Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

Jeep is not dying! Yesterday was a REALLY long and stressful day for both Jeep and I. Yesterday morning, when I woke up, Maggie rushed the food bowl as usual, but Jeep didn’t follow. When I picked Jeep up and placed her in front of the food bowl, she looked at it and at me and walked away. I couldn’t get her to eat or drink anything, and she clearly didn’t feel well, so I called around and found a new vet. They had a 3pm appointment, so I took it. The vet said that Jeep had an overly full bladder, a very slight heart murmur, and muscle atrophy in her rear legs, which usually indicates recent weight loss. I guess she does look a little thin right now, but I hadn’t noticed. The doc said best case scenario was a urinary tract infection. Worse case? Maybe thyroid or kidney disease, or maybe cancer. My heart sunk when I heard that C-word.

Jeep was taken to the back for blood work and urinalysis. When the vet brought her back, she said Jeep may have to pee soon, so she sent her assistant out to get some litter. Meanwhile, Jeep climbed back into her bag (she won’t tolerate carriers) and proceeding to let her overly full bladder loose all over the inside of the bag, then sat in it. Her whole underside and all 4 legs were drenched. When I took her out of the bag, she got pee all over the exam table, then jumped to the floor and into a chair. It was just everywhere. After a major cleanup operation, we packed up and readied for the wait until Saturday to hear back about the results of the blood work. Oh, and of course there was the bath. Ugh. Good times! I used a syringe to force-feed Jeep chicken broth and milk with cat food I’d crushed with my mortar and pestle.

Last night, I was a bit of an anxious wreck. My girls have been my little family for a long time. They were there for all of grad school, my whole marriage, my divorce, dissertation, both internships, a few post-marriage boyfriends… a whole decade with these girls means I’m VERY attached to them. They are my children. I was glad to have some plans last night, since there wasn’t much I could do, although I was very distracted by thoughts of Jeep, how she was feeling, and her overall health. And that C-word kept haunting me. Thank you VERY much to my Flickr friends at Raleigh Times, Robyn Hitchcock, Pete Buck, a great drummer and bassist, and Massimo for some nice distraction. And thanks Mom and Dad for the phone time. Oh, and Maggie. Thanks, Maggie! Thanks for being healthy and hungry and purry.

Jeep continued (and continues) to be pukey, uninterested in food, and lacking in energy. In fact, the only way she will pee is if I lift her into the box. It’s very sad. But there is very good news. No C-word. Jeep doesn’t have cancer. She has the best case scenario, a Urinary Tract Infection. The vet gave her subcutaneous fluids, as well as an anti-nausea injection (that was at my request) and sent her home with antibiotics. When I got home, I force-fed her another 6 cc’s of the milk/cat food fluid and forced the antibiotic down. While she did puke about 10 minutes later, the vet assured me that no matter what, she will feel better within a day or two. I’m so relieved. I hate seeing her so miserable.

Right now, she’s on the floor sleeping. She’s been through so much. I think I’ll just leave her to it, maybe with a lift over to the litter box every hour or two.