Our Second Home

No, I did not buy another house. Rather, thanks to my adorable feline furbabies, the vet has become our second home these past couple weeks. Fear not, as all the furbabies are well. They just occasionally feel compelled to give this momma a reason to worry and call the vet (whose phone number, by the way, I have memorized).

It first started with Thimble. When I went home for lunch one day not long ago, I found a perfectly happy Thimble, except her ears were surrounded by sores.

Thimble kept trying to rub her head against her scratching post, which was only making the sores worse.

Her left side looked the worst, and she even had sores behind this ear.

I called the vet almost as soon as I found the sores, and Thimble was dropped off that afternoon. The veterinarian found that poor Thimble's lymph nodes in her neck were even swollen, and the best guess is that Thimble simply had an acute dermatological allergic reaction to something in her environment (perhaps an insect bit her, or Astrid or us humans dragged some flower, grass, or other allergen in from outside). The sores grew to look even worse after Thimble was dropped off at the vet, so she was prescribed prednisolone (a steroid). Luckily, after receiving just two doses of the steroid, her sores started to clear up. She is now in the process of being weaned off of the prednisolone, and so far her face continues to remain clear.

Thimble's back to herself (glowing eyes and all)!

Just days later, though, little kitty Eddy suddenly went from having perfectly formed stool to significant diarrhea. And I truly mean that it was sudden, as the change from perfectly solid stool to diarrhea occurred within a couple short hours. Although Eddy remained active, playful, and more than willing to eat her beloved moist food, she quickly developed a nearly constant urgency to visit the litter box. On one instance she couldn't even make it to the litter box in time, the poor girl.

So, the vet was called again, and I took Eddy in with the lovely gift of a stool sample. No parasites nor any other concerning findings were noted in her stool sample, though, so we can only guess that she perhaps got into some of the big kitties' food or something of the sort, and her GI system was thereafter unhappy. Given the severe urgency of Eddy's diarrhea, the veterinarian started her on metronidazole (an antibiotic known to have great success in treating diarrhea) and probiotics. Although Eddy absolutely despised the taste of the metronidazole, she and I came to an understanding, and after just two or three doses of it her stool was back to normal.

Yep, that's happy, healthy Eddy. Still can't manage to get a good shot of this active little lady!

Well, then it was my boy Evan's turn. Despite being on monthly flea preventatives and being completely free of fleas, and despite there being no mice to consume in my house, Evan suddenly started defecating tapeworm segments just this past Saturday. This momma was quite disturbed by that! Otherwise, Evan acted fine. So, I went ahead and waited until my vet opened on Monday (yesterday), and I called them first thing that morning and dropped Evan off shortly after (he was so nervous his paw pads were sweating, and his nervous bladder got the better of him, and it broke my heart).

While he was there, the veterinarian found no fleas or other obvious reason why he suddenly started defecating tapeworm segments, and all we can guess is that perhaps Astrid or us humans dragged in a tapeworm-carrying flea and that Evan somehow managed to acquire and consume it while bathing before his flea preventative could fight it off. Or, perhaps he's had the tapeworm for a while. After all, the four kitties (Thimble and her brothers) had fleas and tapeworm when we rescued them last summer, and I did find some fleas on Evan back then, and sometimes tapeworms can lie dormant. I do wonder about this in Evan's case, as, even though he is currently an ideal weight, he has lost three quarters of a pound over the past year. Perhaps he has had a lazy tapeworm lying dormant in there, the poor boy. But, I guess I'll never know. Regardless, he was given a dewormer yesterday, and I came home with a second dose to give him in three weeks. So, all is well.

Poor boy was so tired after his day at the vet yesterday. Luckily, he let me shower him with limitless affection last night.

The only furbaby of mine who hasn't been in need of a recent vet visit (at least not since her annual exam and vaccines back in mid-July) is the resident pooch Astrid.

Good girl, Astrid! Keep up the good work!

I hope you are all having a great week, and that you're all staying away from those unexpected vet visits!