Sick Cats and Closed Gyms

Yesterday ended up being a slightly stressful day! Tom and I had a party at the vet. A very, very long party, where he was not very happy to be there.

We ended up having to do an x-ray, but that was kind of unclear so the vet wanted a radiologist to read it. Then they spun his blood down and realized it was super lipemic (fatty- which you can see because the blood turns whitish, and his was like, a solid layer of frothy white), so instead of just doing this quick test for pancreatitis, they ended up sending more labs out to an actual lab since the vet thought they would have to extract the fat, which they can’t do there. But they did a snap fPL which tests for pancreatitis in cats, and they said his was a strong positive (it can take 10 minutes to come back positive and his was back in a minute). Then they gave him a shot for nausea and some meds to take home… And I walked out with a $600 bill and a “very sick cat.”

Unfortunately, he hasn’t made much progress since yesterday. No vomiting, but he hasn’t had anything to eat and I’m trying everything! I made chicken and rice (per the vet), gave him a few kibbles of his normal food, bought this super expensive easily digestible wet food, and even tried pumpkin. No luck. He walked around for a bit today but has spent almost all of his time laying down. So we’re back to the vet at 2:30 today so I can learn how to inject him with subcutaneous fluids (subq- they just go into his skin, basically- they stick them in the scruff on his neck). I’m also going to get him some pains meds to give him too, just in case. I have read all sorts of stuff about how they get fatty liver if they don’t eat and it can be fatal and a quick onset, so I’m all paranoid about that! Also, the doctor called me this morning with his levels. Basically, when they did the spec fPL (the snap is a positive or negative, this one tells the number), his was astronomically high. Also, his triglycerides are insanely high (90 is normal, his are 9,900). The vet said he has the highest numbers he has ever seen in a pet. Tom is also the youngest animal the vet has ever seen to have pancreatitis. So, regardless of if Tom gets better, we’ll be making visits to figure out if this ends up being a chronic problem and if it is, then we have to talk about managing it long term. And apparently this is a good indicator that he will end up with diabetes, so that’s great too. But I’m crossing my fingers that Tom gets better over the next few days, especially since we leave for Tahoe next week!

This was super long about my cat. But he’s my little baby and I hate that he’s so miserable. Even Jon was texting me yesterday that Tom was making him sad cause he just lays there and doesn’t even purr when we pet him. He’s just not like himself. Also, I always said I’d never spend tons of money on my cats, but he’s only 2 and he’s my little Tomcat! I can’t just put him to sleep if he has chronic pancreatitis! My poor baby.

Anyway, so the vet took up my whole afternoon yesterday. And so did cooking chicken and rice. I ended up leaving to run some errands for a baby shower I was putting on in our break room at work. I grabbed food at Costco and set up some streamers. Unfortunately, not many people came, so I was kind of bummed about that. A lot of people said they didn’t know about it (even though we sent out emails and put up signs all over the place and I put it as my Facebook status twice and am friends with most of my work people). A few people said they meant to bring gifts and forgot, so I hope that they will!

I was hoping to spend time with Jon last night before he headed out for Thanksgiving, but he didn’t get home from his friend’s till late and I was pooped!

This morning, I got up to go to CrossFit but the gym wasn’t even open! I wish they had updated that on ClassPass! I was pretty irritated since there were other classes I would have gone to and this gym is 25 minutes away! So I spent almost an hour in the car (well, I did cause I went to Petco, too) for a closed gym! I was going to go when I got home but I was starving, so I just ate. I’m about to do some work on my paper, take Tom to the vet, and then maybe work out before spending some more time on my paper.

I had planned on going to my parent’s house to make sweet potato casserole for work tomorrow, but with Tom being a sick boy and having to drive him to the vet (which is right next to my mom and dad’s house) and bring him back home, I think that just won’t be happening. Also, I had planned on spending the night at their house for the next few days since I work at my job near their house, but again, Tom needs to be given his fluids and I need to try to get him to eat… So, Thanksgiving this year is a bit of a bust, but that’s alright. As long as my fluffy orange boy feels better, it’ll be worth it! (And hopefully it doesn’t cost too much more money… since I could have bought BOTH of my car seats that I need for the price of his vet bill yesterday!)

 

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