Guinness' weekend

Before you think that the blog should be renamed “The Guinness Gazette”, this is still a blog about living overseas, infertility, and now, a high-risk pregnancy. It’s just that the situation we are dealing with first and foremost right now is our dear boy, Guinness.

On Saturday I noticed a red mark on Guinness’ collar line. Upon closer inspection I found a gash where he had been shaved for blood work.

Livid doesn’t begin to express my anger. I’m certain that whoever clipped him on Friday didn’t cut him out of malice. He’s a cat, cats move unexpectedly, accidents happen. What angers me is that nobody bothered to tell us. I’m an honest, upfront person and I expect as much from others. If you accidently cut my cat, tell me, I’ll handle it. In particular, I won’t let him run around with a collar on, further irritating his injury. I removed his collar, gave him a cuddle, and calmed down. The rest of the weekend he spent resting, spending most of his time napping on our bed. He did have a few episodes, two of which involved falling down the stairs and off the bed. Poor baby.

Yesterday afternoon we dropped him off again at the university hospital. The head veterinarian on his case came out to speak with us. I mentioned his neck, not in an accusatory manner, just that whoever is handling him should be careful because of his injury. She promised to take good care of him and also said that they had heard back from the neuro specialist in New Zealand. Unfortunately he thinks it’s probably an “inflammatory brain disease.” I’m shocked and saddened, as you might imagine. Guinness is only two years old, much too young for such serious medical problems. Hopefully the MRI and spinal tap will tell us more.

It was so hard to leave him at the hospital. He’s not spent a night away from home since we adopted him. The house feels empty without our baby boy. This morning I’m waiting to hear from the hospital, and praying for good news.

showing off his shaved neck


resting in his favorite place