I am going to use this post to record all my posts and updates from Facebook. And if you are reading this, please send all your fiercest good wishes to my baby boy. Thanks.
Thursday 20 March 2014
My beautiful sweet Louis got clipped or rolled or something by a car last night and is at the vet's with a broken pelvis. It's been a very upsetting 12 hours and I don't yet know how bad the damage is. The good news is he doesn't seem to have any internal injuries or damage to the spine, but he does seem to have some nerve damage to his hind left leg, on the side where the break is. Regardless, a broken pelvis is a Very Bad Thing with a long recovery period.
The vet will take more xrays this afternoon, under anaesthetic, and we will know more then. I am very very lucky and very grateful that some kind people saw him trying to get off the road and stopped their car and took him into the nearest house, and that those people looked after him and rang me immediately and then the woman even came with me to the emergency vet so she could keep hold of the box they'd put him in and make sure he didn't try to escape (which he did when we put the box in the car).
I know you all know how much I love my Louis L'Amour and how upset I am, and I know many of you feel like you know him from all my Facebook postings. He's the sweetest of all possible sweet cats, and it's going to be a long recovery. So whatever personal rituals you do around well wishings for the sick and injured, they would be very welcome.
(And please do not make any observations about cats being allowed outside. I know all the arguments and I also know my Louis and how miserable he would be shut indoors. This is the risk, I know, and I have always known something like this might happen. It doesn't make it any less devastating and if you feel in the mood to provide a lecture, please go and make it to a tree in your garden. Thanks.)
Later that night:
Louis update.First of all, thank you all so much for the kind wishes, encouraging stories and unqualified love sent Louis' and my way. It has made a huge difference to know so many people care about me and my little boy cat.
I visited Louis this afternoon after he'd been put under anaesthetic so they could take more x-rays without hurting him. The news about his pelvis is bad: he has 3, possibly 4 fractures, by which I mean three sections broken clean through. The 4th is a possible chip of the fractured bone. It is, as the vet said, a mess, and to my untrained eye, it also looks as if his pelvis is out of alignment.
Miraculously, though, there are no other fractures or internal injuries.
He was very pleased to see me and Jennie, who came with me to visit him, and was demanding of many head and chin rubs.
The options for treatment are:
1. Surgery. Expensive, invasive, with yet more anaesthetic, added tissue trauma and a higher risk of infection—and no greater guarantee of recovery.
2. Conservative management, which means 6-8 weeks confined in a crate, and allowing the bones to repair/knit themselves. There is no way of knowing what nerve damage there will be and if he will be able to walk at the end of the 6 weeks.
The vet said that they could make a lot of money out of me by recommending surgery, and I'd get a perfect x-ray out of it, but the whole team there agreed that the second option is the best option.
So it looks like I will be bringing him home, and keeping him confined in a crate (which I will have to buy) and give him high level hand nursing, possibly including toileting, for the next two months. And hoping and hoping that he recovers mobility and will be with me for a lot longer yet.
Oh, and I think I figured out what happened. I stopped off to take flowers to the woman, Sheree, who helped him last night, called me and came with me to the vet. I could see bird feathers along the nature strip where it happened, and Sheree said they get a lot of birds killed on the road, and people kick them to the kerb near her bins. Apparently there was a dead rainbow lorikeet on the road yesterday—and their house is right at the point where Macquarie Street goes from 1 lane to 2. I suspect he was sniffing at a dead bird on the verge, and a car veered around a parked car into the start of the left lane, not seeing him there, and clipped him.
It's absolutely no-one's fault, except maybe Louis's for roaming so far from home. I remain deeply upset and worried about how well he will recover, but have my jaw set to look after him as well as possible when he comes home.
Friday 21 March 2014
Louis update:
Not good news, alas. Just spoke to the vet. They did neurological testing this morning and his left leg is not very responsive. They are worried there is spinal damage not shown by the x-ray. He says his right leg has good pain response, but he's worried his left leg may be paralysed. They've also had to put a catheter in as he isn't weeing, and they don't know if that's because of pain/discomfort or if it's because of neurological damage. He hasn't attempted to stand up at all, and the vet said he's more worried about him today than he was yesterday. If he's paralysed, and he can't wee, we're in real trouble.
On the bright side, he's 'bright'. I'm not.
Not good news, alas. Just spoke to the vet. They did neurological testing this morning and his left leg is not very responsive. They are worried there is spinal damage not shown by the x-ray. He says his right leg has good pain response, but he's worried his left leg may be paralysed. They've also had to put a catheter in as he isn't weeing, and they don't know if that's because of pain/discomfort or if it's because of neurological damage. He hasn't attempted to stand up at all, and the vet said he's more worried about him today than he was yesterday. If he's paralysed, and he can't wee, we're in real trouble.
On the bright side, he's 'bright'. I'm not.
Later that day:
Visiting Louis: update
Just back home from visiting Louis. When I got there, he was asleep, tucked inside the same kind of green dome collar Cooper wore back home after his burn. The collar is because of the catheter; they have to keep him from worrying at it.
It took him a few groggy seconds to realise it was me stroking his head, and he was very, very pleased to see me. He turned himself around—his front legs are as strong as ever—and pushed his face into my chest, while I stroked his back and rubbed around his head. He even managed to get his front paws inside the collar—he was seriously up for a cuddle. And he purred, and while I know cats can purr when distressed and in pain, I am pretty sure in this instance he was purring with pleasure to have me there.
I stayed with him for about an hour. The staff at Vineyard Vet are lovely about letting you visit, and they don't mind a bit of you have a big old cry, which of course, I did.
Keiran, the nice young Irish vet who has cared for Louis since I took him in on Wednesday night, said to me tonight that it's basically a waiting game—he needs time to recover and we'll see when the inflammation goes down how he improves. And I know there's an 'if' in there as well. But he's strong and healthy and I have to hang on to that and to the knowledge that he is getting the best care he possibly can.
He hasn't eaten much; I took in some cans of fancy chicken last night, but it was total chaos and I am not sure the woman I gave them to really registered who they were for (although I did write on them!). Anyway, they couldn't find them tonight, so I stopped off at Aldi on the way home and got him a bag full of their chicken, which he adores. He wouldn't eat anything we gave him tonight, although I could tell he was hungry. Kieran even heated up some BBQ chicken and he turned his nose up. I'll take the food in first thing tomorrow.
My poor, poor darling. He was so happy to see me, and I felt awful leaving him. He was trying to get out of the cage to get to me, so in the end I had to leave so that Keiran could put him back in properly and safely—I'm really frightened of hurting him.
It hasn't even been 48 hours yet, and there's a long road ahead. I have to remember that, and hope and trust that all will be well. He is so very precious to me, and who will cuddle me in bed at night if Louis is gone?
Thanks again for all your love and support. It means the world to me.
Just back home from visiting Louis. When I got there, he was asleep, tucked inside the same kind of green dome collar Cooper wore back home after his burn. The collar is because of the catheter; they have to keep him from worrying at it.
It took him a few groggy seconds to realise it was me stroking his head, and he was very, very pleased to see me. He turned himself around—his front legs are as strong as ever—and pushed his face into my chest, while I stroked his back and rubbed around his head. He even managed to get his front paws inside the collar—he was seriously up for a cuddle. And he purred, and while I know cats can purr when distressed and in pain, I am pretty sure in this instance he was purring with pleasure to have me there.
I stayed with him for about an hour. The staff at Vineyard Vet are lovely about letting you visit, and they don't mind a bit of you have a big old cry, which of course, I did.
Keiran, the nice young Irish vet who has cared for Louis since I took him in on Wednesday night, said to me tonight that it's basically a waiting game—he needs time to recover and we'll see when the inflammation goes down how he improves. And I know there's an 'if' in there as well. But he's strong and healthy and I have to hang on to that and to the knowledge that he is getting the best care he possibly can.
He hasn't eaten much; I took in some cans of fancy chicken last night, but it was total chaos and I am not sure the woman I gave them to really registered who they were for (although I did write on them!). Anyway, they couldn't find them tonight, so I stopped off at Aldi on the way home and got him a bag full of their chicken, which he adores. He wouldn't eat anything we gave him tonight, although I could tell he was hungry. Kieran even heated up some BBQ chicken and he turned his nose up. I'll take the food in first thing tomorrow.
My poor, poor darling. He was so happy to see me, and I felt awful leaving him. He was trying to get out of the cage to get to me, so in the end I had to leave so that Keiran could put him back in properly and safely—I'm really frightened of hurting him.
It hasn't even been 48 hours yet, and there's a long road ahead. I have to remember that, and hope and trust that all will be well. He is so very precious to me, and who will cuddle me in bed at night if Louis is gone?
Thanks again for all your love and support. It means the world to me.
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