Monday morning and it is now day 5 of Ekanath's hospital stay. I am waiting with bated breath for a telephone call from the vets to tell me how the little guy is doing and it is taking everything I have to stay calm.
We visited him again yesterday for an hour, the veterinary hospital were kind enough to arrange visiting for us despite the fact it was a Sunday and they are usually not open to the public on a Sunday. My mother picked us up in the car and we braved the arctic weather and treacherous ice to go visiting with our little trooper. unfortunately one of my mother's dogs was horribly carsick on the way over, poor thing.
Anyway, we arrived more or less on schedule, despite the weathers attempts to slow us down, and were taken in to see Ekanath by the veterinary nurse. I was told the vet wanted to speak to us once she was off the phone and was naturally very worried about what they wanted to say.
Ekanath was curled in the corner of the dog cage they are using for him (he is too big for their cat cages) and looking quite cross with the world until he saw us. At that point, he perked right up and when we opened his cage, he trotted right out to see us. He was incredibly affectionate and was pleased to see Monye Butler and mam-mams and of course, the big bag of cat treats he knew we would have with us.
Surprisingly he was also very pleased to see my mother - despite being the sort of cat that doesn't trust other people much and having only met my mother twice, on both occasions through the bars f his cat career when she gave us a lift to the vets.
He loved up to all three of us, ate far more cat treats than he really should have (apparently the vet had already given him dreamies, which we didn't find out till later) and had a bit of an explore around the room.
His breathing is noticeably less laboured, and he is a little sore but less so than the day before. He is also grooming happily and rolled about on his back with his paws in the air a bit which is a sign of happiness in cats.
When the vet came in, he looked up at her a little really but at least he didn't growl at her this time.
The news was mixed, but overall more good than bad. He has been brighter in himself; he is eating almost normally and his breathing is less laboured. That said his respiration rate is still higher than it should be and so is his temperature. He is breathing at 39 to 40 breaths per minute which is above the 30 (active) or 20 to 25 (Resting) that he should be at for a cat. They had decided they were keeping in him in at least another 24 hours for observation and possibly another chest drain if needed.
They have him on diuretics to help with the fluid build up and also intermittent intravenous saline to keep him hydrated if the diuretics dehydrate him too much. His chest drain is still in, his stitches are healing nicely and he has stopped trying to bite them out. His bandage is another matter, he clearly hates it and is trying to get it off (it's on his leg over where the shunt is positioned for his intravenous line). The vet told me that when she changed his bandage he was, and I quote 'Quite cross about it'. On the bright side, the entire staff are in love with him and his gentle nature. The nurse was saying that she had not seen his claws and although he had occasionally grumbled at them he had never hissed or tried to bite anyone. She has been as soft with him as I am at home, even warming his food up a little since that is how he likes it.
The vet asked permission to do another chest drain IF she feels it is needed, which we gave but she hopes the diuretics will be enough to clear what is left of the fluid on his chest. - I hope she is right. He was peeing a fair bit while we were there and we eventually left an hour when he started to look tired. It was very hard to leave him but he seemed calmer about it this time.
They are expecting the results from the bacterial culture and cytology back today and we are waiting anxiously to hear what news there is.
Thank you to everyone for the well wishes and offers to donate. There is a donate button on the home page of this site or you can make a paypal donation to dj_ghostuk@yahoo.co.uk
