Since the two losses last month, I’ve been super worried about the other cats. Is there something wrong, why does his face look like that, why is she sneezing? Is that kitty breathing too hard? Is that cat drinking more water and eating less food?
It’s not a fun way to be.
Anyway, we’ve both been watching Bart. After all, he’s the oldest at sixteen. And he’s had that eye problem for a while now. He seems to be drinking more water. He’s walking funny. Beginning renal failure? And look at him while he sleeps. He’s breathing a little faster than the other cats. Is he okay? Is he not okay? If he’s not okay, is it fixable? Is it the end?
Gah.
So, yesterday I call the vet and make an appointment for this morning. I want a blood workup, for one. I want his nose checked since his breathing is a little on the noisy side. What about the bouts of coughing he occasionally has? His appointment was at 9:45 this morning.
I take him in and he cries on the way over. I’m glad the ride is a short one. I gave the receptionist the container of biscotti I’d bought for them the day before at CostCo (I feel it’s beneficial to stay on the staffs’ good side). I waited for a while and finally was taken into an examining room. The tech was the same one who’d been there when I last took Lisa in. I asked her about the vet who checked Lisa over. I was told he would no longer be filling in, he’d seen his last day at my vet. I said “good”. And I told her why. Although I know there wouldn’t have been much that could be done for Lisa, we could have done something for her suffering. She spent her last forty-eight hours highly uncomfortable and most likely in considerable pain. I don’t like to think about this, believe me, I don’t dwell on it.
She reassured me that he wouldn’t be back. The vet finally came in and we talked a little about Bart, why I’d brought him in. I told him about my concerns and that I was in “hyper-vigilant” mode, which he understood. He checked the airflow through Bart’s nose and told me that it wasn’t 100%, but it didn’t seem to be bothering him. He wasn’t breathing through his mouth, so he’d obviously adjusted to whatever was going on. If he started blowing out nasty green thick snot and not be able to breathe through the nose, there would be a concern. He listened to his chest, told me that Bart has a grade two murmur, but that it’s nothing to be overly concerned with at this point. The grades go up to six.
Because of this, he felt that x-rays were in order to make sure his heart was okay. I didn’t have a problem with this. And he also agreed that the blood panel was a good idea.
They took Bart out of the room and I spent some time talking with our (I hope) new petsitter. She lives locally, which is nice. She was concerned about not knowing the cats and I told her I’d do pictures of them, describe them and their normal spots and hiding places. I told her we had lots of DVDs and I think she’ll be okay here.
When they were done drawing blood and taking the pictures, Bart was allowed back into his carrier. I waited patiently, then the tech came in with the film and the vet wasn’t too far behind. He told me that Bart looks good, no enlarged heart. He pointed out the arthritis in Bart’s back knee (the reason he walks funny) and some deterioration of one of the disks in his back. But all in all, he looks good internally. The doctor was very pleased with the progress made in his eye since he’s been getting the compounded chelating EDTA eyedrops that he’d prescribed the Friday before we went to Disneyland (they came in while we were gone and I started them the week we got back). The calcium deposit is almost all gone. He told me to continue giving Bart drops a couple of times a week and hopefully, eventually, all the calcium will be gone (the calcium is a cause for corneal ulcers).
Then he asked about Lisa, what we were told was wrong with her. I told him what the vet had said when we took her in to have her put to sleep and he said that meds might have made her better for maybe a couple of months, but that was it. And then he imparted some information about our ex-petsitter, none of it good.
I told him she was no longer welcome into our home. And when I think about it, I can’t say that knowing what he told me would have made any difference. I’m incredibly loyal and, as far as I knew, she’d been trustworthy and was doing a good job of taking care of our cats. I was wrong. But there’d been no indication that there would be a problem.
I also got a six pack of large dog Advantage, paid the bill, and we were on our way home. Bart was a trooper throughout the entire ordeal. I was glad the vet had given him an “A” for this visit. Now, all I needed was the test results and I could let go of my worries.
And the blood tests were good. Everything was normal and he’s doing nicely. Whew.
| | Permalink
 |
