Last fall, our sweet old lady cat, BabyCat, was having some control issues. We figured it was probably the end of her and the hubby took her to the vet for the first time in 14 years. She had some fancy tests run, they told him about all the things that needed fixing that we didn't know about and gave the kitty some antibiotics for the infection that was causing her actual issues. Honestly, we spend more money on the cat at that appointment than we had spent on her the entire 9 years she's been with us. But, she wasn't dead or dying so the entire family considered that money well spent.
Saturday morning, I noticed that BabyCat was moving very tentatively. She seemed unable to move her right hind leg. Of course, she'd gotten herself from the floor to the couch without the leg, so maybe nothing was really going on with her. The husband and I took turns watching her throughout the day and decided that she'd probably had a stroke or something since she wasn't able to do anything with that rear leg. Once again, we were worried that this spelled the end of our family's kitty. As we were giving each other the look, our sweet girl came down and asked us what was wrong. Not wanting to alarm her, we explained that we were just watching the cat. She then said something along the lines of "oh, is she still hurt from being pounced on by the puppy?" Suddenly, our beloved cat was not almost dead, but really was possibly injured!
Husband tried to assess the situation by moving the cat and she yowled at him. With our immense knowledge of the cat physique we watched the cat walk around a little more and came to the conclusion that her leg, or maybe her hip, was broken. Off we went to the 24 Hour Vet Clinic, BabyCat loaded into her fancy carrier and puppy admonished for his rough puppy play.
Let me say right here - we do not come from "over spenders" when it comes to our pets. My FIL would have "lost" the cat months ago. He was busy raising five kids and working. Money did not get spent for a vet to give a cat medicine! My parents would have taken the cat to the vet, but only for "reasonable" treatment, which leaves a lot open to interpretation! And maybe, I think, my dad would have told us the cat had been to the vet, when really, he too would have "lost" the cat months ago.
After the vet examined the cat, he told us he needed to do x-rays to determine if there was a break in a bone or a tear in a ligament or muscle. We got the price, cringed a little and agreed. We had already discussed that we could not just let the cat wander around in horrible pain with a broken bone, so we were prepared for this one. The x-rays showed good news. Nothing was broken, the ligaments were still attached. The vet pointed to an area of the cat's leg and said there was a muscle tear. He told us that it could really only be fixed with an MRI and surgery. Apparently, our wide eyed, head shaking convinced him that we weren't going there. He next suggested that we could either keep the cat comfortable or brace her leg (insert my crazed giggles here) since we were opposed to surgery. What an awful way to put things to worried pet owners! If things had been more serious, would that be how you put it? We are "opposed" to treating our pet effectively?
It's not that we are opposed to surgery, guy. You are talking about going in to operate on a geriatric cat who probably won't make it out of the anesthesia. You are speaking to two working people who have teenagers planning to attend college in a couple of years. We love the cat. But, we'll opt for the "keep her comfortable" with kitty morphine over paying off her surgery for the next 10 years!
After multiple doses of her kitty pain meds, BabyCat is moving gently about the house. She is eating, drinking and doing cat stuff, which seems to indicate that she's recovering. We'll continue to love her and we're all going to make sure that she only has to play with the puppy when she wants to. I am happy we were able to help her this weekend. I know that the day is coming when she's going to find a comfortable spot to lay down and she won't be getting up. But, until then, she's going to keep being the queen of the house, happy to grace us with her presence!
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