Monday, July 7, 2014

The Littlest Patient


Tungsten was sick over the weekend. I noticed it Thursday morning, when she woke me at eight minutes after three. She threw up, which is rare for her. She vomited more later, five times that I knew of; that’s as often as she has thrown up in the last two years. She also had no interest in food or water, and was lethargic and apathetic. I made an appointment with the doctor for Friday afternoon.


It’s suspected that she had some sort of infection; exactly what, was undetermined. She was prescribed antibiotics and a pill to settle her stomach. I also started ‘force-feeding’ her Recovery soft-food by syringe. So she was getting food pumped into her thrice a day, half an anti-biotic pill twice a day and a quarter of an anti-upchuck pill once a day - plus her twice daily ear-rub of hyperthyroid medicine. She was displeased with life over the weekend.


However, by Sunday, the Tiny Terror was much better. She was eating, both hard- and soft-food - not her usual amounts (which are never large, anyway) - but much more than in the previous few days. She asked for a drink of water last night, for the first time since Wednesday. And her behaviour is almost normal again.

Numerous tests were run by the hospital, due to Tungsten’s health problems - hyperthyroidism and kidney trouble. All told, the cost was a tidy $300 even. I cannot feel bad about the price, though, since, despite it showing the doctor very little that could indicate what was wrong with the orange one, the tests conducted demonstrated that, aside from this passing infection, she is in excellent shape, considering her health issues. The veterinary, who was a stranger to Tungsten, stated that if she had not known of the cat’s kidney problems from her records, she would not have thought Tungsten had any at all. My little queen’s weight remains steady; it has hovered between 2.9 and three kilograms for more than six months, and her T4 numbers are good.

So, now that she is recovering from her illness, Tungsten can return to being the demanding, superior top-cat she is meant to be.


11 comments:

  1. Lots of healing purrs; we're glad she appears to be on the mend. That's about the average cost of a vet visit when running blood work and other tests! It's great that she's as healthy as she can be, though, with her hyper-t, etc. Good news there.

    Paws crossed she's 100% again soon!

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  2. Oh so glad you are feeling better Tungsten. You sure are a cute kitty. What a nice Dad you have for taking such good care of you. So sending lots of purrs to keep on feeling better. Take care.

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  3. must have been an "every cat to the vet weekend". :) Glad she is recovering from whatever...and love that report from the vet.

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  4. What a scare that must have been. So glad she is feeling a bit better. My Riley, also an orange purrball, got sick a couple of years ago. ER for two day, cost .. oh my, and the results were that he didn't have this or that. Pancreatitis .. maybe. Has been fine since. They do worry us don't they.

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    1. They do worry us. I'm glad your Riley has been so well since his scare. I wanted to have Tungsten seen to on Friday because I didn't want to head into a weekend with her not treated. She is back to her old self now, thank goodness.

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  5. I am glad to hear Tungsten is back to normal again. It is such a worry when they are not well.

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  6. So very glad to hear that Tungsten is getting back to normal. Also fantastic news about her lab work indeed. Hope all remains well with her.

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  7. It's horrible for the humans when we kitties get sick as we can't tell them exactly what's wrong!! Glad Tungsten is feeling better xo

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  8. So glad the little one is feeling better. Our Buddy has been the ill one in the past with the 200 dollar tummy aches. And he or another will be in the future as we worry about our little furs

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  9. I'm glad to hear Tungsten is feeling better. Poor girl! It can't have been easy for either of you with the force feeding.

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