Cat Update:

After spending 4 days at the hospital, I was able to bring the cats home yesterday.  Their kidney & liver tests continue to be in the "normal" range, but we will have them tested two more times over the next couple weeks to make sure there are no residual effects from the pill.

If you are just joining...check out this post to see what happened.

Our family felt COMPLETE yesterday after they arrived home and it was a nice feeling.

One cat wouldn't leave my side....and the other wanted nothing to do with me.

Although, by the time I was in bed....both cats were cuddled up next to me, just like it should be :)

Google is Always Right....But I Wanted them to be Wrong

Yesterday was one of those days where nothing seemed to go right.  The weather has been crappy which put me in a bad mood....my workday was chaotic....and worst of all, when I picked up Lainey from daycare they informed me that they couldn't watch her anymore.  Evidently, she is starting to feel better and is NOT HAPPY about being confined to a kennel ALL day!  Over the past few days she has chewed up many blankets, chewed up two beds, and yesterday she chewed their floor all the way down to concrete.

This of course stressed me out to the max and required me to come up with a Plan B.  For the next couple weeks my little brother has agreed to come over throughout the day to let her out, take her for her walk and do her therapy.  This is a great plan for now, but what am I going to do in a couple weeks when he isn't available anymore???

Needless to say I went to bed last night not in a very good mood....and I let everyone know about it too!

When I awoke this morning I convinced myself that today was a new day and I was going to leave yesterday in the past.  My morning routine was going great, I was right on schedule and had everything planned out for leaving Lainey at home.  Then the unthinkable happened.....

I feed Lainey every morning before we leave so that I can give her a pain pill.  I got all of her pills out and ready and then noticed that she was still eating her food.  I wanted to let her finish eating so that she can take the pills on a full stomach.  I decided that while she finished eating I would brush my teeth and then be ready to leave for work.  I laid the pills on the counter, stepped over my cats (they tend to always be right at your feet at all times), and went to brush my teeth.  When I came back out of the bathroom I went to grab the pills off the counter and there was only "dust" and a small piece of one of the pills left.  By this time I started to panic.  I immediately looked on the floor to see if one of the cats knocked them off the counter, but there was nothing!

I panicked.  The counter is too high for Lainey to have gotten to them so I knew that one of the cats had ate them.  I wasn't worried about the cats ingesting the glucosamine pills, but the pain pill (Rimadyl) is pretty potent even for my 70 lb dog...I couldn't imagine a 9 lb cat ingesting one.

My first reaction was to jump on google to see what I should do and how harmful this could be.  The first post I read stated that Rimadyl is TOXIC to cats and ingested can cause Kidney failure within the first 24 hrs which most of the time leads to death.  I was HYSTERICAL!!!

Due to my hysteria I failed to think straight.  I should have immediately jumped in the car and headed to the emergency vet, but instead, my next reaction was to wake up my husband and tell him what happened.  I informed him of what I found on Google and of course, he tried to calm me down and actually got irritated that I always try to "self-diagnose" everything using the internet.  (About every 6 months I think I'm dying of cancer or any other 100 diseases you don't want). I agreed that I was probably over-reacting and finished getting ready for work.

After 20 minutes I couldn't take it any longer.  I called the emergency vet to get some answers.  Unfortunately....Google was right!  And the kicker to this whole story is that had I tried to induce vomiting within the first 20 minutes the "fast-acting" Rimadyl wouldn't have been completely absorbed by the cat's system, giving us better chances of reducing the side effects. 

After hanging up the phone, I hollered at my husband to "get your ass out of bed and come say goodbye to the cats, because one of them is probably going to die today".  I never said I was calm under pressure.....Although, he did feel pretty bad that he tried to talk me out of the emergency vet in the first place.

Anywho....Both cats are at the hospital (both of them had to go because I don't know which one ingested the drug) and will be there until Monday evening (assuming they live that long).  The doctors tried to induce vomiting but was unsuccessful.  They are currently both on IV fluids in order to try and flush the kidneys.  As of 10:00 a.m. today both of their liver and kidney tests came back normal, but that can change at any time.  They will test again on Monday and call me with the results.  If there is no change, I will be able to pick them up Monday evening.

Although, we still won't be "out of the woods" even if they test normal on Monday.  The first 3 days after ingestion are the most critical, but it can take up to 3-4 weeks for the Rimadyl to be completely out of a cat's system.  They will both go back every few days for more tests and hopefully there will continue to be no changes.

As you can imagine...I am just beside myself.  The guilt is overwhelming...

How could I have been so stupid?  If I had children I wouldn't have just left pills sitting on the counter....I will just die (not literally) if something happens to one of my precious furbabies!

I'm pretty sure I win the award for the most money paid to a vet in a 2 month period.  Between the dogs and now the cats our savings is non-existent!  I'm really hoping that nobody expects a Christmas gift from us this year...

Please pray for my precious babies....

 

Every Game Counts

I don't watch many sports on tv except for University of Michigan football.....GO BLUE!!  I love college football over any other sport.  in addition to college football, my husband likes to watch the Detroit Lions and the Detroit Tigers, but I generally find myself doing something else when it is on.

That is until the Detroit Tigers made it into the playoffs.  I'm really into it and find myself cheering loudly while my husband looks at me strange.

The only thing I don't like about playoffs are the late night games.  Last week there were 2 games that went past 1:00 a.m. ON A WEEKDAY!!!  Thankfully, work has been a little slow, but I am dying!  Staying up to watch these games is really taking a toll on me.  I normally start my bedtime routine about 9 p.m. and nowadays, they are only in the first few innings by 9:00.

Last night I finally fell asleep around 11 p.m., but woke up around 3 a.m. and had to immediately check facebook to see who won.

Game 4 against the Yankees is on tonight at 8:07pm EST, but I have made a promise to myself that no matter what is happening in the game, I have to be sleeping no later than 10:00 p.m.

What team/sport do you tend to follow?

 

One Step Forward.....Two Steps Back

After my last post, where I declared that my dog is a superstar and I'm rocking this whole "post-surgery recovery" thing....Well, things took a turn (and not for the better).

Last Wednesday evening I was driving Lainey home from doggy daycare and she let out a huge yelp from her cage in the back of the car.  I immediately turned around to check on her, but she was laying down and seemed fine.  We carried out the rest of the evening in our normal manner and she was showing no signs that anything was wrong.

That same night we went to bed and Lainey seemed a little restless.  She seemed like she couldn't get comfortable and would get up repeatedly, walk in a circle and lay back down.  A few hours after falling asleep I was awakened by a blood curdling yelp from her.  I jumped up, grabbed my glasses off the nightstand and she was once again just laying down in her cage.  I slept with her the rest of the night and she seemed a lot more comfortable and a lot less restless.

In the morning when I got her up, I noticed that she was refusing to walk on her leg.  I looked it over and didn't see anything out of the ordinary so I assumed it was probably just sore. 

She continued to not use that leg for the rest of the week.  I was even having trouble getting through her therapy because she DID NOT want me touching her leg.  But, other than not putting any weight on the leg, she seemed normal.  Her eating habits had not changed and she was still perky and wanting to play.

Then Saturday came and her whole demeanor changed.  Not only was she not wanting to put any weight on the leg, but she was not even willing to stand up.  You had to force her into a standing position when it was time to go potty.  By Saturday evening she started shaking, and refused to eat.  You could tell she was not feeling good.  At this point my husband and I started discussing whether we should call the emergency vet or not.  We decided to wait until Sunday and see if she improved any. 

 By Sunday she was feeling a little better but she slept most of the day.  We decided to wait until Monday morning to call the surgeon and not take her to the emergency vet.  Not only would it be cheaper, but the surgeon obviously knows her history and we felt more comfortable having him calling the shots.

Our jack russell, Stewie, must have known that Lainey wasn't feeling well, because he wouldn't leave her side for most of the day on Sunday.  The dogs get along great, but Stewie tends to keep to himself most of the time and it isn't very often that he will "cuddle" up next to her.  At one point Sunday afternoon I was laying on the floor with Lainey while she napped.  I got up to use the bathroom and this is what I saw when I walked back into the room.

My heart was overflowing.....Big brother Stewie knew just what to do.

Doesn't Lainey just look miserable in that last picture? 

Anyways.....long story short, Lainey had an appointment with the surgeon last night.   My biggest fear was that she tore the ACL replacement band that they put in during surgery and that we would be back at square one.  My stomach was in knots all day yesterday.

Fortunately, the x-rays showed that everything was perfect!!!  He thinks that she may have "tweaked" her leg and then tried to stand on it and due to the extreme pain she has refused to use that leg again, anticipating it to hurt like that every time. As for the shaking and the lack of appetite...those are both symptoms from the pain and are normal.  Needless to say, we are back on pain meds for the time being.  Doctor thinks that in a week or so she should be progressing as well as before.  We will continue with her therapy and take things day by day.  I will definitely not rush her recovery and will let her take it at her own pace.

It's frustrating having to take "two steps back", but it could have been much worse. 

And since we are on the topic....here is a picture of Lainey's back legs.  You will notice all the wrinkles in her left leg...this is all the muscle she has lost since surgery.  It makes me sad :(

So we are back at square one, but I still love her to death and will do anything to help in the recovery process.  Wish me luck (and patience)!

It was all worth it

Lainey's stitches came out today and the surgeon said that of all the ACL surgeries he has conducted, that she is in the top 90% as far as recovery. I am beyond thrilled. He said most dogs are still only walking on 3 legs by now and have not even attempted touching even their toes on the ground. She is completely walking on ALL FOUR legs! 

 

The surgeon was very impressed with her flexibility in the leg and pretty much gave me a high-five for following the therapy instructions.  I guess not many people do what they should and then expect results they aren't getting.  Yay for mama (and of course the ladies at daycare) for being consistent with her post-operation instructions.

 

Normally it isn’t until we go back in 3 weeks for another check-up, that he would instruct us to start taking small walks (about 5-10 min), but we get to START TODAY!!!! Yesssss!  The fresh air is going to do both of us some good.

I am feeling so much better today….I can finally say that the past 12 days of hell have been worth it. 

 

Let's hope that Lainey continues to progress in the right direction!

 

And can we get an Amen for mama for not giving up....Aaaaaa-MEN!!!