Our gorgeous old Mittens hurt her leg two weeks ago. Yesterday the vet gave her a general anaesthetic to x-ray it and put it in a cast, because she seems to have torn her achilles tendon.
She came home last night panting really fast; we rang the vet who was concerned but said that she was probably hallucinating due to the drugs; she'd given her a slightly unusual mix due to her age (she's 10).
She cried a lot during the night, and this morning was still immobile. Her legs were all completely stiff, we couldn't flex them at all and she couldn't seem to move them, or her tail.
We took her back to the vet this morning and she said the anaesthetic seems to have made her have a small stroke, and the resulting oxygen deprivation seems to have caused brain damage.
She says she might recover, but there's nothing she can do to help other than keep her hydrated. So she's down there now on a drip, and we've to wait and see how things go over the next couple of days.
She's the darling of everyone who knows her, she's an absolute sweetheart and even loves the kids. She comes over to snuggle with them if they cry, and puts up with all sorts of manhandling from DS. In the evenings you never see DH without her, either draped across his shoulders or curled up on his knee, and when I'm on the couch she likes to hunch up against the back of my neck and purr (and dribble!) in my ear. When she jumps down off things she honks like a clown car and we're fairly certain she actually thinks she's a dog. We'd be lost without her.
And of course it's a huge reminder of when DS was born, when we had the whole oxygen deprivation-brain damage-wait and see scenario too. Thankfully he seems unaffected so far but this is bringing back some very unwelcome memories.
I'm feeling to much at the moment to make sense of.