The last you heard from me was Rusty had just come out of the closet in the bedroom and was laying on the couch. He decided it was great place to hang out and chill for the rest of the night. He stayed there overnight too and is still there.
My daily prayer:
Dear God,
I know you are a bit busy right now. With the help of all of your angels and saints, both in heaven and on this earth, please help my little boy be as healthy and happy as he can be. While I would love for that be here with us, if the only way is to move on, let him go peacefully and quickly. Help us understand what is going on and give us the strength to pull through whatever the outcome is. Our lives and his life is in your hands. If his life is supposed to continue here with us, give him the strength to fight. If his life is supposed to move on, give him permission to let go knowing he loved.
The answers that come are not always what I expect but are needed.
In desperation to find new ways of pilling Rusty, I was watching video after video and came across Transdermal Gel. Never heard of it before! A bit more research showed the Lasix can be compounded into that form. I called the vet’s office to ask about that as well as Rusty’s general state. His vet (The Saint Doctor Scott Withman) is off until Wednesday but they had the ER doctors call me back.
- Call 1: Doctor #1 says they can get the transdermal but not sure if it will do anything for Rusty as it seems like he is near the end. I can bring him in if I want them to try anything but it doesn’t sound good. He did explain the current practices (based on the Covoid-19) for putting him down.
- This brought me a little comfort, knowing Nick and I could be in the room with Rusty if we had to do this but the conversation brought me to tears for the 100th time this weekend.
- I did tell the Doctor that if Rusty is really at the end, as long as he is not struggling, I will let him go here and then call them about what do next.
- Rusty’s answer to this whole conversation, Mommy feed me treats by hand! Just a few, but I will eat them if you hold them!
- Call 2: A different doctor, the one that actually worked on Rusty when he was brought into the ER called about an hour later. She wasn’t sure if we had been contacted yet. We told her we had been, what the conversation was etc. She asked us to explain what was going on with Rusty and told us not to worry about the medication right now. She is not convinced he was ready to give up
- Try to get him to eat and drink something. If he is going to fight, he will need some nutrition for strength. Don’t worry about slipping pills in or trying to put them down his throat. If he can start eating, we can have cautious hope and worry about the meds then.
- If he doesn’t eat or drink and is really ready, she is OK with the plan to just keep him here comfortable.
- She will have the office start the prescription for the transdermal so we will be ready just in case he pulls through.
- Rusty’s answer to this call: Mommy feed me 3 more treats by hand please.
Nick and I decided we did all we could for the day and to be the pawrents we could, we needed to sleep. Nick slept on the other couch in the living room so Rusty would see him when he wakes up and so Nick could check on him and his breathing. I slept in the bedroom. We have his spot set up in there on the bed if he chooses to come in there. That’s also the room with the closet that he hangs out in so either way he will know that I exist and if anything happens while he is there, hopefully I would know. Before we went to sleep, I tried to give him some wet food and he ate some, not a lot, but he didn’t back away from it!
We set up a leaving serving tray with water, wet food, and treats and went to sleep. We slept through the night, all of us.
Rusty is still going. He is breathing OK (not perfect as it there are issues with his lungs). He ate more food this morning. He drank water. And still hanging out on the couch.
Still no litter box but no accidents either. Eventually his body will catch up, or let go.
Well, I have to get to work. Luckily we are both working from home so we can keep an eye on him. I will try to keep our tripawd family updated. We are literally on death/recovery watch. It can go either way.
Head scritches and Sandpaper Kisses,
Rusty’s Obedient Hoomin Servants for as long as we can be,
Gina and Nick
with that being said, he did tell us to make sure Rusty didn’t start panting and having labored breathing. Not to be too concerned about the belly breathing as long as the breathing rate is down.
