The Beginning

A philosopher once said "if you don't know where your going, how do you know where you are?'  I say 'if you don't know where you've been, how do you know where your going?'  I believe the previous is true also, but we must know our histories. So this post will be a little long, but necessary for those of you reading.  It will get funny, I promise.


So, Vasco was found on a rocky 'beach' on Madeira Island, Portugal October 2, 2007 while we were on vacation.  We were in the middle of no where and just couldn't leave him there. So I grabbed him up and off we went to find his home or hand him over to a shelter.  Later that evening my husband, being it was his birthday and 'people should get what they want for their birthdays', decided that he wanted to bring him home to the United States.  So the adventure began.  And an adventure it was. I managed to make it happen, legally, and he has been home with us and his other companions ever since.


Vasco got his 'vasectomy' in January 2008; approximately 6 months of age and the remainder of his shots.  He has not received any other booster shots since that time and has had no health issues during this time either.  Why, he's inside and if he were allowed to wonder around outside he's nothing but a snack for a mountain loin, lynx, coyote or bear!


I eat mostly organically and try to feed my pets accordingly as well.  They eat a mix of wet food and a tablespoon of dry food 2 times per day.  The foods I purchase are Before Grain, Wellness, Instinct, Halo, Evo, AvoDerm and occasional other natural brands.  They drink only mountain filtered water.  They get baths monthly to keep their skin clean and keep the pet fur down around the house.  I can bath all three of my cats inside of 20 minutes!  Of course, only a 50/50 mix water/natural aloe shampoo and away they go to groom all day.  Never dripping, but still wet as everything at this altitude (9200 feet) dries up like a sea sponge.


So, how do we get to the PU?  My husband and I were on vacation in Ireland with a girlfriend house sitting and taking care of the pets.  On October 2, 2011, I got a call from my house sitter that Vasco was sick and not acting right.  She was going to watch him closely, but she wanted me to know.  He had thrown up, not something he does, and seemed to be hiding, not something he does either.  He has the biggest personality and is very verbal and always in the kitchen if you are.  One of his favorite places is on top of the kitchen cabinets peering down at everyone. I'm always amazed at the 4 foot vertical leap he makes from the counter; which I am incessantly wiping down.  I got a message from her the next day that she found him laying in the litter box the next morning and rushed him to a local vet.  I did not see any abnormal behavior before we left.  My other male cat had a blockage 6 years ago so I know the signs to look for and didn't see any of them.


So began the month long saga.  He had been blocked with what appears to have been a struvite crystal but the local rural vet only treated him with Sub Q fluids and not an IV and a cath for only 24 hours.  I did call from Ireland and inquired and was surprised at his response and in hindsight should have had my girlfriend/house sitter move him to my 'regular' vet; who we will call Drs. M.  While on layover I called the rural vet and 'had it out' with him, so to speak.  I wanted my cat at home so I could transport him the next day to Drs. M some 70+ miles north.  I got home (10/9) to instruction that he had only 1/2 'expressed' his bladder and I would have to 'express' his bladder later that evening.  I knew what he was talking about and was not pleased.  'Expressing' a cats bladder is not difficult, but is painful to the cat and can cause damage to the bladder or worse cause it to burst.  So I called a neighbor who is a certified vet tech to help.  When she arrived she too was appalled and said his bladder was too full and may rupture if she tried.  She brought everything to do a cynthesis (process of pacing a needle through the abdominal and bladder wall and extracting urine/blood) but he was too full and she couldn't draw enough out to wait until morning.  He was clearly blocked again and this was an emergency.  So off we went to another rural vet at 9:00 at night and an hour away.  We made that drive in 35 minutes.  He did the cynthesis and pulled 87 ml of very bloody urine from him gave him an anti inflammatory to make him comfortable so we could get to Drs. M vet the next morning.  We got home at midnight.


10/10/11 - Up early for the hour and half drive, 70+ miles, and we're there at 8:15 a.m. Right when Drs. M opens and they were expecting us. 


So, I received a call the following day (10/11/11) from one Dr. M and was informed that Vasco would probably be better served in a veterinary internal clinic another 40+ miles north and they would make the arrangements and I should start my drive.  So I did.  I have to say that I was impressed with Drs M. and their humility.

Vasco and I arrived at the clinic with his catheter still in place and they took us right away.  I met with the vet not too long after they took him from me.  His records had already been transferred and reviewed.  We needed to do an ultrasound to see what the spot was in his bladder on the x-rays Dr. M took.  It was blood clot and it was the size of his bladder and it was big!  He would need continued hospitalization and a change from the 'tom-cat' catheter [picture the inside of a pen except really little - hard plastic] to a 'french red rubber' catheter as it is less likely to kink and kinder to the urethral tissue.  I liked that I was requested and permitted to help hold Vasco during the ultrasound as they use no drugs for this procedure.  My little guy was so good and just lay there as they shaved both his sides and began the procedure with me holding his front legs and paws.  He didn't fight one bit.  I do believe that they know when you are helping them during a time of suffering.


Vasco stayed at this clinic until Oct. 14 when he was permitted to come home.  His blood clot was smaller and he was peeing on his own and things looked well enough to them to let me continue his recovery at home.  Vasco was to receive 100cc of fluid every few days just to help in continuing to flush his system.  So my friend came back to help and to teach me.

Return home from 1st Internal Clinic stay

A followup appointment was scheduled for 10 days later (10/25).  We did another ultrasound and things look great.  The blood clot was a lot smaller and there were no other issues.  Except they did notice some mineralization around his bladder wall.  I never asked what mineralization is and if it could drop or come loose and they didn't say.  Everyone was really pleased with his progress.


Well darn if we didn't get to five days later (10/30) and he blocked again.  It was a Sunday.  My friend came up to help me give him fluids and I told her I thought his bladder had urine in it and he was searching for a place to pee all over the house.  We could see something on the end of his penis.  She didn't know if it was swelling or 'sand'.  He kept trying to pee in front of us, but nothing.  She did a cynthesis and pulled out 30cc of slightly pink urine and off we went to the 24/7 emergency clinic attached to the internal clinic 100+ miles away.

They pulled the plug (mucus plug), as it was called, and I would need to return the next day at 7:45 a.m. for the patient paper transfer and see the doc.  So I stayed with a friend of a friend whom I've met numerous times.  Very gracious and kind of this person; Ms. V.  We had a lovely evening getting to know each other better.


10/31/11 - Up at 6:30 and out the door.  This was the day we were scheduled to see Dr. F, our homeopathic vet who has worked wonders on our dog and our other cat when he had is issue 6 years ago.  But, we would not make it.  No chance to even give homeopathy an opportunity to work.  Now we are talking surgery, three strikes and your out they say, especially when they [the blocks] are so close together.


I can attest to the value in homeopathy and that it does work.  I've seen it and I believe that one should combine the two philosophies, western and traditional medicine.  After all, where do you think western medicine got it's start?  Do your research, penicillin.... simple basic plants, extracts, accidents all that eventually became chemically reproduced en masse for the masses.


So now we are making the decision.  Do we treat him medically and homeopathically and when he blocks again, we are back here again and he has suffered once more.  This is a very hard decision to make.  Surgery comes with risk.  Sure he can never block again, providing he doesn't develop a stone.  But surgery opens Pandora's box.  It is the last resort and are we at the last resort?  Will he survive the surgery?  What are the complications/risks?  We are turning him into a girl, a transgender?  But it has greater potential to save him from further suffering, thus saving his life.  At what point does one person decide enough money spent; can't afford it anymore and he must be euthanized. Euthanization because he can't pee?  I don't have kids, I don't have to pay for college or all the other expenses that come with having children.  These are my children per se.  I need to at least try and give him a chance.  If it doesn't work and we are in that God awful place at least my conscience will be clear that I tried everything and his life was just not meant to be any longer, right?


So that Monday, October 31st, All Hallows Eve, Vasco had the Perineal Urethrostomy or PU for short.  We anatomically turned him into a girl with his Portuguese peanuts in tact - I think.  They say most folks who don't know what happened won't be able to tell the difference - when his fur grows back.  He won't know, ya right, and he will live a happy normal life.  The surgery went 'swimmingly' and the surgeon said it was nice to work on a healthy weighted cat instead of a fat cat and that his urethra tissue was healthy and that helped to make the surgery go easier.


So stay with another friend and get the 9:30 p.m. call from the surgeon about bleeding at the site and his red blood cell count and a possible blood transfusion.  Good Lord!  Then the 6:45 a.m. (11/1/11) call from the surgeon that they had to do the blood transfusion at 4:00 a.m. and that when she gets in at 9 and does an evaluation she will call.  She calls and says come visit and things went well and I'll get the new blood count when I get there.  He's messy, bloody and looks like he's on deaths door.  Can't clean him up yet they say, need to make sure the clots stay clotted and I agree.  But he recognizes me and lays his head on my arm and stares at me with those golden eyes.  What are they saying?  "Thank you?"  or  "You should have let me go?"  So I depart and cry in the car.  I tell a friend on the phone that I have never prayed so much in my entire life; she knows that I am a spiritual person but not a religious person, I believe there is a difference.


Self doubt descends upon me now, did I do the right thing?  At what point does the human stop producing tears?  When do we stop feeling so desperate?  Interesting how we attach ourselves to such small creatures that only serve to give us emotional pleasure (and maybe mousing).  I'm a social worker you know, so I think about these things.  Self-evaluation.  Am I putting him though more pain and suffering just so I can keep him around for another hopeful 10 or more years? Am I being selfish? Am I transferring some other guilt about some other experience or event on this poor creature?  These are all perfectly normal questions to ask yourself and only you can answer them.  But one must follow ones heart with pragmatic information about our realities.  Thank goodness I am in a place where I can increase my hours at work and I will pay for it.