Scout Update

Actually, this will be two updates. In late July, Scout started wheezing and coughing. He was going to need to go in for his checkup with Dr. C. in about a month, so we decided to take him in early. Because it was a last minute thing, we weren't able to secure an actual appointment, so we had to do a drop-and-go. They took his bloodwork and xrays. The bloodwork showed nothing significant, but the xrays showed "a bronchial pattern consistent with feline airway disease." Basically, he has asthma. Dr. C. recommended a (liquid)antibiodic and a nebulizer.

I'm pretty sure our eyes bugged out at each of these suggestions. Scout is not the most cooperative of kittys. We've tried liquid meds before.. you just put the meds in a syringe and squirt it in their mouth--how hard could that be, right? Not difficult at all if your cat is partially sedated and can't use his tongue to slide the syringe out of his mouth just as you are squeezing it so you can spray your floor with a bright red dye. So the liquid meds were a big no. As for the nebulizer, since Scout has to be placed into a bag for them to get his blood, so no way he'd take to a nebulizer. We decided we would consult with our regular vet for other treatment options. We thanked Dr. C. and took Scout home.

Boy was he pissed off at us! He went straight into the bedroom and pooped on the floor. PJ tried to make things right by "covering it up," but since there was no litter there, he was just pawing at the carpet in his unsuccessful attempt.

Our vet agreed with us and put Scout on a tablet antibiodic and an evening steriod. After a few days, he seemed to be feeling better. He went through two rounds of the antibiodic and then went on every-other day for the evening steroid. He didn't do well having the steroid every other day, so we went back to every day.

In the past week, Scout's breathing became very labored. On Thursday night, he was struggling so hard to breathe, it looked like he was an accordian as he inhaled and exhaled. So we took him in to our vet (another drop-and-go), and he took some xrays and found that Scout's trachea was very narrow, a condition called "collapsed trachea," and he had never seen it before in a cat.

Right.

Check off another rare medial condition for our pet household.

One that required a specialist.

So we picked him up and shuffled him off to GCVS.

Because he was in respiratory distress, they took Scout as soon as we got there and put him in an oxygen cage. We waited for about half an hour, and then met with the doctor, who referred to our cat as "Scott". We corrected him, and he apologized. During small talk as we waited for his resident to catch up to us, he said he was concerned that Scout's voice was very weak and he didn't purr. We told him that Scout probably didn't like him because he was calling him "Scott." (cue rimshot)

The resident joined us and the real show began. After about 15-20 minutes of him rambling on about every possible diagnosis, he told us he agreed with our vet's diagnosis of a collapsed trachea. He then spent another 15-20 minutes talking about treatment options in as a highly-scientific, non-linear manner as anyone could possibly do. We were able to glean that he wanted to sedate Scout and take cultures from the back of his throat to find out what bacteria was causing this condition and then treat it. Our vet had told us that sedation with a collapsed trachea is very dangerous. I made the mistake of mentioning this to the new doctor, which he took as a sign that I wanted him to talk in detail about he odds of survival, possible complications and when they are most likely to occur, etc, etc...

You know how when an animal is caught in a trap and will chew off one of its limbs in order to escape/survive?

We know exactly how that animal feels.

Eventually, he stopped talking and left us alone to discuss our options. We discounted the sedation and decided to just go with the medical treatment. Apparently, the doctor neglected to tell the tech that was an option, because when she came in with the estimate, it was for the sedation procedure. So we had to wait another ten minutes for her to give us a new estimate sans surgical procedures.

Scout was going to stay overnight, so they let us go see him before we left. They were giving him oxygen in the box, and he seemed kind of happy to see us. He purred and licked my hand when I petted him.

We didn't hear anything overnight, and took that as a good sign, and when they called us around ten on Friday morning, they told us that he responded well to the medication and could go home that afternoon. He'd be getting two inhaler meds and some antibiodics. We got him around 4:30. A lab tech showed us the inhaler and told us how to use it and gave us prescriptions, because getting the meds there would be more expensive. She told us to "shop around" for the best price, but since Scout would need the meds first thing in the morning, our shopping around was limited to Wal-mart.

I didn't realize until Saturday morning that we were not given any antibiodics. I thought one of the inhaler meds was an antibiodic, but when I looked them up on the internet, one is a rescue inhaler, and the other is a steroid for long-term treatment. I called the hospital, but neither the technician nor the resident on duty seems capable of reading a discharge summary, and the doctor apparently didn't make any notes in Scout's chart, so we have to wait until Monday to get the antibiodics.

In the meantime, Scout didn't really like the inhaler, but her kind of cooperated with us. One of us held him while the other dispensed the medication. He hasn't eaten much since he got home, so that has us a little worried. He acted like this the last time he had to stay overnight at the hospital, so he could just be really pissed off at us. He is breathing easier and resting comfortably, so that is a big improvement over Thursday night.