Buddy, several years ago, in front of my light box

[ I'm trying to keep this in chronological order, so skip to the end to see the latest with Buddy]

I noticed yesterday morning that there was something wrong with Buddy’s right eye.  Cat’s have a membrane, sort of a covering between the eye and the lid, it’s like an inner eye-lid, and for some reason, half of this inner membrane is showing.  It must be irritating because his eye is watering badly as well.

I called the vet yesterday, and they came by, two women, this afternoon.  Buddy is simply not a good patient.  I tried to get him into a calm mood by brushing him before they arrived.  And he was, but once they entered the house, things got ugly.  I was able to put him up on the counter where I do my matting; and he was doing the usual amount of hissing, and soon striking out with his claws; but with three adults holding him we couldn’t get him still enough to work on.

The vet suggested wrapping him in a towel.  Again, this did not go well.  We got the towel around him, but now his panic went off the scales – and we couldn’t hold him.  He jump out of the towel – off the counter – and onto a piece of rug that is his usual bed.  He turned on his side, ignoring us, with the only sign that something was wrong – the twitching of his tail.

So the vet suggested that he would have to be tranquilized in order to do a full work-up.  The eye-business could be topical, that is to say, not a bad symptom, or it could be a symptom of something worse.  So as it stands, the vet will send someone over tonight who is a specialist at getting cats into carriers.  And Buddy will go off to the hospital which is only a block away; get put under; and then they will hopefully be able to do the testing they need to do.  Then he’ll be brought back to me.

I knew all along that this wasn’t going to be easy.  I’ve had him in a carrier exactly once and that didn’t go well.  He was absolutely scared out of his wits while he was in confinement.  It is possible to give him a tranquilizer orally but it will take at least 20 minutes to work.  So I’m just waiting for the call that the person with the large carrier is coming by.

I have to admit, that I really couldn’t get any work done – as I was worried about him all day and couldn’t concentrate on printing.

* * *

There was a change in plans as the person who was going to pick Buddy up in a carrier tonight wasn’t available; so it will be done tomorrow night around 8 pm.  A day of reprieve for him.  He’s not in any pain.  But whatever is wrong with him has to be diagnosed, as it could be trivial or serious.

* * *

Next morning: Thank you all for your good wishes. Just so you know, he’s not suffering at all with the inner eyelid problem; not even sure he knows there’s anything wrong. Sleeps, and purrs, and does all the usual stuff. Tonight, he’ll be taken to the hospital nearby where he can be sedated and they can do a more careful exam (see below).

* * *

Next Day

Okay. Buddy is off to the hospital. How we did it. He loves to go to the door when someone rings. So when Jennifer (the cat picker-upper) was at the door, I cracked it open a bit so we could talk. She had a satchel with a grid that the cat could see through and she pushed the apartment door open when I told her to and I slid Buddy into the satchel, head first.

He immediately started letting out those terrible noises, but Jennifer was calm. There were two zippers that had to be pulled around and of course mine got stuck. But the other zipper could go all around so the whole thing probably took 30 seconds.

As she walked down the stairs with the cat in the satchel, he was still crying – but not crazy crying; and Jennifer said, That went really well.  I was rattled. But not as much as Buddy.

So now I just have to wait for a call from the hospital. Whether I’ll get it tonight or tomorrow morning; I’m not really sure. I think it will be tonight. If that’s the case and they can do everything they have to do Jennifer can bring him back tonight and and he can sleep in his own bed.

Phew.

* * *

The call came around 11:30 pm from the vet.  Buddy was resting, and still knocked out from the tranquilizer.  They did blood work.  And they looked at the eye.  And so far the conclusion is that it may be an infection, or it may be a genetic syndrome (I forget the name).  They are sending out specific genetic test samples to see if it is a genetic syndrome.  In the meantime, I’m waiting for them to call me to pick him up, probably around 12 midnight, and bring him home tonight.  They don’t expect to see anything that’s related to the eye with the general blood work.  If there’s are other problems with kidneys, liver etc. that will show up.  And it will take a while for the special genetic marker blood tests to come back.  Buddy was pretty freaked out.  When they got him there he had pooped in the satchel.  I’m not surprised – he did that once before when he was very nervous and I was trying to get him used to the carrier.

Should be fun to give him eye drops, but he’s comfortable with me, and I’m pretty sure I can do it.  One thing I forgot to ask, is if it is a genetic syndrome – if anything can be done for it.  I’ll be glad to get him home and let him calm down; but so far, although we don’t know what is causing the problem, I feel okay that it’s not going to be anything that serious.

* * *

And I just got him back in the house.  He looks good.  I never saw him after he had a bath.  Groggy, but good.  Even his eye looks better.  More later…