Sunday, Dec 4, the same day we went to Cookies with Santa, Tigger meowed very loudly at me as I walked by him perched on the back of the couch. I gave him a good scratch behind the ears and thought nothing of it. Then I went to pick him up in the kitchen and he howled when I touched his behind. He held up one back leg when I put him down, so I figured he hurt his leg - poor kitty, but not an emergency. I thought, "I'll call the vet in the morning and make him an appointment."
Kevin left for a trip to Cuba with his Symtech crew directly from Cookies with Santa, so that night Tigger and I had the bed to ourselves. I arranged myself to sleep so that I could be hear Tigger, as his condition seemed to have worsened during the day. He was still eating and drinking, so I brought his bowls upstairs so he wouldn't have to go up and down the stairs with a sore leg.
He meowed a bit unusually off and on, from the pain, I figured. One of his meows woke me up and as I opened my eyes he was standing up and yellow drops where coming out of his behind. I looked around and there were a few little yellow stains on the bed. "Oh no! Urinary issues!" I thought. He was still eating and drinking, but I could't tell if he was using the litter, as I have 2 cats and well, which pee-pee is which?
First thing in the morning I brought him to the vet. Following an exam and an X-ray it was determined that he had no stones or blockages, but a urine sample would be needed to determine the exact cause of the pee'ing issue. I took home a special litter kit to collect his sample from, secluded him alone in my room with his favorite bed, food, water and the kit. I checked on him hourly until bed time. All that time there was NO PEE. It didn't look like he had eaten anything or drank much either. He was lethargic - lifting only his head to look at me when I entered the room, then puttin it back down. I was worried. That he got up and walked a bit on the bed and where he had been lying with this BIG RED STAIN.
"OMG! HE'S PEEING BLOOD!" I thought with panic. Then I saw some smaller red stains on his bed. I went over to check his litter kit and there were only a few drops of pee. Then I saw what frightened me the most - it looked like someone had squirted ketchup on my shawls, but it was blood. Blood from Tigger - I assumed from his urine, as when I moved everything to clean up, there was a yellowish fluid on the floor, too.
At this point I figured he's dying. I paced the hallway. It was 2 am now - there's no 911 for cats...I opened the bedroom to allow Tigger and Eric to be together. I really thought this would be Tigger's last night. I brought him to the vet in the morning, explained everything and left him there for the day to be observed and for them to collect a urine sample.
Finally at 3 pm when I hadn't heard anything I called. I re-explained everything directly to a different vet (who happens to be a friend of my mom's, too) and she decided she would examine him, and give him an injection of antibiotics and I should come pick him up at 5:00.
Darcy and I went to get him at 5:00. There was a lot to explain to Darcy as this was her first trip to the animal hospital. GOOD NEWS!!!!! It wasn't a urinary problem at all - he had an abcess on him bum! It would clear up with the antibiotics and keeping it clean. The yellow spots and drops I saw were puss, not pee! I could already see that he was more frisky than in the morning. He's going back for a follow-up this week, but I'm so happy to say that he's back to normal!
In my head I was not only worried and saddened about Tigger being sick, but I thought, "Now I'm going to have to break the news to Darcy and Cameron..." Tigger is Cameron's favorite cat, and well, Darcy seems to be Tigger's favorite human (after me...of course). :-P
Maybe it's a good thing Kevin was away when all of this happened! Tigger was on the mend and everything was all cleaned up before he got back...including our bank account...this abcess cost over $200!
January 12, 2012
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