Caring for a Sick Cat

My kitty Cayenne had surgery two weeks ago to remove two masses from her abdomen.  One was benign, one was cancerous.  She seemed to be doing fine until two days ago, when she refused to eat dinner.  This is a little girl that loves to eat!  It is highly unusual for her to turn down dinner.  When she refused to eat breakfast yesterday morning, I knew something was really wrong.

We took her to the vet, which was this big hassle because when I called our vet’s office, I was told that the vet that usually sees Cayenne was off that day and couldn’t see her until the next morning.  I said that she needed to be seen right away and asked why the other vet in the practice couldn’t see her.  I was told, repeatedly, that she would have to wait until the next day to see her usual vet.

So Mike called another local vet and explained the situation and they agreed to see her right away.  We went to our regular vet’s office first and asked for copies of Cayenne’s records.  Our vet, the one I was told repeatedly on the phone was off that day, happened to be there and he asked what was going on and when we explained it to him, he said, “Oh, no!” and of course he would see Cayenne and bring her right in.

It turned out she had a temperature of 105 degrees (normal for a cat is 100 to 102 degrees), so she was pretty sick.  The vet thought she had an infection somewhere but couldn’t find the source.  Her incisions from the surgery look good, her chest x-ray was clear, he couldn’t find anything that looked infected.  She got subcutaneous fluids, a bunch of blood work, and an alcohol bath to bring down the fever (I bet she just loved that).  

She had to spend the night at the vet’s, which I didn’t feel very good about because there is no staff there overnight.  That just doesn’t make sense to me.  She’s very ill so she should be left alone for the night?  Not be at home where I could watch her all night long, if necessary?  The vet said he would be there until late in the evening and the techs came in early in the morning but that would still be several hours she would be alone.  I ended up leaving her there but I was really regretting it about midnight last night.

I called the vet’s office this morning and was told she’d eaten some food overnight, but then threw it up.  I felt bad about that.  She was stuck in a little cage where she’d vomited and there was no one there to clean it up until morning.  And then they gave her medication to prevent nausea, but if she’d been home with me, if they’d sent some nausea medication home with her, I would have been able to give it to her as soon as she threw up.

Well, she’s home now.  She is clearly not feeling well but her temp is down.  She is sleeping on the kitchen floor right now which is an odd place for her to sleep, but it’s really hot in my house and maybe the tile floor is cool and that’s why she wants to lie there.  She hasn’t eaten anything yet, and I’ve offered her stinky canned cat food (which she normally loves) and Greek yogurt (which she normally loves even more).  She’s had a lot to drink, though.  And she’s been moving around some.

I will be staying up with her most of the night, making sure she eats and drinks.  If she doesn’t eat something voluntarily soon, I will put a little yogurt on my finger and put it in her mouth, or wipe it on her lips so she’ll lick it off.  I’m also going to try offering her a little raw milk and a bite of cheese, other things she normally loves.

I do not have a green thumb.  I cannot grow plants.  I can’t even grow a cactus.  But animals, I can take care of those.  I have nursed quite a few animals back to health.  Once I took care of a sick hamster, getting up every hour all night long to feed him water with an eyedropper and one corn flake each time.  I lived in a house without air conditioning then and it was summer and about 95 degrees that day.  It cooled off a bit at night but not that much.  I put plastic bags filled with ice all around his cage to try to keep him cool.  I learned that trick from a hospice nurse when I used to work for a home care hospice.  We had a patient that lived in an old house without air conditioning and he was in bed dying when it was 90-something degrees out.  The nurse tied plastic bags filled with ice to the bed rails all around his bed.

Anyway.  Plants, I kill, but animals, I usually save.  So I’ll be up tonight, hopefully saving Cayenne.