Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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After four days in hospital, we brought Momo home tonight. Ultrasound shows his left kidney is dead--it obstructed at some point along the line, and has zero function. His right is damaged...but surprisingly, we tested his levels, and they have come down again--despite what everyone expected to see. BUN of 69. (Top end of normal is 38) Last time we checked (last "normal" reading--two months after his crash last fall) was 57. So it is high, but not as high as it could be (it spent the last 3 days unreadable).
He also has stones in the right kidney, but no blockage at this point on that side. Stones in the bladder...but it SHOULD be clear in the urethra as of right now (several have come out/been removed since he obstructed/crashed this past weekend).
He had not peed at the vet after they removed the cath this afternoon...and that is the concern. We know that no surgical intervention is feasible at this point, but we'd like to be able to have some time until he has another issue. They cleared out his bladder for us, and we brought him home.
IF he can pee overnight, we will go on with our lives and enjoy the time we have until he crashes again (IOW, obstructs again or what is left of the right kidney fails totally). If he doesn't produce/expel enough pee on his own overnight, we will say goodbye tomorrow.
Regardless of that...he is home now, and on my lap, and I will spend at least one more night with his fat ass on my head and him trying to bite my hair as I sleep. If we are lucky, we will have more nights. If not...I am grateful for this one. <3
"Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."
-Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
"May I recommend serenity to you? A life that is burdened with expectations is a heavy life. Its fruit is sorrow and disappointment. Learn to be one with the joy of the moment."
-Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
I'm glad he's home Megan, there's no better place for him to be.
Paws, fingers and tails crossed that things get better. He's such a tough little dude.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Geez Megan, you've got a lot on yor plate right now......and a fat cat on your head!
Come on Momo, PEEEEEE!
And you kow Megan, just having had a catheter in could also hold up the peeng process a bit too. As long as Momo is feeling good and trying to bite yor hair while you sleep and he's not uncomfortable, it may take him well nto tomorrow before he pees. And they cleared out his bladder and I'm sure he didn't drink much at the vets...don't know if he was on fluids or not, so I wold give it as mich time as possible to happen...duh...guess that goes without saying.!
Just keep staying n the moment tonight......I kow you will. Keep enjoying your time together now while the rest of us are doing the pee pee dance for you!
Hang in there Sweet Megan...hugs to you and Momo
(((((((((((((((!((HUGS))))))))))))))) Extra healing hugs!
Sally and Happy Hannah
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Thanks, everyone!
As of this AM, there have been 15 tiny pees. So, not as big as the other cats...golfball sized, I guess...but he IS peeing. I feel like a contestant on one of those Asian game shows on TV where they do all the crazy stuff. We'd scoop all the boxes, then lie in wait...is he going over there? Where? Which box...quick! Follow him! Lurk behind teh corner...no pressure...no pressure...he's out! Run over, sift through box. Is there something there? Wait for it.... yes, but what is it??? PEE! Bag it up! Hooray!
I don't know what this means--we'll go in to the vet this AM. I am HOPING it means we have a few more days.
I mean, we realize that we are at the end. We knew we were on borrowed time a year ago, but he had been doing so well, we didn't think much of it. And he'd never had obstruction issues before (that we knew of), so we assumed this was just an "ordinary" crash. For it to be so dire, so suddenly, just seemed...incomprehensible.
It could be hours, it could be days, it could be weeks--or against all odds, even months. But at least we had the chance to really understand that it is happening, and to bring him home and let him Be More Dog , er, cat in his final time...I am a little better off now than I was yesterday, when I thought we'd have to say goodbye last night, after four days of hospitals and needles and scary places as his last moments.
I am very, very angry, of course. At no one, since there is no one to be angry AT. Which just frustrates and saddens me even more. It just doesn't seem fair. He's so young, and so...just what I had always wanted, that I find it difficult to accept and reconcile.
This is far harder than it was with Sam. Sam was my dog above dogs, my heart, for sure...and it was so incredibly sad letting him go, but there was a peace and some measure of comfort and certainty in knowing that he was 13.5 years old, that he had had a long, and by all accounts longer than we expected anyway, healthy or not, life.
Anyway...no mourning what isn't yet. I am off to the vet to deliver my pee and see what we dshall do the rest of the day. Thank you all for listening to me vent 
<3
"Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."
-Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
"May I recommend serenity to you? A life that is burdened with expectations is a heavy life. Its fruit is sorrow and disappointment. Learn to be one with the joy of the moment."
-Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
You are right. It sucks when they are young. It feels like we get cheated.
Keeping Momo in our thoughts.
Marla and Daisy
(I too had a head sleeper/hair chewer. Lil Guy would hog the pillow all night long. I'd wake up hanging onto a corner. As irritating as it was for 16+ years that is the one thing I miss most)!
My Two Tripawds...Biscuit 
and Spirit Daisy 
Keeping Momo in our thoughts. Give him lots of kitty snuggles.
Take care-
Luanne
Spirit Shooter was a Miniature Australian Shepherd who was diagnosed with a MCT and had a LF amp 1/28/13 at 13-1/2 years old.
Shooter crossed the Bridge on 8/28/13, his 7 month ampuversary and two weeks from his 14th birthday.
I think the vet was surprised when I showed up this AM with two bags of cat pee balls 
He called it the Christmas Miracle. :p So, I paid our bill (the real miracle is that I didn't pass out or my credit card did not instantly burst into flames 
), he gave me a refil on our SubQs, some oral pain meds, some baytril, and a new anti-stone food (anti stone food bad for kidney health. Kidney health food bad for stones. Pick your poison!), and said... "Go home. Watch him. You know what to look for. Enjoy him."
Fatty Two Ton Tony Galanda horked down a whole can of the wet, and almost a quarter cup of the dry, peed a tiny squirt, and is now sleeping on the heated bathroom floor (<--part of what is hard about this is he LOOKS so normal. Once I cleaned him up, brushed him, and all that when we got back from the hospital...aside from the shaved belly and wrist, you'd not know he is sick. He is still FatMo).
Anyway...I am working from home, and have until the 2nd off, so I am glad for that. We are hosting two families and two chirstmases...which will be a stressor for him, but we will have to figure that out if/when it happens.
Marla: It is one of my favorite things about him...and yes, one of the most annoying . I sleep with a pillow on my head to keep him from chewing my hair. He sits on the pillow. He's also an obsessive ear-licker. I woke up one moring with an actually bloodied ear, b/c he had licked it raw in the night. He is seriously a goofball.
"Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."
-Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
"May I recommend serenity to you? A life that is burdened with expectations is a heavy life. Its fruit is sorrow and disappointment. Learn to be one with the joy of the moment."
-Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
Sounds like MOMO is doing better, that is great....he sounds like a fighter and a real character....I wish him and Jill could have a playdate and we could play dress up to our hearts delight
Jill is a 9-year-old tuxedo kitty. She was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in June 2012 on her toe in her right hind leg. Her leg was amputated on 12/12/12 and she completed four rounds of chemo (2 of Carbo, 2 of Doxy) in April 2013. "Like" Jill's facebook page: https://www.fac.....tty?ref=hl Proud member of the WINTER WARRIORS!!!! Her blog can be read at http://jillsjou.....ipawds.com. xoxo
So glad to hear that today is a better day. You keep it up, Momo!
Kathi and Murphy
Murphy is a five year old Lab/Chessie cross. He was hit by a car on 10/29/12 and became a Tripawd on 11/24/12. On 2/5/13, he had a total hip replacement on his remaining back leg. He has absolutely no idea that he has only three legs!
UPDATE: Murphy lived his life to the fullest, right up until an aggressive bone lesion took him across the Rainbow Bridge on April 9, 2015 and he gained his membership in the April Angels. Run free, my love. You deserve it!
Biiiiiiiiig sigh of releif!!
YAAAAAAAY for golf ball size pee!
YAAAAAAAY for licking your ear 'til it's bloody!
YAAAAAAY for Momo, the Christmas miracle!!
YAAAAAAY for heated bathroom floors!....Wait......heated bathroomm floors? Now that's the luxury of peeing n comfort for everyone!!
Now you can really enjoy this time! Remember, you've got Sam overseeing thisand he's doing a pretty good job! Well, except for the fact that he must have been off chasing bunnies for his Christmas dinner the other day and wasn't paying attention to Momo!
Hugs to everyone!
Sally and Happy Hannah
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Yay Momo way to go & keep fighting. Now keep peeing. Still sending prayers.
Hugs
Michelle & Angel Sassy
Sassy is a proud member of the Winter Warriors. Live long, & strong Winter Warriors.
sassysugarbear.tripawds.com
07/26/2006 - Sassy earned her wings 08/20/2013
05/04/2006 - Bosch, Sassy's pal, earned his wings 03/29/19 fought cancer for 4 months.
"You aren't doing it TO her, you are doing it FOR her. Give her a chance at life."
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