My Poor Kitty

Last week Monday I had to take my Toby to the vet.  He's been losing weight and stumbling a lot over the past few weeks. Then he stopped eating and using the litter box. And his eyes were dilated. As I thought more about his situation, more things came to light, like I realized that he has stopped purring and he doesn't go in his kitty condo anymore. He also stopped cleaning himself. I was doing it for him. When we got to the vet, Dr. Nick's staff weighed him and he weighed 2 pounds less...that is 1/5th of his entire body weight! I did not realize what terrible shape he was in. I thought the stumbling was just aging at first. It takes him longer to stretch and he's been moving slowly over the course of the entire winter season. I think I was in denial.

Dr. Nick said Toby was dehydrated and that they would have to keep him in intensive care for a few days. They would run tests to get to the bottom of his issues. When I picked him up on Wednesday, he looked so much better.  He wasn't listless anymore however, the vet did not have good news.  They did all the standard tests; feline leukemia, diabetes, thyroid disorder...everything they could try, they did.  So the diagnosis was down to one of two things; he either had a brain tumor or a parasite.  He was also blind now. To know for sure, a CAT scan of his brain would have to be done.  Considering the expense, I wanted to avoid that.  So the vet knew a workaround.  We would treat him as if he had the parasite. That meant antibiotics which would fix the problem within 7 days.  If it wasn't a parasite, he would not improve and that would mean the only thing left was a brain tumor and if that were the case, the antibiotics would not hurt him either way. So we left the vet's office after two days of IV fluids, x-rays, lab work and a steroid injection. The poor boy was put through the ringer.

I asked Dr. Nick about the worst case scenario.  If the medication doesn't work, how will I know when he is at the end of his life. How will I know if he is suffering. Dr. Nick assured me that Toby is is no distress, if he was he would be trying to hide from everyone but he is a happy boy right now. He stated that Toby would continue to stumble and start to have seizures.  He also stated that since I knew him so well, I would know when it was time. I would feel it.

I gave Toby the antibiotics religiously and he seemed to get better. His eyes cleared up, he wasn't stumbling anymore and he went into his kitty condo! Things are looking good so I took a photo of him to send to the vet so he knew Toby would be fine. We prayed for his recovery everyday day while crossing our fingers at the same time. I would hold him daily and he even purred for me like he used to do.

Unfortunately, it was a false hope. By the end of the medication dosing, Toby was back to being listless and stumbling.  His eyes went hazy again. I took on the challenge of keeping him comfortable and hope that I can keep him around for a while yet.  At least he is eating and using the litter box even though it is a struggle. I hold him daily, sometimes for hours at a time knowing he won't be with us for very long.  He is only 13 years old.  This is so unfair.