Animal E.R.

Today has been rough. I write this while waiting for word from my veterinarian’s office. This morning I awoke to find Clueless fast asleep on top of my legs. Clueless is not a “bed cat”. He doesn’t mind if he visits for a few brief minutes when his people are first snuggling down for the night, but when they start to go to sleep things get boring, and he’s off to explore more active areas of the apartment, like the sofa or cat bed. He’d come visiting last night, but apparently he decided to stay the entire night. He’s never done this since we moved into the apartment.

I managed to get out of bed without disrupting him too much, and it almost looked like he was going to stay in bed without me. The Kitten knows that alarm-clock time is feeding time (I suspect she thinks I set the alarm clock so I have a reminder to feed her in the mornings). Her activity nudged Clueless into action as well, and both of them followed me downstairs, Clueless lagging behind.

I fed the other two cats first, because Clueless didn’t seem too anxious for his food and the other two were bawling loudly enough to wake half the free world. When I fed Clueless, he only ate one or two kibbles and wandered away. This has become a routine thing, so I picked up his bowl, planning to offer the food again in five minutes or so. As I was preparing my lunch, I heard a weird sound in the living room, and took a few steps out of the kitchen to investigate. I was in time to see Clueless being violently ill. He’d hardly eaten, and I could tell that he hadn’t eaten his previous meal (fed by the Socialist) because most of it had been left in his bowl when I got his breakfast together. In spite of the fact he’d missed two meals in a row, he managed to barf up an incredible amount of kibble. Even after the contents of his stomach were emptied he continued to vomit, until he looked like he had the hiccoughs. Hell, he might have had hiccoughs, for all I know, though irritation at the back of the pharynx can also cause that sort of “guk-guk” motion.

I made a call to my vet, who has 24-hour emergency service. They offered to let me bring him in at 9:00 (and thus save the $75 emergency fee) but I didn’t want to wait that long (it was 6:30 when I called). I found Clueless upstairs, hiding in my darkened computer room, and set the carrier down in front of him. He ordinarily fights tooth and nail if he knows he’s to be carrier-ized, but this morning he crawled in meekly, as if he just didn’t give a damn. If I needed any further justification to take him in to the vet, that was it.

Clueless had an ultrasound scheduled next Monday. We’ve decided to do it on an emergency basis today. He now weighs 11 lbs 8 oz., down from 12 lbs 5 oz. just a week and a half ago. Weight loss that rapid is especially dangerous in cats, because it can lead to liver failure (look up “fatty liver” in cats if you want more details about that). If I wasn’t feeling good about things before, I’m feeling particularly punk about them at the moment.

Ultrasound results were good news rather than bad, but the bottom line is we still don’t know what’s going on. There was no sign of a mass, and no sign of thickening of the large intestine (which would indicate inflammatory bowel). Whatever is going wrong, it isn’t because of a growth or because Clueless’s GI tract is malfunctioning. We’re left with the question of what’s going on.

Clueless’s creatinine is a little high. Creatinine is an indicator of kidney function. The more in your blood, the worse your kidneys are functioning. He’s occasionally had high creat levels before, and after a brief scare that he had the start of kidney disease a good while ago, both the vet and I stopped worrying about it. The ultrasound showed CW’s kidneys were smaller than they should be though, and one is misshapen. We don’t really know what that means, but combined with a slightly elevated creat, it give cause for greater worriment. CW remains hospitalized tonight, while they keep him on fluids and rerun the bloodwork. Kidney failure is not a great diagnosis, but it’s one we can live with for a good long time, with constant care and attention. I should know more tomorrow.

I stopped at the hospital and visited Clueless for half an hour tonight. He was happy enough to see me, but dull, and very sleepy. I continue to try not to be alarmed, but it’s hard not to worry.