March 5, 2009

Nova Update


FYI: Long post ahead.

So Nova started to do better. She was still drinking water, peeing, and we got her to eat a small amount of canned food through a syringe. We figured that once she ate, she would feel better. Yesterday morning after I woke up I went to check on her. She seemed the same as the night before. I got her out and took her downstairs to her litter box. Nothing. I set her down in front of the food and water. She stood for a moment, and then threw up a whole lot of green stuff. From my many many many experiences of vomiting after lots of morning sickness, I know that you don't throw up green unless there is nothing left in your stomach or something is wrong. I took her upstairs and decided to call a vet that a neighbor had once recommended to us. The vet that had performed her spay was a 20 minute drive away, and at this point I didn't trust them considering her condition.

This new vet wanted me to bring her in right away, of course. At this point, Nova was breathing really hard and wasn't standing up. I got the kids and myself ready as fast as I could, loaded everyone in the car, and drove to the vet. I got her in and after filling out papers we went back to a room and the vet came in. She took one look at her and knew she was in bad shape. We agreed to move forward with anything that would help her, and they took her back to get a chest x-ray and get an IV in her.

I waited with the girls in the little room. We read a few books and I tried to keep them from stealing gauze pads.


After 20 minutes or so, the vet came back in. She said that they managed to get an IV and fluids in her, and take an x-ray, but not before having to do CPR and give her some type of injection to bring her back to life. The x-ray did not show fluid in her lungs, which was good news, but she was hyperventilating, and they still had no idea what was wrong.

The vet told me I could leave if I needed to and call to check in later. I agreed, since I had Summer and Camryn with me, and I needed to go to the store and feed them lunch. We left, and went by Wal-Mart. I had a diaper cake I needed to finish and needed to get a few items. We got those, came home and ate, and the girls took a nap while I put the diaper cake together.

Joe got home around 5, and I was about to start dinner. I called the vet office to check on Nova, and the vet asst. said that Nova was still hanging in there and on fluids, but that the doctor wanted us to come there at 5:30 so that she could talk to us. Joe took a quick shower and I got the girls ready again and we left. The whole drive there, I was assuming the worst. I just knew we were going to get there and she would tell us that it would be best to put her down.

When we got there, they took us back to the little room again. The vet came in, and said that Nova was still in there on fluids, but in a very critical condition. She was still breathing heavily, and her incision from the spaying appeared pretty infected. She explained a bit to Joe about what had gone on that morning, and said that the next step would be to have an ultrasound done to see if they could figure out what was wrong, and then proceed accordingly. She told us the cost involved, and asked us how aggressively we wanted to have her treated. We talked for a minute and decided to move forward. We could not bear the thought of letting her die just because we didn't want to pay a few hundred dollars. This is a part of having pets, and it's important to take responsibility for them. Nova is part of our family.


The ultrasound was to be done the following morning (this morning). She said that a specialist would be performing it so she would call me and let me know what time he'd be there. She took us back to see her before we left. Nova looked so pitiful. She barely moved. The vet rolled her over and showed me her incision. She pressed on it and puss came out. It was pretty disgusting and obviously infected.

We left, expecting to hear from the vet in the morning to let us know when they would be doing the ultrasound. When we got home, we ate dinner and I was helping the girls clean up their play room while Joe did the dishes. Joe got a phone call from the vet office. He was on the phone with them for 5 minutes or so. When he got off, he said that the vet asst. called to tell us that after we left, they took a couple of Nova's stitches out so that they could try to figure out why her incision was infected. The vet looked inside the incision, and saw that all of her organs were out of the protective "pouch" that insides are normally inside. They were calling to ask our permission to go ahead and put her under so they could open her up and try to repair whatever was going on. He said to go ahead.

Around 8:30pm, we got another call. The vet said that the surgery was over, and Nova was stable. They had found that her entire body was covered in infection, from her insides being outside of the protective layer. All of her organs were fine, with exception to her small intestine, which she had to cut a section out of because it was basically dead. They had her on some heavy antibiotics and more fluids, and had gotten some other nutrients in her. She said that Nova was still in a very critical condition and it could go either way. She said that someone would call us in the morning to let us know how she was.

This morning around 9am, my phone rang. Again, I was expecting the worst. I answered, and the vet assistant said, "I'm calling to let you know that Nova is doing really good this morning!" She then went on to say that she seemed to have a lot of energy and they thought she was probably going to eat her breakfast. She told me to call back around 4 to see if we could pick her up, or if they want to keep her for one more day.

So, that is where we are at now. I am amazed that she is still with us. I can guarantee that if I hadn't taken her to the vet when I did, she would have died yesterday. I am SO thankful to this vet. She is the best vet I have ever met, and her staff is wonderful. I think she'll be our vet from now on.

I'll try to post again later. We're waiting on a phone call from our mortgage broker. We were supposed to close on the house today. Not happening, of course. Hopefully today has more good news in store, at least.

18 comments:

The Mama said...

so glad your kitty is with you still, how scary.

I was just thinking of you since you are supposed to close on your house. Isn't stressful purchasing a new home. aaaahh!

Wishing you the best!

lmt1073 said...

Oh sweetie, I sure hope she makes it through. I started crying as I was reading this because I know how pets just arent' merely pets, they are our family. heck, why do u think I have so many of them... lol.. and i'm getting a new puppy this weekend... someone stop me!!!

JBGRIGS said...

I hope Nova recovers quickly (((hugs)))

- said...

Good idea with going to a new vet. Sounds to me that the doctor that Spayed her Fucked her up royally!

Thats messed up! I'm glad that she is doing well today!

Unknown said...

oh man how horrible. How are the girls handling it all? I would try and get the vet that did her spaying to pay. If you can prove it was their fault. Im glad she is doing so well. I cant imagine what i would do if something happened to my puppies. Good luck!

Mamaof3 said...

I am keeping Nova in my prayers!! I have three dogs and 1 cat...I know this pain all to well. Like you said though...they are our children as well!! Get well soon Nova!!

Bridgett said...

Poor Nova. So much to go through in a short time. Thank God she has such dedicated 'parents.' :)

This is all great news! Keep us updated on your little kitty.

And I'm keeping my fingers crossed about the house.

XOXO

Susie said...

I'm glad to see that Nova is doing better. Hope everyting goes well with your house closing.

Alicia said...

Poor Nova, I hope she has a speedy recovery!

Also hoping everything goes ok with the house!

EmilytheCreative said...

Poor baby kitty. Shame on the old ver for doing such a crappy job with her last surgery. Yay for the new good vet. I hope Nova makes a speedy recovery.

Crystal said...

I hope she recovers quickly!, if the spay surgery was botched (which is sounds like it was since she was totally fine before surgery) I would so be sueing, not only for payment of the new vet bill (and the spay bill) but for pain and suffering as well. I think most small claims courts cap is 4,000.. and its really not that difficult to do its fairly cheap to file a claim and you do not need to hire a lawyer unless you want to go to larger claims then 4,000 and I am sure this new vet would write an affadavit for you or maybe even appear with you.

Leslie said...

Oh my gosh hunny, *hugs* That just broke my heart. Poor cat. You all
are a wonderful family and she is lucky to have u all as owners. You all stepped up to the plate and did what you had to do and want to cause u all love her. Im just so glad she is going to be ok. What a awful ordeal. I cant imagine what poor Nova went thru u all went thru worried and scared for her. Thank god though she is ok. The new vets u all took her to sound way better. My gosh the jerk vets who spayed her really messed her up it sounds. Thats just awful. But i do believe u all found ur new vet for sure. Agian so glad he is ok. I hope u all get more good news soon too with the house and all. Hang in there girl, ttys xo, Leslie

Natalie said...

Glad to hear Nova's doing better, what a sad thing and with so much already going on. I hope you get to close on your house. I do agree with a previous post. I think I'd be seeking some compensation for the vet bills. Somethings not right animals don't get that infected from a spay. I'd totally look into it.
Keep getting better Nova !!

carolinagirl said...

OMG - I know you guys were completely stressed out!!! And probably still are. I hope Nova continues to improve and gets to come home soon!

Missie said...

First, bless you for not putting her down right away! I'm sure the medical bill is going to be expensive, but our pets are so worth it.

Nova looks just like my Mona!!

I will keep her in my prayers that she keeps improving.

Jessie said...

Poor kitty! I kept reading the post and thinking that she wasn't going to make it, so I am very glad to know she is taking a turn for the better. I totally agree about pets being part of the family. We had emergency surgery on one of ours a few years ago because he ate a bunch of my ponytail holders!

PS-I am amazed that your took both girls and the cat to the vet at the same time. That might be worthy of a special mommy award!

Tiffany said...

OMG How horrible what happened to her! I would try to sue that other vet that spayed her, they obviously didn't do something right! Is your other cat healing ok? Did the new vet have any explaination as to why her insides would have been out of that protective sack thing? That is so odd! Someone must not have known what the hell they were doing, and how cruel to just leave her that way, when they probably knew damn well that she'd probably get sick or infected from it! Grrrr that makes me upset! Now I fear getting my dog fixed later this month, like we were planning. :( It's hard to trust people now-a-days! Hope she recovers well!

Julie said...

Wow...I can't believe that about the cat. I'm SO glad she's doing well now. How scary.

Sorry to hear about the issue with Joe's credit. I used to work at a bank & learned quickly never to name your kids jr, III, or anything. It causes such problems.

Love the pics of the pedicures & block tower. Hope things improve!

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