Thanks for the prayers and well wishes. I know you all want to know about my cat's litter box habits... :) Charlotte has been able to go potty without too much straining today! YAY! I can tell she's starting to feel better because she's been using her scratching post, which she hasn't for a couple days, and last night she snuck out the front door when I came home from the grocery store. She usually tries to get out when I come home, but hadn't been feeling so stealth the last few days. Her favorite part of all this is that the doctor recommended I get her some of the prescription diet food in the canned format until this problem subsides, AND I got a little tuna to mix her medication in. Salome, thanks for the info on the urinary formula food. Good to know they have it at the pet store. I will have to check that out because I was not looking forward to spending double the money cat food ( I was already buying the $20 for 6 pounds variety). Nor was I looking forward to trekking across town to the veterinarian everytime I need to buy some.
Now that things are looking up around here, I'm hoping I can really buckle down on focus on cramming for that test!
Peace and love,
J
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Charlotte feels yucky
Hi blog friends,
My Charlotte kitty has not been feeling well, so I wanted to just share the story with you all so you know what we're going through and maybe you have some advice, shared experiences, or can at the very least pray or think happy thoughts for my baby girl.
(I initially wrote the following as an email to a friend to explain what was going on, so instead of re-typing it all, I'm just going to paste it here.)
She was unable to both urinate and defecate for at least 24 hours starting Sunday night. (And I was terribly worried because if cats can't do their business, they'll die from toxicity.) I initially thought she was constipated because she was straining and the last time she had a urinary infection, she was still able to go #2 and there was blood in the box when she tried to urinate. In the absence of those two things, I assumed it was constipation. Then on Monday morning I realized that she hadn't been urinating either. That's when I called the vet to make an appointment and the only availability was for Tuesday around noon. I was very worried, to the point of being useless at work, because she still hadn't urinated by the time I left for work on Tuesday. Then, right before I took her to the vet yesterday, she was able to do a little of both. But she was leaking urine on her bed. So they emptied her bladder at the vet's office and took a sample to do some tests. This morning she was still unable to urinate, was straining in her box repeatedly, and actually laid down IN her litter box for 15 minutes while I was getting ready for work. I almost started crying when I saw her. I would have thought it was funny under different circumstances. So I called the vet around 9 and the Dr didn't call me back until noon. He said he wanted me to bring her back in at 3 and said that because she was having problems going #2, he was worried that she may have a growth. And that would mean she'd have to have surgery which would cost me thousands of dollars, which I cannot afford, so I'd have to put her down, so I started to cry (at my client's office) and I couldn't stop crying. So I left the client at 1 and came home.
Charlotte had actually been able to go a little bit of both #1 and #2 while I was gone, so that was a major relief. I never would have thought I'd be so happy to see cat pee! I took her to the vet at 3 and they took her in the back and left me in the lobby for an hour and a half. That was fine because I chatted with the receptionist, other people bringing in their pets, and I got to pet a few dogs. (I really LOVE this veterinarian and I'm so glad I found them. Thanks yelp.com!) Then when they finally took me back to talk to the Dr., he showed me a test tube of her urine. About 1/4 of it was crystals that looked like sugar and then there was a little layer of red on top of the crystals, which he said was blood. This means she has Feline Bladder Disease, which means her bladder and urethra are inflamed. He suspects that the urethra is so inflamed, it's making the hole very small, and when she squeezes her bladder to urinate, it squeezes the hole closed so nothing can come out. Additionally, he said he bladder muscle is weak and squeezes at about half the force/strength it should. She may also have a UTI, so she's still on a little bit of antibiotics. He gave me anti-inflammatory pills that I have to give her once a day and a medication that is supposed to make her bladder muscle squeeze with more force. AND now she has to be on prescription food that's specially formulated for urinary problems, which is supposed to reduce the accumulation of crystals in her bladder. He hopes that all that will make the current problem go away and keep future flare ups at a minimum. I really hope so! I was quite worried for a while that I'd lose her. :(
I'm taking tomorrow and Friday off so I can study because my exam is on Saturday! I've been useless at work all week because I've been worried about Charlotte and stressed that I couldn't focus on studying. Hopefully I can be calm tomorrow since I'll be home with her and have 2 full days to study.
Thanks in advance for your prayers and happy thoughts! (Let's hope my baby can pee freely!)
J
Here are some pictures of Charlotte that I took last Friday.
My Charlotte kitty has not been feeling well, so I wanted to just share the story with you all so you know what we're going through and maybe you have some advice, shared experiences, or can at the very least pray or think happy thoughts for my baby girl.
(I initially wrote the following as an email to a friend to explain what was going on, so instead of re-typing it all, I'm just going to paste it here.)
She was unable to both urinate and defecate for at least 24 hours starting Sunday night. (And I was terribly worried because if cats can't do their business, they'll die from toxicity.) I initially thought she was constipated because she was straining and the last time she had a urinary infection, she was still able to go #2 and there was blood in the box when she tried to urinate. In the absence of those two things, I assumed it was constipation. Then on Monday morning I realized that she hadn't been urinating either. That's when I called the vet to make an appointment and the only availability was for Tuesday around noon. I was very worried, to the point of being useless at work, because she still hadn't urinated by the time I left for work on Tuesday. Then, right before I took her to the vet yesterday, she was able to do a little of both. But she was leaking urine on her bed. So they emptied her bladder at the vet's office and took a sample to do some tests. This morning she was still unable to urinate, was straining in her box repeatedly, and actually laid down IN her litter box for 15 minutes while I was getting ready for work. I almost started crying when I saw her. I would have thought it was funny under different circumstances. So I called the vet around 9 and the Dr didn't call me back until noon. He said he wanted me to bring her back in at 3 and said that because she was having problems going #2, he was worried that she may have a growth. And that would mean she'd have to have surgery which would cost me thousands of dollars, which I cannot afford, so I'd have to put her down, so I started to cry (at my client's office) and I couldn't stop crying. So I left the client at 1 and came home.
Charlotte had actually been able to go a little bit of both #1 and #2 while I was gone, so that was a major relief. I never would have thought I'd be so happy to see cat pee! I took her to the vet at 3 and they took her in the back and left me in the lobby for an hour and a half. That was fine because I chatted with the receptionist, other people bringing in their pets, and I got to pet a few dogs. (I really LOVE this veterinarian and I'm so glad I found them. Thanks yelp.com!) Then when they finally took me back to talk to the Dr., he showed me a test tube of her urine. About 1/4 of it was crystals that looked like sugar and then there was a little layer of red on top of the crystals, which he said was blood. This means she has Feline Bladder Disease, which means her bladder and urethra are inflamed. He suspects that the urethra is so inflamed, it's making the hole very small, and when she squeezes her bladder to urinate, it squeezes the hole closed so nothing can come out. Additionally, he said he bladder muscle is weak and squeezes at about half the force/strength it should. She may also have a UTI, so she's still on a little bit of antibiotics. He gave me anti-inflammatory pills that I have to give her once a day and a medication that is supposed to make her bladder muscle squeeze with more force. AND now she has to be on prescription food that's specially formulated for urinary problems, which is supposed to reduce the accumulation of crystals in her bladder. He hopes that all that will make the current problem go away and keep future flare ups at a minimum. I really hope so! I was quite worried for a while that I'd lose her. :(
I'm taking tomorrow and Friday off so I can study because my exam is on Saturday! I've been useless at work all week because I've been worried about Charlotte and stressed that I couldn't focus on studying. Hopefully I can be calm tomorrow since I'll be home with her and have 2 full days to study.
Thanks in advance for your prayers and happy thoughts! (Let's hope my baby can pee freely!)
J
Here are some pictures of Charlotte that I took last Friday.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Stress!
I am taking the Business and Economic Concepts (BEC) portion of the CPA exam on Saturday, October 25. If I pass it, I will be DONE! If I do not pass, I'm screwed... I lose the Audit (AUD) exam that I passed and I have to take both AUD and BEC again. Needless to say, I am studying my butt off so that there is no other option than to pass. Please, if you're the praying type, remember me in your prayers that I might learn and retain this information, that I might not have anxiety, and that I may be calm while taking the exam. Thank you! Peace and love.
J
P.S. After this exam my life begins! I have big plans for getting back to exercising, being creative, and just overall enjoying life (and my freedom from exams)!
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
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