Friday evening Bob didn't want to eat (totally unlike him), he fell over even more than usual when walking, and, most alarming, he growled when I pet him and really yelped when I got near his abdominal area.. normally he LUUUUUVVS his tummy rubs.
Off to the Emergency Vets we go... got there about 6:00 pm..
First finding: a temp of 107 degrees (normal cat is 102.something). They put a cool damp towel on him with a fan going, and they took x-rays and a blood sample. He would NOT let them touch his abdomen.. I could hear him howling louder than ever, all the way up front where I was waiting.
From Bob's record that I'd brought along, the vet said she suspected cancer, because a couple of months before he'd had an ear polyp removed with a pathology report of possible potential melanoma. She started talking about getting him in to see an oncologist tomorrow or the Michigan State Emergency Ward, and I could get a CAT scan (about $1000), an MRI (about $3,000) if I could afford and wanted to do that.. and all these other things one MIGHT do in case there was cancer.. like she's trying to scare the living daylights out of me.
THEN she asks me what I thought I'd like to do. I said "Well, let's get his temperature down and some idea on what's going on in the abdomen first, and then go on from there." She says, "That's what I'd advise.." (Thanks, lady! So why didn't you just say that to begin with?.)
I stayed until about 9:30 (good thing I always have something along with me to read), then went home after being told the vet would call me when she had something to report, probably around 11pm or so.
MEANWHILE.. Poppy had been occasionally coughing all week, like she was trying to get up a hairball but couldn't. I had decided I would take her to the vet on Monday. BUT when I got back from the Bob's trip, Poppy was coughing a lot more and panting some.
I wondered, do I need to take HER to the ER too? I thought, she'll be okay at least until morning, when I'll take her to the other regular vet who has Saturday hours rather than wait until Monday. (Hoping and praying I wasn't ignoring another immediate crisis to her peril... Just the thought of going back there and through more of this again was hard to contemplate.)
The ER vet called me about 11:45, said they'd gotten Bob's temperature down to normal but he still had abdominal pain. X-rays did not show tumors, she wondered did he swallow something dangerous like string. Not that I knew of, but there's stuff all over and I couldn't say for sure. Next step, immediate abdominal surgery..
About 6:30am the emergency vet called again, said Bob was coming out of the anesthesia, no foreign bodies were found but there were a couple of suspicious areas on the pancreas (took bits for pathology check) and he seemed to have a case of gastroenteritis. He would probably be ready to come home about 6-8pm after postoperative monitoring and care.
SOOO.., Poppy was still coughing the same, so I took her to the regular vet when they opened. Vet didn't get there for another hour, checked Poppy out, took a couple of X-rays and some blood. Then Poppy and I waited a couple more hours (good thing I always have something along with me to read) until the blood work was ready.
The vet said the blood work was mostly okay except for a higher than normal calcium level.. a possible CANCER indicator.. Though since Poppy is only about 3 years old that was highly unlikely.. There were also a couple of areas in her lungs suggesting asthma.
She got a steroid shot, some subQ fluids, some meds to take home in case she wasn't doing better than before. I'm to call Monday to let the vet know how Poppy's doing.. (I should take her to the EMERGENCY vet Sunday if she was still really bad. !!)
Poppy coughed a bit after getting home, and I gave her her meds. Today she is clearly much better. I haven't heard her cough at all, and the way I know she's really better is that she slips out of my grasp whenever I try and get ahold of her to give her more of her meds.
So Poppy's back home, and Bob's okay for a while. I went out to do some errands. At one point I was near the ER clinic, so I stopped in just to see my Bobby and talk to him and pet him very gently. He was lying on the cage floor with tubes coming out of him, and he looked at me like, oh it's you! and growled just slightly when I touched him. I told him how much I love him and said I'd be back for him in a little while.
About 6pm I went to pick him up. I was given some Buprenex painkiller and an Elizabethan collar I should put on him after we get home. They said he fought too hard when they tried to put it on him in the clinic, and it wouldn't fit with him in the carrier anyway. (Wimps!)
When we got home, he was no happier about me putting it on him. Since he'd been through enough stress already, I let it go because I didn't think he'd try to bite his stitches, and he hasn't.
He hadn't eaten all day at the clinic, but when we got home he ate a whole bowl of his kibble, so right there I could tell he was feeling better!
Even nicer, he enjoys being petted again, AND... the best indication he's on the road to recovery drum roll....
Here he is as normal:
"AHEM: Tummy does not rub itself, you know!"
Just look at him now! --
"HEY... it STILL doesn't rub itself!!!"
So, all is well!!!!!!At least for now, as we await the path report on Bob's pancreatic thingies..
Except for my bank account, of course.. (Final score: Poppy, $315; Bob, $2,500!) That's the least of my concerns, though.. I'll pay it off somehow, and they're worth EVERY PENNY of it! And I didn't get a whole lot of sleep this weekend.. oh well!.. all is well.
Pat, Bobby, Poppy, Elmer, Sydney, Sparkler, and Peony
P.S., Sorry I've rambled on so far and long with this.. As Blaise Pascal or someone once said, I apologize for such a long message, but I don't have time to write a short one..
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I'm glad to hear that both of your cats are now doing well.
I hope that they'll both continue to do so. Please give them both some belly rubs for me.
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