She’s fine. The Evil Cat’s bloodwork all came back totally normal, and the vet has survived unscarred. The cat’s kind of mad at me right now, but she got doped up with a painkiller and is stumbling around drunk, so I’m safe, for now.
I have to keep an eye on her for a few days and see that she doesn’t get worse, and if she does I have to walk across town, pick up the sedative, come back, dope her up again, and then bring her back to the vet, because they don’t want to deal with the shrieking clawing hell-beast again. I don’t blame them.
Yay Evil Cat :)
So does this mean that instead of looking for chewed-mice in the morning, you’ll now have to look for chewed-veterinarians?
You did the right decision.
In 2004 I did not bring my cat to the vet in time, and it has haunted me ever since. It is to lose a family member, and be at fault for it.
OT -Something to distract you from that vet fee.
The Florida Republicans just disenfrancised 35 % of their own voters!
The Republicans across the nation have been making it harder to vote by mail in an attempt to drive down the participation of voting. The Florida Republicans unthinkingly followed suit. Journalists checked out how many of the (mostly elderly) voter base of Republicans that vote by mail in Florida, and the answer is 35% !
By the new rules, you practically need to be an invalid to be allowed to vote by mail, but instead of hurting Black or Hispanic voters most it hurts white elderly Republican voters.
The Republicans are mean, greedy, hypocritical and dumber than a bucket full of hammers.
Savor this, it is news that I would gladly pay 350$ for.
Good news.
Good to hear she’s OK.
I remember him not liking the carrier thing and being vocal during the car ride, but I’m not remembering my cat making much of a fuss in the vet’s exam room.
So this puts us back in the nefarious scheme scenario.
Indulging a downer-drug habit seems the most obvious ploy – which means she certainly has something even more sinister apaw.
Great! Healthy Evil Cat is a good thing!
Good to know the Cat is okay. The good news is, she probably won’t have a hangover.
Just remember cats hold grudges. The fluffball my parents have will camp the stairs for a week after a vet visit in an attempt to trip them.
The “Get Fuzzy” cartoon by Darby Conly* describes the problems with bringing a cat to the vet when it does not want to go.
Extra supplies of gauze are useful.
my new favourite, after the writer of Dilbert joined the dark side of the force.
I’m glad for all 4 of you.
Some pet shops sell gadgets that disperse vapor with chemicals that help cats feel more secure, apparently mimicking pheromones. If you plug in one of those in the room where the cat spends most of the time, it can over the course of several days help the cat to unwind and feel safer.
birgerjohansson @ #3,
That is exactly the way that I’m feeling right now. Our 16 year old cat was following me on Monday, pouncing like a kitten on a long piece of plastic that I didn’t realize I was dragging. He had a thing for plastic. I played with him for a while, and he sat up like a little prairie dog to bat at it, until he fell over.
After dinner, I got the string of plastic out again to show my husband what his favorite cat was doing that day. I demonstrated, and the cat did the same thing until he fell over.
Two hours later, he was screaming in pain and had lost control of his back legs. I sat up with him and comforted him all night, until we got him to the vet the next morning. She thinks that he had either a blood clot that hit the spinal column or a stroke.
At his age, it was kindest to euthanize him.
Now I feel that by playing with him, I may have hastened his death.
He was the sweetest, most loving cat we have ever shared our lives with, and was very special to my husband.
I will always feel that guilt.
@14, I.e., naplam.
PZ,
I’m glad that your beautiful cat is OK, and I second the idea that you should try one of those pheromone diffusers.
We’ve used them with some success in our house.
Glad to hear she’s okay, for now. I hope it’s just a little kitty cold or mild GI upset, and passes quickly.
I went to the vet’s office one day and when I walked through the door, I could have sworn they had a mountain lion in there, from the sounds of it. Turned out it was a cat. Several of the customers were watching in horror as the two vet techs and the vet attempted to subdue this cat. They had one of those long poles with a hypodermic on the end. The cat was lunging at the pole and biting pieces off of it; that is, she was doing that when she was not lunging at the people and trying to bite them. By great good fortune and some clever maneuvering these three people finally managed to get the shot into the cat and get her calmed down somewhat.
Turned out that cat belonged to the vet. The original owner had made the perhaps wise decision not to own that particular cat anymore, and rather than euthanize her, the vet took her on. Later on the vet told me that this cat was “a little difficult to handle”. Yeah, no kidding.
Glad the cat is OK, and I can’t say I blame the vet for wanting her calmed first. However it could be worse. If that’s of any comfort at all.
#15: Same thing happened to us. We had a gray and white cat named Meli, and one evening she was mewing pitifully and trying to come to us, using only her front legs and dragging her hind limbs. It was horrifying. Skatje and I rushed her to a vet, but there was nothing to be done, and she had to be euthanized.
#19: Yeah, that’s my cat. Last time we took her in for shots it took 3 of us to hold her down.
The sudden loss of ability to use the back legs in cats is often from a blood clot in the iliac arteries supplying that area.
This is not uncommon in cats, especially older cats.
It happened to my 19 year old cat.
That was his last day.
Evil is a powerful rejuvenative.
We also had a cat lose control of his hind limbs, and at age 21. When we put him down 20 years ago, it was – and still is – the only time I’ve ever seen my father cry.
Sounds like with our late boy Walt. We had Gabapentin on hand if we had to take him to the vet. He had a big orange sticker on his file.
Glad your kitty is fine (so far). I had a cat who was declawed by his former owners but he raised such a fuss at the vet they gave me sedatives to give him next time he came in. (The mail delivery person said he would try to swipe at them through the mail slot each day. I never saw it but I was convinced he was just playing. They disagreed.)
Blood tests don’t cover everything. That’s what happened with my cat earlier this year. The standard tests came back with nothing wrong and she continued not to eat. I had to take her back for some additional tests that had to be sent to Texas (this was during their infamous blackout) to find out about her real issues. So do keep an eye on her and her eating habits in case it is a more serious issue.
My dog is a sweetheart at the vet. They adore her. She even tongue kissed a vet tech in the mouth. Wonder if that’s in her file.
But she has one rule. Don’t ever fuck with her claws. She doesn’t bite, but at only 7.5 lbs she’s up there with the best MMA has to offer. When I get around to clipping her nails (wince, shiver) I wrap her like a mummy in a towel and still manage to get gouged by a freshly clipped claw on a flailing limb while she pants and moans as if on the edge of death. Drama queen.
hemidactylus:
What the heck!?
Get her a scratching post.
(Our cat is called ‘Clawdia’ for good reason)
@26- John Morales
Dogs and scratching posts? Do you not know how dogs operate? Young dogs like to dig. Have them dig at sandpaper taped on the floor? The best you can do for dogs is walk them on rough pavement for very long distances or if not too lazy take an emory board to them every couple days. Dogs chew, not scratch at things. Chewing may help with tartar.
:)
Dog. Right.
Just said goodbye for the last time to my half siamese boy, 20 years and 4 months old, lying in his favourite spot in front of the fire. There will never be another cat like him in my life. Sniff.
@ ^
Well it doesn’t get better than that. Long life, favourite spot, with a loved one. Take heart.
Two cat-vet stories of my own.
Our lovely, fluffy, sweet-tempered half-Persian Mr. Frodo suddenly stopped eating.
He didn’t eat for three days.
Off to the vet.
Examination.
Blood tests.
Three-day stay.
Outstanding report of perfect health.
$900 bill.
Explanation from the vet: “Your cat is having some personality issues.”
That was 3 years ago. Cat is still in perfect health.
Our semi-feral outdoor cat, a 19-pounder we call Spooky began acting oddly.
He would rush in, gobble food, then rush back out.
This happened 3x day, then 4x, then 5x.
He ate massively, had a huge tummy, yet seemed insatiably hungry.
Finally, I kept him in after feeding and watched.
He threw up.
I examined the vomitus. No smell of stomach acid.
Off to the vet.
X-rayed. “There’s something in his stomach.”
Operation ordered.
Stomach cut open. HUGE ball of hair and grass found blocking entrance to stomach. Accumulation of years, it seems!
Bill: $2900.
Cat is now much slimmer.
No regrets. Mr. Frodo is 11. Spooky is 13. They are members of the family.
Maybe PZ should get an amblypygi as companion and playmate to the evil cat. They could form their own axis of evil.
.
The inevitability of death. After losing a companion I have decided to only provide temporary homes to homeless cats until they can get good lifetime homes elsewhere.
The two ladies I have today have not become re-socialised yet, after 14 months in my place they are much better but will still not touch a human. When they are OK I will arrange for them to get a proper home with lots of space and a garden to terrorize.
Glad to hear, she’s doing ok.
…..
Clipping nails. While declawing is certainly a bad idea, I don’t see a problem with occasionally clipping the points off. Cats sharpen their claws on scratching posts.
We need to sedate Sammy before we take him to the vet, too. When we saw the effect that the sedative had on him we were so pleased that we asked the vet (only half in jest) if we could get a year’s supply. He gently declined to write that scrip.
My cat doen’t like the car ride to the vet but the vet he likes. Vets have a hard time listening to a heart or lungs or whatever because the cat won’t stop purring.
@31 Do you have pet insurance ?
@32 I considered doing that instead of becoming a full time staff to some of my own ,but I would have ended up
not wanting to give them up .
@14 Yes ,it’s called Feliway over here in GB .I tried using it when I got my first cat ,all that happened is my brother started
scratching the furniture .
Evil kitty is okay? Yays! Give Evil kitty lots of pets and treats, if she’ll allow it.