Chloe has had a really rough weekend. There was more cat barf waiting for me at home on Friday after work, and the number of barfs combined with some other digestive issues (euphemism!) made me decide to take Chloe to the vet.  Rami and I were supposed to have date night Friday, so when he got to my place around 6:30 we took Chloe to an emergency vet clinic in northwest Austin. How romantic.

The trip there was pretty rough. Chloe was feeling icky and she had some accidents  in her carrier (euphemism!) on the way to the vet’s office. We waited, stinking, for about 90 minutes at the clinic reception area before we got a room. I want to underscore what a sad, scary place the waiting room of the emergency vet is. I don’t intend this to reflect poorly on how the clinic is run. Chloe’s condition was stable when we arrived so we were low on the triage totem pole and a 90 minute wait was justified. Still, it is so difficult to be in a space, stinking, with your sick animal while you watch other freaked-out sick animals and their freaked-out owners walking by.

By the time we were assigned to a treatment room Chloe’s condition had worsened pretty significantly. She was dehydrated, her eyes were dull, and she wouldn’t move, meow or purr much at all.  After some blood tests we learned that her kidney function was compromised, probably because of an infection of some kind. The doctor recommended that Chloe be hospitalized overnight so that we could get some fluids in her and get her to pee for more tests. Plus there was a slight chance that she could become a lot worse very quickly, so it was best to keep her under medical supervision until her vitals were stable.

I had cried some earlier in the evening, but I totally lost it when it was time to sign Chloe’s intake papers. Seriously, it was awful. The list of tests, medications, and procedures was really long and scary and an entire page of the intake paperwork was an optional do-not-resuscitate order for my cat. I had never thought about whether I would want a vet to perform CPR on my sweet little cat, and I was so shocked by the decision that I ended up sobbing at the vet tech for several minutes while I tried to process the fact that Chloe could die that night. Awful. Awful. Awful.

After I filled out the paperwork I took a break from crying and gave Chloe some TLC before giving her over to the tech for hospitalization.

Luckily, Chloe ate a bunch of watered down Fancy Feast overnight and peed up a storm. Tests on the  pee-pee confirm a serious bacterial infection.  She needed four bags of IV fluid to rehydrate completely so the vet could start her on antibiotics.  By this evening, her kidneys appear to be functioning normally. Rami and I are going to pick her up in a few minutes and I can not tell you how grateful I am to be bringing my kitty home safe.

It is too soon to tell whether Chloe will ever completely recover normal kidney function and I am going to have to keep a close eye on her in the coming weeks since there is still a chance of renal failure. But, that means I get to spend the coming weeks with her! Shoving antibiotic pills down her esophogus!

Everyone give your furry friends some extra lovin’ tonight. I know I definitely will! Right after I learn how to administer her meds.