Pappan!

My cat Arnie, who we affectionately sometimes call Pappan for reasons we're not even sure of, is sick. This is the second time in his life with me that he's been ill. Having gone through this once with him already, you'd think I would not be as worried and emotional as I am. But I've also been through this with our other kitty, Bridgitte, who passed away. So I get a little worried when my beloveds are ill.

Chances are he has a cold. But it's tricky with cats because cold like symptoms can mask so many other things. The last time he looked like he had a cold and it was a bowel obstruction. Go figure that out!

Right now, he's sleeping and he has been for over 12 hours. While cats are master sleepers and Arnie is a pro at sleeping, 12 hours straight without even an occasional stretch is not normal. I called his regular vet, Dr. Khan, who I really like but he can't see him until 4pm today. That's too long to wait. I called another vet and he's getting us in at 10am. I hate to switch like that but I don't want Arnie to continue to get worse.

I don't have kids, I have cats. And they are as precious to me as anything I have. Arnie is special to me. For a while, it was just him and me here. We have a special bond. So seeing him ill and just not feeling well is worrisome. And terribly sad.

I love my little Pappan! I hope he feels better soon.

I feel like crap today...

It's nothing I won't get over but still I feel like crap. More than my own ickiness, I'm worried about Arnie. I've had him to the vet and have been giving him eye drops and a food supplement but there's no change and he seems worse. This conjunctivitis appears to be more than what it is. I've been researching cat eye health and this looks like feline herpes virus which they say is caused by stress. Nothing has changed here in his life except the introduction of my new(er) cat, Brigette and if she's what's causing his stress I don't know what to do.

What's worse is he's getting really cranky now and refusing to let me near his eyes even to just clean them. I'm calling the vet today and even though I'm sick I'll have to get him in there. I feel so bad for the little guy because he wants to come to me for some petting and loving but now he's afraid that I'll be poking around his eyes each time so he's keeping his distance. I can't stand to see him just laying about so miserably. It breaks my heart. I just hope that the vet can do something that will clear this up and I sincerely hope it will not involve me having to hold him down against his will and put stuff in his eyes.

Much to Arnie's dismay...

Last week I noticed that Arnie had a red eye. I thought that maybe he had scratched it or that my other little bruiser scratched it. I cleaned it up for a few days but it wasn't getting better so off to the vet we went. Arnie was a trooper at the vet. Calm and cooperative unitl...DA DA DAHMMM...he put on the dreaded cone collar. Turned out Arnie had an eye infection so two shots of antibiotics in the butt and a dash of eye drops later, I came home with $60 worth of medicines and one very unhappy cat. Is there anything more pathetic than an animal having to wear one of these things?

Arnie clunked around desparate to find a spot where he could, somehow, just lie down and sleep. At first, he couldn't seem to navigate in forward motion so he backed up all over the house. When he did figure it out, he waddled awkwardly from side to side while walking and if he bumped into anything he would just stop and stay there until I physically moved him on. He was finally so exhausted that he just went to sleep on a suitcase that's sitting my living room with his conehead pathetically hanging over the edge.

He's better now, three days later. I took the collar off which sent him into fits of runnning, leaping and general joyous mayhem for a while. He still has some medicine to be put in his eye and some for his food but, collarless, he is surprisingly calm when I have to do this. I think he's just afraid that if he doesn't sit quietly while I poke and prod him I'll put that thing back on!