Edouin
Member
It was a valiant fight, however Caesar's Chronic Renal Failure, Pancreatitus, Diabetes and that bloody little tooth infection that started this whole process, is over.
We sat up nights, I stayed home days for the past 10 days, feeding Caesar, monitoring his BG's, infusing him 4 to 6 times a day with 50ml of subQ fluids to combat his dehydration, held him in the proper position several times a day over the litter box and gently massaged his (now bald) belly to stimulate him to urinate.
Our Vet said that Caesar, my wife Christine and I went further to provide for his comfort and hopeful recovery than any other of her patients - something we will take to heart as we know that Caesar also put up a helluva fight too!
But his kidneys were too far gone. The diabetes did not help, to the point that no matter what dose, and which insulin we gave him, how much subQ IV we gave him, nothing was being absorbed any more.
During last night, he lay between us in bed, my hand gently resting on his chest, feeling him breathe - rise up and down - gentle and shallow. This morning, we knew he would not last another night. His BG at 0400 was "HI", something we have never seen at night, especially after a dose of Novalin R only a couple hours previously.
Caesar knew what was happening, and we did too. We made sure Caesar was able to come upstairs into the parlour, to look outside at the snow-covered patio and his beloved "Caesar's Palace", across to the ponds and stream that he would spend hours watching the sparrows, waxwings, Blue-Jays and the occasional huge Crow come in for a drink and a bath.
We did not put Caesar into a cage as we drove the 20 km to our vet's office. She could have come over to our house but it would have been possibly too late. We wanted Caesar to be comfortable and in no pain, not in convulsions, agony and panicked. That would have been cruel and unloving. Caesar never complained the whole trip, and seemed relaxed as he knew that he soon would no longer be in pain.
True Love is knowing when to let go, and how to let go. Caesar was alert, head swiveling around at the clinic, but the pain in his eyes were evident. The third eyelid was 30% closed at all times, and there has been no purring of any kind for almost a week. But he was dieing, slowly and exorbitantly. Our Vet gave him a slight sedation, but had difficulty finding any muscle to inject the sedative. We spend several minutes talking with Caesar, and he returned our love, and thanks for giving him relief.
We did not want him to suffer any more.
Caesar has fought Diabetes since 2003, given us a wonderful 6 extra years of love, attention and joy that otherwise would have been lost had it not been for you ladies of FDMB, on Sweet Talk and our wonderful, understanding Vet, who let us tell her about all of you wonderful ladies from around the world, who listened attentively, then went to California to take a course just on Feline Diabetes - because of us, and because of YOU!
Caesar has joined the likes of Rambo, Niki, Quirk and some other infamous cats that were regulars on this board, and whose Beans still frequent these fora's.
As we intend to do. One can never stop learning.
The last few days, we even experimented using small doses of Novalin R to help drop his extremely high numbers so his Lantus dose did not need to either be adjusted, changed or required to fight higher numbers by onset. It worked quite well, and we recommend that if at all possible, this combination of the two insulins - in critical care - be investigated further! In the long run, Caesar's Kidney's were too far gone for the insulin therapy to really affect a different outcome, but I feel that there is potential there for future Bean's to exploit.
So, after 17 years, from 5 a week-old rescue kitten to the king of our house, and the other 3 furballs that live with us, we can only say...
Hail Caesar!
We sat up nights, I stayed home days for the past 10 days, feeding Caesar, monitoring his BG's, infusing him 4 to 6 times a day with 50ml of subQ fluids to combat his dehydration, held him in the proper position several times a day over the litter box and gently massaged his (now bald) belly to stimulate him to urinate.
Our Vet said that Caesar, my wife Christine and I went further to provide for his comfort and hopeful recovery than any other of her patients - something we will take to heart as we know that Caesar also put up a helluva fight too!
But his kidneys were too far gone. The diabetes did not help, to the point that no matter what dose, and which insulin we gave him, how much subQ IV we gave him, nothing was being absorbed any more.
During last night, he lay between us in bed, my hand gently resting on his chest, feeling him breathe - rise up and down - gentle and shallow. This morning, we knew he would not last another night. His BG at 0400 was "HI", something we have never seen at night, especially after a dose of Novalin R only a couple hours previously.
Caesar knew what was happening, and we did too. We made sure Caesar was able to come upstairs into the parlour, to look outside at the snow-covered patio and his beloved "Caesar's Palace", across to the ponds and stream that he would spend hours watching the sparrows, waxwings, Blue-Jays and the occasional huge Crow come in for a drink and a bath.
We did not put Caesar into a cage as we drove the 20 km to our vet's office. She could have come over to our house but it would have been possibly too late. We wanted Caesar to be comfortable and in no pain, not in convulsions, agony and panicked. That would have been cruel and unloving. Caesar never complained the whole trip, and seemed relaxed as he knew that he soon would no longer be in pain.
True Love is knowing when to let go, and how to let go. Caesar was alert, head swiveling around at the clinic, but the pain in his eyes were evident. The third eyelid was 30% closed at all times, and there has been no purring of any kind for almost a week. But he was dieing, slowly and exorbitantly. Our Vet gave him a slight sedation, but had difficulty finding any muscle to inject the sedative. We spend several minutes talking with Caesar, and he returned our love, and thanks for giving him relief.
We did not want him to suffer any more.
Caesar has fought Diabetes since 2003, given us a wonderful 6 extra years of love, attention and joy that otherwise would have been lost had it not been for you ladies of FDMB, on Sweet Talk and our wonderful, understanding Vet, who let us tell her about all of you wonderful ladies from around the world, who listened attentively, then went to California to take a course just on Feline Diabetes - because of us, and because of YOU!
Caesar has joined the likes of Rambo, Niki, Quirk and some other infamous cats that were regulars on this board, and whose Beans still frequent these fora's.
As we intend to do. One can never stop learning.
The last few days, we even experimented using small doses of Novalin R to help drop his extremely high numbers so his Lantus dose did not need to either be adjusted, changed or required to fight higher numbers by onset. It worked quite well, and we recommend that if at all possible, this combination of the two insulins - in critical care - be investigated further! In the long run, Caesar's Kidney's were too far gone for the insulin therapy to really affect a different outcome, but I feel that there is potential there for future Bean's to exploit.
So, after 17 years, from 5 a week-old rescue kitten to the king of our house, and the other 3 furballs that live with us, we can only say...
Hail Caesar!
(((((((Edouin and DW))))))
