a sad time

Postings this week might be a bit spotty because of a recent loss in our family. Our youngest of two cats, Gizmo, was stricken late Sunday Monday night by a catastrophic blood clot which within the space of about 10 seconds caused him to lose the use of his hind legs.

We rushed him to the 24 hr emergency vet hospital, where we were told that there were no treatment options that held out any real hope of giving him any quality of life. He had had a heart defect, a thickening of the heart wall, which causes one or more of its chambers to not fully expel all the blood during pumping. As a result, clots form and eventually leave the heart via the aortic artery. The most common place where the clots hang up and cause a blockage is at the point where the aorta splits to become the two major arteries which feed the hind legs.

[We later found out that he had most likely had the condition Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, which led to a Aortic Thromboembolism (a blood clot) – you can find an excellent description here.]

As a result, Gizmo quickly lost all muscular control of his hind legs as a result of having no circulation in them. We were told by the vet that they couldn’t detect either any blood pressure in his hind legs or a pulse. He was, though sedated and on a dosage of painkillers, in pretty major pain, and was very distressed by the loss of function in his hind legs. My wife and I had a very tearful time with Gizmo and tried to decide between ourselves what we should do.

The major concern was that Gizmo not suffer needlessly or have poor quality of life just because we were selfish and didn’t want to see him go. After about an hour of soul-searching, crying, and agonizing, we decided that we owed it to him to euthanize him before he suffered any more. The process was quick – it took less than 20 seconds for both injections – first a sedative to put him to sleep, then the dosage of another drug which would stop his heart. It was a heart-breaking way to end what had been just another normal evening with both of our cats seemingly perfectly normal and healthy in every way.

I have to take time to say how great the staff and doctors at Dove Lewis Emergency Animal Hospital (West side: NW 20th & Pettygrove/East side: 10564 SE Washington Street – in Plaza 205) were to us. They were so compassionate towards us and Gizmo, and they clearly had his welfare foremost in their minds throughout the ordeal. In particular, the ER vet, Dr. Jen Magilton, was incredible. She was clearly affected by what had befallen our beloved cat, and really made what is a horrible process as bearable as is possible under the circumstances. My wife and I have decided to try to do a benefit concert for Dove Lewis in the spring to both honor the memory of our dear Gizmo and to thank them for their incredible compassion and professionalism during our visit.