Cayenne finally settled early this morning and has seemed fine all day. I did call her vet and unfortunately he will not give me any pain meds for her without seeing her. I kind of understand why but in this situation I don't think it's very reasonable of him. He knows she has cancer. It's understandable that she might have some pain. He's been treating her for many years. It's not the same as if I had called Isaac's vet when he was limping and asked for pain meds when we didn't even know the cause of the limp.
And it's a 40-minute drive to the vet's office, which I don't mind but Cayenne does. Last time she rode in the car, she puked all over herself. Riding in the car and going to the vet is very stressful for her. I don't want to cause her stress or discomfort when she seems to be feeling OK.
I guess I will take her to the vet sometime soon just to get her checked out and to get some pain meds so I can have them on hand. I didn't want to do it today. But it is possible she will begin to have pain at some point, maybe a lot of pain. When that happens, I will have her euthanized but what if it happens in the middle of the night? I want to be able to give her something to help her until I can get her to the vet.
About 15 years ago, I had a cat with feline leukemia. The last few days of her life, she seemed very peaceful. I knew the end was near. She was just sleeping on the bed. She wasn't eating, drinking, peeing, anything. I thought she would just die in her sleep. Then one night about midnight, she began having seizures. It was horrible. She fell off the bed, seizing. She howled, these horrible, heart-wrenching howls. I don't know if she was in pain or if the howling was just part of the seizure activity, but it sounded like she was in excruciating pain. I cried with her all night long. It was probably the longest night of my life. I was waiting in the parking lot at the vet's office when she arrived in the morning and she was euthanized, but I felt so terrible for allowing her to spend her last night on earth like that. I should have had her euthanized sooner. I didn't want to do it too soon, but I ended up waiting too long.
I don't want that to happen to Cayenne. And I don't want it to happen to me. I don't want to spend another night like that. I was living with a partner then, and it was still terrible, but I really don't want to go through that alone.
I think I'm a little afraid of taking her to the vet, though. I think I'm afraid the vet will say it's time now, and I'm not ready yet.
Explain to your vet her anxiety about the travel and see if he will prescribe a single dose of something for her to take so she can relax on her way to see him. She will also probably be more relaxed during her exam for the pain meds.
ReplyDeleteIf you decide to put a bandage on her stomach you may think about cutting the sleeve off an old stretched out sweater. The sleeve can then be slid over her head and shoulder and spread out the length of her torso to help hold the bandage in place. I had to do that when my past cat had her spay surgery. It kept her from licking and biting the stitches and was better tolerated than the cone of shame..lol.
Best wishes for Cayenne to be as pain free as long as possible!
Thanks so much for the suggestions. I will ask about something for the ride to the vet's for the appointment. So far she's not licking at the tumors very much, except when I tried putting neosporin on them, which I will probably not do again. But she may begin licking them more as they get worse. When she got spayed, she pulled out all her stitches except two after just a couple days. For some reason she was unable to get the last two out. I was surprised her belly didn't open up again, she took the stitches out so soon after her surgery!
DeleteI'm sorry this is happening. I hope the suggestions you received work and you don't have to make a difficult choice about Cayenne. And that she doesn't suddenly get really bad in the middle of the night. That sounds awful!
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