03/03/2026
Our sweet senior girl Static
The past week has been a roller coaster of emotions and tough decisions
Last Monday she seemed off. Then she started making hairball noises that escalated to a rattling cough and not wanting to eat. To the vet we went
The diagnosis: aspiration pneumonia and critically hyperglycemic (blood sugars WAY too high).
Why? I had made the choice in the fall to put her on a monthly pain injection for her hind limb arthritis rather than putting her through the trauma of daily oral meds. She hates her mouth being touched after living for years with untreated stomatitis before she came to us. I thought I was making the best choice for her. I wasn't. My choice led to this.
Trigger the guilt
Then came decision time. Do I take her to the emergency vet for round the clock monitoring or leave her with our amazing vet who will check on her once through the night and monitor between patients? What is the likelihood she will pull through as a very sick senior cat? Can we afford another couple thousand dollars after two back to back emergencies resulting in thousands of dollars in vet bills. Do we treat or is this goodbye?
More guilt
I swore I would never be the kind of rescue who makes decisions based on money
That afternoon she made the decision for me
She rallied
Her fever broke. Her breathing got easier. Her blood sugars dropped - they were still too high, but not scary high
So she stayed overnight with our vet and came home the next afternoon
Every day gets a bit better
In the past she fought me on any type of meds. She fought hard. Now she sits calmly and purrs while I give her insulin injections. I think she knows we need to work together to save her
She isn't out of the woods yet
But we can definitely see the clearing through the trees ❤️
