It was just a normal Friday, 9/24/10, morning. The kitties and I woke up, got ready for the day and as I was putting on my makeup I heard Gilbert start screaming ... literally! He's a talker and everything, but just like a mom knows her baby's cries, I know my cat's meows and this was no ordinary meow. This was a cat in serious distress. He calmed down after a few moments, but when he tried to use his box again the screaming started back up. I immediately called the local ER vet and explained what was going on and they told me he needs to be ASAP because he probably has a urinary block which is fatal if left untreated. So I packed up the little guy and headed across town. He ended up having to spend the night at the facility with a catheter in place. I went and visited him that night and he was very unhappy. I was able to calm him down and he seemed excited to see me, but still expressed his hatred of the place. I picked him up the next morning (Satruday, 9/25/10) and he was heavily drugged so he slept most of the day on the kitchen floor where it was nice and cool. I had to give him some pain meds and antibiotics and thought he was on the mend.
A few days later, Wednesday 9/29/10, I came home for lunch to check on him cause he just didn't seem to be doing that great that morning, and realized he was struggling to go pee. So I took him to the vet's office down the street from my apartment. The immediately checked him in and found that his bladder was enlarged and on his way to having another urinary block. They wanted to keep him for 48 hours with another catheter in place. Of course I did what needed to be done, though it's tough not having him home and Anne really missed him. I visited him that night and he seemed in much better spirits than he was at the ER office. He even purred, but looked really sad.
He came on that Friday and was back to his normal happy self with just walking in the door. He wasn't drugged up or out of it at all and I love this vet's office. They seem to have really taken care of him. He hadn't gone potty after they took out the catheter at the vet's office and when I got him home I took him near his box and he immediately went in and used it! I was thrilled to see him pee and poop! It was sort of like the Tom Hanks League of Their Own potty scene. I even cried cause I was happy to see that he was better.
I had gotten a call from his doctor the day I took him in and they advised that after doing a blood test they wanted to do a blood smear to test him for feline aids and feline leukemia. Of course just the thought of either of these made me cry and extremely worried. About an hour later, the doctor called saying it wasn't either of these, but he did in fact have a blood born parasite most likely caused by a flea and the stress of the blockage disrupted it and making my poor little guy's red and white blood cells to drop rapidly making him anemic. For the past several years, when I moved in with people and he was shut in a room he began losing most of his fur. For several years his back and tail have not been as fluffy as the rest of him. He is now on a steriod pill to kill the parasite and he is rapidly growing his fur back! He's a little fluff ball now and is very happy to be home.
Thank you to everyone that offered their support and messages of concern and love for Gilly. He's my little lovebug ^_^
