I have learned a number of unexpected lessons since ... acquiring... a kitten the other day.
Anyway. Inkwell the kitten settled into the spare bathroom without too much fuss, and we let him out to roam the house whenever we were home. On Tuesday that meant in the morning when we were getting ready for work, at lunchtime when I came home to check on him and eat and in the evening.
In the morning he was ok, seemed happy enough. At lunchtime I noticed his left eye was a little wonky, kind of winking. Other than the eye he seemed pretty happy, running around and trying to keep my hands from eating lunch, since hands are supposed to feed him. He also tried to get milk out of every part of my body he could reach. Including, at one point, my nose.
Dinnertime his eye was looking a little worse, but the vet is only open during the day, so I tried not to worry. I figured if it didn't get better overnight, I'd call the vet and take him out there. Then he threw up. Lots of barely digested dry cat food all over the floor. I swear the pile he made was bigger than he was. We cleaned it up, put him in the bathroom to rest, and then when I went to let him out he wouldn't come out. He seemed really uncomfortable and sad, and didn't leave his box inside the bathroom at all. I was worried. I didn't sleep well last night.
Breakfast this morning his eye was completely shut and there was a gross little discharge in it, but otherwise he seemed much better. He was purring again, and meowing. And he came right out of the bathroom when I opened the door. I wiped away what I could from his eye, and gave him a small portion of food.
I wasn't able to get him to the vet until this afternoon, and they immediately put a lotion in his eye to help clear it up. We have the lotion and will have to attempt to apply it to his eye again tonight. The vet said something like, "he might lose that eye," which made me panic a little. I hope not, because Winkwell isn't nearly as good a name.
After I described the throwing up and other stuff, they agreed with me that he was probably eating too fast, but gave him something that was applied to his neck that would deal with roundworms and earmites, which they noticed he had.
Looking a little bedraggled and unhappy with his treatment at the vet, he's now somewhere in the house, probably with Eric.
At work today, the man who found Inkwell in his car came back with a bag of catfood and some cat treats and toys, and thanked me again for taking the kitten in. The ad for "FOUND CAT" has now run for two days and we've gotten no response. *sigh* Eric may end up killing me yet.
4 comments:
That's good that you took him in. Poor little guy! Hope he gets better
Sounds like you're getting attached to the cute little bugger. Hope he is better soon. (Although you could always nickname him "Winky.")
--A fellow cat lover.
Abandoned or feral cats often eat too fast, and they will try to get food that they are not supposed to have. That is probably because they had to fend for themselves and learned to eat whenever they got a chance. Sometimes putting a rock in the food bowl will force them to eat slower. And giving smaller amounts of food at a time (e.g. 1/4 cup four times a day instead of one full cup once a day) usually helps.
If your regular vet is only open during the day, try to find an after-hours emergency veterinary clinic in your area. Your regular DVM should not object. Most emergency clinics have an agreement that they are open only when the general practice clinics are closed, so they are not in competition against each other.
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