Spent 6 hours in the Animal ER last night, Monkey (my 12 w/o kitten) was VERY ill, I had no idea what was wrong with him. He could have ate something that poisoned him, he could be blocked by something he ate, he could have some horrible disease or God knows what.
Friday night he got into my dog's food (1/4 c. of Orijen dry kibble for dogs) he ate every unenthusiastically Saturday morning around 6am. I tried again around 10 am just before I had to go to work and he would not touch it.
I shouldn't have left him but it was my second day at my new job. When I got home from work around 4 pm, I found clear liquid vomit (one small puddle) on the floor and he was having really bad diarrhea (yellowy and pure liquid) and he was crying when he pooed. He was lethargic and would not eat or drink. About 15 minutes later he started screaming and vomiting what looked like liquid cat food.
He was obviously very dehydrated. I knew how serious this was so I took him to the ER ASAP. Why do my furbabies always go into crisis mode on long weekends? Ollie my 6 y/o kitty went into the ER 2 years ago this long weekend and that did NOT end well.
Many years ago my Cocker Boo-Boo (RIP) tore his cruciate ligament on a long weekend as well.
They took his temp (slightly elevated), did the 'snap back skin test' which I myself had done (not good), checked ears, eyes (third eyelid showing and red) did a very thorough abdominal palpation (noted that he had swelling and felt pain when it was touched, was not farting though. He asked lots of questions, that I wished that I had better answers for.
All in all, I was very comforted by the doctor's diligence and manner.
I had to leave him there for extensive (expensive) tests and IV therapy. He was so pathetic looking and was crying for me, it really REALLY sucked.
When I got home I was wracking my brain trying to think of what went wrong OTHER than the eating of Gracie's food and it just hit me that something unusual DID happen wayyy early yesterday morning. Just before I got into the shower, I put my Crest 3D whitening strips on. I must have forgotten to put them in the trash or someone got them OUT of the trash. Anyways, when I got out of the shower the empty foil pack was on the floor, part of it had been chewed and the little clear plastic card that the bleaching gel strips stick to was on the floor as well.
I wasn't thinking too clearly, got about 3 hours of sleep the night before due to my jerk neighbours partying all night, so I didn't really take note as I should have, figured that the foil was still there so he probably didn't ingest it but he may have licked the gel off the card thingy. That didn't really didn't strike me as likely because I thought it wouldn't be appealing enough for him to actually want to eat it.
Likewise it occurred to me that maybe he ingested some of the tape/or foil that I have all over the apt to keep him from getting up on places and eating things (non-toxic plants and/or other cat's food).
I wish I had remembered this at the vet! It may have made a huge difference. I phoned them right away and told them about it. I feel so horribly guilty right now.
Saw about 30 different people or families with dead/dying/ bleeding/going to be put down pets. EVERYONE was bawling. It was soul crushing. The place was so full most of us were sitting on the floor and crying/hugging/commiserating with random strangers. That has surely been the unhappiest most traumatic place I have ever been.
Incidentally the vet hospital on 38th Avenue and 99th street is closed due to relocating to 56th Ave (Guardian Animal Hospital), which I only found out
after driving all the way there with a crying sick Monkey.
Also why do my fur babies always go into crisis mode on a long weekend? It was 2 years ago exactly that Ollie ended up there, and that did not end well. This all seems horribly familiar once again.
They phoned me with initial blood test results around 4am (showed OK) and initial x-rays that indicated some swelling from gas and/or blockage (they couldn't tell what) in his intestine and colon. The place was so full most of us were sitting on the floor. They told me if I hadn't brought him him in likely he would have died.
My latest update on Monkey was at 7:30am this morning:
He is doing "well so far" they tried feeding him at 5:30am and he ate.
If he keeps it down and continues to improve, they will try feeding him around 9:30 and if that works, he may be able to come home around 6pm. So I'm cautiously optimistic...
When I asked him what they fed him, he said they have a "special gastro formula". I Googled that and came up with
this.
They said if and when they send him home they will give me some of that to take with me.
Now I need to know if I should keep feeding him that or what? I see it has a lot of no-no's in there (if it's the same one) also I forgot to ask if they fed him canned or dry food. But I can understand the rice thing as it is easily digestible. Also if it keeps him fuller longer maybe I can avoid this incident repeating itself.
Obviously, I am looking for suggestions on a better alternative.
I'm leery of just going back to Wellness Kitten as it didn't seem to fill him up enough. I am aware that I did not get the chance to increase his feeding amounts before this incident happened.
I am so exhausted and drained and feel so guilty.
By the way, this little episode has cost me $1834 so far. That was the high end of the quote, I am not optimistic that I will be refunded anything by them changing it to the the low end price.
Thank you for reading this incredibly long post once again. I am sorry to be bothering you so much!