Another Miracle Monday story to start your week off with a smile.
“Barn Boy” came to us too terrified to be touched and so matted that his fur had formed a solid “toupee” over his body. We didn’t know what else he needed, but that toupee needed to come off, so we brought him to the vet for sedation, exam, bloodwork and a shave.
We don’t euthanize unless we know why we are doing it
He looked and smelled terrible. But, we don’t euthanize unless we know why we are doing it, so he was sedated, and a full blood panel was run. Despite his appearance, his underlying health was pretty good. And, although he had a terrible mouth, he had a solid belly. In fact, Jennifer, the veterinarian, was concerned he might have a belly full of free fluid, but one brief ultrasound confirmed it was just fat. That was good news.
His claws were overgrown, one of them poking into his pads, and they were clipped too. We can only imagine how that poor boy had been feeling! He had a microchip, but it had been sold by the manufacturer in 2002 to a private company that no longer existed and it had never been registered. That suggested he was 13 years old when we got him.
In 2002, feral cats were being fixed and their ears notched, but no microchip implanted. Tame cats were getting microchips, but no ear notch. He had a microchip and no ear notch – so logic suggests he was a tame kitten who was originally put up for adoption. Whatever happened to him before he came to us is anyone’s guess.
The next 4 days were uneventful. He ate everything we put in front of him until Friday night.
We weren't worried – we figured he had realized the food was unending and he was filled up. But, on Saturday morning he didn’t come out to eat breakfast. We popped the lid on the crate he was using as a hidey-hole-bed and he didn’t react. He was cold to the touch. He was breathing so we knew he wasn’t dead, but he was heading that way. We grabbed him and raced into the vet clinic.
Thankfully Jennifer was working that morning and came racing into the treatment area when she heard he was there, “What happened??”
“No idea – he was fine last night, although he didn’t eat much dinner.”
Meanwhile, the nurses were swarming him taking his vital signs, giving him oxygen and pulling blood to run some really quick tests of critical functions, as well as redoing the full blood panel we’d done 5 days earlier.
His body temperature was 80.5 – a full 20 degrees below normal and not consistent with life. His BG (blood glucose/aka blood sugar) was 22, normal is 120-300 and, although his heart was beating, they could measure no blood pressure. The bloodwork showed he had sepsis (blood poisoning) and the symptoms said he was in septic shock. This is nearly always fatal. If another hour or two had passed he wouldn’t have been alive.
Years earlier we’d dealt with a similar situation involving a kitten, Chance, and got a great outcome so we decided to have them treat the symptoms and see where it lead us. They got some dextrose (sugar) into him and started warming his body up. This had to be done slowly or it could've killed him. By the end of the day, shortly before the office was closing, he had improved, but was not yet stable. We had to make a decision. We decided to choose life, and transported him to the 24/7 hospital. Given his age, unstable condition, and very poor prognosis, we told them “no heroics – we want to give him a chance, but if he goes, let him, it’s his time.”
The next day we got a call from Amy, one of our favorite vets, with an update and a request – she wanted to run an abdominal ultrasound to see if the fluid we were pumping in his veins was leaking into his belly. That made sense. She called an hour later to confirm there was no leaking, but he appeared to have pancreatitis! This is very treatable! It’s still “supportive care” but it’s more aggressive than what we’d been doing. She sent out a blood test to confirm and called the next day with the result.
Amy: “The blood test confirmed pancreatitis. The only thing, I don’t know if the sepsis is secondary to the pancreatitis, or the pancreatitis is secondary to the sepsis.”
Us: “Amy, temp of 80, BG 22, no discernable blood pressure and some idiot says ‘let’s try to save him!’ – I’m pretty sure we’re in uncharted territory here!” And we both laughed because he was another one of our “miracle cats."
We gave “Barn Boy” the name "Toby." Although he recovered completely from this crisis, due to his age and the precarious nature of his health, we decided not to put him up for adoption. Our founder, Sharon, gave him a home where he was welcomed by her also-aging cats. He went on to live another almost-two years as a happy and beloved part of her family. Toby never actively sought human attention, but he did accept it and learned to enjoy it when it was offered.
We have helped a lot of “lost causes” over the years, and it is cases like Toby, Chance, Phoebe, Sophie and Wesley, that really show us what is possible.
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