Good morning! Sorry that I didn't write to you last weekend. Things got pretty crazy, partly due to this little guy on the left.
Last week was expected to be rather tense. My daughter's partner went to the doctor due to kidney stones that have been unresolved for over a year. They suddenly decided it was time for a surgical procedure.
At the same time, her cat, Sylvester, became seriously ill. Sylvester is an 11-year-old bottle baby who someone had thrown out with the garbage when he was around 3 weeks old. Our little dumpster
kitty is especially friendly because he was raised and nurtured by humans.
He began vomiting uncontrollably, refusing all food, and hiding, so we made a vet appointment on the morning of the kidney stone surgery, which was taking place in the afternoon.
They took blood and examined him then came back and told us he had cancer. I was dubious because the onset had been so sudden. They agreed to send the blood out to an independent lab, gave him a few different medications for nausea and pain, and sent us home.
He continued to vomit and decline throughout the day. We dropped him off and went straight to the hospital where we sat for the next 7 hours for the human surgery.
The next morning the vet's office called and said that the blood samples had been mixed up. They wanted my daughter to return for another sample at no charge. They were shocked by how far he'd devolved
in 24 hours. It turned out he did not have cancer. Another vet came in to assist in the diagnosis. She performed an ultrasound and quickly found the problem - one I had no idea could happen.
There's a reason I'm telling this story in such detail. It's a cautionary tale about a threat I'd never even considered.
Sylvester had apparently found some string to play with. It got wrapped around the base of his tongue, unbeknownst to any of us. When he swallowed it and tried to pass it, he couldn't because it was stuck on his tongue. She told us every time he tried to poop, it was pulling his internal organs tighter, until the effect in the ultrasound looked like an accordion. The string went through from his tongue to his colon and he was rushed into emergency surgery.
The surgery was extensive. Because it was in there so tightly, it couldn't be done endoscopically. It was a 4-hour surgery on our
sweet cat.
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