PanningForGold

We have six, that’s right, count ‘em, six cats.  Did you know that they get viruses just like people?  Not only that they catch it from one another. 

It started with our 15 year old cat Brianna, or Beezer as I like to call her.  Beezer has always been an inflammatory kitty meaning her body doesn’t seem to like her very much.  She suffers from inflammations it happens on her lips, chin and even her legs once swelled up and I am sure that her insides do the same.  She has a habit of eating and throwing up which is something I never get used too but I have learned to accept.  Beezer also has some sort of allergy problem which makes her itchy, in her later years she has managed to pluck off quite a bit of her fur making her a bald Beezer.

One morning Beezer decided to stop eating.  Yet she still ‘wommited’.  She continued to refuse to eat and still continued to ralph.  We were looking at a 15 year old orange, thinning, bald Beezer.  It was time to make an appointment with the vet. 

At the same time we came to the conclusion that Gumdrop had a urinary tract infection.  She is prone to them.  Lucky for us she started peeing in the shower.  And by shower I mean she positioned her little parts over the drain and peed directly into the drain, more than once!  Usually when a cat doesn’t use the litter box they are trying to tell you something is wrong.  Gumdrop however is hard to read and she really does love to sit in our shower.

While we were going to the vet anyway we made it a double appointment two appointments = twice the fun at twice the price. 

Did I mention that a few days before my wife found some rice at the base of Floyd’s tail?  Only it wasn’t rice it was a segment of a tape worm.  So Floyd was already being medicated for that but at least we now know who ate the mouse.  A few weeks ago we found a mouse kidney in our shower.  It could have been a liver but in the grand scheme of things does it matter?  I know what you are thinking, we have a high traffic shower!

Sunday evening another cat, fifteen year old ‘goat guts’ Deirdre stopped eating.  When Deirdre stops eating I know that the earth is off its axis.  She also started upchucking.  Gumdrop at this point was looking good and using the litter box again.  Perhaps she is just lazy and was in the shower already when she needed to pee.  So we replaced Gumdrop with ‘goat guts’ Deirdre.   Beezer however was starting to eat again and was looking a little better but we don’t take any chances with Beezer. 

Our vet confirmed that we had a virus. Seeing as Beezer is on the mend we did nothing.  Ole’ goat guts got a shot to help prevent further retching.  Despite the meds she still continued to hurl.

After we got home from the vets Gumdrop started to go downhill.  We have never seen Gumdrop  blow chunks.  She seriously doesn’t like it.  She pukes then runs around the room like she is possessed.  If she didn’t look like fretful porcupine it would be rather funny, okay it is funny but you have to feel bad for her.

I also learned this week that it is hard to sleep when your cats are sick.  Not just because we are worried but because our cats sleep with us, sometimes in the bed so we have to keep one ear open to listen for the sound of a cat starting to heave.   So far we have only had to change the sheets once at a rather ungodly hour.

Thankfully Brianna seems to be over it.  Deirdre while not a happy camper is starting to move in a more positive direction.  Gumdrop too seemed to take a more positive turn this morning.  Perhaps tonight sleep will come.

Of course there is still Katie, Trouble and Floyd to go.