I originally planned to go to the UK for Christmas 2023, but with Cylia’s health scare I didn’t want to risk her stability and so postponed the trip to a later time.
That “later time” became this week, and – as if on cue – Cylia started giving me health scares again. First I noticed that her breathing was a little laboured, and a trip down to the vet determined that she had some fluid buildup around her lungs. That was taken care of and her diuretic medication increased. Then the day before I left I stopped in at the vet to pick up some more medication, and the vet wanted to see her to do a quick scan to check that the medication dosage was correct. This ended up being a multi-hour visit to actually get the scan, and then get more fluid (that had built up from last time – only about 10 days ago) tapped off. I thought that was going to be it and she would be stable for her time at the pet boarding place I had her booked into. After all, they said they could give her medication and all of that.
Well, maybe they could, but Cylia didn’t want to let them. I got a message on Sunday night saying that she was being uncooperative, not eating, and not pooping. With all of this, they wanted to move her to a vet to do boarding. Of course, my being thousands of miles away didn’t help things there, because I got that message on Monday. When I woke to find that message, it absolutely shot my mood, and my anxiety about all of this flared up in high gear.
By 4pm UK time, I got news that the boarding place was going to try and get her into a vet place that had boarding (which I had tried last week to see if they were available, but weren’t). Though by 9.30pm I had a call from that vet to say that they didn’t feel comfortable taking her and recommended she go to an emergency vet. My anxiety was now in overdrive. I called back the boarding place and had them contact my usual vet, giving them the name of various doctors they could talk to that have familiar with Cylia. Now my usual vet doesn’t do boarding any more, because they had a reduced staff count due to the COVID pandemic that they’ve not yet built their numbers back up. As such, they’re only open Monday to Saturday, closed Sundays. Because no one is there Sunday, they don’t offer boarding. This becomes a wrinkle because although I arrive back on Saturday afternoon, there is a chance I may not get to the vet clinic before it closes at 8pm.
Anyway, the vet clinic agreed to take Cylia and she was transported down there Monday evening. I got an email from my usual vet doctor about 2pm Tuesday to say that Cylia is doing well, her lungs sound clear, her breathing is not laboured, and that she is eating. I was definitely relieved.
At least until this morning, when I noticed a missed call from the clinic at 11.30pm (UK time) last night, which would have been around 30 minutes before the clinic closed. There was no voicemail left, and there was no email either. I started to worry again, thinking that if it was bad news they would be wanting to talk to me in person instead of leaving a message.
I had to wait until after 12noon today before I could call the clinic, which would be 8am in Toronto. The receptionist said that there was nothing in the notes for Cylia to suggest a problem, and I asked if the doctor I usually spoke to was in (since she often works mornings). She was, but was doing assessments of the hospitalized animals, and she may not be able to speak to me. I felt pretty sure that she would, and asked the receptionist to check, and within a few moments the doctor was on the phone.
She reassured me that Cylia is still doing well, eating and breathing well, and that everything is fine. The guess was that the doctor who called was just going to give an update, but opted not to leave a message. I said that I’d rather they did leave a message than nothing at all, and the doctor agreed, and there should be a note to say to do that from now on.
Anyway, I’m about as relieved as I can be right now, but this hasn’t really been the kind of vacation that I can enjoy since I’ve had this going on in the background. I’ll not really relax until I’m back home Saturday evening with the catten.
Then I have to figure out how to handle going away again next time – since I’ve got a work trip coming up 3rd week of April, a potential trip to Florida (parents traveling to the Bradenton area for my Dad’s birthday), and then AnthroCon in July.
I should be able to get Cylia into that vet boarding place that refused me this time (because this time there would be time to arrange everything and bring them up to speed), as a place like that can definitely handle giving cat medications, and I’ll be asking my usual vet to give Cylia some appetite stimulant to send along with her as well.
