Aaaand rest.
May. 31st, 2012 10:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lighterthanairI normally would scoff at the saying, "It never rains but pours," since much like Richard Adams said in Watership Down, it often rains without pouring. But these past few days have made me reconsider a little bit.
It's no secret that I'm broke, because my workplace has delayed my return for about two and a half months now. So this is one of the worst possible times to have a sick pet.
So naturally, that was what happened. Nick got quite ill the other night, after I realized that he hadn't had anything to eat or drink that day, and when he went to the litter box, he was showing signs of a partial intestinal blockage. Thinking that it might be heat stroke that was complicating his digestion, I turned the fan on to cool him down, and tried to give him water via one of those little needleless syringes, but he threw it back up within five minutes.
I slept fitfully that night.
In the morning he was no better, his eyes seemed sunken, and his nose was dry, chapped, and also sunken in. I rushed him to the vet, who told me that he had a high fever and that his belly felt tender, but she couldn't be sure because Nick's a large cat to start with, and obese, so that didn't make feeling his abdomen easy. She gave him something to bring down the fever, gave him fluids subcutaneously, and recommended blood tests to try to get to the underlying cause.
I couldn't afford the blood tests. I had to borrow money to afford the vet's appointment, since I found out too late that they no longer do billing and require payment in full. The receptionist there empathized with me, saying that they wouldn't even extend credit or billing to her, and she'd worked there for years.
Nick's doing better now. He's eating and drinking more (though still not eating much), his temperature's back to normal, and I think he might have made a trip to the litter box last night while I slept. He's got more energy, at any rate, and is back to being bright-eyed and mischievious, though still less energetic than he was before. Not too surprised, since even if the worst of it's passed, sometimes it can take even humans a while to feel fully better after illness.
I'm keeping a close eye on him. I'm tempting him with the best food I can buy, making sure he drinks a decent amount, and checking his temperature to make sure his fever stays down.
I still want to get him blood tests, because if this wasn't just a nasty case of heat stroke, then there's an underlying cause and I need to get to the bottom of it. I designed a lace scarf pattern to try to raise funds for Nick's vet bills, and so far people have been amazingly generous with helping out, but I've still got a little way to go before I have enough money.
Nick's resting right now, and things seem to have returned to a more normal state. I'm still concerned, but not as terribly worried as I was a few days ago, so now I feel that I can take a bit of rest myself. I'm going to relax for a little while with some reruns of House, and maybe a little bit of sewing.
It's no secret that I'm broke, because my workplace has delayed my return for about two and a half months now. So this is one of the worst possible times to have a sick pet.
So naturally, that was what happened. Nick got quite ill the other night, after I realized that he hadn't had anything to eat or drink that day, and when he went to the litter box, he was showing signs of a partial intestinal blockage. Thinking that it might be heat stroke that was complicating his digestion, I turned the fan on to cool him down, and tried to give him water via one of those little needleless syringes, but he threw it back up within five minutes.
I slept fitfully that night.
In the morning he was no better, his eyes seemed sunken, and his nose was dry, chapped, and also sunken in. I rushed him to the vet, who told me that he had a high fever and that his belly felt tender, but she couldn't be sure because Nick's a large cat to start with, and obese, so that didn't make feeling his abdomen easy. She gave him something to bring down the fever, gave him fluids subcutaneously, and recommended blood tests to try to get to the underlying cause.
I couldn't afford the blood tests. I had to borrow money to afford the vet's appointment, since I found out too late that they no longer do billing and require payment in full. The receptionist there empathized with me, saying that they wouldn't even extend credit or billing to her, and she'd worked there for years.
Nick's doing better now. He's eating and drinking more (though still not eating much), his temperature's back to normal, and I think he might have made a trip to the litter box last night while I slept. He's got more energy, at any rate, and is back to being bright-eyed and mischievious, though still less energetic than he was before. Not too surprised, since even if the worst of it's passed, sometimes it can take even humans a while to feel fully better after illness.
I'm keeping a close eye on him. I'm tempting him with the best food I can buy, making sure he drinks a decent amount, and checking his temperature to make sure his fever stays down.
I still want to get him blood tests, because if this wasn't just a nasty case of heat stroke, then there's an underlying cause and I need to get to the bottom of it. I designed a lace scarf pattern to try to raise funds for Nick's vet bills, and so far people have been amazingly generous with helping out, but I've still got a little way to go before I have enough money.
Nick's resting right now, and things seem to have returned to a more normal state. I'm still concerned, but not as terribly worried as I was a few days ago, so now I feel that I can take a bit of rest myself. I'm going to relax for a little while with some reruns of House, and maybe a little bit of sewing.
