A week ago today, we were able to bring our baby boy cat Miles home after him being hospitalized for 4 days.  He was on the brink of death, all due to him having a condition we knew nothing about. We’re thankful we did not stay on vacation any longer than we did, because if we did, Miles wouldn’t have made it.

The Saturday after coming home from vacation in Washington DC, Nicole rushed Miles to the Noah’s Ark Animal Clinic in Ft. Wright after picking him up and noticing he lost a significant amount of weight.  Before she could say anything about his weight, when she brought him downstairs, Ryan commented “someone has lost weight.” 

After giving him some cuddles, when Miles was walking he appeared to be drunk.  For a long period of time, he sat in front of the water drinking non-stop.  We just knew something wasn’t right with the combination of the weight loss, drunk walking, and the excessive water drinking.

As we prepared to take him to the vet, Miles gave us no objections either vocally or when he was being put into the carrier.  This just was not normal for him.  He hates traveling and the cat carrier and he is very vocal about it.   

When Nicole arrived at the vet, it was a 2.5-3 hour wait.  Without any hesitation, she agreed to wait and thankfully she did.  During the wait, Miles began to get worse.  In the beginning, he was sitting up but by the time he was taken back, Miles just laid on his belly.

As the vet tech was checking out our baby cat, Miles still just laid there. When she made him stand, he could barely keep his balance. After checking his temperature and weight (which he was down about 5lbs to a 11.7lbs), the tech said she needed to take him back to a vet right away.   Of course, she could see Nicole was getting visibly upset, she said “no need to worry.”  But let’s be honest, how can you not worry!  This was one our kids, who was clearly very sick!

She came back and said the vet would be in right away. However, since his temperature was lower than normal, she wanted to wrap him up in a blanket and place heated bags of water next to him.    Once the tech left, it was very little time for the vet who came in to check him out.

While Nicole set there and watched the vet look over Miles, he was getting more lethargic by the minute.  The took him to the back to get blood and start fluids since he was severely dehydrated.   While he was getting his fluids, they decided to do a quick glucose test.

Miles was diabetic!  Which explained all his symptoms, the weight loss, dehydration, and being lethargic.  On average, a normal cat’s blood sugar is between 80-120.  Mile’s blood sugar was over 500!!!

As Miles was getting his fluids, the vet was discussing her treatment plan for him.  The goal was to get him well enough to take home by administering insulin and keeping on eye on him.  Only if he got worse, would he need to see an emergency vet. 

Well, after his he received all his fluids (nothing to treat the blood sugar at this point), Miles was only getting worse.  At this point, the vet wanted to transfer Miles to the nearest emergency ER for observation immediately.  She was not comfortable treating him any further as his condition was bad enough he would need to be monitored overnight (at the minimum). 

So, with that, Miles was wrapped up in his blanket with his heated water and placed into the passenger seat.  Want to know the worst thing… he just laid there.   He didn’t move or meow.   Miles was literally on his death bed.  There is no other way to explain it.

When Nicole arrived at the ER room for the emergency vet, they were taking directly to a room.  Once the tech glanced Miles over, he was immediately taken to the back and placed in heated incubator.  The vet came in and explained Miles would need to stay overnight.  She wanted to put him on an insulin drip and keep him on fluids for the dehydration overnight.   That means Nicole was leaving the vet hospital without our cat. 

Over the next 2 days, Miles remained in the vet hospital, hooked up to insulin and fluids.  Our home did not feel right and Pixie was missing her BFF.  (Pecko couldn’t care less…. She’s our loner kitty of the three). Sunday evening, we got a great phone call (or so we thought), Miles was being released Monday morning!  However, they wanted him to go back to his regular vet for a spot check. 

Monday morning, Nicole woke up early and picked up Miles (along with his IV fluids and insulin) to take him back to the vet.  When we arrived back at his regular vet, Miles was still very dehydrated and his blood sugar was high.  So, he was being admitted to the regular vet for anywhere from 1 to 3 days for observation.

Once again, Nicole left the vet sans Miles.   Once again, we were both heart broken.  Yes he looked a little better, but he was still very out of it.   This was not our baby boy.

Over the next 2 days, Miles stayed at the vet as the kept him on fluids and an insulin drip.  Then, one week ago from today, we both drove to vet to pick up our baby to bring home.  Even if he wasn’t totally himself, he got to come home!

Right now, we’re trying to get into a routine of having a cat with a chronic disease.  One that required insulin shots twice daily. Neither of us knew anything about feline diabetes and we’re still learning.  When Miles came home last week, he wasn’t very playful or himself.  However, each day Miles is getting back to his old self.  The major issue we have right now (besides getting use to giving him daily shots), is he’s gotten spoiled with non-crunchy cat food!

Almost losing our baby cat made us appreciate how much he adds to our family.  He’s our sweet boy who is all about routines (like following us to the bathroom in the morning or laying between the computer monitors and keyboard when Nicole is working).  We’ve heard “it’s just a cat” but to us, he’s more than a cat.  Miles was actually the first pet we’ve adopted together our first Christmas after moving into a place with each other! 

Here are a few photos from his vet visits…. Please note, they are very heartbreaking to look at and were taking on Nicole’s cell phone. If you do not want to see a sick and sad kitty, please do not continue to scroll.

At this point, we both just wanted to cry.

He didn’t change positions from the regular vet to the ER vet.

THAT FACE JUST BREAKS MY HEART! He was so pathetic looking as Nicole was transporting him from the ER vet to the regular vet.

Here are a few photos from his first day home last week! Miles wanted to lay around and cuddle.

Poor little guy has a shaved arm!

As we learn to a world adjusting to a “sick” cat, we’ll keep you posted!  Until then, cheers to our boy being more like himself these days!!!

Nicole & Ryan