responsible cat parenting sucks
Last night we had a CAT ADVENTURE. Unfortunately it wasn't the fun awesome kind of exploring under the sink or inside the fireplace and then lying down under the desk for belly rubs. It was the kind that ends with a three-hour visit to the emergency vet! Good work, cat.
So here's what happened: I got back from my ritual group last night and was sitting at my desk with Hillary climbing around in my lap as she usually does. I looked up from my email when I heard a crunching sound and realized that she was chewing on the chain to one of my necklaces. I dumped her to the floor right away and noticed that she was gnashing her teeth really strangely as if something was stuck in her mouth or throat. After establishing that all of my rings and earrings (which were also strewn across the desk) were present and accounted for and then putting them away in a box so she couldn't get at them anymore, she had stopped gnashing her teeth but still seemed a little bit distressed. I figured I'd offer her some water and dry food to see if that would help. She drank the water but as soon as she bit down on the dry food she started yowling in pain and batting at her face. I managed to get her mouth open to look inside and saw that one of her top canines was literally bent to one side!
To my credit I stayed mostly calm, and called ilyeana and then the emergency vet (who we had to go through first because as it turns out Hillary has not been to any vet for more than 5 years). ilyeana and Ariel came over to give a second opinion and of course by then Hillary was acting like nothing was wrong, but we determined it was better safe than sorry and took her to the vet anyway. This was about 10 p.m. We ended up waiting at the emergency vet for about 3 hours to learn that indeed, Hillary's top left canine was so loose that the vet could wiggle it around with a finger, and that many of her other teeth were nearly as bad, or missing altogether. Apparently this is something that would have taken a long time to develop, it's just that, you know, CHEWING ON METAL made it worse. The vet recommended that we take her in to a normal daytime vet to have at least the loose canine and possibly some other teeth extracted. This is made more complicated by the fact that Hillary's actual owner kyrryn is in Indonesia right now (and it was his birthday when he got to wake up to "hi, your cat is at the emergency vet") and ilyeana (Hillary's normal caretaker) is leaving for Spain tomorrow. We're hoping ilyeana can get her in for the extractions today just so we can have it over with.
The thing that sucks the most about this is that we were told not to feed Hillary last night in case she had surgery today, and she is so mad. I got up to go to the bathroom at 3 a.m. (after going to bed after 1...) and saw her sitting by the place where her food bowl would be and crying. Apparently she sat there all night because she was still there when I got up, and followed me around all morning continuing to cry. It sucks because of course she can't understand that this is for her health; all she knows is that the person who usually feeds her isn't doing it and she can't understand why. And even so she still jumps up on my lap and purrs and demands to be petted the instant I sit down anywhere. I really just want this to be dealt with soon so my poor kitty can get some food. )c: It's absolutely killing me to be at home and see her like this.
At least the actual injury is not too severe and easily repaired. Though it does mean I won't be able to call her Fang anymore. )c:
So here's what happened: I got back from my ritual group last night and was sitting at my desk with Hillary climbing around in my lap as she usually does. I looked up from my email when I heard a crunching sound and realized that she was chewing on the chain to one of my necklaces. I dumped her to the floor right away and noticed that she was gnashing her teeth really strangely as if something was stuck in her mouth or throat. After establishing that all of my rings and earrings (which were also strewn across the desk) were present and accounted for and then putting them away in a box so she couldn't get at them anymore, she had stopped gnashing her teeth but still seemed a little bit distressed. I figured I'd offer her some water and dry food to see if that would help. She drank the water but as soon as she bit down on the dry food she started yowling in pain and batting at her face. I managed to get her mouth open to look inside and saw that one of her top canines was literally bent to one side!
To my credit I stayed mostly calm, and called ilyeana and then the emergency vet (who we had to go through first because as it turns out Hillary has not been to any vet for more than 5 years). ilyeana and Ariel came over to give a second opinion and of course by then Hillary was acting like nothing was wrong, but we determined it was better safe than sorry and took her to the vet anyway. This was about 10 p.m. We ended up waiting at the emergency vet for about 3 hours to learn that indeed, Hillary's top left canine was so loose that the vet could wiggle it around with a finger, and that many of her other teeth were nearly as bad, or missing altogether. Apparently this is something that would have taken a long time to develop, it's just that, you know, CHEWING ON METAL made it worse. The vet recommended that we take her in to a normal daytime vet to have at least the loose canine and possibly some other teeth extracted. This is made more complicated by the fact that Hillary's actual owner kyrryn is in Indonesia right now (and it was his birthday when he got to wake up to "hi, your cat is at the emergency vet") and ilyeana (Hillary's normal caretaker) is leaving for Spain tomorrow. We're hoping ilyeana can get her in for the extractions today just so we can have it over with.
The thing that sucks the most about this is that we were told not to feed Hillary last night in case she had surgery today, and she is so mad. I got up to go to the bathroom at 3 a.m. (after going to bed after 1...) and saw her sitting by the place where her food bowl would be and crying. Apparently she sat there all night because she was still there when I got up, and followed me around all morning continuing to cry. It sucks because of course she can't understand that this is for her health; all she knows is that the person who usually feeds her isn't doing it and she can't understand why. And even so she still jumps up on my lap and purrs and demands to be petted the instant I sit down anywhere. I really just want this to be dealt with soon so my poor kitty can get some food. )c: It's absolutely killing me to be at home and see her like this.
At least the actual injury is not too severe and easily repaired. Though it does mean I won't be able to call her Fang anymore. )c: