Dear Jude Friends,

Our poor Jude had a tough time in the last couple of days, and it’s nothing to do with her usual issues!

A few days ago Jude had an incident of vomiting, which she never does. I spoke to the vet team and they told me to give her anti-nausea medication. After that, she seemed fine for a few days. Then yesterday she had a lot of vomit all over her playpen, and she was leaking diarrhea. She was very quiet and didn’t even growl at me when I gave her a bath to clean her up. She was a little dehydrated, and just not acting like herself.

I did a blood glucose check on her, and for this, I have to pick her ear with a small needle. She still didn’t complain, and just let me do it! I knew something was going on before the results came a few seconds later. Her blood glucose level was 42 (normal for a cat is 80-120). Next, I sat her on my lap and took her temperature. She still didn’t complain!! Her temperature was a little higher than normal. I called our fabulous vet team and told them what was going on, and then I put Jude into a carrier and headed to Tabby’s Place. She was good in the carrier, and she was quiet on the car ride. Anyone who knows Jude understands this is not her normal behavior.

Once we arrived at Tabby’s Place they placed an IV catheter into her leg, so we could give her some IV fluids to help the dehydration. They also took some blood and started running it in the machine right away. The vet team did another blood glucose check, and it was in the normal range this time. They also took her temperature, which was still slightly above normal. While we waited for the results from the blood work, Jude received some IV fluids to help her feel better.

Once the results from the blood work were done the vet team carefully looked them over. Everything was normal! While this is good news, it still doesn’t tell us what was going on with Jude.

We are assuming she had a bad gastrointestinal episode of some sort. The vet team let me take her home, with instructions to give her fluids through her IV port every hour, keep checking her blood glucose levels, and keep a close eye on her.  An hour later I gave her fluids and checked her blood glucose levels, which were good. I offered her food, but she didn’t want to eat. An hour later, the same thing. Another hour later, the same.

Then, suddenly, she wanted to eat, and boy did she eat!!! I had to take it away for a while to slow her down, so she didn’t get sick from eating too much too fast. During the rest of the night, she ate some dry food, a bunch of treats, and THREE, yes three, small cans of wet food. She would have eaten more, but I said, “That’s enough for now!”

This time when I went to give her fluids and check her blood glucose levels I was met with an angry Jude.  Thank goodness! My girl was coming back, and I was so relieved to hear her being cranky again.

Today Jude is much more like herself, and still wants to eat everything in sight. There have been no more episodes of vomiting or diarrhea and she is no longer dehydrated.  I am beyond relieved that she seems to be ok now.  That was a stressful time (especially since this happened one day after I had to rush another one of my cats, Tanzy, to the emergency room. The two things are not related, and both girls, Jude and Tanzy are ok now. Phew!).

Otherwise, Jude had a fairly good month. She only had 2 seizures all month, which is a big improvement, and she has been enjoying having a foster kitten in her room. Jude loves kittens (well, unless they get too annoying)! She loves kittens that will snuggle with her, but not bounce on her.

That’s all the Jude news for now. Let’s hope she stays healthy and doesn’t have a repeat incident of whatever that was. Thank you so much for supporting our little Jude, she is a medical handful, and we couldn’t do it without you.

Your correspondent,
Karina