an evening with the vet

On Thursday night my dear Guinness got sick. It happens occasionally and we aren’t sure of the cause. When we adopted the cats earlier this year, we were assured that they were healthy and up to date on vaccines, however, once a month or so, Guinness gets sick (TMI, vomiting and loose bowels at the same time). Thursday evening was awful. He was shaking, walked into the cabinet, and crying from deep within his chest. Of course I was crying along with him. We called the clinic, loaded the boy into the carrier, and were out the door.

(a little background)
Prior to starting IVF again, we had taken both cats to the private vet for a checkup. We mentioned our concerns to the vet and she seemed more interested in judging us for not allowing the cats to go outside into the “garden”. Sorry, I know that it is customary in many parts of the world to let cats outdoors, but our cats are indoor only. It keeps them healthier and out of danger. That day Guinness was diagnosed as being “anxious” and we were sold an expensive bottle of cat spray to calm the air.

Upon arriving at the clinic Thursday night, I was afraid that we would be faced with the same vet and was VERY relieved to see a new face. She asked a lot of relevant questions, listened as I talked about his symptoms, and gave him a thorough exam, including shaving his neck and taking blood.


We chose to take him home with us that night because being separated from Bella and in a strange environment would have been too stressful for him. The fabulous, new vet promised to call in the morning with the test results.

We started driving home and my husband’s cell phone rang. It was the vet saying that Guinness’ phosphate level was low and to please bring him back. They gave us some phosphate supplements to give him every day and tomorrow we will take him back for a sterile urine test. Other than the phosphate, all of his blood work, including viruses and infections, has come back normal. The vet is concerned about diabetes, but he’s only two and doesn’t seem to be symptomatic, so who knows.

Hopefully we will have some answers tomorrow.