Sick Kitty

In all my posts about my animals I forgot to introduce you to my kitty, Nola. Nola has been my baby for a very long time now. She is 12 years old!! A long haired tabby, she has always been emotional and I fondly called her "My emotional middle child" when I had three cats. My stress level has always been reflected in her.....she'll puke or have other strange behaviors.

This little girl made the move with me from PA to Colorado back in 1996. She absolutely loved the car ride! We moved in an old '64 Chevy pickup, so there was my ex, me, and two cats all in the front bench seat!! The cats would sit on a large pillow at passenger window height and watch all the cars go by. Sometimes they would even get daring and lay across the dashboard! OH!! What a memorable trip!

She stayed with me after the divorce and put up with a lot from me! Namely a few dogs, LOL!! First there was my sister's dog who lived with us for a while. She did not care for Rosie one little bit and ended up living in my bedroom...I had to move her food and litterbox to my closet! Then when we had a roommate before Heather came, his dog Na-Nook lived with us. Na-Nook was very well behaved and Nola would tolerate her and roam about the house as normal. Now we introduced Cash. She does NOT like him....mainly because he is extremely fasinated with her. Nola has taken to living in my craft room....either in the closet, under the sewining machine, or up on a shelf by the window. She was getting better and braver. Once Cash is locked in his kennel for the night, she would venture out into the house and I have caught her back in my bed a few nights.

Then Thursday night when I went to snuggle her, she didn't seem right. Listless....no purring....just "not right". I went to give her her dinner and realized that she hadn't eaten any from the night before. I'll tell you....I was worried! My baby was sick! I ended up staying up with her for a while and snuggling until she ran off an hid from me. Friday I checked on her more often and she still didn't seem right so I took her to the vet last night. He had us take her immediately to the Emergency Animal Hospital!!! So that's where I spent most of my evening last night. She ended up spending the night there.

It appears that she may have some kind of kidney infection. She is extrememly dehydrated and will not eat or drink on her own. Her temperature is also low and she is not regulating it on her own. They are giving her antibiotics and keeping her in a heated cage with hot water bottles to keep her warm!! UGHHHHHHHHHH!! I don't know what to do!! Luckily we have some money saved, but I am getting really close to my budgeted amount for her. I'm so scared that I'm gonna have to put her down!!

And worse of all is explaining it all to Heather. She loves the cat even though Nola only tolerates her! LOL! Heather spent all evening last night with me at the hospital and says she's "sad" that Nola had to spend the night. How do I tell her if I have to have Nola put down?? She keeps asking me (right now) when we are going to go and bring her home. How do I tell her that we might not?? And I really need to stop all these tears before she sees me! LOL!!

Sorry for the long post....I just needed to get all this off my chest. I can't seem to find a picture of her right now...sorry. But thanks for listening.