Emergency vet visit for Princess
With all the trouble we've been having with Princess' poo, 'twas her pee that sent us to the vet in a hurry this afternoon.
This afternoon Princess was very restless and seemed to be having trouble sitting down. I then caught her in squatting position on the carpet, so swept her up and put her in the nearest litter tray. She rushed off, I followed, and we repeated the process a couple of times. I saw that she'd managed to produce a drop or two of wee, and it was red. She's incredibly skinny now and I wondered if her kidneys had finally given up. I called the vet and took the next appointment at 4:15pm with Dr L. It was about 2pm when I called and they don't do consultations between 12pm-4pm, so it was a lucky time.
Over the next half an hour or so Princess kept trying to squat and wee wherever she was. I figured nothing was coming out and it caused her distress to be scooped up and put in a tray so I just let her do whatever and kept an eye on her. Eventually she lay down and occasionally lifted her tail and strained without even trying to get up and she was clearly very very unhappy. I didn't like the idea of her having to go through another 1-2 hours of this, so called the vet again and they said I could bring her in straight away.
She was unnaturally quiet in the car - she normally howls with incredible volume and staggeringly baleful pitch. I would have preferred the noise to the silence, this time. She was in such a bad way I honestly thought there was a chance she wouldn't be coming home again - 17 is a not unreasonable age for a cat to reach.
First the good news - her kidneys did not seem to be sensitive, and her bladder was empty, which points to cystitis (bladder infection). She's had a shot of antibiotics and a shot of her usual steroids to make sure she gets the full dose. If she's going to improve it will be in the next 24 hours or so, so she's got a bit more discomfort to get through first. Bladder infections usually respond well to antibiotics.
But the not-so-good news - she's not out of the woods yet, she's in poor condition, and Dr L did use that phrase "we may be looking at the beginning of the end". We've kind of known that for a while because of her weight loss and general fragility, and it looks like she might have been cooking this infection along for a long time. It's also possible that the trouble cutting off her poos might be a nerve issue, so the poor thing is kind of falling apart at the seams.
We watch, we scritch, we wait.
ETA: A couple of hours after we got home and juuuuuust after I'd managed to finally crash for a nap Princess started howling again so I got up and found her. She wandered around for a bit then headed towards the trays at the back of the house. Didn't quite make it before she squatted and had a small but normallish wee, and it looked mostly yellow. Fortunately we have paper towels and bicarb stationed all around the house (yes, yes, crazy cat lady home) so I got to it quickly. This is good news for her bladder and certainly supports the diagnosis of cystitis. Throughout the evening she's been up and down a bit but not too far from her average anxious cranky clingy self.