I’ve been somewhat absent this past week due to concerns with Cylia. All that’s been going on is pretty much responsible for my mood having tanked lately.
When I got back from NC, she really hadn’t been eating. This has really been going on for some weeks now with her appetite being off, and last Thursday (Oct 26th) I got some medication from the vet to try and help. Between my giving it to her in the evening and leaving for NC at 4pm Fri, she hadn’t eaten a thing.
I figured that this was probably down to the meds (one of which was a sedative) and that she would eat more while I was away. Though when I got back, while there were signs she had been eating, she hadn’t eaten much. She’d go to a food bowl, look at it, and then go to get water instead – or just go elsewhere.
Monday I took her down to the vet and got some appetite stimulant as well as anti nausea meds for her. By Tuesday, not much had changed, so she was admitted into hospital with the aim of them getting her to eat (syringe feeding), IV fluids, and monitoring.
While in, she had started to eat a little better, but they discontinued the IV because they detected a ‘gallop rhythm’ in her heart. Over the next few days this was monitored and she continued to eat better, and yesterday (Thursday) she was seen by a cardiologist.
It’s here the news becomes not so good.
She does indeed have a level of heart disease (though we’re not quite sure how far that’s progressed), and also an enlarged heart. This enlarged heart could explain much of her symptoms recently, as this can cause lack of appetite, listlessness, and abnormal heart rhythm. It can also cause blood clots to form which could lead of paralysis of certain parts of her body.
I’ve got medication for her to prevent blood clots – essentially a blood thinner. Also more meds for the appetite stimulant. I just now have to monitor her for the next couple of weeks to see how she does.
She’s 14.5 years old, and I hoped I would have more years with her. But this diagnosis puts that into doubt. Sure, with medication, she could last maybe a couple more years, but now I feel that the Time is coming far sooner than I expected. I don’t know when, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure she stays with me for as long as possible.
