lisaviolet's diary

This morning, I called a holistic vet in San Diego, to see if I could get an appointment for Ciara. On the chance the Ciara doesn’t have FIP, I thought maybe a vet who does acupunture would be able to give her some relief. The appointment was made for tomorrow at 2:30. I didn’t like the idea of driving downtown by myself, but I’d do what I had to do for Ciara.

They needed her history to be faxed to them and I was to not let her urinate for three hours and oh, they also needed a stool sample. Excuse me, but this little girl ain’t walking anywhere, she peed in the carrier this morning (the carrier that I had set up for Lorelai and kittens; Ciara took it over yesterday when we got home from the vet). After she peed in it, she dragged herself out to the hallway. At four this morning, I was wiping her off and cleaning the bathroom floor (I think she might have tried getting out of the carrier soon enough, but her legs just couldn’t make it) and changing her bedding.

I called my vet’s office and got it all set up. I’d pick up the X-rays tomorrow when I take the new kitties in for a checkup.

Well, I hadn’t taken Ciara’s temperature in a couple of days and around 10:30, I took it. It was 97.7! Bad. Real bad. Can we say “shock”? I kept taking it for the next half hour and it got up to 98.8, but then dropped back down (I use a PetTemp ear thermometer) to under 98. I called my vet to see what I should do and one of the girls told me “take her to emergency”. Apparantly, my vet is sick today. Then I call the holistic place to see if I could bring her in there. Uh, no, we close at 1:00 today and he still has some appointments.

Damn. I took her temperature again, it was 97.7. I took the other cats’ temperatures to see if it might be the thermometer. They were all right under 100. I grabbed the carrier, grabbed my cell, grabbed my wallet, gently grabbed Ciara and gently stuffed her in the carrier, grabbed my keys and off we went.

When I got to the

Animal Medical Center, I went up to the walk in area (no appointments) and I was asked about my pet and I told her that Ciara’s temperature had been under 98 for at least forty five minutes and I was afraid she was going to die.

Now, mind you, Ciara was acting fine. Well, as fine as she could in her condition. She didn’t act like she was ready to keel over, she would stretch her paws at me, smile and kind of roll over so I could see her belly. But then I’d see her shiver. What do you do? Play it safe or take a chance with her life? I couldn’t take that chance. I played it safe.

She was taken right back and I heard the receptionist say “we need a doctor, we have an emergency”.

I had gone outside because there were about a thousand dogs of different sizes, colors and yappiness inside. I wasn’t in the mood. Granted, I’m rarely in the mood for dogs, but I very much wasn’t there this morning. I saw the woman who checked us in walking through the building with the carrier and I went inside to see what was up. Ciara was in the carrier. Her temperature was stable, 99.1 (still low) and that I could wait to see a doctor. I said I’d wait.

I pulled out my cell phone and called my buddy, Allyson, up in the L.A. area. She was at work. I had no idea how long this would take. The last time we took her there, that evening a few weeks ago, we were there for over an hour before we saw a vet, but that was at night, after regular hours. It was nice to have someone to talk to. I carried the carrier outside and sat it on the bench next to me. I was telling Allyson about what was going on and we spoke for a while when I realized I couldn’t hear her all that well over the street noise. Even she could hear it. I got up and walked inside with Ciara and found a fairly quiet area of the waiting room (it’s humongous). Before long Ciara and I were taken into a room where Ciara was weighed, then we went into an examining room. Having hung up when we were taken to a room, I called Allyson back and I didn’t have to wait alone.

I unlatched the top of the carrier, so I wouldn’t have to pull Ciara out, I could just lift her up when the doctor came in. Then I set the lid back down on it. The doctor came in mid sentence and I said “gotta go” again to Allyson. I took the lid off of the carrier and lifted Ciara onto the examining table. The doc did a quick once over and asked me about Ciara. We went over her history, back to when I originally thought she’d hurt herself. I told him about the x-rays that were taken back in April, about the disks that pinched a nerve in her back (he asked how you can see a pinched nerve on an x-ray? I dunno, but that was what I was told). I told him about the originally course of metacam, that helped her. I told him about how she’d gotten worse, how I’d given her prednisone, how she reacted badly to that. I also told him the vet had taken x-rays yesterday, bloodwork a couple of weeks ago and had told me that his feelings were that Ciara had dry FIP. I told him that my head was screaming “No! Not FIP, she’s got a back problem, she’s got sciatica!” He asked why my vet felt the problem was FIP and I mentioned the fevers that he said Ciara had (which I don’t recall at all), the globulin count, the white blood cells (which indicate infection, which the antibiotics took care of and that’s why her temperature was normal yesterday), her lameness in her back end.

And I told him again that I thought it was her back. That my head voices were screaming “sciatica”. He looked at me, smiled, and said “that’s what my head is screaming, too”. He then asked me what my schedule was for the day (I don’t have one) and if I would leave Ciara there. He’d asked about the x-rays taken and asked if there’d been a mylo something or other one taken and I said no. This is where they inject dye into the spine and take the x-ray after to see exactly where the problem lies. He said something about orthopedics and I said that she hadn’t seen any specialist.

Then he says “well, one of the top orthopedic surgeons in the state is working today, she just happens to be my wife” (she’s the one who put Marco back together). “And I’d like to take x-rays of Ciara and see how we can help her.” He went on to say that one of their friends would be coming to town later this week. This friend is a top neurosurgeon (people), who does many delicate surgeries, stuff like brain surgeries. And if Ciara needs surgery, he would be there when it’s done.

So, I left Ciara at the vet. And I’m waiting for the phone to ring. And I’m glad my thermometer reads low. And I’m glad my vet was sick today. And I’m glad the holistic vet left at one today. Because I think Ciara is probably in the best hands she could be in right now. And I’m really, really, really glad she most likely does NOT have FIP.

Oh, here’s another link to an article about the animal hospital where she’s being taken care of right now.

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Tuesday, June 20, 2006