Yvette's Inner Geek Blog

SPOILER: Isis is still alive!

I was up late again last night watching Isis, anxious and angry because I couldn’t do anything to relieve her labored breathing. My tiny kitty had lost interest in food and was increasingly lethargic.

I again called the county’s pet urgent care (which I’m thankful for—they’re open all evenings, weekends, and holidays) and spoke to the same assistant who had been there 24 hours earlier when I took Isis in. She said a different doctor was there that night, so I’d have to pay the full exam fee again just to bring her in. Which is double the cost of an exam fee at a regular vet, of course. And to drain the fluid in her lungs? Starting around $500-$1000 due to costs for oxygen, tube set-up, hospitalization, etc.

You’ve GOT to be kidding me, I said. Can’t you just stick a needle in and pull out a little but so she doesn’t suffocate before we can get her to the regular vet in the morning?!?

Ben and I had a rough and emotional discussion about what we should do. Of course we want her to live, but we still didn’t know what was wrong with her or even if draining the fluid would really help. We’d already dropped a few hundred bucks on the two vet visits for X-rays, lab tests, and medicine, but she’s going on 11 years old and what if it’s just her time? At what point do we draw the line when it comes to finances? It’s a really ugly question. How much are we willing to spend to save her?

Meanwhile, Isis shifted uncomfortably, her nostrils flaring as she failed to take in as much oxygen as she needed. I pictured the X-ray of her lungs compressed by fluid in her chest cavity.

Less than seven hours until the regular vet opened. We knew our vet had gone out of town Friday afternoon, but he would leave someone on call.

We decided to make her as comfortable as possible—on her blanket with water just a step away—and hope that she would hang on until morning. We prepared ourselves for the possibility that she would not make it and finally went to bed.

I woke up when it was still dark, not sure if I’d actually fallen asleep, and jolted out of bed when I saw the clock said 3:30. Heart pounding, oh-my-god-is-she-still-alive, fumbling for glasses, tumbling toward her sleeping spot… and yes, she was still alive. She turned to look at me, still breathing rapidly.

Somehow, the fact that she’d survived the what, hour and a half? of me not watching her every breath helped me sleep more soundly until my alarm went off at 7:45. Still alive. I called the vet a little before 8 (Saturday opening time) and left a message with the situation. Still exhausted, I reset my alarm in case they didn’t call back ASAP and slept again until 9. I sort of knew the vet tech who answered my second phone call, and we talked a couple times over the next hour while figuring out what to do.

Me: HALP. Cat is barely breathing, needs fluid drained from increasingly lifeless body. Lab results back yet?
Tech: Okay, let me contact the vet on call. Nope, lab results probably not in until Monday.
Me: CRAP.
Tech: Vet says to wait until the lab results come in before doing anything.
Me: CAT NOT BREATHING, srsly, I’m about ready to stick a pin in her to relieve the pressure
Tech: Call one of the other vets nearby?
Me: Thanks for nothing. Get her X-rays ready for me to pick up.

So yeah, I called another veterinarian—the fifth vet office in the area I’ve now been to. (The first one was close and well-priced, but was no help during the height of Isis’ digestive issues; the second one called the vet techs “nurses” and was a nickel-and-diming nightmare; the third one was the Pet Urgent Care which I guess serves its purpose; and the fourth one we’ve been going to for over a year with moderate satisfaction until now. Also, I’m pretty sure their vet on call is over 100 years old—he administered vaccinations to Loki and Phoebe last year and it was a little scary.)

And I am happy to report that Dr. Dobson at the semi-holistic Riverwoods Pet Hospital in Provo treated Isis well and was the one to finally drain fluid from her chest. After hearing our story thus far, she was appropriately appalled that neither of the two vets we’d seen had drained her fluid right away. She has a very take-charge personality and it was borderline Primetime Hospital Drama as she ordered her staff to set up the oxygen box and prepare for the drainage procedure.

Right before they came into the room to get her, Isis really looked like she was dying. That was hard.

They hyper-oxygenated her for about 20 minutes before draining the fluid from her chest cavity to help her breathe during the process. I didn’t see it, but they placed her into a sealed box that was pumped full of oxygen. Upon learning that she would need oxygen, I’d initially pictured a cat getting oxygen through a mask like humans, but I guess I hadn’t really thought about the logistics of that. A box makes more sense for a vet to serve animals of all shapes and sizes.

Dr. Dobson came out after a while with a paper cup to show us how much liquid was coming out of Isis. It was kind of gross (Ben said it looked like raspberry tea at first glance, until he threw up a little in his mouth after realizing what it was). But the vet drained an impressive total of 8 ounces from Isis—who had weighed only 5.2 pounds beforehand. A tenth of her body weight, and that wasn’t even all of the fluid. She left some in there because otherwise it would really throw off her protein levels.

But hoo boy, were we happy to hear that she was still alive and breathing better!

They kept her in the oxygen box for another hour, so we left for a little while to grab our first meal of the day and to place our fearful bets on what the vet’s bill would be. Note that we split a $5 Subway footlong in preparation!

Happily, the total bill—including medication—was well under the starting cost I was quoted by the Pet Urgent Care. Even happier was seeing Isis alert—albeit weak—and back to breathing somewhat normally. We took her home and have been doing all we can to help her recover while we wait out the weekend.

She started purring again!