Tricksey is done with her radiation treatments. They've stressed her out terribly - not the radiation itself, but the pre-treatment fasting, the drive to the vet, the time in the cage, the anesthesia, the side-effects of the anesthesia that keeps her awake and confused for 36 hours, the days of hangover after that, the fear of me in the morning. She's stopped grooming herself. She sleeps much more than she used to. She doesn't purr much anymore.
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We postponed last week's treatment because we wanted to give her a rest, and it definitely helped her. But, yesterday she had to go get that last treatment. And she's all stoned and miserable today.
But, the doctor says there's nothing wrong with her, physically.
What a drag. At least it's over.
Glad it’s done and she’s through it OK. She’ll forgive you… eventually. :)
What Rob Caldecott said. Here’s hoping it doesn’t take too long.
Best wishes to Tricksey
Hey cleek,, for some reason I found myself wondering today how Tricksey is doing. What a strange world the internet has created, that someone who’s never met her or you, thousands of miles away, wants a health update. Is she grooming? Has she relaxed at all with you in the morning (I’m guessing this, upsettingly, will be the last side effect to wear off)? Here’s hoping….
no, she’s not grooming, much. she’ll do a little here and there, but nowhere near what she used to do. since she’s a long-haired cat, this creates problems. we’ve been at her with scissors, cutting fur knots off her belly. she’d always been pretty good about keeping the knots away. no longer.
sleeping a lot more, and it seems like she’s almost always cold. she still doesn’t purr much.
it’s like she turned into a very old cat in the course of six weeks. normally, all this would make us take her to the vet to make sure she was OK. but i think she’s seen enough vets for a while.
still hides from me in the mornings.
so: not great. but, we’re hoping she’s just still stressed out.
i don’t think we’d have gone through the process if we knew it would do this to her.
i’ll tell her you asked! :)
Oh no, I’m so sorry it’s still like this. Would your vet be receptive to a phone consultation, when the reason is explained? Maybe this is an after-reaction they have seen before, and they can give some kind of medication to help? Or maybe this is just me, being absurdly optimistic and presumptuously problem-solving? In which case, forgive me….
i’m sure the vet would be willing to talk. but i’m not sure they’d have anything useful to tell us.
the last time i brought this up, the vet gave her an exam, did xrays, blood tests, etc.. the only thing he found was that she seemed sensitive to touch on her back. and the xrays showed what could be arthritis in her back. so they gave her some pain medicine ($71 a bottle!). but the medicine made her throw up her food. so, we’re not going to give it to her anymore. i’m sure if i told the vet they’d offer some other medication. but i don’t think her back is really bad – i think she just doesn’t want to be handled any more. and i don’t think i want to inflict even more medical experimentation on her.
i’ll just hope for the best :)
Sounds like you’ve completely got this covered, unsurprisingly. At least as much as it can be at this stage. Again, fingers majorly crossed for you and for her.