Angela here, Tabby’s Place’s Development Director, pinch-hitting for your faithful correspondent Beverly to bring you a bit of news on our sweet Ana. I’m so sorry to scare you by sending a “Special Update.” So, first of all, let me put your minds at ease: Anastasia is very much alive and, we trust, will be just fine.
That said, I know how much little Ana means to you (and vice versa!), so I wanted you to be among the first to know about a scare Ana’s given us this week.
On Saturday morning, eagle-eyed staff members noticed that Ana seemed…off. The term veterinarians use here is ADR, which means “ain’t doin’ right” (and, no, I’m not kidding!). When a kitty seems ADR but we can’t quite pinpoint what’s wrong, the first things we do are to take her temperature, pulse and respiration rate.
Since a cat’s normal temperature is 100.5 to 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit, it was quite worrisome to find that Ana’s temp was only 98.2…and that was after she received heat support. Jonathan rushed our little tabby girl to the emergency veterinarian, and sent a text message to the staff asking us all to keep Ana in our thoughts and prayers.
I’m grateful to report that the emergency vet was able to bring up Ana’s temperature and to stabilize our little sweetie. By Saturday evening, she was bright and snuggly, eating well and clearly feeling much more like the happy purr-box we know and love.
But still, we had a mystery on our hands. It was time for some diagnostic investigation. X-rays of Ana’s tummy over the weekend revealed excessive amounts of gas. Then, today, our brave girl had an ultrasound. Finally we found the culprit: Ana had a partial blockage of the small intestine.
So what is that sizable something? Right now, we’re not quite sure. The veterinarians are almost certain it’s a foreign body (as opposed to a tumor). It could be a hefty hairball or a piece of plastic. Whatever it is, the emergency vet is going to take the conservative approach by giving Ana 24 hours to pass it. She is passing some food, so there’s hope that she may be able to pass this “thing,” too. If it’s still clogging up the works by tomorrow, it will be time to consider surgery.
This all sounds quite serious, and it is, but the good news is that we have every reason to believe Ana will come through it just fine. She wouldn’t be the first feline to consume something she shouldn’t (or to get one heck of a hairball), and most cats make it through the surgery with no problems at all. Plus, Ana has her relatively young age (seven) on her side.
I am beyond grateful that she has each of you on her side, too. Please keep our little tabby love-bug in your thoughts and prayers today and tomorrow. I promise to write again with a report on how our Ana is doing. She is blessed to have you in her life; thank you for loving her so well.