Category Archives: Charlie & Bella

(The stool is upside down until we fix the foot.)

I just told a friend yesterday that the dog was the only animal that ever used this particular bed. And then this happened—and she stayed in it for HOURS.

Bella’s sore had stopped bleeding overnight so we let her out onto our (covered) bed because that’s her comfy place and I wanted her to be comfy. But she didn’t want to lay down until I put a pair of my pants on the bed. And that’s where she was all day.

Off to the vet to check out a disturbing something on Bella (cyst? infected scratch? growth? tumor?) that appeared out of nowhere. I swear if it’s not one animal it’s one of the others.

I’m not gonna post the picture of it because, well, yuck.

So the doc has no idea what happened—it’s not in the right place for an anal glands issues and she said it looks like a bite or something and asked if my other cat would’ve attacked her and I told her I really didn’t think so…so they’re kind of confused.

So they drained it and said the skin is going to come off so she has a collar to keep from licking it and we have to put warm compresses on it to try to drain it a few times every day. She’s on antibiotics and the gabapentin painkiller which we at least had from the last vet visit for Charlie. And to top it all off we have to come back multiple times (every other day) to get the area “lasered” to help the gaping wound heal (because the area of skin that is coming off is HUGE). And of course I rarely have anything on my schedule, but the next week is crazy. Which I now get to fit vet visits in there.

So for right now she’s in Maggie’s travel crate so I can keep her contained without her bleeding all over…and waiting until the painkiller starts working. I gave her food and water—which isn’t easy since she has the collar on. At least giving her the meds wasn’t too hard and will knock her out.

She’s eating and drinking and able to get in her window bed above the couch with no issues! She’s still sleepy but honestly this is normal. I don’t think I’m going to give her pain meds today—or if I do, it will be a half dose…

Over the weekend we noticed she started peeing randomly or couldn’t hold it plus it looked to have blood in it. Of course it was just late enough that the regular vet was closed for the weekend… We googled and it sounded like a UTI (not enough of an emergency to take her to the emergency vet) so we bought pee pads and covered all the furniture and crossed our fingers. (She’s the one with kidney issues plus she’s 16 so I’m always afraid every little thing is going to be THE thing that needs the big decision. Of course it could turn out to be the simple thing but it’s all I can think about.)

We watched her like a hawk all weekend. Also? Turns out the kid pee pads we had aren’t cat proof. Or are for minor accidents. Which means we washed couch cushions and cat beds and lots of towels and had to make a trip to buy real pee pads.

I took her in this morning and…today isn’t THE day but she’s getting bloodwork and coming home with antibiotics and pain meds. The doc said this is really just likely a minor issue. She said she knows what I’m thinking and that she would definitely tell me if she thought it was time. And she made sure to tell me NOT YET. And to watch the pain.

The doc says it’s hard to tell with a cat with renal issues if it’s a UTI. It could be a tumor or who knows what. Plus her bladder is hard (or something?) which could be the result of a lingering infection which only recently showed up with the new symptoms.

And the pain drugs made her really woozy and she couldn’t walk and even fell off the couch while trying to get down (I didn’t realize how woozy she really was so I feel horrible) then she fell over while trying to drink. If the vet hadn’t warned me I’d think she was at deaths door…but it’s still hard to watch.

Bella got in it right away but Charlie wants to get in it. So we have a standoff!