Caturday: Living with Street Cats
Today is one of those days -- sitting up with a rescued street cat, sitting side by side to provide warmth, and periodically adjusting the steam vaporizer to reach Happy Cat's nostrils. Happy Cat is not very happy today. Ten days ago, he snatched and swallowed a blood pressure pill my son had placed on the counter while getting a glass of water. Happy Cat is a street cat rescue; he eats anything and everything.
Or did, until today. Ten days ago, we had to take him to the vet for that BP pill snatch. He had his stomach pumped and was given charcoal to deal with the poisoning. He was put on IV -- and because of a panic attack, was put on oxygen. It was a tough day.
Two days later, life became tougher. He started sneezing. Then, his nose started running. In days, he had trouble breathing. Back he went to the vet. That was two days ago. Again, he was put on oxygen for his panic attack (in spite of pre-dosing him with gabapentin to lessen it). Again, he was poked and probed. He was hydrated. And he was given amoxicillin for his upper respiratory infection.
Once her returned, though, he simply stopped eating and drinking -- and eliminating. He would go into the litter robot (love those things), but nothing would come out.
What I know about cats: (1) Cats can live up to two weeks without food, but only a couple of days without water. (2) Not peeing can mean a UTI. (3) He was chilled (the reason he wanted to sit on my lap -- for shared warmth). (4) Older cats (he is 14) can develop new problems. (5) Losing weight (he lost two pounds in two days) is not good.
What I have learned about street cats: (1) They are smart about survival issues -- when Happy Cat was sick on the street, he came to our door, lay prone, and let us put him in a carrier to get vet help. (2) They like to eat -- and eat -- and eat. They will often eat everything that is put out, having developed the mentality that food here today might not be available tomorrow. Happy Cat was a garbage cat, as we called him. He ate everything that was given to him and finished up everything that was given to the other cats. He was not fat, but he was solid (14-16 pounds); we were a little concerned about diabetes, given his chunkiness, but he escaped it. Perhaps because we had him on DM food for weight control. (3) They tolerate pain often without complaint -- this is not good, but it is something we have to keep in mind about Happy Cat. I only knew Happy Cat was miserable because he followed me everywhere and whenever I sat would climb onto the sofa or chair beside me or climb into my lap -- neither of which was normal behavior for him. Seeking solace, comfort. (4) They have a good sense about what they need to do to take care of themselves. When we put on the steam vaporizer, Happy Cat adjusted his sleeping position to get the best use of it, and he never left it as long as it was working (never had to leave it since he refused to eat and therefore did not need to use the litter robot -- alarming.
Finally, after spending most of the night worrying, snuggling, and wrapping him in a blanket to keep him warm, we took off for the ER, more than an hour away. No vet around here is open on the weekend or late hours. After many hours and tests: asthma was confirmed (yes, he has had that for years). URI was confirmed as pretty serious (inflammation showing in blood and, of course, in breathing apparati. Arthritis (spondylosis) was noticed (this is new -- and the vet gave steroids -- we will have to watch how this plays out in the future), but following the lack of acknowledgement of pain that we have noticed in street cats, Happy Cat has never indicated that he is arthritic. For that matter, he has never given us any reason to think of him as old. Now we will. The ER hydrated him and gave him an appetite stimulant: mirataz.
When we got home, after Happy Cat's minor (this time) panic attack on the way and after applying the mirataz ointment to his ear, he still did not want to eat. Then, a strange thing happened. He slipped when trying to get up the cat tree (a first and clearly an "oops" not an explainable problem) and fell headfirst into the dry cat food -- and gobbled it down. Yes! We gave him his antibiotic at that point (has to be given with food), and now he is sleeping on the top of the cat tree -- snoring, which is what I need to do now, too (except, perhaps, in a bed, not on a tree).
Just sharing some Caturday experiences...maybe some of them will be useful.
For more Caturday posts, click HERE.
Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter
Follow MSI Press on X, Face Book, and Instagram.
in exchange for reviewing a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book?
Contact editor@msipress.com.
Want an author-signed copy of this book?
Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25)
and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.
You can!
Find their contact information on our Authors' Pages.
Comments
Post a Comment