Who says I am not a parent....kiss my.....

Okay, I now officially can say that I have called an on-call physician in the middle of the night for something that had nothing to do with being a nurse!

Saturday hubby and I took the furry children to the vet for the annual torture of vaccinations- why is the annual torture- well about 3 years ago our older cat Anu (she will be 9 in September) had a bad reaction to her vaccines- so now she gets her vaccinations split up over a couple of weeks- well we have been bad parents and she got a little behind- well a lot behind- lots of excuses, none really that great- should have had her in a long time ago- but anyway, we are getting her taken care of now.

So she got her rabies yesterday and will be getting the other 3 over the next 3 Saturdays- then I feel really bad- no we don't brush the rugrats teeth- they get tarter control treats- dry food, etc. to keep their teeth in good shape, or so I thought- a few weeks ago Anu started getting picky about the treats (yes our children are very spoiled) she would eat- used to be she would eat whatever was but in front of her- she didn't want the crunchy treats- this wouldn't have been so bad except that our other child Boadicea(will be 3 next month) or Bo for short will ONLY eat crunchy treats- and then only certain treats at that- yes I have picky eaters- they both eat the same wet foods for breakfast and the same dry food throughout the day (again, my children are spoiled). Anyway, yes it did cross my mind that Anu's teeth might be bothering her, but she was still eating the dry food- so I thought 'no that can't be it- she must be getting picky like her sister' then last week she suddenly started eating the dry treats again- so I am thinking everything is fine- NOT! At the vet's this morning we find out that Anu's teeth are horrible! The vet barely touched her gums and they start to bleed- you can barely see the back teeth because the gums are so swollen- their are the beginnings of abscesses on the top portion of her gums- I feel like a horrible neglectful Mom! :( So Anu is scheduled to have a thorough teeth cleaning on May 6th- that is the soonest they could get her in for that- and trust me it is going to be too soon for Anu- she is not going to be happy- she is going to be pissed! We have to take her food away the night before-that is what is going to tick her off- Anu is not a petite little kitty- she is a nice plump princess- her weight yesterday was 14 lbs 7 oz- we have tried the diet thing- she does run around (or rather is chased around the house by her sister) but to no avail- she has at least maintained her weight- she has been between 13 and 14 for the last 3 to 4 years- she is going to be 10 years old next year- I say let her be plump and happy- she is healthy otherwise and will have clean teeth in a few weeks and will just love the new routine that we will be starting of brushing the kitties teeth 1-2 x a week after she heals from her cleaning- Dad trims the claws (neither cat will sit still for me to do it- and I admit that I am terrified that I will cut the claw to short and hurt them) so I will do the teeth and he will do the feet.

So, back to calling the physician in the middle of the night- after bringing the furry ones home from the shot adventure- Anu was acting fine- Bo on the other hand was acting completely traumatized by the whole ordeal- she ran outside and basically hugged the patio until she realized we weren't going to be taking her anywhere else (We used to take them with us over to my parents for family dinner on the weekends- but that has even stressed her out lately). So she comes in the house and immediately runs under our bed to hide- finally at around 9 pm I asked hubby if he had seen Bo recently- he answers 'No' but doesn't seem to concerned about it- I of course realize that I haven't seen her either- I have done my usual thing lately and have been asleep for most of the afternoon and have just been awake since 8 pm- I figured that if something was not right he would noticed and woke me up- WHATEVER- anyway we go looking for the furry one and she is still under the bed where she has been for the last 10 or so hours! So no fluids, no output nothing all day- not good! So we get her out from under the bed, she of course freaks out runs outside- now we have to coax her back inside- so after about 15-20 minutes of stressing her out further we get her back in the house, she looked like she just didn't feel good. I offered her some treats- she didn't want them- I put fresh water in their bowl and I poured her a cup of water (Bo loves to drink water, ice tea, milk and apple juice out of MY cups- not hubby's- just mine- again, our furry children are very spoiled) and she didn't want to have anything to do with either of them. So I laid her down in my lap so that she could get to the cup and she walked down to the foot of the couch and curled up by my legs and went to sleep. At about 12:30 am hubby comes over and checks on the monster and her ears on really hot- she is still lethargic and really, really sleepy- now I am even more nervous. Is she having a reaction like Anu did- is something else going on- why is this happening again?!
So I start googling pet health, cat fevers, etc. to see what if anything I can find to do at home or if I do need to take her to the vet- if I am freaking out (as usual) for nothing- human children react to vaccines- that is why we give them tylenol or advil- we just can't do that for cats- dammit there should be something that I can do- there just should be! So anyway I find this great website called 'justanswer.com' for a nominal fee I got to talk to (yes in real time at 2 am) an expert to get advice about my baby- ultimately I checked Bo's temp- the only thermometer that I have is the basal one- oh well, not using it any more for that reason any way- Bo had a temp of 106.1 F!
So time to call the on-call vet at 2:15 am - luckily it was the same vet that had seen her and given her the vaccines 14 hours earlier, so he remembered who she was- and he sounded very awake, more so than many other physicians that I have called at that time- and he was much nicer too. So off to the vet we go in the middle of the night to get medication/treatment for the cat. Vet met us at the clinic which happens to be very near the hospital we also use- temp with a regulation thermometer (need to get one of those for kitty first aid kit) was 105.8 F! Lungs were clear, ears still good, eyes clear- so vet believes that fever and general ickies are just from the vaccines- since she was recently so sick (February) her immune system is just still a little out of whack and is reacting or over-reacting to the vaccines. So he gave fluffy some oral meds for the fever and the aches (sounds kind of like a pain reliever type med like tylenol or advil- something along those lines), I get to re-check her temp around 7 or 8 this morning and give the vet a call to update him on the progress- hopefully Bo's temp will be coming down, or we get to go back for more meds and possibly an injectable anti-inflammatory for the reaction- then she will be even more traumatized and upset with me than she is currently is- I just hope this time she uses the litter box- last time she was not feeling well she peed where ever she currently was sitting or laying- usually on my lap (on a blanket) I did so much laundry those 2 weeks and I still can't get the smell out of the couch- so now the joke is we have a pee couch- I have used everything- PetGold, Febreeze, Resolve, some new product that is supposedly for pet odors- the couch still smells like pee- or at least I think it does- no one else has said anything, so either I am smelling things (and I really am that neurotic) or people are being nice and ignoring it- I don't know- I am trying to do the ignoring part of it.
So, see, we are doing just dandy without human children- we have our hands full with the two four-legged furry girls that we already have.

• They wake us up promptly at 8 am every morning for breakfast- don't need alarm clocks.
• They remind us when we haven't eaten- because that means that they haven't had any treats in awhile.
• They keep us company in the bathroom, whether we are using the toilet, the shower, or the sink- they supervise to make sure it is all done correctly.
• They comfort us when we are sad- they just know when we are sick or had a bad day- a kitty kiss or cuddle does make a lot of stuff better.
• They get cranky when they haven't had a nap.
• They fight with one another for attention- yes our cats have sibling rivalry.
• They cost just as much or more than human children between food, treats, litter, toys, bedding, vet visits...pet insurance is looking better and better all the time.
• They have just as many toys that we are continuously tripping over.
• They usually have more fun with the wrapping paper, tags, or the box than the toy itself.
• They talk back, cry and whine, argue- you name it they do it.

So, hubby and I may be human childless- but we aren't 'childless' we have two beautiful girls- Anu, Daddy's Girl, is a gorgeous grey tiger stripe short hair that loves to burrow and cuddle- especially when dad is working on the computer or paying attention to me- she gets a little jealous when the attention isn't all on her. Boadicea, My Love bug, is a beautiful tortoise shell long hair that loves to be anywhere that I am- she has a bit of separation anxiety- but she is just so cute and fluffy and cuddly that I usually don't mind have her climb all over me. She knows when I am feeling down and need a hug- and she loves to play- at times we think she may have a bit of ADD- but that's okay by me.

Well, hopefully she is somewhere sleeping with her temp going down- I can't sleep- but hey it is almost 6 am, what is the point now- it will soon be time to get up and get moving for the day- and I believe my love bug has awakened and is actually eating!!! Yeah- hopefully when I check her temp in a couple of hours it will be much better. Then I can get some sleep. ;)