Cat/Car
Last night I honestly thought that I had killed my kitten.
I was walking down the stairs and he was running around like he does and Hugo literally ran under my foot (with shoe on) as I put in down. I'm a big guy and the weight on him must've been incredible. He yelped and I twisted myself to get off him as soon as I could (hurting myself in the process) and he ran off and hid very fast. We were trying to make light of it, but I felt really guilty. We popped out for a few minutes and when we came back in we noticed that Hugo had used his litter tray. On close inspection I found that there was blood in his stool. Kate did a quick Google search and more or less everyone who had asked communities or online vets about what to do if they had trodden in their kittens or cats had the answer back "check for breaks but they should be fine - as long as there is no blood in the stool".
I was alarmed by this so rang the Out of Hours vet service. They were really nice and I gave them all of the information that I had. The receptionist said that she would have to speak to the vet and get back to me as to whether Hugo had to be taken in. She informed me that it was a standard rate of £120 to be seen before 11pm and £150 after. I said that I didn't have a car and she said that was fine - they offered a pet taxi service for an additional £40. Any x-rays, treatments and/or medication would be extra. This, again, alarmed us somewhat as we simply don't need that sort of money. We waited by the phone for about half an hour before I realised that I'd given the wrong mobile number. I rang back and the receptionist said that she had been trying to reach me to tell me that the vet had said that if Hugo's behaviours were normal and he was eating, drinking and going to the toilet okay then he wouldn't have to be seen. We had to keep a close eye on him though and any deterioration in him would mean that he had to be seen urgently. Luckily, Hugo by this time seemed fine - he's been drinking his water and had some dinner and was playing with his toys and scratchpost. We decided that he was probably fine.
This morning I couldn't find Hugo (he'd been sleeping under the bed) but noticed that he's used his litter tray. Again there was blood. I decided that I would take him to our usual vet (we found they were open Saturday mornings) for his first set of inoculations and flea/worm treatment (which we had to do at some point soon anyway) and mention to them what had happened and have him assessed first hand. The vet was, again, lovely and reassured us that the blood was probably simply down to trauma. She pointed out that there was no way of telling if there was anything internally wrong with him without giving him an x-ray, but also stressed that this was probably overkill as he was acting normally, eating, drinking and toileting okay and seemed so bright and healthy. She said that the reduction of blood in his stool this morning from last night was a good sign. She said that we should monitor him and take him to the emergency vet if there was a sudden change, but said that this was "highly unlikely".
Hugo's been very affectionate today and his normal, playful self. The last thing he did in his litter tray contained either no or barely any blood, so I'm relieved. He's taken to sleeping under the bed which I'm not too happy about, but that's mostly for selfish reasons as I like to look at and stroke him, but aside from that he's the same happy little kitten that he's always been.
I can't begin to explain how awful I felt last night at the thought that I might have seriously injured Hugo. We've only had him for 5 full days and an evening but I already feel like I have developed a strong bond with the boy. Kate and I are soppy buggers when it comes to our cats and we baby them something rotten, but there is a genuine sense of love behind this and the thought of harming one of them is horrible. I know that it wasn't really my fault and that these things do happen if you have kittens, but that doesn't provide much comfort. The important thing though is that Hugo seems to still trust me and is happy to have a cuddle and fall asleep on me. If I lost that I would be terrifically sad.
One good thing from all this is that Milo seems to have calmed right down when it comes to Hugo and actually showed signs of concern for him yesterday. He's a wonderful cat as well. I'm hopeful about them getting on well in the future.
***
In other news, I am selling my car. As this year has been really hard for us financially, the car has been declared SORN (Statutory Off Road Notice) and has been sitting on Paul (my brother's) drive since May as I couldn't afford to tax or insure it. We have our financial situation very nearly in hand, but we need a lump sum of about £600 to really make a difference, so decided that selling the car was the best possible course of action. I spoke to my dad about it when we were in Ireland and he made me feel much better about the prospect. He picked up on the fact that I associated having a car with being a proper adult and simply said that this wasn't the case. I feel good about it because I am taking control of my finances and taking responsibility. I also find owning a car very stressful as they are expensive and go wrong. I think I'll be happy enough without one for a bit. And hopefully, when we're out of this bleak patch, we'll be able to afford to get another one in a year or so. But who knows? I'm not pressuring myself.
It appears from texts this morning that Paul is going to put the car on eBay for me and will sort out any viewings his end. He's really nice like that. He stands to benefit from me selling the car as I owe him some money (and he gets to have some of his drive back) but even so, he often goes out of his way to help me out. I hope that I can repay him in some way at some point.
Think I'm going to pop off and fuss Hugo some more now. Hope he doesn't mind.
I was walking down the stairs and he was running around like he does and Hugo literally ran under my foot (with shoe on) as I put in down. I'm a big guy and the weight on him must've been incredible. He yelped and I twisted myself to get off him as soon as I could (hurting myself in the process) and he ran off and hid very fast. We were trying to make light of it, but I felt really guilty. We popped out for a few minutes and when we came back in we noticed that Hugo had used his litter tray. On close inspection I found that there was blood in his stool. Kate did a quick Google search and more or less everyone who had asked communities or online vets about what to do if they had trodden in their kittens or cats had the answer back "check for breaks but they should be fine - as long as there is no blood in the stool".
I was alarmed by this so rang the Out of Hours vet service. They were really nice and I gave them all of the information that I had. The receptionist said that she would have to speak to the vet and get back to me as to whether Hugo had to be taken in. She informed me that it was a standard rate of £120 to be seen before 11pm and £150 after. I said that I didn't have a car and she said that was fine - they offered a pet taxi service for an additional £40. Any x-rays, treatments and/or medication would be extra. This, again, alarmed us somewhat as we simply don't need that sort of money. We waited by the phone for about half an hour before I realised that I'd given the wrong mobile number. I rang back and the receptionist said that she had been trying to reach me to tell me that the vet had said that if Hugo's behaviours were normal and he was eating, drinking and going to the toilet okay then he wouldn't have to be seen. We had to keep a close eye on him though and any deterioration in him would mean that he had to be seen urgently. Luckily, Hugo by this time seemed fine - he's been drinking his water and had some dinner and was playing with his toys and scratchpost. We decided that he was probably fine.
This morning I couldn't find Hugo (he'd been sleeping under the bed) but noticed that he's used his litter tray. Again there was blood. I decided that I would take him to our usual vet (we found they were open Saturday mornings) for his first set of inoculations and flea/worm treatment (which we had to do at some point soon anyway) and mention to them what had happened and have him assessed first hand. The vet was, again, lovely and reassured us that the blood was probably simply down to trauma. She pointed out that there was no way of telling if there was anything internally wrong with him without giving him an x-ray, but also stressed that this was probably overkill as he was acting normally, eating, drinking and toileting okay and seemed so bright and healthy. She said that the reduction of blood in his stool this morning from last night was a good sign. She said that we should monitor him and take him to the emergency vet if there was a sudden change, but said that this was "highly unlikely".
Hugo's been very affectionate today and his normal, playful self. The last thing he did in his litter tray contained either no or barely any blood, so I'm relieved. He's taken to sleeping under the bed which I'm not too happy about, but that's mostly for selfish reasons as I like to look at and stroke him, but aside from that he's the same happy little kitten that he's always been.
I can't begin to explain how awful I felt last night at the thought that I might have seriously injured Hugo. We've only had him for 5 full days and an evening but I already feel like I have developed a strong bond with the boy. Kate and I are soppy buggers when it comes to our cats and we baby them something rotten, but there is a genuine sense of love behind this and the thought of harming one of them is horrible. I know that it wasn't really my fault and that these things do happen if you have kittens, but that doesn't provide much comfort. The important thing though is that Hugo seems to still trust me and is happy to have a cuddle and fall asleep on me. If I lost that I would be terrifically sad.
One good thing from all this is that Milo seems to have calmed right down when it comes to Hugo and actually showed signs of concern for him yesterday. He's a wonderful cat as well. I'm hopeful about them getting on well in the future.
***
In other news, I am selling my car. As this year has been really hard for us financially, the car has been declared SORN (Statutory Off Road Notice) and has been sitting on Paul (my brother's) drive since May as I couldn't afford to tax or insure it. We have our financial situation very nearly in hand, but we need a lump sum of about £600 to really make a difference, so decided that selling the car was the best possible course of action. I spoke to my dad about it when we were in Ireland and he made me feel much better about the prospect. He picked up on the fact that I associated having a car with being a proper adult and simply said that this wasn't the case. I feel good about it because I am taking control of my finances and taking responsibility. I also find owning a car very stressful as they are expensive and go wrong. I think I'll be happy enough without one for a bit. And hopefully, when we're out of this bleak patch, we'll be able to afford to get another one in a year or so. But who knows? I'm not pressuring myself.
It appears from texts this morning that Paul is going to put the car on eBay for me and will sort out any viewings his end. He's really nice like that. He stands to benefit from me selling the car as I owe him some money (and he gets to have some of his drive back) but even so, he often goes out of his way to help me out. I hope that I can repay him in some way at some point.
Think I'm going to pop off and fuss Hugo some more now. Hope he doesn't mind.