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Emmie is back home, very disgruntled and unhappy -- but her condition isn't as serious as I had feared.
It wasn't a bowel/bladder blockage at all. Her hind end was in pain because her right anal gland had become infected and abcessed. Oooouuuuccccchhhhhh! :-( Poor baby!
Let me take this opportunity to shout out a big THANK YOU to my friend T., who so VERY kindly agreed to drive us to the vet with Emmie on such short notice (an hour and a half), and arranged to drive us home again afterwards! T., you made a horrible day so much more bearable with your generosity and patience. We really owe you one here. :-)
At the vet, Emmie's front end was bright-eyed and inquisitive while her hind end was hunched and painful. The vet, let's call him Dr. S., treated her more gently than any other vet I've seen, punctuating his examination (which was quite painful to her) with caresses and soft words, and he got it over with in record time. He demonstrated the abcess, letting us carefully feel the swelling to the right of and below the base of her tail, and told us that he would have to shave the area to confirm that his diagnosis was correct: if so, he'd need to drain the abcess, a procedure which would cost us $30 (in addition to the $53 fee for the examination, plus any costs for antibiotic, painkillers, etc).
Of course we agreed at once! Emmie was taken into the back room and the door tightly closed; nevertheless we could hear her crying and hissing as the procedure was carried out. When she was brought back to us in the examination room, what a poor little waif she was! Hair wetted down and shaved around her anus, revealing the small but angry red wound where the vet had sliced her open to let the last of the pus drain out (the receptionist, who had been called on to help hold her during the procedure, was wide-eyed and white-faced, saying, quote: "There was SO much pus! He just kept drawing it out (with a syringe)!") Emmie also had an Elizabethan collar around her neck, to add to the discomfort and indignity of her condition.
The vet explained that we'd have to apply warm water compresses to the incision every 6-8 hours over the next 4 days to draw out the remaining pus and help the wound drain. We also received 10 days worth of antibiotics and a little bottle of analgesic drops, 5 drops added to a bit of soft food every 24 hours to control the pain. While the bill was being rung up, the vet realized that he had underquoted us for the draining procedure -- it was actually $80, not $30 -- but offered to charge us half the fee, or $40, since he'd made the mistake. We thought that was quite fair, and $193 later, we walked out with Emmie in a cat carrier, muttering and meowing under her breath the whole way home.
I had to go to work tonight, so didn't see Emmie again until about an hour ago. She's out of sorts, but moving MUCH more easily, which is a very good sign.
Thanks so all so much for your prayers and good wishes! :-) St. Francis of Assisi and Bastet obviously heard them!
It wasn't a bowel/bladder blockage at all. Her hind end was in pain because her right anal gland had become infected and abcessed. Oooouuuuccccchhhhhh! :-( Poor baby!
Let me take this opportunity to shout out a big THANK YOU to my friend T., who so VERY kindly agreed to drive us to the vet with Emmie on such short notice (an hour and a half), and arranged to drive us home again afterwards! T., you made a horrible day so much more bearable with your generosity and patience. We really owe you one here. :-)
At the vet, Emmie's front end was bright-eyed and inquisitive while her hind end was hunched and painful. The vet, let's call him Dr. S., treated her more gently than any other vet I've seen, punctuating his examination (which was quite painful to her) with caresses and soft words, and he got it over with in record time. He demonstrated the abcess, letting us carefully feel the swelling to the right of and below the base of her tail, and told us that he would have to shave the area to confirm that his diagnosis was correct: if so, he'd need to drain the abcess, a procedure which would cost us $30 (in addition to the $53 fee for the examination, plus any costs for antibiotic, painkillers, etc).
Of course we agreed at once! Emmie was taken into the back room and the door tightly closed; nevertheless we could hear her crying and hissing as the procedure was carried out. When she was brought back to us in the examination room, what a poor little waif she was! Hair wetted down and shaved around her anus, revealing the small but angry red wound where the vet had sliced her open to let the last of the pus drain out (the receptionist, who had been called on to help hold her during the procedure, was wide-eyed and white-faced, saying, quote: "There was SO much pus! He just kept drawing it out (with a syringe)!") Emmie also had an Elizabethan collar around her neck, to add to the discomfort and indignity of her condition.
The vet explained that we'd have to apply warm water compresses to the incision every 6-8 hours over the next 4 days to draw out the remaining pus and help the wound drain. We also received 10 days worth of antibiotics and a little bottle of analgesic drops, 5 drops added to a bit of soft food every 24 hours to control the pain. While the bill was being rung up, the vet realized that he had underquoted us for the draining procedure -- it was actually $80, not $30 -- but offered to charge us half the fee, or $40, since he'd made the mistake. We thought that was quite fair, and $193 later, we walked out with Emmie in a cat carrier, muttering and meowing under her breath the whole way home.
I had to go to work tonight, so didn't see Emmie again until about an hour ago. She's out of sorts, but moving MUCH more easily, which is a very good sign.
Thanks so all so much for your prayers and good wishes! :-) St. Francis of Assisi and Bastet obviously heard them!
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AWWWW
I am sure Emmie feels very indignent right now, i know how pretty she is and how much she likes being pretty LOL.
Thank you St. Francis!
Whew! Thanks, St. Francis!