Suddenly

Cammie has had a stroke. I woke at three o’clock this morning to the familiar sounds of Parker throwing up. After I had talked to him and cleaned up the mess, I saw Cammie off to the side. She was walking in circles, dragging her rear left leg. A stroke was the first thing of which I thought.

I called the emergency service of my veterinary hospital, and had Cammie there within an hour. The doctor called the occurrence a ‘stroke-like’ episode, probably because she cannot define it strictly. It could be a clot, a burst blood vessel, or something else. Cammie did not seem, either to me or to the veterinary, to be in pain. She was clearly distraught, however, and confused. There were hemorrhages in both eyes, and she did not flinch when a simulated threat was made to her sight. My princess is blind.

She may also have lost control of her bowels. Once I had brought her home, she wet all over the bathroom floor, then defecated on the store-room floor, where the litter-boxes are, and tracked it out. After exhausting herself with endless circles, Cammie wedged herself headfirst between a bookcase and chest of drawers.

The blindness will be permanent, the doctor believes. Cammie can live with that, though it will restrict her world mightily. The problem with her bowels may be part of the panic that she must be feeling right now. If it is not, it may have a more serious effect on her quality of life than sightlessness.

Just yesterday, she and I had a good cuddling session. I lie down next to her on the bed, and she started purring when I petted her. Then she bumped me with her head, and lie on my chest. How quickly a world can change.