When it rains...

I came home from work yesterday, pretty drained about everything that had happened with Taz. My comfort is that he was 16, and had a pretty darn-tootin' amazing life - every summer getting to while away the hours running free on the family island, being spoiled absolutely rotten by our family, having a big wooded backyard to run around in at his leisure. He had a pretty awesome life, and we were very lucky to have him be a part of our family.

So after reeling from his loss (despite being expected, it still hurt), I came home to spend some time with my little animals. I fed the cats, and took Pan out for a quick 'walk' in the backyard. When I came back inside, I could hear Norn yowling - not unusual, she goes through yowling phases on and off.

But when I realized that she was yowling TO me, calling me, I realized something was wrong. Norn is a 'recovering feral', and while she is an amazing and loving cat, she is not big into the cuddles. So when she begs me to come pet her and rub her ears, cries out when I get up to leave, I know something is up. That coupled with odd panting (it was hot yesterday, but not THAT hot), had me whisk her to the vet's.

I was fully expecting that Dr. Morris would give me a pat on the head and a 'try not to be a hypochondriac FOR your cat' speech. Instead, she came out and told me she was very concerned - Norn's breathing was extremely labored, and her stomach was distended.

At first we thought it might be FIP or some other horrendous disease, so I stood in Petsmart bawling like a child, thinking that yesterday would see me say a long-distance goodbye to Taz and a way-too-soon goodbye to Norn. But after waiting at the vet clinic for hours, an X-Ray and an Ultrasound (not to mention a toe-curling vet bill), we discovered that Norn has acute pnemonia, coupled with an extremely swollen spleen.

Goddam spleens. They always get in the f*cking way. So, we know for sure she has a bacterial infection - either it's standalone (which is pretty unlikely given her spleen), or is secondary to a virus or cancer. A virus can't be treated, so we're just treating the bacterial infection and riding out the virus (if there is one). If it's cancer, her symptoms would indicate that it's very advanced, and there's nothing much we can do.

I'm trying to keep her comfortable. Last night I stayed up the whole night, lying beside her on the floor for hours, petting her and trying not to fall asleep. A couple times I gave up and tried to climb into bed, but she would cry and cry for me, and I ended up piling some pillows on the floor and just sleeping next to her. I felt bad leaving her alone, and was worried that letting her cry would hurt her lungs.

Today she seems more comfortable - the gas pain she was experiencing from swallowing air while trying to breath seems to have abated, and she's resting. She's still crying a lot, but it's not as insistent as it was yesterday. I hated leaving her alone today, but I had to go to work. After checking up on her at lunch, I'm pretty confident that she's at least okay for now, and more comfortable than she was yesterday.

We won't know what the ultimate outcome of this will be until it happens - either she'll be better, or she won't be. Only one thing is for sure - when it rains, it really pours, doesn't it?