Erik update

[cellio]

This morning it appeared that Erik was dehydrated (thanks, schulman, for the diagnostic tip), and when I did get him to drink a little water he turned around and vomited it back up. I had previously tried to get him to eat without success, and there were no solids in the puddle. So off to the vet we went. (Fortunately, the vomiting suggested to me that the problem wasn't an output blockage. Whew! Granted, I think he would have let me know in that case.)

The vet confirmed that he's dehydrated, and he's on an IV now to fix that. That's a symptom, not a diagnosis, so I asked about the cause. The vet noted that Erik had a past diagnosis of "possible" cholangial hepatitis, and she said that sometimes this can happen in that case. I'm a little confused about the intermediate steps, as this is clearly an acute situation and that disease (if he even has it) is chronic. But the treatment is antibiotics, so maybe cholangial hepatitis means he's more susceptable to appetite-stealing bugs? Either I didn't know that or I had a profound memory failure. I'll need to have a conversation with my regular vet about this. (Today I saw the first available one.)

For the future she suggested that I keep some antibiotics on hand and start medicating at, if not the first sign, then maybe the second sign of trouble. Yes, I am leery of creating superbug, but I'm willing to be much more casual with my own health than with that of someone who can't speak up on the subject. So, so be it. (I don't know what antibiotic; she hasn't given it to me yet.)

Erik is staying at the clinic tonight so they can continue hydrating him and also run some blood tests. With luck, I should get him back tomorrow. Unfortunately, he's in the Fox Chapel office and Route 28 is not a fun place for me at night, but Dani will be out tomorrow night so I can't just get him to drive me over. Oh well; I want my cat back, so I'm not going to wait until the next morning if I don't have to.

The poor guy weighed 6.5 pounds this morning, down about 1.5 from his usual. Since my ability to detect such deltas is obviously not up to the task, perhaps I need to find a suitable scale and just get in the habit of weighing him regularly. The vet uses a pediatric scale (with a basket, presumably designed to hold infants); I wonder if that's the sort of thing parents use, or if it's just a doctor/hospital thing. Will check eBay later.

Comments

[eub.livejournal.com]

Poor guy. I bet he'll be feeling better after hydration.