Meeting Ampersand

Just an update. Honestly, I never thought I’d be doing so many cat posts. I mean enough already. But the peculiar thing is that since Play’s major issue and subsequent surgery, the other two cats have been following with their own stuff. I thought by now I’d be back in poetry mode but I continue to be pulled back into kitty reports.

Caramel has taken her third pill for that strange limp. It is the final pill, non-steroid, and is supposed to work on inflammation. No such luck yet. Though she doesn’t seem to be in pain the limp continues. It seems more like stiffness.

Ampersand made it through Christmas but it was impossible to administer any medication other than the L-Lysine in his food. He had received a shot of an antibiotic for his strange drippy eye problem. By Christmas the constant dripping had pretty much stopped but his eyes were getting sealed with muck. I was able to lure him back into the carrier and return him, unexpectedly, to the vet to see the other doctor who found he had NO tear production. He was to be kept until Saturday.

He’s still there.

It’s still a mystery: two vets, two opinions, two possible treatments. The first vet who saw him and sent me home with the meds and said to administer tough love: “Pull his head back and put in the ointment,” had a vet tech with him and a scared animal that was not on his turf. Once Ampersand was home, the hiding places and corners abounded protecting him from being grabbed, also making me feel like a failure. But, don’t forget, this animal was always fearful, NEVER let me hold him or pick him up and he is about seventeen pounds.

When I called Saturday the vet told me the other, primary vet, who gave the dry eye diagnosis, was trying to treat Ampersand and got clawed. Vindication.

So the poor cat is still at the vet, still being treated with the first meds. I am hoping it is not dry eye because that would require a daily eye drop and it ain’t gonna happen. It’s too strange, but I bet you anything that this is a virus that was picked up when he was at the vet a couple of weeks before when he had his stomach trouble.

I’ll count my blessings: these animals hadn’t been to the vet for many years, they were all doing well. It caught up. So far the eye issue hasn’t spread to the others at home. I’ll keep hoping for the best: that all three of them can finally be together and in good health.

That goes for me, too. No more running after cats and cracking my head on tables.