What does NYE have to do with Lily? Well, I woke up at 7am on the morning of NYE to Lily being in bed beside me, this wasn't unusual. However, she was howling. This was and wasn't usual, as sometimes she would meow for breakfast, however, this was not meowing, this was a whole other sound. I sat up and as I gently picked her up and she screamed in pain. I immediately put her back on the bed and started checking her for visible injuries, I couldn't find a single mark on her.
My wife was still at work (night shift) and due home shortly, I sent her a text letting her know Lily had to go to the vet. Then I realised it was Sunday.... Our regular vet was closed. I looked online for the next closest vet, they were closed, as was the next and the one after that. While I was doing this, somehow, Lily had managed to drag herself off the bed, through the lounge room and out to the dining area where I was and she had howled all the way. I didn't want her moving, so I sat on the floor with her until my wife arrived home. I also checked her for ticks, again I couldn't find anything!
When my wife arrived home, she started ringing the vet clinics hoping for an after-hours number, thankfully our regular vet had the number for SASH (Small Animal Specialist Hospital) on their answering service. We had no idea that there was now a SASH in our area! So My wife rang them to let them know we were on our way while I got changed and grabbed the cat carry cage.
All the way to SASH I drove as carefully as I could as Lily was clearly in a lot of pain. I had no idea what was wrong with her, she had no wounds, no ticks that I could see (which cause paralysis), the only other thing I could think of was that she had been bitten by a snake. Once we arrived, they took her straight away. We waited, we could hear her howling. When the vet came out, she asked more questions and said that they needed to keep her for the day to run tests and would let us know throughout the day how she was doing.
My wife went to bed as she had worked all night and had to work again NYE. I spent all day researching snake bites as the vet said that if they couldn't find any ticks, that she had possibly been bitten by a snake. The afternoon swung around and I received a call from them, the blood tests were back, she hadn't been bitten by a snake and she didn't have any ticks. She had been given pain medication and was asleep, they asked for permission to take x-rays. I agreed. Later that night, I received another call, the x-rays didn't show any issues with her skeletal system, however, she was full of gas. This prompted me to tell the vet about her intestinal health when she was a kitten. The vet said they'd call me in the morning.
I woke up early, not sure if Lily would be coming home today or not. I waited for the phone to ring. When the vet did ring, he didn't really have any further news, except her pain had decreased some. He wanted to run further tests, again I agreed and waited for the next phone call. He said that at this point his greatest concern was that she had Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) - it was fatal.
The next call was late that night, they still couldn't find out what was wrong, she was however now able to sit up as well as take a few steps, which she wasn't able to do the day before. Although she was still in ICU, she was stable. They wanted to keep her another night and wanted her to see a specialist the next day.
The third day a specialist rang me in the morning. Lily had now eaten a small amount of food, the specialist asked me about her health issues as a kitten. She couldn't explain what was wrong with her as she had a mixed bag of symptoms, she also mentioned FIP. My worst nightmare. After advising the specialist about her previous health issues, she wanted to do an abdominal ultrasound on Lily, she said she'd ring me with the results.
So later that afternoon we received a call from the specialist. She basically stated that Lily could come home. The ultrasound was clear, although she couldn't rule FIP out, she didn't believe that Lily had this as she was now walking. She wanted to see her a week later for a follow-up and wanted her to eat a special diet. The specialist, although she hated to say it, felt that Lily had been bitten by a spider or insect as insect and spider toxins don't show in blood tests like snake venom does.
Fast forward one week. Lily has been on a strict diet, which she's not enjoying one bit! She's had no further symptoms either. So off to SASH. After chatting with the specialist, she said she'd like to do a blood test to compare to her admission bloods. The results wouldn't be in until the next day. She was happy with her progress and reiterated that she believed in her experience that Lily had been bitten by an insect or spider. Although this caused her a great deal of pain, I'm so glad that this seemed to be the issue and that FIP wasn't looking like the cause of the problems! The following day, I was advised that her bloods were all good and that she could go back to her normal diet.
The poor little thing has had so many medical problems in her short life!
Thankfully she's all better now, her fur is still growing back, they had to shave her neck, abdominal area, back and leg - she sort of looks like she's been at war with a lawnmower and the lawnmower won!
Given that she loves her food, she's extremely happy that she's allowed to eat her normal diet again. We felt so cruel when she had to eat the prescribed diet, she didn't like it at all.
Well, fingers crossed that she's grown out of getting stuck in strange places and the only way is up regarding her health. She's such a spoilt kitty cat as you can see in the photo above, she squeezed in between both of my pillows for a snooze.
Till next time!
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