It's a rainy day at the farmette. Better than the weather north of us, which is freezing rain and many are without power right now.
There's nothing that makes me stop feeling anxious about anything else faster than one of our furballs getting really sick. That happened with our Fred last week.
This gorgeous wee guy was diagnosed with bladder stones on Thursday. Like a lot of bladder stones. Which meant emergency surgery. He had not been complaining at all. Just going from litter box to litter box (we have five) trying to pee. Then he stopped eating. Which triggered the vet visit.
He had just received a clean bill of health a week and a half ago at his annual checkup. Which added to the mystery.
Anyhow. Thank goodness for Dr. Curtain at Hanover Veterinary Clinic. She ordered up the blood work and the X ray, and voila. What the folks in the vet business call a 'string of pearls'. Except it's not so lovely when it's inside a cat.
So Fred went into surgery that afternoon. It took the surgeon Dr. Mighton three tries to get all the stones (the spiky shites shown below). Most were gone in the first round. A few more after the post-surgery Xray showed there were more. And a final stubborn stone was in his urethra. So round three.
You can imagine how long all this took. Rob and I were frantic with worry. The phone wasn't ringing to tell us our boy was okay. I called twice during office hours and they assured me that he was still in the operating room, doing okay, but not done. Mighton finally called well after 6:00 p.m. to give us the details and assure us that he was done and resting. He even called again at 8:45 after he did a quick check after supper. We found out later that there was also a dog with two broken legs that arrived after a car hit him. Heroes, I say.
Fred wasn't finished making us crazy, though. He couldn't eat when we brought him home Friday afternoon. So back to the vets yesterday for appetite stimulant, and he finally licked a few bits at noon. Today, he seems to actually be on the road to recovery. Big gash on his naked belly with dissolving sutures.
So lots of worry, angst and money later, our boy is going to actually be fine. We hope. He is on a strict diet for the rest of his life. But he's only five, so he should heal quickly. He's worth it.
Fred's been a family member since he was dumped as a kitten in our back yard. I hope he continues to crawl on my lap as in the top photo, and purr hugely. Long may he live. Until next week.
Comments