Pente got sick. Really sick. I thought she'd been acting a little off, but with my mom and girls in the house and with Dave traveling, I thought she was just reacting to these differences in her environment.
Finally on Tuesday morning, I got up and found her and she looked like hell. Seriously, she looked like a homeless cat - one that had never been groomed or cared for.
I loaded her in the car and off to the vet we went. I had to go to Denver to work so I asked if they would just hold her until they had time to see her during the day. Happily, after I dropped her off, they gave her a quick look-over to see if she could wait until later for a full exam.
I returned home to their call - totally unexpected! They said she was sick. She had a temperature over 105 degrees and was terribly dehydrated. I told them to do what ever was needed to help her. I called Dave to let him know...he had been out of town climbing. I didn't want him to come home and not be able to find Pente and wonder what happened.
The vet drew blood and tested it. They gave her an IV for fluids and then we could only wait and hope her temp would come down. (normal cat temp is between 101.5 to 102.5 according to some sources).
As soon as Dave got home, we went to visit her. We ended up visiting her each day about 3 times. We hoped this would make her stay there less stressful. Not fun feeling terribly, having an IV and getting your temp taken a lot in the rump. She has dignity and the temp thing was not to her liking.
These first three photos are our our first visit. She actually looked better then than she would for the next couple of days. She's sitting up and her eyes don't look so glassy.
Her temperature did not want to come down. It stayed way too high for about three days. For the first day she did not urinate. She did not eat while at the vet either. No pooping. She just sat there and looked like she felt terrible.
We visited and brought toys, Dave's shirts (she loves to sit on them) and other things we hoped she'd feel comfortable with. We brought her favorite cat food hoping she'd eat. She didn't.
The gave her anti-nausea medication, appetite stimulation medicine, pain killers and I don't even remember what else.
All the while she looked so sick and crappy feeling.
We offered her tons of types of cat foods. No luck.
A trip group photo.
Ultimately we had to feed her mushy cat food with a syringe. She took it pretty well and happily did not barf. This is good! Bad thing is that syringe feeding is not a long term sort of solution.
Still it got some calories in her. Ultimately her temp came down and stayed down. She was weaned off her IV fluids and released to Dave. The hope was that while at home she'd be more willing to eat. She didn't want to eat even there. Seeing her at home, Dave could really see how sick she was. Nothing she did was normal.
He syringe fed her for a couple of days. It was a messy affair for all of us.
Mostly she continued to just exist.
Finally, she started looking at her food...but no eating. And finally, she ate! We were so relived. She didn't eat much at each stop, but she was eating. A few days later, she pooped which was also welcome. (I won't post that photo). :)
I don't even want to think of what we'd have to help her with if she didn't produce on her own!
A few days later, she was up and walking and acting a bit more like herself. Today, almost 2.5 weeks later, we feel she is about 99%. She is a little quieter than normal (she's not a noisy cat really) and she has no desire to go out and roll in dirt - something that she's always loved to do. Other than that, she seems to be feeling fine.
What happened to her? We will probably never know. Cats can be diagnosed with "Fever of Unknown Origin." Sounds like I'm making it up, but it's real. See: http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/fever-of-unknown-origin-for-cats/110.
Hopefully she doesn't do this again. Three days of hospitalization and lots of worry - not fun!
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