To the Vet and Back

So this afternoon AZMom, Gandolf and I piled into my car and went to see the vet.

Gandolf is not a big boy-- he should be an average sized male cat, but right now he is 5.56 pounds, all skin, bones and rounded tummy (as he's been eating well, thanks to AZMom.) But after last time, when one of the Vet Techs got 'attacked', everyone was taking no chances. Ooooh, fierce tiger!

But really, he was just a nervous cuddle-bug today. He curled up in AZMom's arms, and was fine with getting put on the scale. When it came time for his temperature, the vet tech had both of us hold him, but Gandolf barely made a noise. A different vet tech and AZMom held him while the vet took a urine sample (directly from the bladder-- I imagine that in most cases it's rather hard to get a cat to pee in a cup...)

The urine sample, however, did confirm diabetes, although not actually a terrible case, it seems. The vet showed us how to give Gandolf his insulin, which meant he was stabbed several times (twice with water, to show us how to do it (I did one of those), once with actual insulin to start his treatment.)

Then he was stabbed many many times because they wanted to give him sub-cutaneous fluids-- but he was so dehydrated, and so skinny that the vet tech kept stabbing right through his skin so that she'd start giving him fluids and it would just drizzle onto the table. After several tries, during which Gandolf didn't once so much as complain, she got it in-- but even then the poor baby boy was a bit leaky from where he'd been stabbed before. We joked, sadly, that he was a pincushion and a leaky balloon. But he was also a very good and calm boy.

He let me hold him, too! He really loves AZMom, but he was fine with huddling in my arms for a bit.

Since his white blood cell count was up (but no fever), he's also being put on antibiotics, but thankfully those can be crushed and put in his food.

The vet gave us a little biohazard container to dispose of the sharps, heh. Sorry, the idea of my very own biohazard container makes me giggle. (It's not, of course, mine. AZMom is the saint who is taking care of Gandolf most of the time. But it still makes me giggle a little.)

Anyway, Gandolf starts his twice daily insulin injections tomorrow (he had one this afternoon), and I know how to do it now so if/when AZMom goes out of town I can help. He's also going to have his very own litter box so that his urine out-flow can be monitored. If we get him feeling better, he should be putting on weight-- the vet said she'd expect him to weight 7 or 8 pounds in a few months.

The downside is, of course, that this is long term care. If you'd like to help take with purchases of insulin and needles, as always, your donation is much appreciated.

I see mto have misplaced my camera, but when I find it, now that my life isn't quite so stressful (this was the most stressful semester ever), I'll go out and about and try to find Mr Gandolf for a picture or two.

The other kitties are eating and hanging out and seem to be doing pretty well. The only other cat I'm currently worried about is Agatha (Little Crooked)-- she can only carry her head tilted to one side. The gossip grapevine via DNL is that someone tried to strangle Agatha, but a) I don't trust anything DNL says b) I doubt anyone could have gotten that close to her and c) I don't think that's the damage that would have been left.

Agatha eats and runs and suns herself and such, but she does it all with her head tilted at a 45 degree angle. So, I worry. :(

But, let's focus on Gandolf, and how well he did today. At the end, the vet reconsidered his last visit, wondering how the vet tech could possibly have gotten bit. She asked if she'd reached for him in his box (yes) and said that a bit of employee reeducation was necessary! So, Gandolf was vindicated!