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      Sunday, February 22, 2004



11:55 AM - 02/22/2004

The topic: Back from the vet

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Sunday, February 22, 2004 Well, we’re back from the vet.  Been back about an hour now.  We took Ciara in.  I thought maybe she was doing better yesterday, but this morning, I saw some really nasty looking poo in the box.  It looked dark brown or black.  Not a good sign.  Let me fill you in on the past couple of days.

Time machine to Thursday.  Concerned about dehydration, I gave Ciara 120cc of lactated ringer solution (the same thing and amount DeeJay gets every two days).  She seemed to perk up.  She even ate a little bit.  I’ve been giving her the Immodium A/D, but it made such a mess and she absolutely hated it, most of it ended up dripping out of her mouth.  Although her stool wasn’t as yellow, it still wasn’t looking good and it really bothered me that she was pretty much refusing any kind of food I offered her. 

I decided that I’d take her in Friday.  I call my vet’s office Friday morning, only to find out that he’s sick, won’t be in.  Besides, it usually takes about seven days for diarrhea to clear up, just see if we can hold off until Monday.  I ask about how often I can give fluids and was told that I have to be careful, giving them too often can be very bad.  That made me pretty nervous, I’ll be honest with you.  Ciara wasn’t eating, wasn’t drinking, I knew in my heart that she probably would do better with more fluids, but it was a chance I wasn’t willing to take.

Yesterday morning, I put some water in the tub and took off my shoes, socks, and jeans, grabbed up a little Ciara and we both got in the tub.  I closed the tub enclosure doors.  She was really good, didn’t put up too big of a stink about getting washed again.  I rinsed her off well and we both got out.  I put some towels on the floor and toweled her off and used the blow dryer (which she hated).  I opened the door, she came back into the office and crawled into a condo, and just lay there shaking.  I didn’t like this, not at all.  So, I figured I’d make a quarantine room of the bathroom.  I took the big water bowl out and put it in the hallway, got a cat carrier and took the door off, put soft clean towels down in it.  Then I got the heating pad and an extension cord and put the heating pad under the carrier, but only about halfway back.  Then I got towels and covered the carrier completely.  A nice little cubby hole for a sick kitty.  Then I put a litter box in there.  I also put different sorts of food in there, hoping that she’d eat something. 

Then I put Ciara in there.  She seemed to not be bothered too much by being in there.  And I figured it was easier for both of us.  I wouldn’t obsess about her whereabouts and she didn’t have to keep trying to find a place to get comfortable. And this way I would also know about her pooping and peeing.

She ate some Canidae last night about six and vomited it back up about ten.  I also found a fair amount of blood.  It was bright red, so I knew it was most likely from irritation of her bowels.  *sigh*  This scares me, because I start having thoughts of intestinal blockages.  Then, this morning, I find this nasty dark stool in the litter box.  Now, black, tarry looking stool is an indication of intestinal bleeding.  I got scared.  I told Brian, “she’s going in today”.  I got the phone book and found the time that the clinic where we took that tortie feral last year opened.  Nine.  I planned on being there. 

So, I took a shower, did a load of laundry, and nine o’clock neared and Brian and I got ready to leave.  We got down there (the rain we’ve been waiting for all week finally started, wouldn’t you know it?), I filled out the forms and we waited for about twenty minutes.  They wanted to weigh Ciara and when I picked her up out of the carrier and took her over to the scales, she let loose.  Poo all over the floor.  The tech syringed some up for the vet to look at and Brian cleaned up the floor.  Then someone else came out with a mop. 

Finally, we got in to a waiting room and the vet came in. She asked some questions about Ciara’s history and she started the exam. She didn’t find any intestinal blockages, Ciara’s kidneys seemed okay.  Ciara was dehydrated, she’d need fluids. 

She prescribed flagyl (I asked if it was possible to get this in pill form, since Ciara won’t take the liquid; it’s available! Yay!) and 150cc of fluids twice a day.  I asked her about what I was told Friday morning and she said it’s pretty hard to over do sub-q fluids.  Since they’re sub-q, they don’t directly affect the organs.  Either they’re processed or they sit under the skin.  And if they are just sitting under the skin, to not give her the next scheduled fluids.  I told her I’d need another syringe, since I’ve got two sixtys, I needed at least thirty more. 

Anyway, she asked if I’d like for her to shave Ciara’s backside to make it easier to clean and I said ‘yes’.  The vet took her into the back and a tech brought her back, all nicely shaved and shampooed.  And she told me what we needed to do.  Ciara will get a quarter of a flagyl tablet twice a day and 150cc of lactated ringers twice a day.  No cat food.  Get meat baby food, because that will be easier on her tummy.  They also gave us a bag for the dirty towels in the carrier (that were clean when we left) and brought us a clean towel to put in there, as well as a towel wrapped around Ciara’s clean damp bottom.  We also got a tube of Animax for her butt.  When I use that, I have to make sure I’ve got it rubbed in really good, or put a collar on Ciara so she can’t lick it off.  I don’t have to leave it on long, just long enough for the Animax to have a chance to soak in and work.

So, Ciara’s home, her towels are clean (I’ve washed so many towels this past week, it’s not even funny), she’s gotten her fluids and her flagyl.  We have to get baby food and we’re set.  She’s back in the bathroom, I think she kind of wanted to walk around the house, but she didn’t fuss too much when she didn’t get out.  She just went back into the carrier.  She has pooped once since we’ve been home, it looked better than what I saw this morning.  The fluids should perk her up and the flagyl should help out a lot. 

I can’t help but think I should have taken her in last week or at least requested flagyl from the vet’s office.  When I left, the doctor said I should take her back to the regular doctor for a recheck tomorrow.  I’ll call them first.  The last time this happened, I didn’t have to bring the cat in, because the cat was doing fine.

We really like this clinic.  And they’re a lot less expensive than our current vet.


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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

In her spare time, she makes pretty things to sell in her store.

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