Arnie Blarney

Poor Arnie. For the past 3 weeks he has been peeing on the couch...and then yesterday he pee'd somewhere else, so we thought we better take him to the vet to make sure he did not have a UTI. The vet first examined him, and we learned then that he had pee'd in his cage on the way to the vet! I KNEW something was wrong...also he did not cry in the car, and he ALWAYS does...I just knew that he was sick.

The vet examined him and found #1 a tooth abscess (that we will not worry about till we figure out why he is sick) #2 his hear rate was 300bpm! Normal cat HR is about 180...so its extremely fast. Some sort of arrhythmia? Hyperthyroidism? UTI? These are the three things it might be, and we needed to do a blood test and urine test to find out. We could treat the thyroid very easily with diet modification and we could treat the UTI with ABX, so I thought we better just do the tests. IF the tests show nothing, then it is most likely a heart disease of some sort (Arrhythmia or Cardiomyopathy). If it is cardiomyopathy then there is nothing we can do...and I am pretty sure if he is in some sort of SVT (Arrhythmia) then there is nothing we can do, as we are not going to "shock" his heart every time he flips in to the rhythm. The vet knows that we want him as comfortable as possible, and we will treat any issue that CAN be treated VERY easily...but that is all the testing we are doing. Not only is it VERY expensive, but more importantly, Arnie's quality of life is priority. 

We got home, and Arnie slept in the garage all night. We can't trust him in the house, and I feel horrible!!! But Derek made him a little sleeping area with blankets, so I guess its the best we can do for now. 

Derek and Gavin have been fixing the sliding door in the kitchen all day so that we can get it working...that way we can let Arnie in the house (Kitchen/family room area) during the day...that way he does not make a mess in the bedrooms...under the beds is his favorite place. 

I brought Arnie in today to lay with me on the couch and he just slept. His paws are disgustingly dirty from his litter box, something that Arnie NEVER lets happen, and I think its a sign that he just feels to bad to even clean himself. He smells like pee, but we don't think it is a good idea to stress out his already overworked heart by giving him a bath...we will wait a few days for the lab results...

In the mean time, Gavin has been so sweet to him. Touches his head, pets him really softly and says "Its OK Arnie, Arnie no feel good!" He really knows Arnie is sick, and you can sure tell. 

UPDATE: Poor Arnie has been diagnosed with diabetes AND cardiomyopathy. Poor guy. We started him on a whole new diabetic diet of canned food...and we hope that helps the excessive thirst and urination...we will see. So far he LOVES the food, and wants it all day long. He misses his dry food we think! We will see how this does for now...good thoughts for Arnie!