abigail414's diaryland diary
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Almost Dead Cat
This week a man came rushing in with an almost dead cat. She showed up swaddled in towels - stiff, with a sub-normal temperature, white gums, and barely breathing. The owner said he found her that way in the morning after she vomited and had bloody diarrhea all night. He was a rough-handed working man, clearly upset about his cat. And he said, �do whatever you can to save her�.
I�m getting better at not panicking in emergencies. I started directing people on what to do - get her surrounded with hot water bottles, get an IV catheter in, pump her up with warm fluids, put some glucose in her system, intravenous antibiotics for her gut, and some anti-nausea drugs. Otherwise known as �supportive care�.
So much of veterinary medicine is supportive care. I suspect that most animals will heal themselves if given half a chance. It is our job to help give them that chance. To keep them going long enough for them to fight it on their own.
And, fight she did. Within an hour, she was raising her head, and by the end of the day she was standing up and rubbing against her owner. He opted to take her home rather than to the overnight emergency clinic, and in the morning she was almost back to normal.
Why was she ill? Her x-rays were normal, but her bloodwork suggested acute kidney failure. Was it the lilies he gave his wife last week, whose petals were falling and are toxic to cats? Was it something else she got into? We�ll never know. Just that she came back among the living and her owner was almost tearful in his gratitude. He said she was never a very affectionate cat, but he couldn�t bear to lose her. He thought we were miracle workers.
These kind of recoveries do feel miraculous, and are one of the more rewarding parts of being a veterinarian. We did our job and she did the rest.
9:31 p.m. - 2007-12-23
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