Daily Photo: An Ovenight Stay at the Veterinarian for Hamlet

No, you can’t see Hamlet in the carrier because that’s frightening for him. I was at MedVet all night until this morning with Hamlet and he’ll stay another day until tomorrow but he’s not in critical condition, we just can’t figure out why he had a temperature of 105 degrees. This is quite expensive, so if you are of a mind to buy anything from me now is a good time! More information below.

I mentioned last week he’d been feeling poorly, kind of up and down but he really improved over the weekend with his usual appetite and energy and curiosity. But yesterday, Monday, he was flat out lethargic.

He’s my least socialized cat, but he’s fearful, defensive not aggressive, I can’t put two hands on him much less give him medication or pick him up and put him in a carrier. His appetite has been inconsistent through the week and it started out weekend before last with missing breakfast and vomiting a bit of fluids. I thought it was another herpes flare up but it seems more than that.

I decided he needed a dose or two of Cerenia, the anti-emetic to stop the vomiting and help with nausea, and if he needed a medication he needed to eat because that’s the only way I can get medication into him. I used a little Mirataz on one ear and about an hour later he was hungry. I gave him a bit of really good food with his Cerenia crushed into it. For a week he ate, grew more active and improved so much over the weekend.

But then Monday not even Mirataz and Cerenia and Famotidine, generic antacid medication, a combination that’s guaranteed to get a cat to start eating, was not working at all. I even gave him another small dose of each of them as the day went one, but no change.

Because he wasn’t eating I had mixed his medications into a tiny bit of Churu, scooped it onto the end of my finger and tried to get him interested. No luck. I touched it against his nose and lips. He licked. Got it, and I ended up swiping the last of it against his teeth which slipped between and into his mouth.

He slept in one of his baskets, the cardboard bed in the kitchen, napped on my desk, and at one point laid down on the kitchen floor. I was watching his movements and breathing. Bella watched him walk in and lie down, and she got down off the cabinet to the floor, sniffed him a bit, then settled down near him. I knew it was significant, that she was there to support him.

I knew I had to get him to a veterinarian as I had thought last week, and one that could be a one-stop place because I knew he’d need a lot of testing and I didn’t want to stress him by packing him up repeatedly for different tests. That meant an urgent care or an emergency vet. Many of them are busy, noisy, I wasn’t sure if they knew how to handle a fearful former feral, so I chose MedVet who I knew would fit the bill.

And then the plan to get him into a carrier, using gabapentin. I have tiny capsules of powdered gabapentin that I had for Basil, and I used two doses, one hour apart, and an hour after the second dose was an overlap where I could pick up Basil and carefully put him into the top-opening carrier. I could mix Hamlet’s into Churu.

I mixed the gabapentin into a tiny bit of Churu and rubbed it on his teeth when he wasn’t expecting it, waited an hour and checked his reaction to see how incapacitated he was. Basil was quite a bit larger than Hamlet but I had no idea what Hamlet might be able to do, and I only really had one chance to do this if he got away from me. I decided to go ahead with the second dose and after the second hour I picked him up and laid him down in the waiting carrier without a fuss, and we were off.

I explained his behavior to them and the veterinarian tried wrapping him lightly in a towel which worked fine. She checked all his vitals, started fluids and did a few basic blood tests then came back.

Temperature 105, other than that everything was normal. It looks like it’s a virus but a fever like that doesn’t go away on its own without supportive care. He had also lost some weight over the past couple of months and that was probably part of the story. He would stay overnight, getting supportive care while they did an ultrasound, a urinalysis and a Fever of Unknown Origins panel which tests for toxoplasmosis and other viruses. And they’re trying to get him to eat something. No antibiotics yet. The ultrasound did find he had a node on his liver, which the veterinarian said is not unusual, and it would require a biopsy to see if it was benign or malignant. If it looked like that might be the culprit they might do that.

They are keeping him lightly sedated in a cage that’s covered and in a quiet area. He’s being such a good boy and they’re being so respectful and careful with him. With his symptoms the testing is the only way to find out what’s going on and I have no idea what I would be able to do for him at home.

I joked and said no vet visits for 12 years so he’s going to use it all up now. I’m suspecting toxoplasmosis may have something to do with it because he is a professional mouser, but I knew he had lost some weight over the past few months so it could also be a metabolic condition. He’s always been slight and very slender but a normal appetite and activity though I’ve always wondered about his weight.

But I’m really kicking myself for not getting the pet insurance for him and the others, inexpensive enough at ages 9 to 12, that would reimburse a lot of regular costs and a good bit of what I’m spending right now. I worked up as many quotes variables as I could think of to come to a total and then let it sit to think about it. But I really wanted to have a policy for Hamlet if it seemed he had to go for all these tests and care.

I had an update late afternoon and he’s staying another night, and he’s doing okay but it looks like he can use it. The IV fluids brought his temperature down from 105 to 103.5 but he’s still not eating.

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