Everest goes to the E-Vet

Saturday morning, my friend woke me up just before 6:00am. She was leaving to head home and to her new job, after spending a month with us while between jobs. She'd been in the Peace Corps for two years, then right into her job as lead intern at the International Crane Foundation raising baby whooping cranes, so it was great to have her around for a while. Plus, she makes delicious homemade yogurt!

I got downstairs and she said there were wet spots all over the floor. Couldn't see anything, but there were wet spots. I figured maybe Denali got a messy drink, but didn't think much of it. I said goodbye to her and went back to bed. I got up at 9:00am to get ready for work. Downstairs there were drops of diarrhea everywhere. Everywhere. All over the carpet, back of the couch, back of the recliners, on the blanket, on the dining room chairs, kitchen floor, bathroom floor. I had no idea which animal it was and had to get going. I got home about two and a half hours later. My husband had done some spot cleaning. I checked Zebulon first, since he's known for having tummy troubles. His butt was fine. I checked Denali. She was fine. I picked up Everest. He had poo all over his back legs, bottom side of his tail, and all over his entire butt. He looked miserable; he didn't feel good and I could see it. I took him upstairs to the bathroom and washed off his backside in the tub. Times like this I'm glad I introduced baths gradually and nicely to them, because he was very good for me. I washed my hands, dried him off, wrapped him in a towel, and took him back down to the Husband's lap. I called the vet. It's not good for any animal to have so much drippy poo. Something was wrong, and worse, he looked like he was in pain. While on hold I looked more closely at his bottom and saw something sticking out! I grabbed a tissue and gently tried to pull it out. It wouldn't come. Now we had an emergency. The vet came on and they had no appointments and just got slammed with emergency surgeries. She gave me the info for the emergency clinic and we rushed him there.

They took him to the back and we waited. And waited. And waited. Waiting 20 minutes felt like hours. I'm not how long we waited. Other people waiting had their pets brought out to them. The door opened, they called our name, and there was no pet. No carrier. She told us to come back into a room. My heart sank. Why would she call us back? It can't be good. Everyone else had their pets brought back to them. What's wrong? Does he need surgery right away? How serious is it? She put us in the room where we waited again. And waited. And waited. Finally the vet came in. I gave him the whole history and timeline of what had been going on today. We talked about doing X-rays and/or bloodwork. I asked if they were able to get out what was stuck. He gave me a look. They hadn't seen anything! He said he'd give us a few minutes to think about what we wanted to do, and he'd get a cost estimate going for our options. Husband and I talked. I decided I needed to see Everest. I needed to see if he still looked awful, or if he looked better. I also wanted to see if the something was still sticking out or not. The vet came back, I told him we wanted to see our kitty and to bring the carrier so we could check it and the towel for what I saw sticking out. We waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Finally a tech came in, holding Everest in a towel. The inside of the towel was all poopy. Sure enough, there was nothing sticking out of his bottom. He looked fine. He was active, alert, curious, exploring the room. He looked normal.

Exploring

 

Stretching to see out the window of the door.

We waited. And waited. And waited. And talked about what we wanted to do. And waited. And waited. The vet came back in with the price sheet. I told him that, with his support, we think the best thing would be to take him home and watch him closely. If he looks bad again or anything we'll rush him back. The vet said that was fine, that Everest was stable, but he'd like us to get the anti-diarrhea meds. That's what we did. It was $100 even which is not bad for an emergency visit. $72 for the visit, $28 for meds.

At home, we left Everest in the carrier while I set up the big wire dog crate. I put a makeshift litter box in it, an old sheet, and some water. Once in, he immediately tried to poop. He tried, circled, tried again, and nothing was coming out. Not good. I went to peek in on him every half hour or so. Several hours later I opened the crate to pet him and check the box. Some drips of diarrhea on the sheet and in the box. I looked at his bum and- I saw it! Sticking out! I hollered for my husband. We shut ourselves in the bathroom. He held Everest while I grabbed some toilet paper. I gently pulled again, and this time it started coming out. I kept very, very gentle pressure to pull it out. Inches later, it was out and it was a piece of grass.

Yes, grass. A blade of grass. Wide, rough, blade of grass.

This is a picture of a blade of grass I pulled out of my cat's rectum.

I could see a another bit, and slowly got that one out too. Our cats are indoors all the time, except sometimes on nice days I let them out in the dog kennel in the yard to roll in dirt, eat grass, barf grass, pounce on bugs. Cat things. Apparently he got too much grass and it upset his tummy. At this point I was very, very relieved. As foreign objects go, I'm not too concerned about blades of grass.

He still had not eaten, which was troubling. He did not eat at all on Saturday. On Sunday I got a can of Merrick 96% meat dog food. He inhaled it, and at that point his appetite came back a bit. Sunday night there was no new diarrhea drops in the kennel so I let him out. He was out of the crate Sunday night, and all day today, and was fine. He loves the dogs' new squishy orthopedic bed (they turned 4 years old yesterday!) and is eating well and pooping normally. Whew! We'll continue the anti-diarrhea meds as directed.