Friday - Another Visit to the Vets and Petrol Shortages...

Last night was a nightmare.  We had an appointment for 9.30am at the vets and for the past I don't know how many nights Chivers has slept on our bed so that we would know where he was in the morning but not last night - he started on the bed but had several bouts of severe vomiting bringing up nothing but bright orange bile.  This clearly distressed him and at about midnight I realised he had gone from the bed - hopefully just outside for a quick wee and then back as it was very cold last night.  I lay awake worrying about him and wishing we had thought on and locked the catflap so he was confined indoors.  He did not appear.  At about 2.00am I got up and went for a wander around the house and the neighbourhood quietly calling for him but he did not appear.  A couple of hours later I was convinced that I had heard him being sick so John got up and went to find him and to secure the cat flap but he was no-where to be seen so I had obviously been dreaming about it.  He then went out himself in his dressing gown to try and find him but again there was no sign.  I had convinced myself that Chivers had taken himself off to die.  When I did hear the catflap go I was hoping it would be him but it was Minnie Mou and I felt awful that I was disappointed.  Eventually at about 6.00am he did appear in the bedroom only to vomit like you have never seen.  He would have a little drink, lie down and then vomit what he had drunk.  We managed to remember to lock the catflap and decided to get a litter box down only for Minnie Mou to get in it immediately and use it and then Chivers used it and we were horrified by the liquid black poo.  He is clearly very poorly indeed.  A night of absolutely no sleep had left us ragged.  Chivers had retreated under the bed for some calm but at least we knew where he was when we came to put him in the cat box.

We arrived early at the vets - Chivers barely made a sound all the way down which is unusual because he hates the cat box and he hates the car.  The vet decided to keep him in for the morning on a drip and to give him an x-ray and barium meal and then blood tests to see whether or not there is something wrong with his internal organs.

As the island is being gripped by a petrol strike today which may last indefinitely so we decided to stay around and go and get a coffee at Mum and Dad's whilst we waited for the call from the vet.  

The weather reflected our mood - grey and miserable with very British style persistent rain - waiting to hear from the vets is just the most awful thing and so at around midday we decided we would make our way back to the surgery to see what was happening.  When we arrived they were just about to do the x-ray and get the results of the blood tests.  So far his breathing, heart and temperature have come back as normal.  The x-ray showed a regular passage of the barium through his system but there was evidence of gastroenteritis which would account for the nasty poo and the vomiting and hence the sore throat.  The blood tests thankfully did not show any signs of organ failure.  A decision was made to take him back home with his catheter in place so that we could take him back tomorrow for a check on his progress.  The vet feels he is less stressed at home.  With regard to his not eating she suggested some critical care food which we should mix with water and then syringe into his mouth.  Finally she gave him a jab to help boost his immune system.  I don't know if he looked perkier when we picked him up - I think it was just wishful thinking.

So we got him home and tried to settle him - he was obviously finding the catheter an irritation and kept shaking his foot - as the day went on his foot began to swell like a football and we rang the vet who told us that the bandaging was causing a circulatory problem and so we had to remove it immediately which we did.

Throughout the course of the day he drank nothing but we assumed he must have been sufficiently hydrated from the drip and ate nothing save what I managed to smear on his mouth and he reluctantly licked off.  On the plus side he was not sick but he visibly gagged when I tried to tempt him with some Tuna which is supposed to be a sure fired winner with hungry cats.

John and I are at our wits end trying to tempt him to eat.  He sniffs it and then turns his back on it.  My neighbour Angela had given me a duck which she wasn't going to get round to eating and I decided to stick it in the slow cooker.  I removed the giblets and cooked them and made stock - he was neither interested in the giblets nor the stock.  He clearly cannot continue for very long eating nothing at all as this will affect his liver.  His fur looks clumpy and sweaty and his eyes vacant - I hate to see him in this way and be unable to help.

Our plans for the day had gone out of the window so we took the opportunity on our return to take down the Christmas decorations and try and get our house back to normal.

Its amazing how when you trim up the place looks a bit cluttered to start with and then you get used to all the bits and pieces being around you so that when you pack them up for another year the place looks bare for a while.

Neither of us were up to much having had several nights of disturbed sleep so watched some mindless TV for a bit before crawling into bed.  As Chivers needs to be around for tomorrow's check up we had to keep him in our room and leave the catflap available for Minnnie Mou to go in and out.  This meant we slept with an ear open for him to want to go to the loo.  It never happened and he seemed to settle on the bed and sounded like he was purring at one point.  I managed to get him to drink some water from my fingers but not much.  I could weep.