Loose Kitty

So much for my mundane world. Yesterday I took both cats to the vet for a nail trim, plus Olivia was due for her yearly shots. It was an unusually long wait--almost an hour. When the vet came in with the vet tech, she asked if Olivia had been experiencing any problems.

"A little runny eyes and nose a couple of weeks ago," I said. "But it seems to have cleared up."

"Sounds like herpes," said the vet.

You could have knocked me over with a feather. "What?" I said and then looked at Olivia. "What have you been doing? No! Bad kitty!"

The vet and vet tech were rolling. Feline herpes is non-sexually transmitted and also rather common--about 30% of indoor cats may be carriers. Luckily, since we've vaccinated our cats all along, it's likely she'll just occasionally have the runny eyes/nose without it getting worse. Her symptoms were light enough that the vet didn't think she needed medication.

It's unknown where she picked it up but I MAY have brought it in from the shelter. Ask me how great my guilt is.

As if that weren't enough, Olivia's gums were bloody and she needs a tooth extracted. The surgery is two weeks from now and I can't feed her after 6pm Sunday night before the Monday surgery. I take her to the vet in the morning but she has to wait there most of the day as they don't do surgeries until the afternoon. They took some blood to test and make sure she'll react okay to anesthesia.

Surprisingly, I was okay. I know tooth extractions aren't uncommon among cats. What I didn't expect was how... distraught is the word that comes to mind... Blair would be. He questioned me closely over dinner about why she had to have the surgery, what were the options, and kept saying, "I hate this. I hate she has to go through this."  It's touching how upset he is. I almost called him at work after I found out about the herpes and the tooth but decided I could just as easy tell him that night.

"I'm glad you didn't call," he told me over dinner, looking miserable. "I wouldn't have gotten much done the rest of the day."

Now I'm debating if I want to take Olivia to a cat clinic in GSO for the surgery. I have a friend who works there so I"ll ask her opinion if it's worth the drive and possibly insulting my vet by having someone else do the surgery. I trust my vet. I just think it might be better for Olivia's nerves if she were in a cats only place that wasn't filled with dog smells and barking dogs.

Stay tuned...