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Here is the story of what happened after Ziggy got the blood clot. I will add to this page at some future date with more details of the following weeks. Maybe Ziggy's journal will help someone else out there who has a cat in a similar situation. For now, here is what happened the first day:
June 18, 2003
This evening Ziggy seemed fine for several hours after we got home (we were gone maybe 3 or 4 hours) ...we greeted him, he walked around, jumped on the bed, etc. He ate a tiny piece of chicken I brought home from our dinner at the mexican restaurant... he had been somewhat fussy over the past few weeks about eating, and hadn't been eating quite as much as he used to. I wasn't too concerned because he was getting older after all, and getting older sometimes means a change in activity and weight. He had lost a little weight over the winter too, but otherwise seemed normal. I noticed he hadn't eaten much of his food that day, and that evening when he seemed interested in my chicken, I gave him two tiny pieces, and he ate one of them. A few hours later, I saw him sleeping/resting at the top of the stairs as I walked into the bedroom to watch tv. He seemed normal. About 5 minutes later, he came in the bedroom and jumped on the bed and lay down on my pillow with me. I didn't notice anything was wrong, we were busy watching tv. After a minute or two he got up and limped around me to the other side of me where I could see him better- I am sure that he came up to us so that we could notice what was wrong and help him- he was limping on 3 legs all the way around the bed to the other side to where I was facing.
I was horrified! Because his right front leg seemed completely limp, and it looked very strange, I thought it must be broken, what could have happened to him- he must have fallen down the stairs or something!
Otherwise, he seemed fine, very calm and quiet, as usual.. We immediately began getting ready to go to the emergency vet clinic. Since it was 10pm the only one we knew about that was open was an hour away in the city. It was only about 10 or 15 minutes before we left the house.
He was very stressed on the way there, it took an hour of driving and he is not used to the ride. Normally if a vet visit was coming up, we would have prepared him for it gradually for a few weeks so he wouldn't be as stressed, but he had not been in his carrier or the car for a long time since another visit wasn't due for 4 more months.. I was trying to keep him still so he wouldn't further injure his broken leg. He was crying and wanted to get up and move around. After a while, he started breathing with open mouth, and I could hear liquid in his lungs. His breathing was making gurgling sounds. I am sure the whole trip made a bad situation even worse but what else could we do for him? - when we arrived they had to take him (alone) in the back and he started receiving emergency medical care which I believe one of the first things was to put him on oxygen. (He remained on oxygen for the next 2 or 3 days)
After a while the emergency vet talked with us, and told us his prognosis looked poor and there is a good chance that he won't even make it through the night. There were no broken bones felt in his leg and it also had no pulse. They suspect his problem is a blood clot caused from heart problems, and not a broken leg.. They will do xrays if he gets out of respiratory distress. If he passes away in the night, they will call us.
I couldn't believe it. He was fine before, and I expected him to come home by the next day with a cast on his leg, and now he might not come home at all! This couldn't be happening to my Ziggy! And how awful that he must have been so scared there without us not knowing what was going on!
June 19, 2003
When I didn't receive a phonecall by the time I woke up, I was hoping that meant that Ziggy must still be alive. Whew! I was so happy! I need to make sure, so I called there and yes he made it through the night but is in critical condition and on oxygen.
... will add the rest of the story at some later date. (Ziggy finally came home almost a week later)
For now, let's just say Ziggy is my miracle kitty! He is a very happy kitty who is doing great at home for many weeks now although they had predicted otherwise for him (see link on July 3rd follow-up visit)
We know Ziggy won't live forever, but what a blessing that he made it home again and has improved considerably to enjoy more wonderful Ziggy days!!!
Thank you to everyone who kept my Ziggy in their thoughts and prayers!