For those of you who do not know, our 20 year old cat, Dusty, has finally become fully blind. This happened to her last Friday. The vet determined that it was a neurological issue rather than cataracts. Dusty was not only confused and agitated as her pacing revealed, but she was also weak and not her normal spunky self. The vet found that her blood pressure was 255 where 185 or so is the highest limit they like to see. So they prescribed high blood pressure medicine to bring that down. After the emergency vet visit in the morning and missed work we had to leave her at home while we worked in the afternoon.
Friday night we served up "tuna con medication". Early Saturday morning we woke to Dusty's repeated deep yowl--that yowl you hear from an animal who is either so terrified or hurt that your heart aches. We jumped out of bed to find her laying on her side with poofed fur and what looked like she was running as fast as she could. Ben called the hospital to find that they would not be of much help. So I slept on the floor with Dusty after she calmed down from my petting and nussling. An hour later with my hand still on her I awoke to her body convulsing followed by those yowls and running. It was apparently a seizure. I comforted her as she tried desperately to get up and walk on her failing legs for the next half hour or so.
We went back to the vet on Saturday morning to find that they think she may be having mini strokes due to the high blood pressure which would also cause seizures. Her blood pressure is now down to 232.
The vet narrows down her issues to either strokes or a brain tumor. We x-ray her body just in case she has tumors in her body or an enlarged heart. Thankful neither where present. Otherwise, I would have had to decide to put her to sleep on my own that morning as Ben was at the airport heading to Vegas on business. Brain tumors are more expensive to find--around $2,000 for a "cat" scan and MRI (yes, I am still amused at the irony). Even if they found one she is too old for the surgery.
I didn't leave the house all weekend and watched the little girl carefully. She was still very confused and could not find things like the litter pan or her bed. (I'm still working on the smell.) She also drank very little and absolutely refused hard food. Tuna became the treat all weekend since it was the only thing Dusty would eat and eat vigorously. Winnie and Keiko were very excited about this turn of events.
Sunday Dusty seemed to be finding her way around the house better. I can't say I helped much since my mom and I were assembling the new office furniture and had boxes all over the house. Unfortunately, Winnie took to growling and hissing at Dusty. She knows something is wrong.
By Monday Dusty was back to using the litter pan and drinking much more normally. I still had not seen her eat the hard food. So Monday night I picked up the wet version of her special kidney food. She has taken to it just as easily as the tuna. So now she gets the food she should and the other two are still getting tuna treats. I also picked up several new catnip toys and the two youngsters think they are in heaven. (I have to mention that Keiko is currently in my lap purring and trying to immobilize my right arm by laying on it.)
We will keep you updated on the Dusty's next visit to the vet on Saturday.
We are all missing Ben. The furry ones need more petting and I woke up in the morning snuggled up to his pillow. It's funny how that happens. Thankfully Ben will come back home tomorrow from the Consumer Electronics Show to an apparently stable Dusty and ALL four of his girls purring and wanting to snuggle.
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