I spoke of this in another thread, but am transferring it here as I guess this is where I'll put any updates:
It may be the end of the road for Eddie. The last of our three cats has been losing weight for the last few months, looks weak and acts listless. I took him to the vet two weeks ago and was told he had (as I suspected) something wrong with his teeth - gum disease, in fact. Not a problem, right?
Well.
Eddie has, as you may or may not know, cardiomyopathy, or something, basically an enlarged heart. This causes problems with his breathing. I've seen him struggle in what I think in a human might be called a panic attack or hyperventilation; I pet him and make a fuss of him and he calms down. It's like he has something in his throat he needs to get up - like when he used to choke up furballs when younger - but there's nothing there.
The upshot of this is that Eddie would not be a great candidate for an anaesthetic; the chances of him coming back are pretty low. So the vet decided/advised he should be left as he was, that the pain could be managed with painkillers, anti-inflammatories and so on.
Here's the thing though. In order to get those into his system Eddie has to eat his food, and, well Eddie is not eating his food. I'm watching weight fall off him, watching him stare at his food rather uncomprehendingly, obviously hungry but unable to satisfy that hunger due to, presumably, the pain of his teeth.
So now Karen and I have to make a decision: demand the operation be performed, knowing that in all likelihood we're sentencing him to death, but holding on to the very slim chance he might pull through, or let him continue as he is, basically watch him starve to death.
I ****ing hate this year already.
