#cw: pet illness

[charmwasjess]

If y'all could spare any good thoughts for my beautiful old lady cat this weekend, she's critically ill.

She's been a misanthropic companion my whole adult life. My partner's friend found her as a kitten, dumped in a literal turnip patch, which is crazy because she's clearly a queen. A whopping 7lbs, she enjoys torturing my dog (stealing his treats and toys) and knocking my belongings off of high places. Last night we put on Anthony Bourdain for her, who she loves. (If she hears his voice, she will literally run into the room and watch the TV like a person.) We're really, really hoping she pulls up, but it's been an incredibly hard couple days.

[teamdilf]

Booked Shitty Little Cat’s annual vet visit and I’m emotional (in a good way) because this time last year I was coping by joking with the receptionist that we’d need to see if she survives long enough to need another annual physical.

She’s still here. All of our friends who come over can hardly believe she’s so sick because she’s constantly running around and causing trouble. We know she’s sick and see that she’s sick but she’s eating, she’s enjoying life and I’m so fucking grateful she’s here. 💜

[kcscribbler]

My 19-year-old cat has been clearly slowing down for a while now (yelling loudly bc she's going deaf, not always making it to the litter box, etc.), but she fell off a chair last night trying to jump down, and is now starting to choose hiding places instead of sleeping in her normal beds. (Refuses to use the expensive little stair-steps I bought her, of course.)

I fucking hate this. Dreading what's coming is almost worse than the event itself.

Somewhat pathetic but she's my oldest friend...

[finnglas]

gonna use tumblr like livejournal for a minute, just personal musings under the cut.

I'm so scattered today. I can feel my brain reaching frantically for anything it thinks will give us a little hit of dopamine to combat this horrible feeling of entering the pet-with-cancer gauntlet again. The last time I did this was in 2010 with my heart-cat, and it was fucking awful. I had nightmares for almost a year afterward where I would wake up screaming and crying from dreaming that she hadn't died after all and she'd just been slowly starving to death while I neglected her, or some other equally terrible narrative my subconscious made up out of the guilt of not being able to save her.

I'm hoping that in almost 15 years maybe my subconscious has learned some better coping methods than just torturing all of us.

It also means that I'm questioning any plans that take me away from home, or any decisions to change jobs or... Well, you probably get it. Her first appointment with the oncologist is Thursday, so we'll know more then. Feeling guilty that I have to request time off from work again right after I finally got my requested schedule, but they don't do evaluation appointments on any days I'm already off.

(Just talking out the guilt at this point.)

Anyway. I was going to talk about the projects I want to work on and how I can feel my brain fluttering around them like "maybe this would distract us." Let's see if it does.

I want to finish the final Maya & Grace story and collect them all into a little omnibus that I can do a print run of. Problems: I have to decide where I want them to go. It will also have to be a slightly longer story than the other two-and-a-half to make the collection long enough to print. I also want to revisit/rewrite "Shiver," since I felt like it wasn't ready to publish when I put it out, but I had promised a friend that we would both write Halloween stories that year and then they passed away over the summer, so I felt like I needed to keep that promise somehow. But it needs some finessing.

Night Is For Hunting needs some rewriting too. Basically what got published was my first draft. And that's how I learned that I cannot write to someone else's deadline, even with an extension. I'll have the rights for all three books back in April of next year (April? June?) and would like to celebrate by releasing the Director's Cut of NIFH so that I can get on with the business of writing Wilderness of Horrors.

I wanted to write a thoughtful blog-article type piece on the effect of economic class on my choice of narratives. I realized that I write a lot of stories about people's complicated relationships with their hometowns - wanting to leave, but also not feeling confident in where they're going. I read an advice book once that was like, "What does your character want?" and the answer to almost all of them was "To get out," and it really comes back to the fact that I write small town, working class characters as a default. And when you're from a small town in an economically depressed area, you understand from the start that there's not a bright future for you there. You can graduate high school and get a job at the 7/11 or the Piggly Wiggly and get married to one of your old classmates and have kids that you don't have the time, attention, or money to care for -- or you can leave. You can go to a bigger town with more opportunity and people you don't already know. And you might end up worse, but hey, the dice are there for you to roll. Add to that if you're queer or neurodivergent, especially in a time before the internet, and whew buddy! You've heard that all authors just write the same stories over and over? That's the one I keep writing. I guess because it's mine, in a lot of ways.

Blackthorn is languishing thanks to all the stress and stuff but it was going so well and I really want to finish writing it before I focus on the rewrite projects (there are three). But the rewrite projects are so seductive because lmao they're already written. I just have to fix them. And I'm so much better at fixing them.

All right. clawed myself out of the worst of the abyss for now.

[phoenix-flamed]

So funny story!

Today was completely derailed by another vet emergency. One of our other baby boys(who isn't actually a kitten -- he's like 8 I think at this point? But still) was fine this morning, then this afternoon he was behaving very uncharacteristically for his fluffy lovebug self.

I'll put the rest under a Read More, because pet illness.

Come to find out, poor Riley had a crystal blockage, and his bladder had reached a point that it was huge. Needless to say, he was in a lot of pain, and if we hadn't taken him in when we did... I don't want to think about what would have happened.

But they're going to be performing a perineal urethrostomy on him, they removed the blockage and put a catheter in him, and the last update I got was a few hours ago to let us know that he's urinating a little bit.

Tl;dr, when it rains, it pours. But he's alive, and that's what matters most of all. I'm gonna go faceplant in bed, because I am beat -- but I'll try and get at least some writing posted between things I have to do tomorrow.

[cakemagemaeve]

To sum up the last week, on Thursday my cat Marceline the Vampire Queen (October Daye's oldest daughter and the only surviving kitten from her first litter) slipped out and we've yet to get her back inside. She's still semi-feral, and she's still recovering (physically and mentally) from getting spayed on the 30th (it was a traumatic process for everyone and she had only just begun to trust me again when she escaped) and none of us saw her until Tuesday evening. Until then I thought she'd already been killed, what with the construction right next to us and the coyotes, foxes, birds of prey and idiot drivers all around, so even just catching a glimpse of her running and hiding under the shed eased my mind greatly. All my attempts to lure her back inside have failed thus far, but she's started spending her evenings on the back porch, and we have made some progress in getting her to come to us. I'm glad she's still alive (and VERY glad she's now spayed and vaccinated), but I don't think I'll be able to relax until she's back inside, safe and sound.

On Tuesday morning I had my monthly pain doctor appointment that could so easily been an email, and they sent in the prescription for my pain patches, but since Medicaid sucks, it'll only pay for the name brand patch, and since Walgreens sucks, they don't keep the name brand in stock, just the generic. So now I have to wait until Monday at the earliest to get my pain meds, which I've been out of since Tuesday (when it was supposed to be filled). I've been in constant agony ever since my last patch ran out (although I've taped it back on because it's not like there's anything else I can do) and have barely slept all week, but what's another weekend in mind-numbing agony. It's not like going a whole week on 7 cumulative hours of sleep is anything new for me. Because yeah, this has happened every month since I started on these patches, and none of my attempts to get it sorted out for good have worked. This is a monthly experience for me.

Also! Yesterday there was that surprise water bill, and then last night my cat Big Bubba Kupo escaped as well, and I managed to hurt myself quite badly getting him back inside. Worth it, though.

Worst of all though, my dad's cat Miss Chi has been slowly getting sicker for months, and nothing the vet has given us has helped much at all. Around the start of this month she started to take a drastic turn for the worse despite all of our best efforts, and so we're saying goodbye to her this afternoon. She's been a wonderful cat, and I'm going to miss her so much. Love you, Chi.

So yeah. That's what's been going on in my life these days. Honestly, would it really kill the universe to throw me a goddamn bone once in a while?

[thehungrycity]

Cut for discussion of unwell cat

I'm upset. I took my cat to the vet on Friday, because he's been drinking a lot and seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight. The vet thinks that it's kidney disease. They had to sedate him to get some blood for testing, and I won't have the results until Tuesday, but I've been reading up online about it and kidney disease seems very likely to me given his symptoms. It's also probably, I think, reasonably late stage. I think probably at least stage 3, given the weight loss and hugely increased thirst.

But on the bright side, he is still a complete pain about expecting his breakfast and dinner at his normal times, and does eat it all most of the time (he has his preferred and dispreferred foods of course). He spends a lot of time sleeping, but likes to go and sit outside in the sun.

He's an older kitty - around 15 years old. And I love him. He's always such a bright, stubborn, confident, demanding light in my life. And I feel terrible that I didn't notice earlier, didn't take him to the vet earlier. I just want him to be okay, my little flame heart. Waiting to hear how bad it is is really hard. I really hope it's not as bad as I'm afraid it is and that it can be managed for years yet to come without impacting too much on his quality of life. I have been having trouble sleeping because of worry.

[demonicrosebushsims]

While Dahlia is getting older, she is also getting sick more often. Thankfully it's nothing the vet cannot fix.

[incorrectapus]

Sad pet shit:

Friday will be our last day with Nemo. After two weeks of him not gaining weight, I brought him in for bloodwork this week. Boy isn’t even big enough to take more than one blood draw from. There’s something wrong with his liver, and the only way to know what would be to take him to a specialist for a biopsy. he’s only 1lb 5oz, no way he’s going under anesthesia for that.

Vet got him on an antibiotic in case he has an infection, which felt like a “it can’t hurt” step to take. I’ve cried so so much this week, because I don’t want to wake up and find he’s passed in the night alone. Or watch him decline, or have to rush him to the emergency vet. I’ve never had to make an end of life decision for a pet before, and it was tearing me up even though i knew it would be the right choice.

I do feel a little better having scheduled it, oddly. We will miss him a ton, but we wont have to worry anymore about when he’s going to get worse or if he’s hurting. This boy is so special and has come so far. He’ll be going out with no fleas, a full stomach, and so much love.

I mean everyone was rooting for this guy- my family, my manager, our neighbors, everyone at the vet’s office (his last appointment, a lady from the front office came in at the end of the visit because she knew he was there and wanted to say hi).

He’s going to have a week of his favorites-cream cheese, fireplace, hanging out with the brothers. And he’ll go out on top, before he can have any bad days with us.

[bellsmess]

Reading Crimson Rivers is such an intense experience on its own but try reading the last 10 chapters on one night and then finding out your cat got a poisoning and he needs to be put down bc he's in too much pain to live and you don't even get to say goodbye to him

[metamatar]

curry is worse now. feeling despair.

[teamdilf]

Shitty Little Cat’s health has taken a turn in the last couple of weeks. She’s picky about food again and it’s been a struggle to get her to eat enough. It reminds me of last summer, just after her diagnosis, when we would cycle through foods trying to find something she was willing to eat.

We thought we’d get the summer with her and that was it and she’s still here a year later. I know how fortunate we’ve been that she’s been doing as well as she was for as long as she was. But I’m such a fucking mess today because I don’t want her to die and she’s going to, well before her time. It just sucks, you know?

I’m clinging to a shred of hope that her health is simply worse in the summer because it’s hot, she spends a lot of time basking in the sun, and that dehydrates her, which makes her more nauseous. Her health turned for the better as it started to cool down last year and she’s started to get sicker as the days got longer and she spends time lying in the sun.

She’s the greatest little animal I’ve ever known and my partner and I have moved mountains to save her several times over her short life. So long as she continues to love basking in the sun, we’ll do our best to make her life a happy one.

But fuck, is the grief heavy today.

[viridities]

Tw: sad topic under cut real life stuff.

My dog unfortunately got very sick and passed away today during treatment for an infection. My chihuahua was the best and most sweet dog you could ask for and was always happy.

You can be so careful as a dog owner and things still happen. The hardest part will be coming down the stairs tomorrow morning and his tail not going a mile a minute.

There was no warning. He was only 4.

[lt-sarai]

Life update: sick cat

One of our cats (Tuffy, the skitzy one, around 11 years old) isn't doing great. She's skin and bones no matter how much we feed her (and we do feed her extra wet food). She's having trouble cleaning herself after using the litter box. We noticed today while using some no-rinse foaming pet shampoo that her urethra is swollen, likely because she can't keep it clean. We've been putting off taking her to the vet because we literally don't have any money after bills, groceries, and gas, but we have to take her. I'm gonna make her an appointment tomorrow (hopefully for Thursday morning, bc I work all next week) and we'll just have to figure out a way to make it work.

[phoenix-flamed]

Personal thing under the Read More.

My little old lady cat, Spencer, aka Princess Puff, isn't eating anymore. She vomited up water and foam, she won't eat her puff snack(a pill pocket with her thyroid medication in it), she's hiding under my bed right now, and when she came out this morning when I was getting ready to feed the cats, she kept panting heavily.

She's like, 16 or so, something like? And has thyroid problems. In hindsight, there were so many little signs that something was wrong lately, and I stupidly didn't connect the dots until now.

She has an appointment with the vet in two hours, but it may be time to say goodbye to her, as much as it breaks my heart to because I thought she and I had more time together. I wanted to give her more time -- she was already 8 when I adopted her.

[themummersfolly]

At the emergency vet w Tully. Idk what's going on but it's different from his low sugar attacks.