A Different Scare

On Saturday, I took Charlotte, Spider and Spout into the cat vet and had to break the news to E. that Water didn't make it.

The vet looked at them and told us to continue doing everything that we were and keep tabs on them.

I took them back home went about diligently caring for them. They were eating some soft food at this point, but Spider was also getting KMR supplements every 3 hours, since Charlotte wasn't producing a lot of milk.

The endless cycles of feeding and medication went on. Then Saturday night Charlotte started acting very weird. I watched her use the litterbox, jump out, and then she refused to stand up straight. She hunched close to the carpet and crawled around.

I reached for Kittens for Dummies, absolutely convinced that there was some degenerative neurological disease going on which impaired muscle control of the lungs in the kittens and was now attacking Charlotte's limb function.

I read about the woes of FPV and FIP, both very deadly feline diseases and was convinced that not only did they have it, but that I had now exposed my girls to it and I was going to end up watching 9 cats and kittens die one by one.

I called my vet and made appointments for Sunday for my adult cats to get checked out and get updated vaccines. I called E. and left a message giving her the details. Then I went to bed wondering if I was going to open the door to their room the next morning and find Charlotte dead.

I woke up on Sunday feeling horrible. I was breathing fast and shallow. My temperature was more than a degree below normal. I was nauseous and didn't think I could eat or drink without vomiting. I was close to going to urgent care, feeling I was so extremely dehydrated, weak and exhausted from not taking care of myself. Alas, because it was daylight savings, urgent care wasn't open yet and I had to try drinking water in the meantime. I was able to slowly drink enough water that my breathing became normal again, and Michael let me nap while he did the morning medication rounds that I usually did.

Michael spent time with Charlotte and the kittens, and when I woke up from my nap, I went to find him. He asked me "Is it possible she's...just..........horny?" I pooh-poohed that idea. Based on human physiology, I figured that mammals rarely are fertile while nursing. But he insisted that I look up the "symptoms" of cats in heat. Sure enough, she had every single thing on the list, including the crouching, butt up and tail hanging to the side, extreme affection and head rubbing, she tried to escape the room every time the door opened, and, as Michael put it, "She's giving me bedroom eyes. I feel dirty."

Crisis averted.