We got the best news possible for both the boy’s Cardiologist appt. Saxton recheck and Purrkins evaluation. !!! The meds are helping Saxton (only two weeks). Close to a miracle! PHEW!! My Mom and Sally, Rene said no, this is a miracle, and yes, they are CORRECT. 💝💝💝 You will immediately see and wonder why the carriers differ for the boys; I’ll share in another post. The boys had the same carrier at one time One is waterproof/pee proof. One is not;)
Saxton’s Cardiologist Appt. recheck
I will paste the most important part of Saxton’s report below. The full report is here if you wish to read it. This is what we NEEDED to see. Thank the lord over and over!!! Our goal is to maintain a damaged heart for as long as possible. We help the electrical activity in his heart with meds, help the heart beat easier, try to prevent blood clots, and prevent fluid from building up around the heart. The meds are working! I put in bold/green what we are so thankful for!
Saxton’s Assessment:
Today’s echocardiogram exam was very positive overall. His cardiac rhythm has shown relatively dramatic improvement with the addition of sotalol and he has had near resolution of his pericardial effusion. Saxton’s kidney values are relatively unchangedas compared to when last checked with your primary veterinarian. Overall, I am very pleased with the findings and with how Saxton is doing at home. All cardiac medications should be continued at the current doses.
Recheck:
I recommend a recheck with our office in 3 months, however, please let me know if you have any concerns before that time.
Purrkins Cardiologist Appt.
Purrkins Report
I will attach the entire report here if you wish to read.
Assessment: Fortunately, today’s echocardiogram revealed no evidence of underlying structural heart disease. The only findings of note is that Purrkinsleft ventricular wall thicknesses are on the high end of the normal reference range. His cardiac chamber sizes, myocardial function, and blood flow patterns are otherwise normal. Given the findings, no cardiac medications are recommended.
Plan –A recheck echocardiogram is recommended in 12-18 monthsto monitor for progressive left ventricular wall thickening. Please let me know if you have any concerns before that time.
Results -meaning
So what does this all that mean for Purrkins? NO structural disease at this time. Purrkins heart murmur is higher grade than years before. BP is good, and one side of Purrkin’s heart is 5.9 in measurement. A hypertrophic cat measurement is over 6. We monitor once a year and see if Purrkins heart changes. The hope/prayer is it does not! Today it means we celebrate!
Hear me, be informed. You decide on cost and risk! We would be dealing with this entire situation better if we had early disease, not a late disease. Had we known Saxton had ANY risk, we would have run this test; had we been offered regardless, it would have been run. It was never bought up to us.
For us, this is where we are, and things look much better than two weeks ago, so we are counting our blessings thrice and celebrating the boy’s reports.
The boys home after the appt.
Our sign yesterday
And this was our sign for the boys. I LOVE this print! What do you guys see? Yes, a dog & cat and THREE hearts;)
Thank you all for the love, support, prayers, and positive thoughts for holding us up across the miles. We are so grateful!!!
We will continue to take each minute day a month at a time and continue to HOPE/PRAY and cherish every minute we are GIFTED💝💝💝.
Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift; that is why it is called the present 🎁. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Well, here we are, like it or not!Saxton’s cardiologist appt did not go as we had all HOPED. We received devasting news! Saxton’s heart is literally broken. He has an unclassified form of heart disease, meaning it does not fall under the usual three heart disease groups in cats. He has a little of each kind, and it is in ADVANCED stages! 💔
Cat’s Masters of disguise is Understated!
We are devastated, shocked, heartbroken, and again questioning How & WHY, and YES, ANGER too!
We thought we were cat smart hoomans, meaning we watch for anything and everything in our boys. Unfortunately, we ARE NOT cat-smart enough! The boys don’t miss wellness exams and go to the vets when there is an issue. We watch for the slightest of changes in them! I will never understand how this is so advanced, and we did not see ANYTHING until May when I took Saxton for his routine 6-month exam! Saxton had a few bouts of an upset belly. Nothing to suggest a heart issue. To say cats are masters of disguise is severely understated.
Dr. R was hopeful for Saxton to have an early disease because we had not heard this gallop until May. He had his dental in December and did excellently. I have no clue what to think anymore. We all need or want answers when things go wrong! The what, why’s & hows etc. Yes, we don’t always get those! It’s a way of coping or not, I guess.
Drug Cocktail
I want to share the cocktail we used to safely get Saxton to the cardiologist, 100 mg gabapentin the night before his appt, 200 mg gabapentin, and cerenia 3 hours before his app. Saxton was calm & yes, a bit whacked but alert too. He got to and from his appt safely with this mix.
The appt
The cardiologist came in and saw Saxton with clinical eyes, no exam yet, and said some cats could have gallops and it’s hereditary, and sometimes we treat some times we don’t! All that changed when he did Saxton’s echo.
The cardiologist could not believe what he saw clinically and then the echo. He was devastated and said Saxton is ONE TOUGH COOKIE!! It was only a matter of time before Saxton showed us some very scary symptoms. Saxton was sent home with four meds to help his heart function better. (there is no cure) no fixing this is a bandaid. We PRAY can HELP! Saxton now takes a total of 5 meds. I will put the report here if you wish to read it. Beware, it is a poor prognosis!
I hope to work on (no promise) videos of us medicating Saxton. In hopes, it will help another soul one day by giving four pills and one liquid med how we manage all this and making it a pawsitive experience for Saxton.
Live in the Now
We are enjoying every minute, day, month, year, who knows, with the boys and as if we needed another reminder of how fragile life is?!?! Yet, we got another one, and we are saying prognosis smognosis! What we get is up to one, and we will cherish every moment until that day. I’m holding onto Saxton is one tough cookie!
Hereditary
To make this nightmare worse, this can be hereditary, and we had to run a probnp for Purrkins! To say I was spiraling is understated. Thank god Purrkins came back good, but yes, he still needs to see the cardiologist to be evaluated and make sure! Purrkins and Saxton both go on the 9th at 11:00.
Never Enough
We can try to do everything in our power to ensure our furmily get the care they need, we feed the best diet we can afford, have an excellent vet team, and yes, it is not enough! The boys got crappy genes! We know we have done our best and will continue to do our best! We know with all of our beings that Saxton and Purrkins would have never celebrated their 12 th birthdays if we had not brought them home on Oct 10, 2009! Does that help us today? Sort of and sort of not? Never enough! Never enough time!
One thing we NEVER thought of when we got the boys was them aging and growing older together and things going wrong at once. Yes, it is not easy in any manner. Knowing all we do now, Mark and I would not change a thing. We would still bring these two beautiful souls home! They have blessed us every single day! They have taught us so much love, so many lessons, and will continue to do so.
As Mark has said, we will celebrate their lives now and in the future. They are here now. We will not be sad now and will do our best to stay in this moment. (easy NO WAY)
The day the lord calls these two borrowed angels home…we will NEVER EVER be the same. The pain will be unmeasurable, and so has the love we have all shared! 💝💝💝 These boys are the children we never had and loved as our children!
Cherish Every Day
As always, cherish every day with your furmily members, hooman family, and make the most of every day because the reality is we never know when any of our time is up.
Have no regrets, love with all your heart, and do your best!!!
The rest is out of our hands.
Thank you for understanding my delay in getting this typed out! Thank you for all the love and support! Please send more pawsitivity, good jujus, and prayers for BOTH the boy’s cardiologist appt. I also have an appt with Dr. Matt this Friday to get his input on Saxton’s report. I will update you when I am able.
Love, hugs, purrs, and sandpaper kisses from all of us!
I bought these kits after Super Stu earned his wing & Miss Petra was heartbroken when she found out they no longer do clays prints, and she received paper prints of Stu’s paws. I intended to get these done and put them away or display these WELL before they were NEEDED.
We hope you will all do the same they are a treasure and something we will all cherish furever.
In this kit, the clay is different and much more robust, it takes a little longer to dry, so when you are done, place it somewhere out of the way and do not move until it is set.
In this kit, the clay is friendly and easy to work, you get enough for two prints; plus little easels to dispaly the finished pieces. It dries well & it is a lighter-weight clay.
If the first go around is not to your liking, no worries! You can redo it. One tip I learned with the stencils is don’t press them in all the way, or you will have a little square impression with the letter. If you look below at the results in Saxton’s piece, you can see the impression of the stencil.
I used my regular size rolling pin rather than the one that is included (it is small and hard to roll smoothly)
Follow the instructions
Knead the clay. Don’t skip that part!
Our results
If for any reason you are not happy with either of the above kits contact the seller on Amazon. They are fantastic, and you will get a response.
Both are excellent. I had the boys walk on both sets of clay and did not press their little paws into the clay. They did not mind; it did not leave any clay on their paws. I was not too fond of the idea of pressing their little paws in the clay 😉 The dogs are a heavier weight, so I’m sure it would be easier for the pups.
We tried this kit too. This is not one of my preferences, the price was lovely, and it is nice as you do not get ink on their pads. It’s a paper keepsake.
You place the paw on the clear paper-covered ink pad above and place the paper included underneath and have your furmily step on it or place their paw and press down.
For the price, it is worth a shot, and for a dog, I think you would have better luck, but I prefer the two kits above; you can see the difference. The clay is furever. Paper can be framed, of course, but yes, I like furever.
Results
We wanted to share all this & thought everyone here might love to make a keepsake for their furmily member before it is needed. (we receive no kickbacks for anything shared on this blog)
I will update you on our Sexy Saxtons cardiologist appt. another day, but I think you all will understand by this post we did not get good news, far from it.
To add to the horror, We had to run a probnp (blood test of the heart) on Purrkin’s Friday and will have the results on Monday. So we likely will be taking both the boys to Saxton’s cardiologist recheck next. I will update you when I am up to it and can type it all out.💔
Forgive me if I’m mia and not up to answering questions or comments.
Love to you all, and please send us some more pawsitive thoughts and prayers; we can all use them.🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻⛽️⛽️⛽️🚂🚂🚂
All about our Sexy Saxton and our Unkown New Chapter
Saxtons health history
Saxton has significant PTSD from all his past vet experiences; he needed Msu countless times at 8 weeks of age for IBD. We managed the IBD well. Then constipation started, we managed not easily, mind you, the poor guy had so many er visits and so many enemas he is traumatized to leave the house. And I don’t blame him! We have successfully managed constipation for years with Miralax and a motility drug called Cisapride . Very few home enemas, and Saxton has had a great qol. No more er trips needed! (KNOCK ON WOOD)
Getting anxious cats to the vets
Saxton’s anxiety has worsened over the last few years, taking him for his 6-month wellness exams. Since we moved to the cat clinic, our vet has worked with us to help Saxton get to his appts with less stress. We have trialed many drugs to help him, Xanax (which did the opposite effect and wired him), Gabapentin 50 mg, again wired him and was a great appetite stimulate. We tried Sileo; (off-label for cats) it worked excellent at home. The actual test, the car ride, vet visit failed miserably.
Latest Wellness Exam
For the latest wellness exam, we tried Buprenorphine and Cerenia. On the way to the vet, Saxton was silent unheard of. I turned around to check on him, and he was okay. I thought, phew, we found his mix! Well, I turned around again 5 minutes away from the clinic to check on him again, and he was panting, wild-eyed, and clearly distressed! I could not get to the clinic fast enough. Thankfully they got us right in, and I showed Dr. R. and said what is going on here?!?! Pointing to his breathing and she said it was stress. I’m going to kill poor Saxton, ensuring he gets his wellness exams!
Our Exam and the UNEXPECTED
The exam went well until she listened to Saxton’s heart. I knew in her eyes something was not right. She said she heard a gallop and had never heard that before. She said it could be stress and med-related. I was sure she was correct because we had never seen Saxton like this.
HOME VISIT
Dr. R inquired how Saxton does at home when strangers come. I tell her he is usually nosey Joesy, our nickname for such times as Saxton’s middle name is Joe ( my gramps middle name ), and he watches them from his safe distance and observes. He does this with the neighbor as well;) Nothing, no one gets past Saxton in or around his home. I told her Purrkins would run and hide. The boys are the opposite in most ways and alike in few. She was inquiring about a HOME VISIT to rule out stress/meds and get an accurate read on his heart!. She is ONE OF A KIND, and we are truly blessed to have her!!
Saxton and Purrkins see the Vet at home.
The home visit happened, and Saxton did well. You could see in his eyes he knew who Dr. R was and was leary as if he said, ugh, what are YOU doing here? Sadly she heard the gallop once again. Mark and I are just sick!
She said this could be many things, such as high blood pressure, hyperthyroidism, or the heart itself. She had us schedule an appt with a cardiologist in case we need one since they are booking so far out; our appt was booked for Oct 10 th (the boy’s gotcha day). In the meantime, we need to rule the others causes out. She came back the following week with a tech (another gem) for a home visit to get a blood pressure reading & draw some blood. Dr. R was happy with Saxton’s blood pressure and heart rate but still heard the gallop. She did labs on both the boys.
Bad News
She called me the following day with shocking news Saxtons probnp (heart test) is eight times higher than it should be, meaning this is the heart, and that’s showing damage to his little heart!!! (heart disease) Now we know we need the cardiologist, and sooner! Dr. R got the soonest available appt for the 26th of this month as the cardiologist is on vacation. So far, Saxton is doing well and stable; We have one thing we monitor Saxtons resting respiratory rate, and thank the lord, it has been good. We started a supplement immediately with her permission, and we have a drug on hand (Lasix); if Saxton’s resting respiratory increases, we will regroup with Dr. R and start it. If it is needed, it will help Saxton divert a crisis. We HOPE/PRAY we don’t need it, and we keep checking off our days uneventfully and get Saxton to his cardiologist appt.
More Drug Trials
We are experimenting on what is best and safest to get Saxton to his appointment without a cardiac event. We did a 100 mg trial with Gabapentin Saxton was wobbly on it, starved, and a little too aware we think once his Adrenaline kicks in, yes, it won’t be enough. So we will trial 100 mg on Tuesday Night and 100 mg on Wed plusCerenia 3 hours before Dr r comes for another home visit.
Dr. R can better access Saxton that day and decide if we need more gabapentin to make the trip safely. She has used up to 300 mg for really anxious and aggressive cats. Saxton is not aggressive but anxious.
This situation is SO TOUGH as Saxton’s stress so bad & then yes, I stress, and it’s a terrible circle. I have no shield.
When we first got the horrible news, I thought, let’s treat this now! I did not want to stress Saxton taking him to a cardiologist, but yes, that’s not doable, I asked. We do not have enough information yet to treat.
Thankfully Saxton is doing well, and we are checking off each day without incidence, so I HOPE this continues!
Saxton has shown us symptoms two times, once on the way to his wellness exam and once when I was playing with him with his favorite wand toy. He coughed and got winded, and yes, thats the heart, So we cannot play for now and have to keep him as calm as possible.
The boys celebrated their 12th bday
On June 30th, we celebrated the boy’s bday! We are so blessed to get this far with all their health challenges. They are OUR daily GIFT!
There is not a day that goes by that I don’t thank the lord for these boys; they are our life, my heart & my soul.
Do your wellness exams
Please do not skip your wellness exams; yearly or every six months as they age for cats. Cats are masters of disguise, and none of us like having to take anxious furmily to the vet. We are a good example of going for a WELLNESS exam and finding a problem!
Hoping for early disease, treatable, and yes, time!
We can only hope/pray we have early disease as Dr. R has not heard the gallop until now. Saxton had his dental in December and did well.
I also encourage anyone scheduling a dental to have the probnp test added with labs for insurance and ensure the heart is good.
Thank Heavens for Insurance
Think about insurance for your furmily; we got Embrace AFTER Purrkins amputation knowing we had many exclusions, but yes, it has paid off for both the boys, and we are so thankful we have it. The cost of everything is sky high, and that is ONE less worry.
Our world revolves around these two boys.
Saxton does not get all the attention on a blog having four legs, make no mistake about it, both the boys are adored and treated the same. We have been BLESSED with 12 glorious years, have had our share of health challenges, and managed. We hope/pray for more qol years!
This forever-long post is to ask for some Pawsitivity, and good jujus, prayers for Saxton’s cardiologist appt. We can get him the help he needs and don’t kill him by taking him; I choke typing that yes, it’s a real threat and terrifying.
We wanted to get this post out before Purrkin’s 6 YEAR ampuversary, and yes, it’s the day after the cardiologist appt, and depending, I might be early or late posting.
I want to thank my support team, family, and friends! My very special peeps have pulled me out of the middle of the sea already. YOU KNOW who you are!!!🫂🫂🫂😘😘😘
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, AND THANK YOU!
YOU ARE LOVED, LOVED, LOVED BEYOND MEASURE!
Thanks, fur reading and sending Sexy Saxton some pawsitive thoughts!
Today we ask you to join us in celebrating Purrkins five-year ampuversary! 🙌🏻👏🏻🎉 Whoo-hoo! There are no words of gratitude to express how thankful we are to have Purrkins hopping on five years later. Let alone thru this last year. 🎁 Purrkins is, in every word, a survivor, superhero, admired, adored. The list goes on. Every day is a celebration!
You would NEVER know today Purrkins has been on three legs for 1,826.2125 days and counting. We don’t look at Purrkins differently; I can hardly recall him being on four after five years.
Some of Purrkins secrets are
Loads of love and spoiling (obviously)
Purrkins Palace
We call the house Purrkins Palace because it is all set up for Purrkins to go about his life as he did on four on three. Saxton enjoys all the benefits as he ages too. Win-win
Steps– to favorite perches or anywhere Purrkins leaps up and down to protect that remaining front leg. Purrkins took right to them five years ago. He uses them daily. Our favorite steps & here (they only show what is available at the time it appears) Our second favorite steps reach our bed.
We added the ramp because Purrkins stands on his back two legs to poop. Being a tripawd, he only has one front leg to balance on the lip (very little lip) of the litter box. The ramp provides a more prominent perch for that front leg to balance on. Purrkins uses the ramp afterward to get out w/o hopping over & out the side of the box.
Excellent vet team/ Find a cat-friendly practice here
Never Give up Hope 🎗
We wish anyone starting this journey the absolute best it is a horrible decision to take our beloved furmily’s limb! Hold onto HOPE! We never know how much time we will be gifted, so make the most of every single day! Never look back & never ever giving up HOPE!
Thank you!
Thank you Tripawds & members, for all the love and support thru all these years. We appreciate & love every one of you.💞
Please give the furmily a special treat & smooch from us, and hoomans reading 🤓; please have a scoop of ice cream, cake, chocolate, or your favorite beverage on us🥂!
MUCH GRATITUDE & LOADS OF LOVE from all of us at Purrkins Palace!
Hey Everypawdy, I sincerely apologize for this overdue update. It has been a brutal 6-7 months. I’m going to give a summary with the best part first! Purrkins is finally feeling better! He told me I better update the blog before we celebrate 5 YEARS ON THREE the 27th:)
Our New Chapter
Our new chapter has not been brutal! For humans, it has been highly stressful, anxiety-producing, depressing, exhausting. Constantly watching and worry. For Purrkins, it’s been exhausting, not feeling well, whisker twitching, a few focal seizures & an unstable hop. Purrkins being highly whacked, wondering why his favorite peeps keep putting this better-tasting medicine down his throat.
PHENOBARBITAL TOXIC LEVELS
Purrkins ended up not adjusting to the pheno dosage. Therefore Dr. R started to tweak his meds in February 13.13, and it continued as he told us in no uncertain terms he did not feel well, sleeping all the time, vomiting, not wanting to eat, he would not even get up to eat his meals. Lots of whisker twitching. His hop was concerning. I was looking at the QoL scale; we were scared to death! Dr. R had us come in for more bloodwork! This bloodwork revealed the pheno was in a toxic range, poisoning Purrkins.
Peak and Trough Blood levels-
Dr. R reduced Purrkins dosage to 12mg, and we returned in 2 weeks to recheck pheno levels. We went in for a double blood draw, a peak and trough level, which means going at 12 and 6:30 for Purrkins to be poked curbside. This shows her what the meds are doing in Purrkins body after his first dose and before his next dose. If the meds are in therapeutic range or in this case toxic. Recheck reveals Purrkins is STILL in toxic range.!!
This time she cut his dosage in half to 6.25 mg, and Purrkins rallied; he started to eat again and up to eat, asking to eat, playing you name it, a switch got flipped THANK HEAVENS & so far, no focal seizures on the lower dosage. Prayers this continues!
NON-Toxic
We returned for a double blood draw again after two weeks, and Purrkins is no longer in the toxic levels. PHEW
In my opinion, the dosage has been too high for Purrkins to have any life. It has been an awful six months of monitoring, watching, and anticipatory grief!
Good Mews, no spells (seizures) & QOL
To be able to update the blog with good Mews is a glorious day! Purrkins is happy to be himself. We would say he is 95% Purrkins on this dosage & NO seizures 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻! I’m NOT looking at that QOL list and worrying as I was. He is asking for food, up to eat his food, back to having some zoomies, playing. He has been outside in his tent to hunt the chipmunks and birdies. Back to his sun puddling and window seat and even allowed to venture out of our site a little;) I can sleep a little, but yes, I still hear anything and wake to make sure all is ok. This new chapter has taken a toll and getting used to for us all. I’m still not 100% comfy yet but, we have hope again.
Beyond Grateful
Only time will tell what each day will bring; in the meantime, we are all GRATEFUL to have moved out of the toxic stage and to have our Purrkins back! Dr. R has us documenting a day in the life of Purrkins to help him better. I send her a monthly log. She is a gem!
We just tweaked his meds again to a tad lower 6.3 mg, and now we see how this goes. We have a recheck on the 20th. I get to go into the clinic with Purrkins for the first time! He can show me around;)
We are hoping to keep checking each day off with fewer meds & no seizures. I never want to see Purrkins go thru this again, Ugh my prayers are constant.
“Seizures are like Cancer”
Dr. Matt told us seizures are like cancer; they do whatever the bleep (he–) they want to do. I appreciate the honesty, but yeah, not what anyone wants to hear, but a need to know! Purrkins now gets acupuncture for seizures with his regular tune-ups for being a tripawd. Dr.Matt adds on a few different points.
I think the hardest thing with seizures is having zero control over the situation! Not being able to help Purrkins, watching Purrkins leave in his little eyes, wondering what comes next, having no idea what each day brings, will he have a seizure today? That’s the anxiety-provoking part. We are beyond thankful each day we see Purrkins be Purrkins! Hopefully one day we can close this chapter. BUT, if not, we are on a small dose, and Purrkins is doing well; he has a QOL, that’s what counts. We accept the now and keep moving forward,” a tick at a time.”
Hoppy/Happy 11th birthday
We celebrated the boy’s 11th bday a happy day! The boys got prizes and a little whip cream for their cake this year.
Next, we celebrate Purrkins 5 year ampuversary! Whoo-hoo! I was not sure we were going to get to our 5-year celebrations! We do not take a single day for granted!
Words of Wisdom “Take a tick at a time”!
Anyone here knows to savor every minute with our furry and human loved ones, and do our best to take each tick at a time! Sometimes that tick-tock of the clock is more than enough!
My Aunt Janice’s words of wisdom – ” take a tick at a time ” had a massive heart attack and died suddenly at home on June 25th. She is & will continue to be greatly missed by us all. I know she continues to be with us, helping us every day as she did in her earthly clothes. I will never forget her unyielding faith and wisdom. We Love & thank you, Janice, for all you have done for all of us! We will carry you in our hearts every day!
Some cute pics to close of the boys being brothers in the shared sun puddles;) Taking a tick at a time;)
Thanks, fur reading, loving & caring!
Loads of love and appreciation from all of us at Purrkins Palace.