Brighton is in Intensive Care...

I knew ML would get the word out to the CB (even though she herself is recuperating from a recent illness) and already Brighton is receiving lots of healing rumbly purrs! As all of us with cats know, they like to hide their illnesses and things can go from Super to Serious very quickly!

I was away on vacation and my petsitter (and her wonderful husband and their 4 kids) were caring for the kitties while I was away. They know my cats welll and even have a Furrydance kitty of their own, Pixie, so they know their personalities and behavior well. They said he was feeling fine on Sunday, playing with the kids and very 'interactive'.


On Sunday (around 5pm) they came by, and stayed for an hour or so like they always do, and Brighton didn't come downstairs to greet them and play and they found him curled up on the bed in the sunniest room of the house-the guest room. He did play a bit, and didn't want to leave the upstairs to follow everyone around the house as they did their 'cat chores' Someone had vomited but she didn't know who, but made note of it for me.

I got home at 1:00am Monday morning, after spending all day in airports and planes, dreaming of a nice long restful sleep and day off on Tuesday before I headed back to work. But while Brighton got off the couch to greet me and followed me into the bathroom (so I could use the 'litterbox'), he was wobbly and missed the jump onto the sink twice and when I picked him up he growled and leaked bloody urine (mostly blood) onto his fur and me and the floor.

I am an hour from the Emergency Hospital that I trust, but knew I didn't want to take him to the one nearby. I did a quick check of the house, looking at the litterboxes and for any other evidence of blood or vomit and found red pawprints in the kitchen sink and his favorite cat bed was wet with urine and blood.


So I loaded him up and jumped in the car, sped over to The Hope Center
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and they whisked him right back to the treatment room and started their workup on him. His bladder was full and he appeared blocked but the blood tests showed he would have been an anesthetic risk at that point (BUN 230 -- should be around 24; Phosphorus 8.2 -- should be around 4). They started an IV for fluids, gave him pain meds and I waited...

Within a couple of hours, the phosphorus came down enough for them to put him under anesthesia and place a urinary catheter, empty the bladder and I waited some more...for him to come out of recovery. The doctor came up and talked with me after every step of his treatment and I knew we were both worried but I felt he was in very good hands and had 24 hour monitoring and nursing care.



He got quite cold during the anesthesia, and his temp was down to 94 so they had him in a Bair Hugger Warming System
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and I got to visit him before I left at 4:30am and even though he was sleeping still, I kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear and I went home to try and get some sleep, not even sure I could relax enough to do that.

But I took an Excedrin PM and fell asleep for a few hours, not even minding when about an hour into my sleep, the vet called with a morning report. He had made it through the night and was sitting up and pretty alert, in spite of the pain meds which make them sleepy, too.

I drove over to visit him in the afternoon and he was hooked up to 3 'lines'--IV for fluids, Urinary cath and collection bag, and one even on his tail (I forgot to ask what that one was for) and he was wearing an Elizabethan collar to prevent him from chewing out the IV's and urinary catheter.

He looked very sad, and I tried to be strong for him and gave him a nice massage and lots of kisses. The nurse said he ate some canned food and was head bonking them (to the best of his ability in spite of his 'cone head') and I am waiting for an evening report from the vet, although it's now 10:00pm and I hope they don't hesitate to call in fear of waking me! They repeated his labs this evening and I am praying for the kidney values to show some improvement and give me hope for another day.


Update: It's 10:30pm and the vet just called. Some good, some bad news. Brighton's BUN has come down to 130--good news; He is eating--good news; He is not anemic--good news; and he is being a good patient--who couldn't fall for him?

But his Total Bilirubin (a liver test) is elevated and the doctor is concerned about pancreatitis or bile duct problems, though his other liver tests aren't too out of whack. If it's on the rise in the morning, I will need to have an Internal Medicine consult and probably an ultrasound to look at his liver. Also, as he is on IV fluids, they are watching his heart murmur to make sure he doesn't get over hydrated and go into congestive heart failure.

In the morning they will repeat the organ function tests. They won't pull the urinary catheter until his kidney values are closer to normal but I am hoping he will improve enough soon to be able to be discharged and have me do home care on him-sub q fluids etc...but while I know his care is going to be expensive, I feel like I have to try and get him well! He is young--only 4 years old, and he holds a very special place in my heart.

If I have to spend all my income tax refund, take 'kitten money' out of savings and put off my garden improvements and patio...well, it will be worth it to have him still in my life!

I talked to ML a little about doing a fund raiser for Brighton, as I know how much the CB pulls together for cats in need. Right now, I am so shattered by what is happing with him, that I can't really concentrate on much else...writing this post tonight took all my effort to complete but I knew our furrends were worrying and purring for Brighton and I just had to let you all know, and thank you for your thoughts and prayers...