Emmy's bad day

Well this should have been posted yesterday, but I have been covered under a blanket of 8+ inches of snow that took out the power to my office and my home.. *argh* but at least by waiting we have a good outcome to report.

The power went out Wednesday night at around 11 pm. Thursday morning at 5:30ish Em woke me up sneezing. It sounded very wet, so I made my DH get up and get some light. she had another bloody nose, and was sneezing bloody discharge out all over my sheets, and all over me. Probably not as bad as it sounds, as there were 20-30 small droplets, but still scary enough.

The culture and sensitivity on the discharge had come back and she has bordetella. She's on baytril for that, started her third day this morning. Anyway.. after she stopped sneezing, we got her cleaned up the best we could without water(as I am on a well), and she seemed okay, but breathing was very hard on her. It was as if she had two areas of congestion - her chest and her nasal passages. I called the vet, and he recommended prednisolone. I gave her a dose that morning - along with her baytril, her cosequin, and her 2 thyroid pills.

Mid day it seemed to be subsiding, but it was still hard on her. With nothing to do all day, we all climbed into bed. She sat on one side of wheezing, and Tweedle sat on the other and snored.

She was off her food - but was eating treats. After the hard night, I wasn't horribly worried.

she started wheezing again so I gave her 1/2 of a dose of the pred..

This morning she had eaten all her dinner and was hungry for breakfast, and at all her breakfast. She was doing the teeth grinding thing (to her it means she's got an upset stomach) pretty fierce last night and again this morning, so I added some pepcid into her pill cocktail - it is a darn good thing I'm good at pilling her, cause there were so many of them this morning!! But at this point, she's back to being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed - if not a little cold since the temp in the house is 50 degrees. I have hope that the power will be on soon though, as I FINALLY saw the power guys drive by and they had a pole with them (one of the poles fell into the middle of the road and they had left it there for over 24 hours!!!)

well then..

No further issues with Em. She still doesn't understand what all the fuss was about.

I called the vet this morning, and he tends to think it was a plain ol bloody nose. Cold out, dry weather, it isn't uncommon. Em has never had them before, but heck you never know. Doesn't mean I won't be watching her like a hawk for further issues, Okay it isn't like I don't watch her like a hawk anyway.. but I freaked out over a nose bleed :)

I'm okay with that.

I'd rather freak out over little things then freak out over nothing and miss something that might be major.

More Emerald Drama

well, this has been a fun 12 hours.. NOT.

Yesterday morning we fed the kitties and I medicated Em, and we went out for a good portion of the day. Got home around 3 or 4. I went into the office to goof off on the internet, and hubby was in the great room.

A while later (maybe 5 or 6pm) I heard some coughing. Nothing unusual in this household. Hairballs are common, as is Tweedle's constant congestion and Eli's blocked tear ducts that cause some issues for him.

A few moment's later, hubby calls that there is an issue with Em. I immediately get up and go to her. She's right outside the office. I sit near her and look at her. She appears congested and wheezing. I try to look up her nose for mucus. I find drops of blood. What the heck? She was fine this morning. I've seen cats produce blood out of their nose if they have been sneezing for a couple of days, but she was fine this morning. I take her into the bathroom (where she eats) to see if she wants food. She ate most of her food, but there is a little left, and it has a few drops of blood on it.

I come to the conclusion she is bleeding somewhere inside her nose / sinuses / head, and it is dripping down the back of her throat. not gushing, but enough to be annoying

Yup. I panic.

I call a friend who works for my vet, and she reminded me of the general rules of thumb when it comes to cat emergencies. If she's interested in food, and her gums aren't pale, then she can probably hold out. Well to make sure he was interested in eating, I gave her treats. She likes treats. I tried to look in her mouth, but at this point, I'd looked at her too much, and she was getting grumpy.

I left her and went online and posted a couple of BBs I frequent for prayers. Mostly cause I needed to 'do something' and talking about it was the best I could do. One site is on feline diabetes, and there is a vet who frequents it, and she echoed the sentiment that waiting was okay.

I tested Em's BGs, and she was a little on the high side. That will teach me to feed her treats every hour. I gave her regular daily medication and wandered off to bed.

In the middle of the night I heard her coughing again. I was up in a flash. I searched the entire house for her, and she was waiting in her bathroom near her food bowl.. like nothing was wrong.

This morning she jumped up on the bed and was licking my skin off - her favorite activity. no more obvious blood. no more coughing (as of yet - knock wood) and she's looking at me wondering what all the fuss was about.

Now the question becomes.. so I bring her in to see the vet, or wait and see it it happens again?

arrgh