Versace drank water. Like plain, right out of the water bowl, water! AND had kibble. Not a lot, but she ate it on her own!

Also, she’s been on the counter. I couldn’t be happier!! My baby is feeling better! Really actually better. *sigh* All this within the last hour too. Weird how sudden it is. Hrm. I just hope it lasts!

I am a proud papa tonight. I just hope she doesn’t injure herself with all of these shenanigans. I had forgotten exactly how “death defying” her “normal” really is… Good gawd. Hang on… VERSACE!! Get down!!

Gotta run.

tagged: cat versace siamese kitten spay complications

daniel · mid-afternoon · 1 comment · ping it

My cat isn’t dead! In fact I would cautiously venture to say… she’s getting better. But I can’t get too much hope going. She’s been better and worse and better and even more worse for days. But I am still *cautiously optimistic*. I have decided, groggy or not, it wouldn’t be right to groom her in any way while in this state. That is definitely OCD self control. There is some ear trimming one does on a purebred Siamese.. But I refrain. I do!

All kidding aside, I do hope we are finally healing. I have been sick with worry. This cat is my very first actual pet that has been all my own. Not the family dog. Not the Pre-Existing Cats I moved into with my Richard. I chose her. Or more actually, she chose me. I just chose the breed. The rest was magic. I feel totally responsible. Her surgery hurt me.

And on that note, since I brought it up… What the hell with the Spay-Neuter campaign? I get, *no*, I TOTALLY GET the importance of both procedures. However, they are recommended and tossed about like candy. Like it’s totally natural for your pet. Common even. In most cases it may be all those things! In our case it was not. It was a very real, very major surgery. It had very real and serious complications. I just imagine how it would be handled if it were a woman, instead of my cat. She was sent home with me the same day. Like it was nothing. I didn’t know. I thought it was “nothing” too. Although I had done a bit of online research, I went with the flow. I selfishly wanted my kitten back home. Now that I have been through it, I find it amazingly cruel to send an animal home with untrained, unprepared regular folk to handle the POST MAJOR SURGERY CARE. All I got was a useless e-collar (the lampshade that my cat could both reach around and remove at will) and a painkiller that was hard to administer. No antibiotics, which as it turns out are the magic cure for rejecting sutures. I had little idea of what to expect, and the online info combined with the “discharge instructions” were absolutely useless. It is my belief that an overnight stay would have saved her all this undue suffering. The veterinary hospital has much better “kind confinement” than I can provide at home to speed healing the first day. My cat did some amazing body slams and contortions because she wanted out of the suggested “isolation in one room” as well as repeatedly removing the e-collar (and that took BODY FLIPS people, all with a fresh incision) The symptoms of my cats complications would have probably been noticed had she been overnight. Or had we been given antibiotics to start right away. But the surgery is so common. So many cats have no issues that the rules are based on the majority. So here I am, exhausted from fear and guilt, and 300 dollars poorer (not counting the cost of the spay) for something I feel could have been totally avoidable.

Dude. Learn from me and ask questions. Make sure you and your pet never has to endure what we did due to lack of knowledge. Had I known what to ask for and insist on, we would have had none of this pain and heartache.

tagged: cat kitten advice spay procedures

daniel · late evening · 3 comments · ping it

My cat was almost back like she was on Sunday when I took her to the Emergency Hospital last night when I got home. I couldn’t believe it. Richard had been with her all day! Apparently she had been acting normal until an hour before I got home. Frantic, I canceled our dinner plans. I needed to keep an eye on her. She got worse within the next hour. I was about to take her back to the ER, when her regular Doctor called to check on her. After talking with her we thought forcing water down her throat to keep her hydrated would be fine till morning. Then I was going to drop her off at the vet, and skip the expensive ER. So we gave her about 2 ounces of water, and let her sleep a bit. She woke up around 9 and was obviously feeling better. She ate and drank on her own, her fur looked normal, and she was alert again. Relieved, we all got on the couch and watched TV before bed. This morning she seemed fine too. She drank water as soon as she was up and about. She ate breakfast. I called the vet and let them know I was going to watch her at home, and not drop her off since she still seemed okay.

Later in the afternoon I became concerned. I hadn’t seen her drink anything. I tried to give her water, but she turned away. So I tried her moist food. She went for that, so I mixed it with more water and hand fed her. After a few more hours she still hadn’t drank on her own and was starting to look gaunt again. Dehydrated again. I gave her more canned food with water and called the vet again. She said we should bring her in. We just dropped her off. I hope to hear something by 5:15. That’s when they said I should return. I just hope she’s okay. I thought this “spaying” was a Routine Procedure. I thought there were rarely complications. I thought most cats were feeling normal after 24 - 48 hours. It’s been nearly 5 days. The ER vet thought she was fine. My cat isn’t acting fine. Is she in pain, tear a stitch, or just a drama queen? Hopefully I’ll know in an hour.

I am so afraid I am going to lose her. For something I elected to have done. I cannot explain the guilt and remorse I already feel. If this gets worse… I am going to be a mess.

tagged: cat versace kitten spay

daniel · mid-afternoon · 5 comments · ping it

Well, I just returned from the Emergency Pet Hospital.

After a day and a half of feeling fine and being far too active Versace was feeling the effects of her spaying this morning. She didn’t want to get out of bed, and when she did she was moving slow. I noticed right away that she was shivering. I figured she was cold so I popped on the heat and went about my morning routine. I started by putting down cat food. Coco of course came running. Versace did not. Odd, but I had figured she was finally feeling all the jumping around she had been doing. I felt bad so made her food a special treat by mixing in some cottage cheese (loves it, and good for her coat… they say). I even brought it up to her. She didn’t want it. She wasn’t even interested. Worried, I went and got the other treats she really *REALLY* likes. She sniffed at it a bit but only ate it after I tore it up small. Scared, but still thinking she was hurting I gave her the pain medication. She slept for a bit, but was clearly feeling and looking worse when she woke up. That’s when we went to the Emergency Room.

I hadn’t been there since Chanel died, and panic really hit when I dove into the driveway. By the time I walked in the door I was feeling waves of emotion combined with my worry over Versace. They took her to the back right away. I had to fill out forms. Then I was sent to the waiting area. After what felt like forever a young man came out with my Portable Pet Home that we use as a carrier. It was empty. I think my heart stopped, but he quickly explained that Versace was with the doctor, and someone would take me back shortly. They really shouldn’t come out with empty pet carriers. It’s just cruel. After another eternity I was finally led to the exam room. No it wasn’t exam room 3, luckily. Still, as soon as I got inside it was all too much. It looked the same. Smelled the same. In my mind I could see Richard bent over the exam table with Chanel. I lost it. I cried. I cried for Richard’s loss, for Chanel, and out of fear for my new little Versace. I hadn’t pulled it together by the time the doctor came in. I think I startled her. She had to think I was crazy. So I explained my last visit to that particular hospital. Which got me teary again. She assured me that Versace was fine, and not going to die. Once I had relaxed a bit she explained what she thought was going on and we talked about how it happened.

She thinks my cat is in extreme pain from the surgery, and her activity since. She doesn’t think Versacec was shivering from cold, but fear and pain. After talking we established that I was administering the medicine incorrectly and she wasn’t getting enough. It wore off. Once in so much pain she stopped eating and drinking, and got dehydrated too. I feel awful about that, but I am relieved that my kitten is okay. If the doctor was right my baby should be feeling better and continue healing just fine. She thought that the incision looked clean and good. Nothing was torn open, the swelling there was normal. All of that looked fine. They helped administer the medicine correctly and we went home.

Since then Versace looks better, still sleepy and not moving, but responsive. She also ate a kibble. Yay!

tagged: cat versace kitten emergency surgery spay

daniel · early afternoon · 2 comments · ping it

I just heard back from the vet. Versace’s surgery went fine. I can pick her up at four. *phew* I am relieved. I am sure I had no reason to worry, but I was. I had looked up what a “spaying” entailed the other day and it freaked me out. They pretty much remove all her stuff. The whole “area” gets deleted. Ew. On boys it’s a lot less invasive I think. I didn’t look, but one assumes. Anyhoo. She’s fine. No more “Heat”, and with any luck no more big vet bills for a while. I swear, all this has literally cost me more than the actual cat!

Okay. Enough about that. Back to my dinner preparations. I am making salad, and since I hate doing it, I do the whole head of lettuce. We get a few days out of it that way. One less thing to make each day.. Ta!

tagged: versace surgery vet spay

daniel · lunch time · say it · ping it

What? Thursday? Well, for most folk, I am sure it is. However it is a three day weekend for me! A much needed one. work has been totally sucky this week. I need a short escape! But it won’t be all fun times on the 3-dayer. My kitten, using the term loosely since The Heat, is going in for her spay tomorrow. It is something we need to do as responsible pet owners. Sure she is purebred, but we have no intention of breeding her. In fact, we didn’t even purchase her with breeding rights. But all that aside… I am worried about it. She is a bit young as far as normal spaying age. She is also a bit small. Siamese are narrow mid-sized cats and she is nowhere near full grown. So as easy and common as a spaying is I am concerned about my baby.

So Friday morning I drop her off. I plan to then do my errands around town so that when I pick her up later I can stay home and observe… Like a good cat-dad. If all goes well and there are no issues with healing or getting picked at by Coco we are going to a Game Night (yet to be confirmed tho, where’s the official email?) on Saturday. Sunday I’d like to Geocache or rollerblade if the weather holds.

Hmm. Sounds basic. I need to throw in bacon somewhere in these plans…

*this entry posted while not wearing pants

tagged: pets versace siamese coco spay 3 day weekend

daniel · lunch time · say it · ping it