Callisto Eats a Lizard (Maybe)
Sep. 2nd, 2021 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aSo it was really not great with Lucy having weird health problem right after our return from Oahu, and then getting absolutely no meaningful test results, just more med to give her, this time antibiotics twice a day. It was a lot on top of Kimberly needing care and support and help refrigerating her cooler of tasty drinks and snacks.
Then Callisto decided to join the party. 5.30am on Tuesday, Kimberly woke me up because Callisto was vomiting a lot. Well, not exactly vomiting, more like spitting up clear liquid, which she'd done once the previous night before I went to bed. There wasn't much sleeping after that. When I saw what was going on with Callisto more clearly an hour or so later, it looked to me like hairball behavior, so I put butter on her paws and went to work. By the evening she was still looking bad, doing clear vomit every 15 or 30 minutes, so I went into town and picked up some official hairball stuff to put on her paws (and got a bunch of stuff for Kimberly and me too).
Problem solved?
Nope.
Callisto got worse and worse over the course of the night and was looking entirely miserable. The only thing keeping me from panic was that she was still eating, and managing not to throw *that* up even with her constant white-foam ejections. Kimberly was worried enough that she called the emergency vet at our local practice, which got her an answering machine that said it wasn't taking messages, which seems really not-clear on the concept of either emergency vet or answering machine.
So, we all just had to try and sleep and wait for morning.
Over night, Callisto slept in the closet, and every once in a while I was woken up by her trying to vomit, which by now had turned into dry heaves. It was a stressful night, and another one without much sleep.
I had to turn the calling of the vet over to Kimberly in the morning, because I just couldn't deal with their extreme reluctance to see cats in extreme distress. I was wondering if I was going to have to take a sick Callisto on a driving tour of vets on the island, but fortunately we got the OK to bring Callisto over and I (once again) left her there for the day.
After most of a day of work for Blockchain Commons, I went to pick her up and go the report.
An inordinate (and expensive) set of tests showed ... basically nothing. Her bloodwork looked good, other than an elevated white blood count. Her x-rays looked good other than lots of air in her stomach and intestines, presumably from all the gagging and vomiting. And there was some inflammation, I think in her stomach. So, the vet had given her an anti-nausea shot and some steroids and she was definitely looking better.
What really frustrated me, though, was the vet said how they'd kept an eye on her all day and never seen any gagging. And in the fifteen minutes or so while I was waiting for the vet, I saw her gag twice, once quite extreme. So I just can't imagine they kept an eye on her much. I asked what might have caused this, and the vet said probably something she ate, maybe bugs.
And then I came to the conclusion, CALLISTO HAD EATEN A LIZARD. Because she terrorizes those poor things constantly. Sunday night I had to pull her off the kitchen counter because she was chasing one all over. Monday night, a few hours before the troubles started, she was up there again, though I wasn't aware of a lizard that time.
So I don't have confirmation, but given (a) Callisto tries to eat lizards; and (b) the most likely reason for her vet visit was eating something bad; I think (c) she ate a lizard. A $700 lizard as it turns out.
Since she's gotten home, Callisto hasn't been great, with lots of lying around and occasional gagging. But she's been eating treats and wet food. And today, maybe she finally perked up at dinner, because she was begging for her wet food, which I hadn't seen for a few days.
But we now have prednisone for her, in pill form. So At this point I have a daily regimen of 2x antibiotics for Lucy (because maybe she has some urine problem, but nothing showed up) and 1x steroids for Lucy (because maybe she has an intestinal inflammation, but who knows) and 1x steroids for Callisto (because she definitely had some stomach inflammation). The pills are all going fine, disguised in pill pockets, but the liquid steroids for Lucy continue to be a challenge, because we weren't very successful at squirting it down her throat, and she's taking much cajoling to eat all her wet food with it mixed in.
Then Callisto decided to join the party. 5.30am on Tuesday, Kimberly woke me up because Callisto was vomiting a lot. Well, not exactly vomiting, more like spitting up clear liquid, which she'd done once the previous night before I went to bed. There wasn't much sleeping after that. When I saw what was going on with Callisto more clearly an hour or so later, it looked to me like hairball behavior, so I put butter on her paws and went to work. By the evening she was still looking bad, doing clear vomit every 15 or 30 minutes, so I went into town and picked up some official hairball stuff to put on her paws (and got a bunch of stuff for Kimberly and me too).
Problem solved?
Nope.
Callisto got worse and worse over the course of the night and was looking entirely miserable. The only thing keeping me from panic was that she was still eating, and managing not to throw *that* up even with her constant white-foam ejections. Kimberly was worried enough that she called the emergency vet at our local practice, which got her an answering machine that said it wasn't taking messages, which seems really not-clear on the concept of either emergency vet or answering machine.
So, we all just had to try and sleep and wait for morning.
Over night, Callisto slept in the closet, and every once in a while I was woken up by her trying to vomit, which by now had turned into dry heaves. It was a stressful night, and another one without much sleep.
I had to turn the calling of the vet over to Kimberly in the morning, because I just couldn't deal with their extreme reluctance to see cats in extreme distress. I was wondering if I was going to have to take a sick Callisto on a driving tour of vets on the island, but fortunately we got the OK to bring Callisto over and I (once again) left her there for the day.
After most of a day of work for Blockchain Commons, I went to pick her up and go the report.
An inordinate (and expensive) set of tests showed ... basically nothing. Her bloodwork looked good, other than an elevated white blood count. Her x-rays looked good other than lots of air in her stomach and intestines, presumably from all the gagging and vomiting. And there was some inflammation, I think in her stomach. So, the vet had given her an anti-nausea shot and some steroids and she was definitely looking better.
What really frustrated me, though, was the vet said how they'd kept an eye on her all day and never seen any gagging. And in the fifteen minutes or so while I was waiting for the vet, I saw her gag twice, once quite extreme. So I just can't imagine they kept an eye on her much. I asked what might have caused this, and the vet said probably something she ate, maybe bugs.
And then I came to the conclusion, CALLISTO HAD EATEN A LIZARD. Because she terrorizes those poor things constantly. Sunday night I had to pull her off the kitchen counter because she was chasing one all over. Monday night, a few hours before the troubles started, she was up there again, though I wasn't aware of a lizard that time.
So I don't have confirmation, but given (a) Callisto tries to eat lizards; and (b) the most likely reason for her vet visit was eating something bad; I think (c) she ate a lizard. A $700 lizard as it turns out.
Since she's gotten home, Callisto hasn't been great, with lots of lying around and occasional gagging. But she's been eating treats and wet food. And today, maybe she finally perked up at dinner, because she was begging for her wet food, which I hadn't seen for a few days.
But we now have prednisone for her, in pill form. So At this point I have a daily regimen of 2x antibiotics for Lucy (because maybe she has some urine problem, but nothing showed up) and 1x steroids for Lucy (because maybe she has an intestinal inflammation, but who knows) and 1x steroids for Callisto (because she definitely had some stomach inflammation). The pills are all going fine, disguised in pill pockets, but the liquid steroids for Lucy continue to be a challenge, because we weren't very successful at squirting it down her throat, and she's taking much cajoling to eat all her wet food with it mixed in.