Thursday, July 19, 2007

Eyeballs Falling Out

It's been one of those days.

I didn't get much sleep, my sleep having been punctuated by bad dreams where there was something wrong with Ariana. Thank God they were just dreams, and that Ariana is actually doing quite well except for a very slight bout of being under the weather.

But still, who can get back to sleep after disturbing dreams like that?

Any hope of getting even two more hours of sleep before the alarm went off were dashed when Ariana came into my room and said, "Something's wrong with Hannibal."

(Hannibal is one of our cats ~ Hannibal the Kitty Cannibal, named after our favorite villain, Hannibal Lecter.)

Something was definitely not right with Hannibal aside from the fact that it looked like he lost too much weight to account for "summer slimness."

Hannibal's head moved in jerky motions. The quilt underneath him was wet with cat pee. His fur was wet too. Not only that, this normally aloof kitty was all of a sudden more affectionate and clingy.

However, his appetite had no problems. In fact, Mr. Hannibal tried to climb in the cat food storage container as I was emptying the bags of cat food.

He ate heartily again two hours later at 6:30 in the morning.

I brought Ariana to work for 7:00.

At 8:00 I called the vet and got an appointment with Jill for 11:00.

Fifteen minutes later Ariana called to have me pick her from work. She had a slight fever and felt too sick too work. And we certainly don't want a sick worker infecting all those sprouts, do we?

Ariana felt a little bit well enough to accompany me to the vet with Hannibal.

It was a longer than usual wait. All that time Hannibal was becoming increasingly more affectionate as well as increasingly more desperate to get back into his cat carrier. He was literally dragging the carrier across the exam room floor in order to open the latched door and seek refuge inside the box.

There is a possibility that Hannibal may have suffered a seizure. That would account for his change in behavior and his bladder letting loose. When Ariana first saw him just before 4:30 in the morning, he must have just been coming out of his seizure.

The vet also had some blood drawn to do a complete blood count and to see if Hannibal's thyroid has something to do with his present skinniness.

The test results will be in tomorrow.

And for the time being, Mr. Hannibal has to stay inside where we have to keep a close eye on him and record any unusual behavior.

It's going to be a challenge keeping Hannibal inside. That cat just loves being outdoors.

The day is far from being over. However, it feels like it's gone on forever. My eyeballs feel like they're ready to fall out. But I really don't want to be taking a nap this late in the day, especially since I may not wake up until it's time for me to go to bed.

Maybe I'll go and check up on Hannibal.



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