We had a very scary couple of days with our little man Trigger. A couple of nights ago, he got really sick and would not get out of bed (not even to eat). Mommy was really worried, so the next morning she made a vet appointment for him. When the time came to leave to go to the vet, mommy couldn't get her car to start and daddy was still at school taking his final. She was really worried about the little dude and she didn't want to have to wait until the next day, so she loaded me in the stroller and put Trigger in the carrier. With me in the stroller and Trigger on her arm, we took the half an hour walk to the vet. Mommy was SO tired when we got there, but she got the kitty checked in and was getting ready to carry us all in the room when we realized the cat had gone potty on the waiting room chair. Thank goodness the vet assitants were super nice, so they cleaned it up for us. When we got in the room, Trigger got a little scared, so mommy picked him up. She didn't realize he had pee pee all over his paws, and she ended up having her white sweater covered in pee. It wouldn't have been bad if mom had prepared and worn the proper undergarments under her shirt, but she was in a hurry and didn't plan well. She ended up having to walk around for an hour while the girls hung free. We then let the vet techs take Trigger in the back, but I had a huge crying session because I didn't want my kitty to go (after all, cat was my first word proving Trigger and Cleo were my first best friends)! After an hour, daddy arrived in the truck and picked us up just in time to go back and talk to the vet. It turned out Trigger had pneumonia, ugh! We decided to start him on an IV right away to try to flush out his system, and they put him on antipiuretics to lower his fever (it was 105 and normal is 101). When we left the vet, mommy called her mommy and started to cry. It turns out she was worried that Trigger could have FeLV (Feline Leukemia Virus) that like HIV can suppress the immune system and lead to pneumonia, with pneumonia eventually winning the battle. Mommy was telling daddy that she didn't want to have to make a decision between money and Trigger, especially since I would take it so hard. We all went to dinner to talk about our options, and needless to say I zoned out about 30 seconds into the conversation and played with a Spongebob toy. I don't like to see mommy cry! After dinner, we were able to take Trigger home as long as we promised to bring him in at 7am for an all day IV session.
After we brought Trigger home, he seemed to be feeling much better. The pictures below are from when we brought him home. The gauze is covering his IV. I gave Trigger lots of kisses and hugs to help him get better. He still slept a lot, but he ate a little bit and cuddled between mom and dad all night.
The next morning, we took Trigger back to the vet and left him there all day. The vet called about 10am and told us that most of his labs came back. His neutrophil (a white blood cell) level was elevated, which is concurrent with pneumonia, and the virus labs that came back were negative (PHEW)! There is still one virus test pending, so we are still a little nervous, but we are holding hope since Trigger is MUCH better. He is on antibiotics, but his fever is gone and he is following mommy around everywhere. I still am giving him lots of hugs and kisses, and leaving him alone when he sleeps (mom and dad had to teach me that one).
We apologize for the long posting, but Trigger is such a huge part of our family and these past couple of days have been so exhausting that we wanted to remember how special Trigger is to our family. It was a close one, and we will try not to take that little guy for granted anymore!
