This is a blog about the adventures in homeownership and for us, the adventures will include the experiences we go through together as a family. Our family includes our ”fur baby” Lily.
I’m a HUGE animal lover, ugly, cute, tiny, huge…I love them all. Growing up I always had multiple cats and other critters around. Hubby on the other hand hasn’t even had a pet fish, so for him, having a pet was not a priority. However he loves me and he knows me well enough to know I have to have a cat in my life so permission was granted to find and bring home a kitty. Welcome Lily. She is the funniest most personable cat I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. She is more like a dog, waking me every morning at exactly 6:30am by jumping on my bedside table, meowing, wet-noses in the face and licking my forehead. She waits for me to get home from work and feed her. She plays fetch. Her 2 favorite toys? a paint roller or the toggle off a dollarstore flashlight. A DIY project kitty!
Hubby has grown to love this cat beyond my expectations too. Any animal lover can understand how we would do anything for her so when she got sick, we were pretty broken up.
It started at Christmas. She threw up for an entire day then stopped eating, we called the vet they said to just wait the day out and see how she does, maybe she got into something. We woke up 2 days later realizing I hadn’t been woken up by Lily. She was asleep at my feet, also weird for her. For a 6 month old kitten she was quite lethargic. Off to the vet we went. They did tests and abdominal exams explaining that most often young cats eat string or something and it gets tangled in their guts. Multiple tests, 3 days in the hospital and about $1,100 later they didn’t have any answers.Boo. The tests were all negative and she was responding well to the IV meds (appetite stimulants, antacids, antinauseant and anti-diarrheal + fluids). She was eating again (it is very concerning for cats especially to not eat for a few days as they develop fatty liver quite quickly). They discharged her with no diagnosis but she was as good as new when she came home, eating (her new vet-approved diet), pooping normally, playing and back to 6:30am wakeup calls (I was scared she would forget about this in the hospital). After a few weeks we were all back into normal routines. Until last week.
The vomiting and diarrhea started again. We are super careful with her and the things we bring into our home given what we went through 5 months ago. I knew the return of symptoms weren’t because of our carelessness. She eats the vet food, we don’t leave anything out, I scan all plants/flowers that come in. I called the vet they told us to bring her in ASAP given her history. Again all the tests were negative but this time a diagnosis. Feline Irritable Bowel Syndrome (f-IBS).
She was admitted for 2 days giving her fluids/meds etc then she was sent home with a few more days of meds and another new food (Purina Veterinary Diet EN Gastroenteric Feline). It seems to be working so far. She is bright and happy again. She wasn’t in love with the food at first but a few days of appetite stimulants have forced her to eat it and she seems to be liking it more now. Unlike human IBS, feline IBS causes aren’t known.We don’t give her human food but we did use to buy kitty treats for her occassionally (”Temptations”). We know she has a hard time digesting and has a sensitive gut so treats aren’t worth it (although I did find some homemade organic kitty treats at the farmers market we may give her on special occasions).The most frustrating part is its unpredictability. There won’t be any warning with her she will develop vomiting and diarrhea very quickly but I guess the plus side is that we now know what to do (hospital admit with same meds). It’s hard watching something like a cat you love go through what appears to be hell but she’s a strong little thing and comes out on top. We love our Lily.
