baby boy is in the hospital

After all of the improvement that Guinness had made over the past 24 hours, he unfortunately slipped backward. Last night he came upstairs for the usual bedtime treat routine. He had a few snacks and started to have an episode with his legs. He pulled himself under the covers, but something didn’t seem right. I picked him up, noticed the signs of a cat about to vomit, and quickly put a puppy pad (disposable, absorbent pad that we use for the cats) under his head. Baby boy threw up everything he had eaten yesterday. I wrapped up the pad, took it downstairs, and went back up to check on him. He was on the floor and began to cry. I put him on another puppy pad and he lost control of his bladder. It was the first time he had ever cried during a leg episode. I disposed of the soiled puppy pad and snuggled with him for a while. He decided to sleep on the wood floor in the hallway, a first.

This morning I called the university and basically told the woman who answered the phone that I needed someone to call me back immediately. The phone rang within five minutes, my husband was home 15 minutes later, and we were at the hospital within another 10.

Guinness was examined, more notes were taken, and a senior veterinarian came in to speak with us. All of the spinal tap results were normal. The official MRI report is not back from the U.K. yet, but the radiologists at UCD didn’t see anything that would be indicative of something major. The spinal tap results basically rule out most of the inflammatory brain diseases (the guess of the neuro-specialist in New Zealand). They are now going to get more video of Guinness having an episode and contact another neuro-specialist in the U.K. The veterinarian said that they have never seen anything like this. I again mentioned that it’s coming down to a quality of life issue and she agreed. She also thinks that we “need a break”, so they admitted him for the weekend. That way he can get some much needed IV fluids and they will be able to get more video.

The senior vet will be working all weekend and promised to call both Saturday and Sunday morning. We stroked Guinness’ head, told him that we loved him, and they bundled him up in his white blanket. It is the most helpless feeling to watch someone else carry your baby away, knowing that there is nothing you can do to help him. He looked at me with those big, black eyes, as if to say, why are you leaving me here. My heart hurts just thinking about it. I know that he is where he needs to be, but the selfish part of me wants him at home. I miss him so much already.

It’s going to be a long weekend. Please think good kitty thoughts. As usual, prayers are appreciated, for all of us.

my brave boy being admitted