Poor Meep...

Well, we returned from vacation, and I feel horrible. Remember when I
asked about whether to bring her with us or leave her at at the boarding
facility, and I decided to board her?

Apparently a bad decision, despite the fact this is an excellent
facility and they did everything right. I have been in communication
with them this last week, and she has been in and out of the vet that is
part of the facility, and they have been in regular communication with
my own vet as well.

I'm now sitting next to a cat that is emaciated (they tried everything
they could to get her to eat) and is sneezing, with runny eyes with the
first upper respiratory infection (viral) that she has had in her 14
years with us. She also, for the second time, did not pee for over two
days, though as before she did at the vet. In the end she stayed at the
vet facility until I picked her up today. She looks horrific and I'm in
tears at this being my fault. We should have brought her with us. Or
not gone on vacation at all.

Damn damn damn. Poor cat!

jmc

"jmc" wrote in message ...
Well, we returned from vacation, and I feel horrible. Remember when I
asked about whether to bring her with us or leave her at at the boarding
facility, and I decided to board her?

Apparently a bad decision, despite the fact this is an excellent facility
and they did everything right. I have been in communication with them
this last week, and she has been in and out of the vet that is part of the
facility, and they have been in regular communication with my own vet as
well.

I'm now sitting next to a cat that is emaciated (they tried everything
they could to get her to eat) and is sneezing, with runny eyes with the
first upper respiratory infection (viral) that she has had in her 14 years
with us. She also, for the second time, did not pee for over two days,
though as before she did at the vet. In the end she stayed at the vet
facility until I picked her up today. She looks horrific and I'm in tears
at this being my fault. We should have brought her with us. Or not gone
on vacation at all.

Damn damn damn. Poor cat!

jmc

But you didn't know and you did what people who really love their cats do -
you made the best decision at the time with your cat's best interest first
and foremost. We can't see the future and, to be honest, taking her with
you might have ended badly too. You just don't know that for sure. What
you can do now is love her, nurse her back to where she was, and know that
boarding her isn't an option in the future. For what it's worth, I've
boarded mine too on occasion, and it sounds like the facility you chose
indeed did everything right.

Please don't beat yourself up about this. You didn't know this would
happen. I'm sure Meep's resistance was down because of the stress/
change in routine, and she could have picked up a URI even if you had
brought her along with you. I'm sure, now that everyone is home, that
she will perk up quickly. Hugs.

On Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:39:03 -0500, "starcat"
wrote:


"jmc" wrote in message ...
Well, we returned from vacation, and I feel horrible. Remember when I
asked about whether to bring her with us or leave her at at the boarding
facility, and I decided to board her?

Apparently a bad decision, despite the fact this is an excellent facility
and they did everything right. I have been in communication with them
this last week, and she has been in and out of the vet that is part of the
facility, and they have been in regular communication with my own vet as
well.

I'm now sitting next to a cat that is emaciated (they tried everything
they could to get her to eat) and is sneezing, with runny eyes with the
first upper respiratory infection (viral) that she has had in her 14 years
with us. She also, for the second time, did not pee for over two days,
though as before she did at the vet. In the end she stayed at the vet
facility until I picked her up today. She looks horrific and I'm in tears
at this being my fault. We should have brought her with us. Or not gone
on vacation at all.

Damn damn damn. Poor cat!

jmc

But you didn't know and you did what people who really love their cats do -
you made the best decision at the time with your cat's best interest first
and foremost. We can't see the future and, to be honest, taking her with
you might have ended badly too. You just don't know that for sure. What
you can do now is love her, nurse her back to where she was, and know that
boarding her isn't an option in the future. For what it's worth, I've
boarded mine too on occasion, and it sounds like the facility you chose
indeed did everything right.



And now I feel bad for suggesting that boarding was the best option.

jmc wrote:
Well, we returned from vacation, and I feel horrible. Remember when I
asked about whether to bring her with us or leave her at at the boarding
facility, and I decided to board her?

Apparently a bad decision, despite the fact this is an excellent
facility and they did everything right. I have been in communication
with them this last week, and she has been in and out of the vet that is
part of the facility, and they have been in regular communication with
my own vet as well.

I'm now sitting next to a cat that is emaciated (they tried everything
they could to get her to eat) and is sneezing, with runny eyes with the
first upper respiratory infection (viral) that she has had in her 14
years with us. She also, for the second time, did not pee for over two
days, though as before she did at the vet. In the end she stayed at the
vet facility until I picked her up today. She looks horrific and I'm in
tears at this being my fault. We should have brought her with us. Or
not gone on vacation at all.

Damn damn damn. Poor cat!

jmc

I'm so sorry to hear this. Purrs for poor Meep to get better soon, now
that's she's back home.

I don't think that you should blame yourself about her condition though.
How do you know that she wouldn't have gotten even more stressed out and
sick if you had taken her with you? And you wouldn't have had access to
her own vet while on vacation. I've learned how important a good,
trustworthy vet is - think of how much worse it might have been if you'd
taken her with you and had to take her to an unfamiliar vet.

You can never tell how cats will react to being boarded. The first time
we boarded Kotyo, we left him at a reputable, good kennel. When I came
to pick him up 2 weeks later he had lost a lot of weight, and when I
picked him up he was wet from where he had peed himself. He looked
absolutely miserable. The next time we boarded him we decided to board
him at his vet. Again we were gone for 2 weeks, and when we came back to
pick him up he was fine - no weight loss, his fur was glossy and clean.
I don't know what it was that he didn't like at the kennel that was
absent at the vet's, but he obviously felt better there, so from then on
we only boarded him at the vet's. I don't remember if you said whether
you'd boarded Meep at that kennel before? Maybe it was just that
particular boarding place that she didn't like, but how can you tell
that ahead of time?

I'll get my two purring for Meep to feel better soonest.

Nadia, Kotyo and Sweety

--
Little Monster pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Kotyo
Sweety pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Sweety
Kotyo and Sweety together:
http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/KotyoAndSweety

Suddenly, without warning, Nadia N. exclaimed (8/23/2010 12:27 PM):
jmc wrote:
Well, we returned from vacation, and I feel horrible. Remember when I
asked about whether to bring her with us or leave her at at the
boarding facility, and I decided to board her?

Apparently a bad decision, despite the fact this is an excellent
facility and they did everything right. I have been in communication
with them this last week, and she has been in and out of the vet that
is part of the facility, and they have been in regular communication
with my own vet as well.

I'm now sitting next to a cat that is emaciated (they tried everything
they could to get her to eat) and is sneezing, with runny eyes with
the first upper respiratory infection (viral) that she has had in her
14 years with us. She also, for the second time, did not pee for over
two days, though as before she did at the vet. In the end she stayed
at the vet facility until I picked her up today. She looks horrific
and I'm in tears at this being my fault. We should have brought her
with us. Or not gone on vacation at all.

Damn damn damn. Poor cat!

jmc

I'm so sorry to hear this. Purrs for poor Meep to get better soon, now
that's she's back home.

I don't think that you should blame yourself about her condition though.
How do you know that she wouldn't have gotten even more stressed out and
sick if you had taken her with you? And you wouldn't have had access to
her own vet while on vacation. I've learned how important a good,
trustworthy vet is - think of how much worse it might have been if you'd
taken her with you and had to take her to an unfamiliar vet.

You can never tell how cats will react to being boarded. The first time
we boarded Kotyo, we left him at a reputable, good kennel. When I came
to pick him up 2 weeks later he had lost a lot of weight, and when I
picked him up he was wet from where he had peed himself. He looked
absolutely miserable. The next time we boarded him we decided to board
him at his vet. Again we were gone for 2 weeks, and when we came back to
pick him up he was fine - no weight loss, his fur was glossy and clean.
I don't know what it was that he didn't like at the kennel that was
absent at the vet's, but he obviously felt better there, so from then on
we only boarded him at the vet's. I don't remember if you said whether
you'd boarded Meep at that kennel before? Maybe it was just that
particular boarding place that she didn't like, but how can you tell
that ahead of time?

I'll get my two purring for Meep to feel better soonest.

Nadia, Kotyo and Sweety


Yea, I know you're right. But I should have pushed for home care. We
WILL get someone to take care of her here next time, or maybe she'll
stay at our vet's place, though the quiet cages are only cages and not
condos (condos are right at the front door).

I think there's someone at the boarding facility that - for whatever
reason - she doesn't like. She's boarded fine at that place, and other
boarding facilities, with no problems over the last decade or so. The
last two times at this place, she's been unhappy. Developed cystitis a
month after the previous time, then this. They moved her over to the
vet's facilities and she was better there, but geeze, she didn't come
out of a boarding facility looking this bad since we made the mistake,
long ago, of choosing a place that had nice cat condos, but the cats
could hear and see the dogs. She came out of THAT place better than she
did this time. Poor thing.

She is doing better today, but she's still not peeing regular, though
that's a problem that started (of course) just shortly before our
vacation. I'm giving her another hour before she gets carted back to
the vet again, since her bladder is definitely full.

jmc

jmc wrote:

She is doing better today, but she's still not peeing regular, though
that's a problem that started (of course) just shortly before our
vacation. I'm giving her another hour before she gets carted back to
the vet again, since her bladder is definitely full.

jmc

Have you tried putting her in the litterbox, picking up her paw and
scratching at the litter with it? Just to remind her to go? This
sometimes works with Kotyo. He's another one with cystitis flare-ups
caused by stress, and he has a habit of holding it in until his bladder
is practically bursting. I can't count the times I've picked him up, put
him in the litter box and pleaded with him to pee :-( Sometimes when I
did that, he would.


--
Little Monster pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Kotyo
Sweety pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Sweety
Kotyo and Sweety together:
http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/KotyoAndSweety

On Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:32:29 -0400, jmc
wrote:

Well, we returned from vacation, and I feel horrible. Remember when I
asked about whether to bring her with us or leave her at at the boarding
facility, and I decided to board her?

Apparently a bad decision, despite the fact this is an excellent
facility and they did everything right. I have been in communication
with them this last week, and she has been in and out of the vet that is
part of the facility, and they have been in regular communication with
my own vet as well.

I'm now sitting next to a cat that is emaciated (they tried everything
they could to get her to eat) and is sneezing, with runny eyes with the
first upper respiratory infection (viral) that she has had in her 14
years with us. She also, for the second time, did not pee for over two
days, though as before she did at the vet. In the end she stayed at the
vet facility until I picked her up today. She looks horrific and I'm in
tears at this being my fault. We should have brought her with us. Or
not gone on vacation at all.

Damn damn damn. Poor cat!

jmc

I'm so sorry to hear about poor Meep. But please don't beat yourself up:
you had no way of knowing this would happen.

Instead, concentrate on getting some weight back on Meep, and getting
her healthy again.

Please keep us posted about her


---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 100823-1, 08/23/2010
Tested on: 8/24/2010 6:46:17 AM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2010 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com

Suddenly, without warning, Nadia N. exclaimed (8/23/2010 4:55 PM):
jmc wrote:

She is doing better today, but she's still not peeing regular, though
that's a problem that started (of course) just shortly before our
vacation. I'm giving her another hour before she gets carted back to
the vet again, since her bladder is definitely full.

jmc

Have you tried putting her in the litterbox, picking up her paw and
scratching at the litter with it? Just to remind her to go? This
sometimes works with Kotyo. He's another one with cystitis flare-ups
caused by stress, and he has a habit of holding it in until his bladder
is practically bursting. I can't count the times I've picked him up, put
him in the litter box and pleaded with him to pee :-( Sometimes when I
did that, he would.



Yea, tried that. She stresses, then runs. It *has* to be her idea.
Since messing with her bladder, then locking her and I in a small room
with a litterbox works (this is what we did at the vet), likely that'll
be our SOP from now on.

Vet's opinion is she's spent so much time holding it in (she often pees
only once a day), her bladder has lost elasticity and just isn't
providing the proper signals. Since Meep's on so many meds right now
(glucosamine, metacam, tramodol, others), she doesn't want to add
additional meds to the mix, and her bladder hasn't been rock hard after
two days, so we're going to try this alternate management method. She
has her very own bathroom, so doing the lock-in approach isn't terribly
difficult.

Purrs for Meep. Hopefully she'll do well enough, but we've reached the
end, apparently, of medical intervention for her current problems, so I
probably need to resign myself to the fact that she may only have a
couple more years left, at most :'-(

Fortunately, though she hates the stuff, for now the Tramodol is
controlling her pain (she squatted properly at the vet, showing no sign
of discomfort), so that's a good thing.

jmc

On Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:38:57 -0400, jmc
wrote:

Fortunately, though she hates the stuff, for now the Tramodol is
controlling her pain (she squatted properly at the vet, showing no sign
of discomfort), so that's a good thing.

while at the vet ask about cranberry capsules for bladder?
Just empty the capsule contents into her food (kills infection)
Provide warm sleeping quarters the cat bed, igloo type is best (look
in "dollar" shops they are washable in machine laudry, drying is slow,
turn inside-out, in sun is best, sunlight kills bugs)
--
Petzl
Battle Hymn of the Republic
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=JCqZ-9-lDEo
http://tinyurl.com/8vqqxd