I had to rush Jimmy to the vet this morning because he was in terrible shape. I got ready for work as usual and then went to the 'boy's room' around 8:30 to bring Jimmy and Paddy into our room for the day but he was tucked inside the cat cave bed and wouldn't come out. Jimmy never does this, he is always first to the door and so excited to come hang out in our room and on the deck.
So I carried the cave with him in it into our room and pulled him out. I dished out their breakfast and he walked very slowly, right past the food directly to the litterbox. He never passes up a meal. As soon as he was done I lifted up the lid of the litterbox before so I could see what his poop looked like before he covered it and I was shocked. He has always had very loose stool because of his IBD but I have never seen anything like this in my entire life!! I'm sorry for this graphic description but it basically looked like intenstines that had been thrown in a blender. It was very bloody and did not look like stool at all. I realized immediately that this was deadly serious and I took some of this stuff for a sample for the vet to see and called my boss and said I couldn't come in and then put Jimmy right into a carrier and drove for the ferry.
During the ride his third eyelids were appearing and then he wasn't holding his head up, it was just slumped. I was so scared. I know we are not supposed to say this but he is one of my favourites. I love all my animals with all my heart but I'm so close with Jimmy and we have a special relationship and after losing Charlie and then Tiger, I was beside myself that I could lose Jim too.
The vet said that the sample was all mucous and was coming from his large intestine. She did bloodwork and his white blood cell count was through the roof. She said that he is fighting a massive infection somewhere in his body.
She did xrays and showed them to me. She was very surprised, as was I to find out that Jimmy only had one kidney!!!! ( Mary, I'm going to read all your posts about Puddy and her one kidney so I can learn more about this now). The kidney is huge because it is overcompensating for the missing one. There appears to be a spot inside his kidney that she thinks is either a calcification or a kidney stone.
I should say that Jimmy was found wandering the streets when he was about 7 or 8ish years old. He was on death's doorstep and someone brought him to the SPCA. The vet hospital kept him in isolation for 30 days and put him on metronidazole and he finally stabilized. They felt that he had IBD and put him on prednisilone. He became the clinic cat for that hospital for about a year and then I adopted him. He has been with me for about 5.5 years. He also has asthma. He has always been very sensitive, physically and emotionally.
Anyway, an xray of his lungs had been done last year but never one of his body so this kidney thing was never discovered until today. I can't believe it.
The bloodwork showed that his kidney is doing well and those numbers are all in line. Thank God. She said the infection is likely in his gut and she put him on IV antibiotics and IV Metronidazole. They are bringing in a specialist tomorrow to do an ultrasound on his abdomen to make sure there are no masses in his intestines and to get a better idea of his other 'missing' kidney to see if it's there but tiny or completely gone.
I'm so upset. I just can't lose him.
The vet asked me what had changed in Jimmy's world in the recent past and I told her that I had tried a high protein diet (Taste of the Wild) that didn't agree with him and then had switched him back to the Wellness kibble just a few days ago. I told her that he had been a bit depressed since Tiger had passed away so that was stressful for him. And, I also told her that we had adopted two new cats last week that we picked out especially for Jim to try and fill the void in his life. He does seem to like the new guys but the stress of everything together may have proved to be too much for my sensitive guy.
I was just about to post a thread about our newest family members now that they are settled in and I suppose I still should. They are wonderful.
Any prayers for Jimmy would be so appreciated. He is so special and has been through so much. Thank you guys.
E.T.A. Here is the thread about our new guys.
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Originally Posted by jenn_librarian
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