Louie, Louie

Saddle Thrombus, Feline aortic thromboembolism, or what I would just describe as a blood clot is not something you want your cat to have. Ours does.

A while back the vet mentioned that Louie had a heart murmur. She told Melissa that meant he could go at any moment. We were obviously shocked but as we were told there was nothing we could do about it, we did what any normal people would do, we promptly put it out of our minds. Turns out heart problems like this tend to cause blood clots to form, which lodge in the rear arteries, which causes sudden paralysis in the back legs. Most cats do not survive this. Ours has, so far.

Saturday morning began with our normal routine. Louie woke us up and we let him out. Actually us and we in that last sentence only refer to Melissa. A little while later, Louie wanted back inside, as is his way. Melissa let him in and sat back down on the couch. Everything seemed fine. Then as Louie crossed the living room it was as if his back legs gave out on him. He dragged himself under the bed, then dragged himself up the stairs before we could figure out what was going on. We promptly made a vet appointment and drove over there. Not the best Saturday morning.

The prognosis was not good. We were given three options, take him home and hope for the best, bring him to the emergency vet clinic where they could observe him, and we'll let's not mention the third option. The vet gave him something for the pain and we decided to take him home. Our basic thinking was if we got him home and he seemed uncomfortable or in pain, we could always bring him to the emergency clinic. If however, he was comfortable, and appeared not to be in pain, we wanted whatever was going to happen to happen in surroundings he knew and to give us the chance to be there.

He spent most of Saturday curled up on the couch. Awake but kinda out of it. We left the house only briefly, partly to stop us from hovering over him, and partly to do something other than cry. He eventually made his way to our bed and he slept there with us that night. I figured we would be lucky if he survived the night.

Since that night he seems to be doing much better. He is as aware as he has ever been and judging by his whining to go outside, he certainly thinks he is OK. He's eating and drinking and using the liter box so everything is good there. He has what appears to be full control over his back right leg. His left however is not doing so well. We've talked to the vet a few times since and will be going back in a day or two to check up. It's all about that left leg and of course the fact that something like this is likely to happen again. I'm hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. It's all I know to do.