Tuesday, February 14, 2012

love scarlet love



Yesterday, I was late to work because I just couldn't tear myself away from Scarlet.  I knew that Val had a ten o'clock appointment set up to take her to the vet and we were both expecting them to have to put her to sleep.  I kept saying break myself away, but Scarlet kept stumbling after me even though she was in so much pain, as if she knew it was goodbye.  I finally kissed her on the forehead and walked quickly to my car, misty-eyed.

And I waited for Val's text, but all the while trying not to think too much about it.

Finally, it came in the form of, "I sent you an e-mail", which didn't sound good.  But that is where I should have remembered that Val is not the best texter as far as conveying tone or including key words that will ease the reader.  So, "I sent you an e-mail" sounds bleak.

But, there is yet hope for our beloved Scarlet!  The vet says that she has kidneys stones, the poor little thing.  However, the suspicion of a neurological muscular disease remains until the kidney stones are passed and we can see if she returns to her normal dexterity and self without some of the other symptoms (crawl/hopping instead of walking, twitching, that one awful seizure, and lack of appetite).  But all the blood tests and x-rays come back fine without any sign of tumors or her leukemia returning, so we are hoping that it's just the kidney stones.

Poor Scarlet hadn't eaten in five days, so the doctor gave her some kind of injection and she started scarfing up the food, licking the bowl clean.  Val was so relieved to see her eating.  Scarlet is already an underweight cat, so seeing her shrink down over the course of five days has been heartbreaking.

Her pain is very high (for a cat who rarely meows- the vet thinks her previous owner was abusive- she was letting out little moans whenever we addressed her), so the vet gave her some water shots, which will hopefully flush out her system and get those kidney stones moving.  She also gave Val some valium to administer to give her breaks from the pain and despite the gravity of the situation, it was humorous watching tiny Scarlet, doped up on valium, plopping around looking quite drunk.  Feeling much better, she just wanted to be with us and was purring so loudly last night, which unusual for this quiet little love.

Holding onto hope for this beloved companion of ours.


{impossible film project:  silent companion}
© kimberly k taylor, all rights reserved

1 comments:

Kristin said...

Poor little thing. My previous cat had serious kidney problems. His kidneys eventually failed altogether and I had to put him to sleep. It's such a sad thing because you can tell how painful it is for them. Cats have such sweet spirits, so it's so hard to see them hurting.