My Sami

[sheenasma]

Sam won't eat or drink anything this morning. Overnight she did have a bit of water, this morning nothing.

Yesterday she drank and nibbled, the same thing the day before. On Tuesday she had her regular good appetite. Now....no interest.

This morning no output of any kind, she does not even need a bath. Her chux and blanket from overnight are completely clean and dry. She sleeps next to me, and that is the only time over the past few days she has been content.

I hate this, but I think she has made up her mind....I have to work a double shift today, and day tomorrow. I spent last night on the phone, again this morning trying to get someone to cover for me....no luck.

I am waiting for her regular vet to call back....cannot get through to the neuro's office, that line has been busy all morning.

Maybe she just needs to be checked and her vet will have some ideas, but I think she has given up.

I can't do this, I just can't. I want her to perk up, show some interest again.

[critters]

She NEEDS to eat or her liver will fail. Lay out a buffet, if necessary--meat babyfood, her favorite flavors of catfood, deli meat, cheese, fried chicken without the skin, or whatever. You may even have to forcefeed her until you can get her checked at the vet; babyfood works particularly well for this. Good luck!

[Dianne]

It's called feline hepatic lipidosis. The clock starts ticking when she stops eating.

Have you tried: tuna, mackeral, Science Diet A/D (from the vet), Nutri-Cal (pet store)... I've gotten down on the floor and pretended to lap water to get a cat to start drinking. We've cooked chicken cutlets (mince), salmon, scrambled eggs. The remaining water from poaching a chicken cutlet can been cooled and fed, too.

[sheenasma]

Sam is at the vet's now, her problem is two blockages in her colon...she is on sub fluids, with the hope that they will soften this stool so that she can pass it. They have given her baby food, which she has not liked when I have offered it/

Tests show she is not strong enough, and too underweight to survive surgery to remove the blockages if this does not work...I am petrified....she was making so much progress, and now this, which is causing gas that is vry painful to her. If this does not work, I have to let her go.

I can't stand it. All she has been through, all she has overcome, and it may come down to something this simple that is too much for her. Vet will be calling early in the morning to see if any of this works and she can pass this rock hard stool that has built up,

She had regained full bowel control, and now this. Her not being home is screaming at me.

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Oh, I am reeling with you. I am so sorry for this set back. Ipray you get some good news in the next few hours. Please let us know how you are both doing.\

[critters]

Are they doing enemas? Softeners? Seems like impacted poop should be an easy fix after all she's already done...

[sheenasma]

They are....one blockage is up so far it cannot be palpitated to help move it along, the other is lower but so hard the enema wand could not pass it. She is on deep fluids hoping to soften these so that she can pass them, As if lst night it was not working. Vet told me he will be going in early this morning and call me as soon as he sees her.

She has a lot of food options available to her, including baby food, but the gas this is causing has her so uncomfortable she is not wanting anything.

Now I am just hanging by the phone waiting to hear.

[BethWeeble's:o~mom]

Prayers being said here for your Sami. Please let us know how she is doing. If you can, will the vet allow you to come & visit? I know some vets say this just upsets the furkid, but in my experince, they know you are there for them & don't feel like you abanded them.

[sheenasma]

I had posted earlier, but don't know where it went.

Sam is gone. It does not seem real.

Everything possible was done for her, but her vet in consult with her neuro determined that the higher blockage was at the point of the original infarct....her gi system had become paralyzed so that nothing would move along.

She was having spasms every few seconds from the pain and discomfort. Through all of this, this is the first time she was in pain. She was not young enough, did not weigh enough at this point to survive surgery. The fluids were not working, and if they had the most likely follow up would have been her having to go through this again.

This morning I was there the minute they opened; she was in obvious distress. Vet told me that when she was approached she hyperventilated and her heart went into near critical rthym which could in itself have killed her. When she heard my voice she stretched out a paw, and it did hurt her when I picked her up, she settled against my chest and I rocked her for nearly an hour before she was given the first sedative. She did not fall asleep like they had thought she would, instead she curled her paw around my neck and nestled her head on my shoulder and kept looking into my eyes. I think she was telling me herself that she knew this was not something she could get over, despite how well she had been doing with everything else.

I never stopped stroking her, talking to her, or looking right into her eyes. For the second injection I was at eye level with her and she heard my voice telling her I loved her right until her last moment. I had never had to make the decision to euthanize before, and I doubt I will ever stop second guessing it, but I do think it was really her decision. She was "fish breathing"; one of those signs they tell you to watch for when a person is dying. It is doubtful she would have made it a few more days, and those would have been in a lot of discomfort.

Her regular vet and the neuro both have said that they attribute the progress she had been making and her contentment up until this last setback to the bond she and I had.

I hope I did right by her, I love her so much I could not let her hurt so much, I would much rather do the hurting myself.

[Christine]

Sharing your hurt and tears...I am so sorry that Sami is gone. She knew and knows how much you love her. You made an impossible decision, but you did it for her at her request. I know she held on as best she could waiting for you to hold her for that final journey. I know how much this hurts, but you did everything possible to help her and now it is time for Someone else to take over. Please take care.

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Oh, I am so very sorry. What a tragedy you are undergoing. Your little girl was so lucky to have you. She waited for you. What a poignant, beautiful, tear-filled vision you have painted. I understand the unreality of the whole thing. I find it helpful to hang on to denial when it gets too bad. Please know we are all here with you and can hold your e-hand when you cry. I am heartbroken for your loss. I am so very sorry.

[sheenasma]

Thank you, I am absolutely heartbroken.

I think of her last late afternoon and night, when she was at the vets on the fluids, when she began having those spasms due to pain and discomfort, and hate that she went through a night like that....if I had not been working, if I had been able to get someone to cover for me...she would not have spent those hours like that. I think maybe she should have just let go, but then I realize that she needed me to be with her, that it would have been so much worse on her to pass on without me there, that emotionally she would have been in even more discomfort. She needed me to be with her - I am tortured by the fact that I had no one to clear me from having to go into work so that I could have helped her along sooner.

I have to keep telling myself that her poor body was released from the pain and discomfort, and that by holding on for me to be with her, her sweet soul, which is forever, moved on in peace.

[puremutt]

You were there and that was al she wanted, she was ready and at peace, you did the right thing for sure.
No more fear or pain for your dog, now it's time for you to heal.
We do it all together with our recent losses.

[Christine]

Please don't add to your grief by going through all the "what ifs". Just as you made the choice to help her during her illness, she made the choice to wait for you...both choices made in unconditional love. She truly is at peace now and you must be too. That being said, we all go through the second guessing and wishing we had done something differently, somehow, it seems to help us work through this heartwrenching grief to beat up ourselves a little. In the end, everything happens as it should...in God's good time. Please know that we are here for you and that we truly understand the condition of your heart right now.

[Friend2Dogs]

I am so sorry for your loss. I second guessed my self as I did not put Mason to sleep, I think now I let him suffer. Thinking like this does no good, we did the best we could for our beloved pets.