Rest In Peace, Rayn

I don't do too many personal posts, but today I'm taking a break from blogging about books to talk about my cat Rayn (pronounced rain).

Sadly we lost Rayn yesterday.  He hadn't been feeling good and acting odd so we took him to the vet. Rayn's blood results confirmed his pH levels were down and his potassium was low. They kept him there on an iv, hoping that it would help. But a little before noon he went into cardiac arrest, they tried oxygen and CPR, but nothing worked.

                                             1999                                       2011

Rayn came into our lives in the Fall of 1998. It was a rainy day (hence the name). He was a year or so old, huddling under our steps trying not to get wet. We instantly took him in. Soon we learned that he must have been abused because he didn't like his stomach touched and he was missing one of his balls. Even though he was abused when he was younger he went on to live a pretty happy and healthy life until this past summer.

Below you will find all my status updates from Facebook and some pictures.

August 10, 2012
Was up at 5am with my sick cat. He was throwing up and breathing really odd. Turns out his bladder is full and blocked. The vet is pretty sure it's a kidney stone and its a big one so Rayn has to have surgery. Poor kitty! We get to bring him back home in a few days.

August 10, 2012
Rayn is out of surgery and doing well. They took out 1 large kidney stone and 50 little ones. We get to bring him home tomorrow.

August 17, 2012
Rayn is back at the vets for an overnight stay. He isn't drink enough water or eating food. They are gonna run some more blood tests. Hopefully they will be able to get him to eat something.

August 17, 2012
A little bit relieved. The vet called and thankfully Rayn's liver and kidney are just fine. He just needs to get some liquid and protein in him.

August 18, 2012
We talked to the vet this morning and Rayn still hadn't ate anything. She said he sniffs it and moves away like the smell makes him nauseous. So, they were gonna take him off his meds to see if that helps. The vet said she'd call us later, but that was in the morning so hopefully we'll hear something more soon.

August 18, 2012
Rayn is back home now. He is fully hydrated, but he still hasn't ate anything. The vet thinks he'll eat now that we have him at home. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this works. Tuesday we bring him back in to get his stitches out.

August 21, 2012
Rayn got his stitches out today and it healed up good. The few days he's been home he's only ate a few bites and water but not enough. They are keeping him over night. Blood tests were done again and his kidney levels were down a bit. They will also put in another IV to hydrate him. He's lost quite a bit of weight too, he's gone from 17 pounds in May to 13 pounds today. We wanted him to loose weight, but not like this.

August 22, 2012
We heard from the vet. Rayn is doing good. He's hydrated and his levels are back up, but he still isn't eating. Tomorrow they will be putting a feeding tube in him. The vet told us usually after two weeks of have the feeding tube he'll start eating on his own. I really hope so. My poor Kitty! We get to bring him home on Friday.

August 25, 2012 - just home from having his feeding tube put in.
We ended up feeding him through the tube for 45 days before
he started to eat by himself.

August 26, 2012
Day 2 of feeding Rayn through the tube and I can tell you it's not easy. The vet said he was so sweet and still when they did it. Well he isn't for us. Rayn's back claws are vicious. I got cut up on the inside of my arm and my mom has them on the top of her arm. The schedule is set up for 4 times a day with the meds, food and water. It seems every time the cat has calmed down a bit, we have to feed him again. This is a lot of work, but it's better than the alternative. Hopefully as the days go on this will get easier. :)

August 27, 2012
Rayn finally ate on his own (I can't tell ya how big a deal that is). It wasn't a whole lot, but its definitely an improvement. Hopefully he'll continue to eat more of his own food.

September 6, 2012
We took Rayn to the vet for his check up. His weight is good and maintaining. Since he still won't eat his regular food, we'll have to keep feeding him through the tube until he does eat on his own. A plus though is he finally drank some water on this own. (yay) So, he is feeling better and accomplishing things.. but it's in small steps.

September 8, 2012
Good news... Rayn ate on his own yesterday and twice today. If he continue this way, he'll be able to get the feeding tube removed. :)

September 18, 2012
We are on Day 25 of feeding Rayn through the tube. Last week we put out some Wiska entree and to our shock he actually ate it, and he's still eating it. We still have to feed him through the tube, cause it's he's only eating a little bit of it. The vet says if he continues to eat the wet stuff for a week to 10 days - he'll be able to have the feeding tube removed.

September 23, 2012
Rayn in his new sweater, as you can see he is not a happy camper. The socks we have been putting on him just aren't cutting it anymore, so we are hoping the sweater will work better. He has been eating on his own..but when we went to the vet this week he lost a pound...so the tube has to stay in a bit longer.

October 8, 2012
Rayn got the feeding tube removed today. (YaY!) The last few days he has been eating more and more of his own food. He's even gained weight, so that is all good. They put two staples in to close the hole. We have to take him back in 14 days to get them removed. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and he'll keep eating his own food. :)


October 29, 2012
It's been a few weeks now since Rayn had his feeding tube removed. He is doing very well. Drinking and eating water as he should and he's quite active. He went into the vet for a last check up and she said he is looking good. We weighed him while we were there and he's at 12 lbs. Which is good, he's gained a pound since last time.

November 8, 2012 
November 2012 - at 12lbs. He is doing very well and thankfully eating.

November 26, 2012
Rayn is not a happy camper. We had to bring him into the vet today. He's dropped down to 9lbs. For the last week or so, he has been throwing up and the last couple days not eating. The vet did a mini blood panel. His kidney, liver and glucose were all normal and he's hydrated. Our vet suggested putting out wet food again for him. So, we did and he ate it. Hopefully that will continue and get his weight back up.

[Before January 23rd Rayn was doing really good - eating on his own, maintaining weight and playing. Really back to his old self. We are not sure what changed.]

January 24, 2013
9am: Yesterday Rayn just wasn't feeling good. He was holding his head weird and he was having trouble walking. We had to rush him into the vet this morning because it got worse. At the vet they took some blood for testing. The blood test revealed Rayn was acidic. His pH levels were high and his potassium very low. The Dr. said it's looking like Rayn is a diabetic. We had to leave him at the vet... they had him wrapped in a towel and heating pad to get is temp up a little (it was low). They put and IV in to get his pH levels and Potassium back to normal. So now all we can do is wait and see.

January 24, 2013
12:00pm: About 15 minutes ago my beautiful cat Rayn passed away, he was 14. He went into cardiac arrest. They tried giving him oxygen and tried doing CPR... but it didn't work. I'm glad he isn't in pain anymore, but I'm sure gonna miss him.

Stealing my reading spot!

RIP Rayn
1998-2013