I'm cross-posting this from the epi-felines yahoo group. Wanted you guys to know I lost another foster...to the dreaded fip, yet again. Thanks for your support.
It is with a very heavy heart that I report to you that my Piggee has left me. It is especially sad for me since Piggee and I have only been members since Sept- when he had a weekend of cluster seizures due to a mistake in the pheno dosing. Last time I checked in with the group, Piggee's pheno level had been tested and was too high and I was desperate to get it down b/c his lethargy was so pronounced. However, I took him to the vet Friday morning b/c his lethargy was not getting better, he hadn't eaten, and hadn't had a bm in 2 days, and I noted the dreaded swollen belly of fluid in the stomach (there was). I was praying that I didn't have yet another FIP foster cat on my hands...altho I realized that alone could now explain the seizures that began in July. I left him with the vet over the weekend b/c I had a bad feeling and I have had 2 foster cats 'crash' on me over weekends in the past (and my boyfriend was in the hospital all week and being released Friday and I needed to get him home and settled, etc etc). I did not feel bad about leaving Piggee Piggee at the vets b/c he LOVED his vet and the whole time we were there, he kept trying to get out of the room when he would hear his vet's distinctive voice--trying to get to his vet! He loved being at the clinic (I don't know why? But he did!). He would just purr and purr and get all perky. The vet drew fluid on Friday and said we would need to await the full analysis but it was bright yellow like urine-- which told me to prepare myself for FIP. I had already decided if it came back FIP, I would let him go b/c having 2 fosters die of it in Jan and Feb last year, I didn't want him to suffer more- especially since it made him epileptic. Over the weekend, apparently, Piggee did wonderfully (as I knew he would b/c he loves the vet and the clinic)-- he ate, he peed, he had a bm, and he was overall totally perked up per the clinic staff and just having a good time. But the vet called today and said he did great over the weekend, but he crashed this a.m. out of nowhere. He threw up in his crate and it was full of 'coffee grounds'- which was blood. AND the full fluid analysis came back and it was FIP. So I told the doctor we will put him down. I asked what Piggee was doing and the doc said unfortunately, he crashed bad and he's pretty much comatose, non-responsive, on oxygen and they had to trach him w/o anesthesia so he was not happy. That broke my heart and I told the doctor I would be there as soon as possible to get there to say goodbye and let him go-- which is what I did. When I put my hand on Piggee, he barely opened his mouth and let out a low, long, meow and the vet said 'that is the first time all day he's said anything.' As I pet him and stroked his nose (like I always did with him), he continued to talk to me like that and the doctor just kept saying that it's the most responsive he's been- that he hasn't even had much of a pupil or eye reflex, but he's talking to me. So he knew I was there for him at that final moment..., as I have been there for Monkee, Possee and Brumley in their final moments when they were called home. I will miss my Piggee Piggee so much. I feel bad that I couldn't have done more for him. I know he never would have been given a chance if it hadn't been for me. I was his first foster that got him thru 2 URI's that I thought he would never beat; and I was his final foster and home when the people that adopted him returned him to me in August because of his seizures. He was a perfectly healthy boy, except for the seizures. I wanted to get him on the phenobarbital and treat him and try to give him a chance to beat the seizures-- which inevitably he did do. Thank you to everyone who did offer us advice and support in the brief time that we needed you. God bless all of you that care of epileptic cats everyday. Piggee Piggee thanks you for caring for these most special cats. Caroline Kaufmann and Piggee Piggee...in spirit. See how Windows connects the people, information, and fun that are part of your life. See Now _________________________________________________________________ Stay up to date on your PC, the Web, and your mobile phone with Windows Live. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093185mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
