She's Home

So, here's what happened.

I mentioned that she had been acting strangely since I got home from the weekend. It looked like she was getting back to herself, though still not completely.

Yesterday morning, I slept through my 0530 alarm and didn't wake up until 1000 or so. Miss Luna did not try to wake me up. When I finally did get food to her bowl, she ate about half of it.

I went about my day and came home around 1900 or so. She still had about a quarter of food in her bowl - from the morning. She favored her right hind leg when she stood, like she didn't want to put weight on it. I carried her into the living room so she could be near me while I worked on something. She rolled on to her right side and put her shaking left paw over her face like the light was hurting her. Then she stood up, arched her back like she was stretching and jumped off the chair. She didn't land on her feet, though, she fell. And when she collected herself, she walked with her back arched and her back feet turned inward. She stepped gingerly and wobbled like she was drunk.

That was enough for me, that's when I found the emergency number and called them.

To make a long story short: we still don't really know what's going on. She had a fever and started an antibiotic. They found that she has an enlarged heart, so I need to follow-up with a cardiologist in the next couple weeks. The enlarged heart makes IV fluids complicated. They found she has non-regenerative anemia, had to change her antibiotic because of it. They drew some blood to test for immunodeficiency, which was ruled out, and will test for the presence of a few plausible bacteria and parasites. She had bacteria in a sterile urine sample, and they will test for possible UTI.

Basically, it looks like there are several things going on independent of each other (i.e. cardiovascular disease usually doesn't come with fever). I need to follow up with the regular vet by the end of the week (or sooner if she doesn't seem to be improving). She ate a meal when we got home around 1800, she really hates the liquid antibiotic, and she seems to be very thirsty. She's a little jumpy and her back is sensitive to touch, but she's here with me and she followed me into the kitchen when I got some food, and she's been licking the place on her arm where the catheter was.

I'm so glad she's home. And I'm glad she's on the bed, not hiding from me. And I'm glad she ate something, and I'm glad she cried all the way home (she barely let out a peep on the way there yesterday). Mostly, I'm just glad she's here. Last night was a very hard night without her.