Ordinary day
It was an ordinary Wednesday when the cats had lot of play.. Around the time that we were supposed to start thinking about having some dinner, my boyfriend was still busy running errands and therefore things became a bit late. I made sure me and the little one had some pasta that I made the other day as it's her favourite.
Cats were being cats
And doing what they always do, sleep, snooze, play, eat and sleep some more. Sometimes they use the litterbox too but you know, most of the day it's sleeping, playing eating or snoozing. Or just zooming through the house while they seem like they're going to murder each other. That definitely happens too!
Sunset pictures
When the sun is about to set, there's a good light in the living room where the scratching post (and often cats) are because they love sleeping or snoozing in the sunlight. They don't mind being boiled behind the glass like we do, nope, they actually enjoy it so they can sleep a bit more. This is the moment when a lot of pictures are taken by me. Hoping for that one shot where Maesi doesn't hear me coming and wakes up annoyingly looking at me "are you done yet?".
A little pet
Then I just pet her and she falls right back to sleep because she can't ignore the warmth, it's too cosy. Just before this sleeping moment happened last Wednesday, she was going NUTS on that thing you see hanging behind her:
Seriously, can you stop taking pictures so I can enjoy my beauty sleep?
It used to be a ball on the fairly new scratching post but it's gotten murdered already some weeks ago. The thing is, that's mostly made of the same robe that they bind on the scratching poles which at some point comes off and it's quite thick. Cat owners probably all know what I mean. I've found this stuff in the litterbox quite often, which makes me wonder did it get swallowed and pooped out for real? Or is it something that was stuck within the fur or whatever. Anyway, it's been a concern of me a few times.
The zoomies?
Let's continue to that moment where out of nowhere, Maesi started to have the zoomies? Which was odd because Luna was sleeping like a little princess on the couch, usually she's the starter of the whole event, being naughty and such!
At first, you just let them race and hope no accidents happen because they can seriously let you break a leg if they are having the zoomies. It's best to stay put when they do because they're so unpredictable and if you're in their way, they will just run right through you, so the speak.
Luna kept sleeping
But Maesi's behaviour felt off, although she's officially my boyfriend's cat, while Luna is mine, both of them are actually my cats because they both know who to turn to when they need something. Maesi also trusts me most while she can be a pain in the ass and complain a lot without any reason. Luna is more from the lovey-dovey approach and will continue to give heads and keep cuddling until she has what she wants. She barely meows while Maesi can be loud at times.
I saw something was off
And although I could not grab my hand around what the issue was, I knew she was not ok. I tried to look and feel if there was something bothering her in the fur because she started scratching as well, I couldn't find anything. She limped a bit for a while but that wasn't the cause either (I checked if something was in between her toes). She surely didn't feel like herself.
I separated her
When she ran into the big bathroom and Luna started chasing her, which she clearly didn't like. I asked the little one to keep Luna away and went into the bathroom with Maesi to pet her and see if I could find anything. The only thing I could find was her skin twitching and shaking and her eyes were very big. She wanted my affection clearly as in between the moments when it bothered her most, she was affectionate to me as well. She was listening to what I asked her and tried to remain calm. She's very clever, that's for sure.
"second opinion"
I asked my boyfriend to join us in the bathroom and see if he could find something but he didn't either. I thought she swallowed a piece of that stupid rope which was now bothering her from the inside which clearly she can't point out. That was my best guess..
I gave her some wet food, I only had one kind which she normally doesn't eat, but she started eating it right away as if she knew she better should. This kind of confirmed my suspicion that something was swallowed and now bothering her.
That's it, we're going to the vet
After 1,5 hours of seeing if things calmed down while keeping a close eye on her and Luna away from her as she was just being annoying towards Maesi, suddenly Maesi started gagging and meowing really loud. I told her to call me if she needed help and she was on the other side of the room at that time, she was VERY loud. This was nothing like her.
This was the moment I said I'm getting the carrier and we're going to the vet, as it's open for just one more hour and I rather go now than having her in distress after opening hours and needing even more care maybe. I just didn't feel comfortable waiting any longer.
Maesi and her VET-record
She's a pain to get into the carrier and even worse to be examined and treated because she just doesn't like it. Luna just freezes and stay's put, being bought with some treats and she's a happy cat again. I took the carrier while she was still in the bathroom and she instantly hid in the bath tub. I placed the carrier there and told her I want to help her but I can't and we need to see the doctor so get in the carrier please.
I couldn't believe it, within a minute she went in voluntarily, damn, my boyfriend really has the smartest cat of the two. Honestly, I was SO happy not to have to pick her up and get her in with resistance as clearly she felt uncomfortable enough as is.
New vet
I was a bit panicked that she was about to choke so even if the other vet would have been open, I'd pick the one nearest to our home as it's also possible to get there walking. Which is clearly not ideal with an adult cat, but doable. The other one is too far from here to walk so this will be our new vet.
We walked in stressed, and the people waiting were kindly asked if we could go first, which felt a bit uncomfortable but they really didn't seem to be bothered, which I was very thankful for. We arrived and Maesi was stressed but not choking anymore, I translated the issue and our daughter helped a bit where needed. She examined her, which Maesi allowed without ANY resistance (I was like wtf is this our cat?) and she said she's in distress but her breathing is not to worry about and I'm not hearing anything blocked inside.
She also didn't respond to pain so she said whatever it is, it needs to pass on it's own and I will give her something to relax for now. 15 minutes later and 40 euros poorer, the cat was calm and I went home feeling relieved. Of course, if she were to start making these sounds again, we'd need to call. Which I really hoped wasn't going to happen.
Quick run for wet food
As she was calm anyway, we stopped at the supermarket so I could quickly get some extra wet food because she was not allowed to eat dry food today.
At home she was calm and fell asleep thanks to the meds but you could see her resisting as she was not in control and tried to stay up as you can see here:
Rather than giving in and sleep.
She lost the battle though, the meds won.
Relief
Later, we found nothing out of the ordinary in the litterbox. My friend who has a lot of experiences with cats instantly said it's something called Hyperesthesia syndrome which could be the case. We didn't mention the twitching of the skin very clearly so the vet missed that part, looking back on how the consult went.
She said one of her cats has it sometimes, an episode but very rarely and then it's ok, if it happens a lot, it needs to be looked at. For now, she's been doing great, no weird things and I'm relieved we went so that we didn't have to worry during the night that she'd be in distress needing us while we're sleeping.
Today is thankfully another Caturday, not a VET-erday ;)
Have a great weekend!
All images above are mine ...