Hello Everyone,
Please keep my favorite kitten Tristan in your thoughts. (Percival is my favorite cat in case you were wondering…) He’s at the veterinary hospital right now, and he’s likely to be there for 2-3 days, as he has a urinary blockage that requires catheterization, IV fluids, and close monitoring. Thankfully, we caught things early enough that his kidney function is only slightly off (his BUN was 44; normal is 36), and the kidneys themselves are the correct size and shape. We’re hoping that once the crisis is over we can maintain his health with a prescription diet.
Our first signs that something was wrong came today after lunch. I heard and odd sound—an odd mix of squeak, groan, and growl, and I thought it was my terribly noisy and old dishwasher, which was mid-cycle at the time. Two hours later, Matt told me that the strange noise I heard was not my dishwasher, but rather was coming from Tristan. I wasn’t sure what to make of this, so decided to keep a close eye on him. For the rest of the late afternoon and early evening, I heard nothing. But right after Simon went to bed at 8:00, the growling began again, his posture was slightly hunched, and Percival was clearly agitated around him.
I had a gut feeling he was blocked, sensed that time was of the essence, and had my brother come over at 8:30 so that Matt and I could take him to the emergency vet together. He’s now in the extremely capable hands—I hope!—of Dr. McCoy and the rest of the staff at Jefferson Animal Clinic. They ran a very professional operation, and the hospital has visiting hours every day so I can go visit my little buddy. Tristan is a welcome bit of sunshine every day—a happy-go-lucky butterball of a cat—and my house won’t seem right until he’s back with us all.