I didn't actually post yesterday, so I'm posting a day late.
I just couldn't bring myself to post yesterday. Some mixed news.
On the one hand, his breathing rate is slowing and when we went in to see him his resting rate was in the low 30s, which is a vast improvement but a cats resting rate should be around 20. So, moving in the right direction, yes, but still a little high. He wasn't quite himself either. Not as bad as he has been on his worst days, but not as good as he had been the day before. He was pleased to see us but seemed a bit grumpy and needed a rest by the time we had to leave a 4 pm so he could have his evening chest flush.
He is eating again, and in fact, the nurse said he is eating quite heartily which is very good news. He is also becoming quite friendly with most of the nurses, coming over to be petted as soon as they let him out of his cage. Apparently, he acts up a little with one of the nurses but is a real sweetie for the others. Further good news, he is regaining some of the weight he had lost and every time they flush his chest they get less and less fluid form it.
That was the good news.
The bad news was that the deep-seated infection is very rare in cats. The surgical director has now handling his case personally because no one at the practice has ever seen this in a cat, but she has at least read about it. She has been reading the literature on it extensively, but it is quite rare so there is less info than she would like. Treatment with flushing can be successful in anything from 2 to 7 days. After that, if it's still not responding sufficiently to flushing after a week then the next option is open chest surgery. She hopes it won't come to that but had to advise us that it might and if it does... well, if it does there is a risk attached. Worse still, if that fails as well, and it has been known... then there is nothing else left to do but have 'That Conversation' The one no pet owner ever wants to have.
Naturally, I am scared witless. Although the surgical director did say she was much more confident of his survival than she had been on Monday, she added that we had to be prepared for the worst, just in case.
I can't prepare for the worst because I can even begin to cope with the idea of losing him. Just typing this is a struggle.
We came home worried but trying to be optimistic.
Each night we get a telephone call from the veterinary nurses as the shift changes, to update us on how he is. they call again in the morning when the shifts change.
Last nights call brought me more fears and was again a mixed bag. On the one hand his resting rate for breathing is now down to 20! That is ideal, it is the textbook target rate for a resting cat. Better he was eating and passing both urine and feasceas normally and seemed as happy as is likely for a cat getting 4 chest flushes a day and have his temperature taken rectally far more often than he is pleased about.
More good news was that the volume of fluid passing from his chest when they flush it is continuing to fall.
then the bad news. there is air coming out on one side of his chest when they drain it and there is blood on the other. Blood they can't account for and which is a cause of concern.
We didn't get any photo's of him yesterday as we forgot the camera and the camera on my phone is playing up, so the pictures on this article are from the day before when he was a little brighter.
I am going to sign off for now, we will be picked up soon to go and visit him again. I hope the news is more encouraging today.
Thank you to everyone who has been sending him well wishes and thank you to everyone donating to help save him. If you would like to donate there is a paypal donate button non the home page of this site or you can donate directly via paypal to dj_ghostuk@yahoo.co.uk So far his costs have exceeded his insurance cap by about £1000 and we have been able to raise half of that from donations, thank you all it is beyod generous.