Kitty
Morgan was a gift from a boyfriend and his mother. I got her when I was about 16. She was very sick then and small. She’s only 7 lbs now, she never grew into her ears, but she is my baby. I do not refer to myself as her mom. It feels too weird. I’m her girl, we’re buddies.
She was about 7 months old, they guessed, when I got her from the rescue place. However, she was the size of a 7 week old. She fit very snuggly in the palm of one hand. She was so very sick with 4 types of worms and infested with fleas. Too weak to meow, she’d open her mouth and maybe a squeak would come out. I bottled fed her for a while.
This cat, she’s had some adventures:
Oh God, I’m linking you to my old LJ posts!
and of course the more recent stupidity of “die Katze”
kitty under a pillow
Morgan’s Health Stuff
July 15, 2009
It was the evening, maybe around 11pm. She woke me up, it could have been 2am. I’m really not sure. She got up from her little bed and kept falling over. I’ve seen her do this a couple times before, but I can’t remember the date or even the year. I am pretty certain that it was the first time she did it in the new house, and we’ve been here for 2 years-ish.
To me it looked like her hind leg had fallen asleep and could support her. It only lasted a few seconds (10-15 max), though it felt like forever. I scooped her up and she was pretty calm, she turned her head when I said her name. It was like it hadn’t happened.
The next morning I described it to some friends. It was suggested to me by @gwenix that it could have been a stroke. I called the vet and was able to get an appointment pretty quickly. This was my first time at this vet’s and he was concerned about her weight, or lack thereof. She is about 7 lbs, which is teeny, but it’s standard for her. I’d be worried if it fluctuated a lot, but it doesn’t.
She has a heart murmur. I didn’t know this before, but it doesn’t surprise me given her original health status. The vet talked me into a full blood workup. He thought it might be hyperthyroidism, but I wasn’t convinced because two of the symptoms didn’t make any sense for her. Her eating habits haven’t changed drastically. Actually nothing about her has changed drastically, except for these seizure things.
The blood results came back – not hyperthyroidism – whew. Four out of five liver functions are/were high. He suggested an ultrasound. I balked at the price. I can’t afford to spend tons of money on my cat to find out that she is old and will die soon. She is 13, which is pretty old for a cat even without serious medical stupidness from birth.
My plan at this point is to monitor her behavior, eating, etc and go from there.
October 14, 2009
I was sitting in the living room, tap-tap-tapping away on twitter, and I heard Morgan making some noise. Her little bed sits on the bottom shelf (basically floor level) of the dinning room book (actually board games) shelf. We have hardwood floors. It sounded like she was falling down the stairs she was flipping around so much. I ran into the room and saw her whole body flipping about, legs splayed and flailing around.
I scooped her up and said her name. She stopped and looked at me. I don’t know if she stopped because I picked her up or because the seizure ended. I called the vet again, even though I knew they were closed. It was late evening, 10-ish. I figured they’d either have an answering service or more likely numbers for emergency vets.
Emergency vet wanted $100 just to be seen. I decided to keep an eye on her and call the regular vet in the morning. She seemed fine and actually sort of annoyed with me for being all clingy.
October 21, 2009
Vet gave me some free sample food for kidney function. I’m going to have to buy some, but the sample will at least get her transitioned. She seems to really like it though it is still a mix with her current food. The vet wants me to try to do just canned food, but golly that’s a lot of work and um, makes her kinda stinky!
October 26, 2009
The Vet called me while I was in class. Normally I don’t answer my phone, but we were having a work session and I ducked out of the room because I thought something could be wrong. They were calling to see how she was doing. How freakin’ sweet is that. I love this vet. I’m so incredibly happy with East End Vet. Love them.
January 19, 2010
Nothing new or exciting has happened. She stayed with my brother while The Boy and I went back home for Thanksgiving. We arranged to bring her along for Christmas and that went fine except the sedative I got she probably should not take. From what I could find cats with liver problems and/or seizures should not take this. Technically I don’t know if her liver is the problem and she is not exactly having seizures…however you’d think that they might check her chart before giving me something like this. Anyway, she survived the return trip without being sedated. She was perfectly happy to sit in my lap and sleep. Her food seems to help so that is good.
August 25, 2010
Morgan has completely transitioned to the special kidney function food. I started giving her less at a time. I think she may have been over-eating and then throwing it all back up. This is not pleasant for me and I can’t imagine it’s comfortable for her. This prescription food is expensive but I’m okay with this. She hasn’t had an episode since October 2009. She is due for another full blood workup, but I can’t afford it just now. I know she is old and I know she is sick. There isn’t much I can do for her besides trying to keep her comfortable. I think her vision is going, but that could just be because the vet said something to me about her eyes being super dilated. I could be imagining that she doesn’t look at me, but in a very different direction, when I call her name. It could be my super-paying-attention-to-it skills that make me think she is having trouble seeing the floor in the dark and thus sounding like a crate of oranges fall off the bed when she attempts to jump down. I may have moved a stool next to my bed for her. Funny enough, the vet didn’t mention anything about arthritis, which I’m sure my creaky kitty has.
