I know there are people who would love to have my problems...

[mousme]

My kitty is an expensive kitty.

The question, it appears, is not so much "What's wrong with Gretzky?" as "What's not wrong with Gretzky?"

Poor girl. She's not doing well at all. She's lost nearly two pounds since last summer, and is down to a svelte 10lbs. Okay, maybe not svelte, because her belly kind of hangs and is all wobbly, but she's thinner now.

She's running a slight fever, and definitely has something wrong with her upper respiratory system. The problem is that it's hard to identify exactly what it is. The symptoms could be indicative of something underlying that's much more serious. Thus far, the theories are:

- it's a simple cold that's turned into a bronchial infection
- it's a tooth infection that's settled into her sinuses
- it's the beginning of diabetes or another elderly cat illness that's making her susceptible to opportunistic infections

We did x-rays right then and there (sparing me another trip with the kitty), and the news is both good and bad.

Good: she has no fluid in or around the lungs, which would have been Very Bad Indeed™, and her tummy was full, which means that I have not been hallucinating her eating her kibble like a good girl.

Bad: she has either an inflammation in her bronchial tubes, or calcification due to age, and while the x-ray was of her chest, it looks like she might have kidney stones or something similar.

So we're on the lookout for diabetes, potential kidney failure or kidney stones, and maybe a UTI.

Blood was drawn (from the cat, not any of the humans, although she did bite me when the vet shoved a thermometer where the sun don't shine), and we will have the results tomorrow (see how much faster it is than with human doctors?).

The other good news is that they now have an antibiotic that's given ONCE and by injection, so no more fighting with the cat twice a day for two weeks. w00t!

*sigh*

Oh, and did I mention that she has fleas? Yessir, the day just kept getting better. I bought a topical flea killing thing (Advantage) and have dosed all four cats. DEATH TO THE FLEAS!


So, yeah. News you need about my cat. It was very, VERY expensive. I am feeling very poor right now. Let's just say this isn't a good time for me to have large extra expenses.