Grendel became ill Sunday afternoon and tossed his cookies a few times before I went to dinner with some dear friends. I thought nothing of it at the time, as he seemed relatively normal except that he had an upset stomach. Besides, does anyone who’s ever been around a cat for more than five minutes think it unusual when one throws up? Of course not. Hairballs are the most common cause, but cats get sick for a great many reasons, not all of which have anything to do with their stomach. Remember, in many instances cats get nauseated simply because they don’t feel well. When a cat feels pain or discomfort of any kind, it causes stress, and stress is the cat’s ipecac. Inducing emetic responses from felines is not a troublesome challenge.
When I came home that evening, however, Grendel was quiet and subdued. This worried me a bit. He’s the feline alpha male in the house and leads the charge to intercept me when I come in the door. This time he was not.
I found him resting on the bed and immediately checked him to see if he had an obvious fever. He did not. That, however, did not mean he wasn’t sick. He was lethargic and his responsiveness was subdued; he was certainly not himself.
I did not panic at this. While it’s unusual for Grendel to be sick, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to just have a bug of some kind. With that in mind, we all went to bed and Grendel found his favorite spot, curled up normally, and went to sleep.
Several times during the night, his getting sick again awakened me. This was not a good sign. As soon as the vet opened the next morning, I called them and made an appointment for him, knowing well that Grendel is my rock, solidly stable and always reliable, never worrisome and consummately on top of the world. That he was acting sickly and demonstrating recognizable symptoms meant something serious was afoot.
He would not eat. He would not drink. He would not move about the house but instead tried to remain still and quiet in bed. These are bad signs.
Upon arriving at the vet, he underwent a normal physical checkup at which time the doctor recognized that he had lost a little more weight since his annual checkup only three months prior and he was tender in his abdominal region. More importantly, he was presenting some unusual personality changes: he was abrupt, combative, uncooperative, and crying relentlessly by this time. Grendel is simply not that difficult to deal with at the vet, so I knew then that something was terribly amiss.
His symptoms worried the doctor, so she decided to keep him at the vet to do more diagnostic tests. I would spend the rest of yesterday waiting for each call and the results they represented.
His blood work was essentially unremarkable. It did show he was borderline anemic. One of his liver tests had a significantly low result. When taken all together, however, none of these tests indicated anything of consequence. No one doubted that there was more to be discovered in all of this.
It was only after x-rays were taken that the possible causes of his illness became known. While there is no confirmation as yet that these results are truly the cause of his symptoms, they have brought to light two serious issues that must be addressed.
The films showed two masses, one each in his bladder and one of his kidneys. These masses could be anything: stones, calcification, scar tissue, cancer, or any number of things. As with human medicine, veterinary medicine has much guesswork involved. A lot more testing normally follows that.
It was late by this time. They did not want to stress him anymore than necessary by sending him to a surgery center for more diagnostics, so instead they sent him home with me so he could rest as comfortably as possible overnight before coming back to the vet in the morning. This was the best thing for him. They had hydrated him and given him antibiotics and some other pain medication to help with the symptoms, so there was nothing more to do until he was better rested.
In the meantime, the doctor explained that the mass in his kidney is the most serious. It’s in a position that may be causing permanent damage and may also be interfering with normal function. She noted that the kidney already demonstrated some malformation around the mass. While the bladder was also of concern, it did not appear to be as serious as the kidney situation. In general discussion while picking Grendel up to bring him home, she mentioned it’s possible he may lose one of his kidneys at the very least. Depending on what the masses are, he may need surgery to remove them as, should they be stones, they could easily move and cause significant harm. However, none of this could be known until we better understood what they were and exactly where they were, so an ultrasound would be needed.
I brought Grendel home and spent the evening with him, curled up with him on the couch and talking to him. He rested as well as he could. When it was time to go to bed, he climbed into his normal place and slept as well as possible. I heard him getting sick several times during the night.
This morning Grendel goes back to the vet for an ultrasound. Once that’s complete and we have a clearer picture of what’s going on inside, we can determine the next best step. It’s likely he’ll need to go to the surgery center, although that’s an assumption. Basically, it’s hurry up and wait.
The vet admits that we still don’t even know if one or both of these masses are causing his symptoms. While they require immediate attention, we may yet need to continue looking for other problems. I hope that’s not the case and that we have found the reason for his misery.
I’m worried about the guy. He’s not himself. He’s in obvious pain and discomfort. Not eating or drinking is the most problematic concern.
I will take him in shortly, then I will stay close to the vet to ensure I can act when needed to get him the care and treatment he needs. In the meantime, he’s not moved from the bed since I got up a few hours ago. That is just not Grendel-like.