr. H laid it out and it was NOT GOOD. I cried all morning. Dr. H got Moomin scheduled for a heart ultrasound (has a big medical word, I don't have the energy to find it), EKG, and blood pressure but it was in Portland - 40 minutes away. Moomin does not like traveling in the car so they put him in an oxygen tank and gave him Lasix to start drawing fluid away from his heart/lungs so that I could get him there. I called my mom in tears, she arranged to take the time off work to come with me to the Ultrasound Clinic, we picked him up a little after 11am, drove up, he got examined and diagnosed with common genetic heart disease - again huge word I don't have the energy to go find and type in. The doctor said respiratory issues and heart disease have similar/parallel symptoms so only an ultrasound can determine true issue and while the steroid didn't cause the heart disease, it certainly "highlighted" it. He said that it would take about 3 days for the steroid to get out of Moo's system and then he wanted another ultrasound of Moo's heart to get a more accurate picture of what's going on as the steroid enlarged the heart. I got directions to take him back to his vet for oxygen until the end of the day and was told I'd see improvement with new med regimen/steroid leaving by Friday, and the follow-up ultrasound would determine further treatment. I took him to the vet and came home more optimistic, managed a quick nap until they called me to come get him as he was up and about/feeling better/making a mess (ripping the plastic impromptu oxygen seal). Dr. H wanted me to check his breathing rate during the night, I did three times and the last time (about 7:30pm) he was down to about 44 which was close to Dr. H's 30-40 window.

Tuesday night: I picked Moo up to give him his 10pm medication and he screamed. Then walked around the house funny: like he was walking with a wide barrel between his legs and dragging his feet and his front legs/paws were all flopping and gaumy. And his breathing was not good. So not right and scary. I called the emergency animal clinic he went to over the weekend to find out if Lasix has side effects, they said  they couldn't really tell without seeing him and they were only open nights and while they could possibly stabilize him, they couldn't keep him and didn't have the techy machinery to do anything and they would fax his info to the other Clinic in Scarborough so I called them. The Clinic told me to bring him in because what I was describing could be a number of things, all scary, stroke/he threw a clot/side effects/neurological issues... I packed him up, he screamed again, I drove the 45 minutes trying very hard not to cry because it was dark and I had my glasses on and my night vision already sucks and the lines haven't been painted.

I got there, they were very kind, whisked him off, I heard screaming, the tech came out to tell me they put a catheter in, the vet came out after a long time and said she gave him a short term pain med which he responded to by relaxing and that she was very worried as he was not stable. They put him in oxygen but couldn't do any testing because he wasn't stable enough and the walking funny was worrisome. She said she was leaning towards Moomin throwing a clot or several of them, there is nothing to do once this happens other than wait and see if they go in a bad place (like the brain) or break down in a non-bad place. She asked me a bunch of questions about his day/diagnosis and told me I had a great memory coz I did not have any records/reports on my other than my notes. She asked me to have everyone fax her their stuff  to the Clinic Wed. I said goodbye to Moo. He tried purring for me.

Wednesday: I got home at a quarter to 3am. Went to bed but didn't sleep. Called out at work. Did little mindless projects around the house waiting for an update/call in. Took a nap. Went to the Clinic at 3pm, spoke with the vet who said Moo was doing better, I got to visit with him and he was walking around, let me pick him up, he scrubbed his head on my face, and looked better. The vet said she wanted to keep him another night to keep up the stabilization and run diagnostics during the day Thursday. I agreed. They gave me 15 more minutes with Moo. He was tired by the end of the visit. I kissed him and told him to be good.

Thursday: called for a check in before I  went to a training all day, I had arranged for my co-worker's cell phone to be called incase of issues but no calls, I got to the Clinic at 5:30pm and they said he was doing much better - had eaten, was walking, was completely weaned off the oxygen, they were able to get bloodwork done, and he was ready to go home. I got his two meds - Lasix and baby aspirin, detailed directions, and instructions to monitor his breathing because if it became labored/staccato that means fluid is building up again and he needs to be seen PRONTO. 

I have to call Dr. H/Moo's vet tomorrow morning to update them.

I need to arrange for a cardiologist to see Moo for follow-up and continuing treatment. 

I also have to make the ultrasound follow-up appt.
He's got 5-6 shaved spots on him. Two of them are on his legs so he looks like he got a bad lion-cut or he has superhero bracelets on. He's sleeping hard right now, when he's awake I'll get a pic of them.

Moo's home. That's what counts. He's home.