Draco

Ex-nay on the ast-lay ost-pay; Draco is sick.

Category: Cats
Words: 222

Scratch (like a cat scratch? Get it? I’m so witty. *insert eyeroll here*) my last post. Draco had two more (at least) seizures between my last post and now. Fortunately, in the world of rescue, TNR, and foster, we all kind of scratch one another’s backs. Alyssa and I are the go-tos for fostering, so in turn we can ring people for urgent medical help. In less than three minutes I secured a same-day appointment for Draco. In the next couple of hours, after low-cost spay/neuter surgeries wrap up, we’ll be getting a text letting us know to bring him in, and then hopefully we’ll get answers. My money’s on a repeat infection of Coccidia. As we already know from Tetris, seizures can be present in up to 30 or so percent of cases, and Coccidia itself can be present itself without the presence of diarrhea (meaning your cats (and dogs and rats and even cattle and oh, by the way, even humans) can have it without you knowing). It just so happens that Draco’s seizures are grand mal, while Tetris’s were the not-so-terrifying-to-observe focal.

Regardless of the Why, I just want to know What Do We Do: treat or euthanize?. Because more than anything, the most important factor here is QUALITY OF LIFE. Sometimes there is a fate worse than death.

♥ Jenn
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Draco had a grand mal seizure.

Category: Cats
Words: 403

Tonight I heard Draco, one of our two foster-fail[01] special-needs[02] kittens who is experiencing post-op post-Coccidia and post-Panleukopenia (yes, both boys survived both often-fatal diseases – and Panleuk has a 92% fatality in unvaccinated kittens younger than six months!), tumble down our last couple of stairs. I ran down to check him, and found him in the throes of a grand mal seizure. I’ve seen humans have seizures, and I’ve seen Tetris, our other special-needs FFer have focal seizures (his were especially pitiful, because he’d lose control of his legs, stiffen up, and fall over into Daniel’s lap; or the few times he wasn’t able to catch him, off of his desk onto the floor), but I’ve never seen a cat have a huge grand mal seizure (a friend of mine, though, yes, and I’ve been there for a few of them). I scooped him up and set him down on the kitchen floor, where Alyssa and I stayed with him throughout the duration, which seemed to drag on and on, and on and on, and on some more. In reality the seizure was probably over in a minute, but it felt like minutes. Poor Draco. He was completely drained, banged up from the fall, and exhausted, and you could tell he was so confused, and so, so scared. Once he was able to breathe easily again, he cried, and then he whimpered. But amazingly, he didn’t urinate, defecate, or vomit, and after a little while, his whimpering subsided, he was able to sit up, and he gave us a few weak “wahs”, which are a little game we do with him. Hearing those shaky but normal little Draco “wah”s made us both tear up, I think, even if Alyssa won’t admit it (heck, she might).

Needless to say, if Draco didn’t already have a vet appointment in the coming days to confirm the exact cause of his neurological issues (back leg weakness and wobbliness), we’d be scheduling one. Even when you’re prepared for the possibility of a seizure, they are still scary as fuck to witness – worse still when you’re feeling it happen from a slight 6ish pound cat violently shaking in your arms!

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Draco is the handsome Russian Blue

 

notes:

notes:
01 This is the term for an animal initially designated as foster-to-adoption that ended up being sniped by the fosterers because they fell in love
02 neuro issues
♥ Jenn
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