Poor Murphy...'s mom's bank account

My boo-boo kitty Murphy is illin'.

As of last Thursday, she was still herself. She was stalking around, yelling at everyone, harassing my mom's cat (we were visiting), and being her usual, lovable, purr-monkey, snuffling self. All was well in Murphyland.

But Friday morning, when I woke up, she wasn't on the bed with me and didn't come up to me in bed for lovin'. Something was amiss. She was hiding somewhere, and she never even came out for any conversation while I got ready for work. Hmmm. But I didn't have time to deal with it just then - I had to get to work. So I did.

That night, she was still anti-social. Not a good sign. Maybe allergies? She'd spent most of Thursday on my mom's porch. And she does have sinus issues.

Saturday I brought her home. Maybe getting back to her normal environment would help. By now, she was downright lethargic, unsocial, and her meow had become kind of puny. This is not my Murphy.

Sunday morning - same story. I began to notice she wasn't eating or drinking either, and she literally spent the whole day lying on the bed in the guest room. Time for action. I called the vet that afternoon, and they didn't have any more appointments unless I needed to bring her in on an emergency basis. Well, I'd felt her nose and there didn't appear to be fever, and I'd felt her all over and couldn't find any wounds or tender spots, so I made the call to wait until Monday. Emergency tips to the vet are pretty freakin' pricey, and with such non-specific symptoms, I wasn't hopeful they'd know what was wrong.

Good thing I waited. I took her in yesterday, and after almost 2 hours and $250 worth of exams, tests, prescriptions and giving her fluids to rehydrate her (when you don't eat or drink for 2 days, you get dehydrated), I walked out without a clear diagnosis and a vet who would've done full-on exploratory surgery if I'd let him. Imagine the price if I'd brought her in on an emergency basis! He wants to re-run her blood test in a few days. Uh, yeah, not likely unless she's worse instead of better or holding steady. I'm not ATM, pal.

I told Aggressive Vet that for now, we'd treat her as if it's an infection (one of the possibilities he came up with based on her white blood cell count...and nothing else) and see what happens. It could be a virus. Or it could be who the hell knows what. But we rehydrated her, gave her an antibiotic shot, and now I'm giving her antibiotics at home.

I seriously hope this works because I don't really want to pour more money into a mystery illness. She does seem a little bit better this morning - a bit more vigor in her meow, and at least a little bit of interest in eating. But antibiotics tend to have a negative effect on her digestive tract, so we'll see what I come home to. Wish me luck. I'd prefer not to have to cash out my IRA if this doesn't get resolved!