Last night, about an hour after I posted, I got the call that Celeste had another episode and this time, her heart stopped. They couldn’t revive her.
I am dying inside and am missing her beyond words. I can’t express how grief-stricken I am, but I know she is no longer suffering.
If you have a furbaby of your own, please make sure to give them extra love today and everyday, because they deserve it.
I’m not sure where to start, but at this point I’m just going to spit it out.
Celeste is very sick and has been on oxygen in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) since last night. When we arrived home on Tuesday afternoon from Austin (more on that later), I noticed she was very listless, but she seemed okay overall. Yesterday, she stopped eating and wouldn’t move from our bed and that’s when I knew something was seriously wrong.
I made an appointment at her veterinarian for today at 2 PM, but last night when I woke up around 2 AM, I found that she was breathing really hard and hadn’t moved all night. So, Kevin and I took her in last night, because her animal hospital is a 24 hour emergency facility.
Basically, the veterinarian thinks she has heart disease. She’s had x-rays, blood work and a urinalysis, but only the results of the x-rays are back and they showed fluid on her lungs. Her blood work results will be available either late tonight or early tomorrow, so we won’t know until then if she does, in fact, have heart disease.
The fluid in her lungs is blocking a clear sightline for her heart, so they have given her a diuretic to assist in clearing out the fluid so they can take another x-ray to get a good look at her heart. She’s also on intravenous antibiotics to help with any underlying infections she might have.
I’ve been calling every few hours to get updates on her and she’s already had three “episodes” as the vet called them. Apparently, too much fluid collects on her lungs too fast and she literally stops breathing, so when that happens they have to intubate (stick a tube down through her throat into her lungs) so she can breathe.
The veterinarian made the initial diagnosis, without confirmation of blood work, of heart disease, because of all her symptoms. Though, another very minute possibility is a fungal lung infection. Either diagnosis is manageable with medication (and diet, if it is heart disease), but the heart disease is much more serious, obviously.
Here’s where it’s just killing me. They want to keep her in the ICU overnight again. When I worked at the cat clinic, only the very sickest of kitties stayed in the ICU cage overnight. The ones that were “guarded” or terminal. Knowing that my Celeste is that kitty right now is just breaking my heart.
Kevin and I are going to visit her tonight after dinner, but being away from her for this long is really making me sad. Please keep positive thoughts coming her way. She’s such a good kitty and doesn’t deserve any of this.
Of course, I’ll update here again when I know more.
As I mentioned yesterday, I took my cat, Celeste, to the groomer today. I took her in for the first appointment for the day, and since I asked for just a cut, with no bath, she was going to be in and out in 30 minutes. So, I dropped her off and drove the 5 minutes back home.
When I came to pick her up, she was back in her carrier. They said she did well considering this was her first time with a new groomer. Beneath the grooming table, where she had been, there was a mountain of fur on the floor – her fur. Hmm.. “That’s odd”, I thought. Especially considering I had asked them to shave just her backside.
I didn’t really think anything of it, until I stopped at the one stoplight between my house and the groomers and took a good look at her. I blinked a few times and then looked again.
Obviously, there was some sort of miscommunication when it came to the cut I wanted. I told the receptionist dude that I wanted a “poop chute.” I also mentioned this to the groomer herself. In addition to telling those two individuals, I wrote it down on the paper they had me fill out.
When I looked at Celeste, yeowling at me from inside her carrier, here is what I saw:
Yep, they gave her a lion cut. Not a poop chute, like I had asked them to. In their defense, I admit, she’s freaking adorable with her new ‘do. Almost more adorable than she already is, if that’s possible. But I didn’t ask for a lion cut! Yarg!
As for what Celeste thinks about it… well, she’s still getting used to being mostly bald, and I think she’s still a little upset about it, too. On the bright side, though, it’s nice to know that there was actually a (tiny!) cat under all that fur (I swear she must have lost 3 pounds of fur).
After the initial shock wore off, Kevin mentioned to me that he wants to keep her groomed like this permanently. Yeah…. no. 😆
Warning: If you are easily disgusted or have a easy gag reflex, then don’t read on!!!!!!
Okay, for the rest of you with iron stomachs, I have a dingleberry emergency. As you most of you know, my cat Celeste is very fluffy. So much so that I’ve had knitting friends ask to make yarn from her fur. 😆
Anyway, what sometimes happens with long-haired animals when they go to the bathroom is a dingleberry or two might get stuck in the fur around their backside area. Thankfully, Celeste is a very clean cat, but accidents do happen and a few times a year she has said problem with a dingleberry getting stuck in her fur. Today was one of those times. 🙁
So, first thing tomorrow she is going in to the groomer for an emergency “poop chute” trim. Yup, that’s what you call it. Very descriptive, no?
Blech.