Just as I thought we were in the clear, Friday Sammie vomited a few times, and I noticed that she hadn’t been eating a lot.  :(  I immediately called the vet, and got an appointment for Saturday morning (today).

The doctor rechecked her, and took her temperature and she had a slight fever.  It’s possible that the first shot of antibiotics wasn’t enough to make her better, and if it was an infection, the stuff came back.  She got several more injections (Bayril, Metoclopramide for nausea, and more subcutaneous fluids), and I have to give her liquid amoxicillin twice a day for 7 days.  Hopefully this helps her out this time!

An interesting thing I learned… in the past few days Sammie has been going crazy licking fabrics:  straps on bags, curtains, and a particular blanket.  I mentioned this to the doctor, since it was something strange she started, and he said cats will often do that when they are feeling nausea!  So I learned something!

Blood test panel came back normal!  Only thing not normal on it was a bit of elevated protein, most likely due to her dehydration.  Good news indeed!  Sammie also didn’t vomit last night or this morning, and has been eating and drinking and playing just fine.

She is to stay on her prescription diet for a few days, and I’m just on the look out for more vomiting.  I think the medicines and fluids really helped her, and hopefully that’s all she needed *crosses fingers*  Sammie has also begun to drink out of her new fountain after a bit of apprehension, yay!

Poor Sammie!  Today she was at the vet and had two x-rays, 3 injections (Baytril, Famotidine, and fluid), and blood work drawn.  The past few days she’s had bad vomiting, consisting recently of pure liquids and very projectile.  Very stressful indeed!  It’s so hard to see my little kitty sick, and knowing she can’t just tell me what’s wrong.

After a struggle to get her squeezed in for an appointment, I packed her up and headed to the vet.  The doctor recommended x-rays and a blood work up.  Blood results I won’t know until late morning.  X-rays came back good.  Sammie has some gas in her intestines, but no big bulges that would suggest a forgein object in there.  Her tummy looked full, but she did eat before we went to the vet.  The doctor is concerned that it’s one of two things, an infection or a ingestion of a foreign object.  Objects, unless metallic, tend not to show on x-rays, though, so it makes the diagnosis harder.  Otherwise, her kidneys and bladder looked fine.

Sammie is down about 1 pound in weight (11.1 pounds instead of her normal 12+ pounds), which is probably due to all the fluid loss.  She didn’t have a fever, which is a good sign.  She received an injection of Baytril, which is an antibiotic, and Famotidine, which I researched to be something to reduce stomach acid (I would assume this would be to lessen the damage from further vomiting).  Fluids were given subcutaneously to rehydrate her.   She got to come home with me, where I am observing to see if she vomits further or has any changes in health.

I’m at a loss as to why she’s sick, and it makes me really sad.  Erring on the side of caution, we purchased a new water fountain for her tonight, one from Catit.  The Drinkwell is hard to thoroughly clean as it doesn’t really come apart enough, and even though it is cleaned frequently, it has been worrying us for awhile whether it was growing pathogens.  Sammie is a bit apprehensive of the new fountain design, but she’s getting closer to using it.  (Don’t worry, I also have a bowl of water out in case she’s not ready for the fountain.)  The vet gave me some Hill’s Prescription Diet I/D kibble, which is for gastrointestinal problems.  Sammie really liked it and quickly ate it.  It has extra nutrients to replace those that are loss due to vomiting.

My only concern is that Sammie has been vomiting very late at night or early in the morning before I am a awake, and since the vomit has been clear liquid lately, I won’t be able to tell if she has vomited more, as it soaks into the carpet.  I’m tempted to try to stay awake as long as I can to observe her.

I am hoping the blood results come back okay in the morning, and that Sammie doesn’t vomit further.  Hopefully the medicines are enough to get her back to normal!

We’re enjoying a quiet day… Sammie has yet to open her presents.  I wrapped bell balls in wrapping paper in hopes she’d shred up the paper, but no luck so far.  I think I’ll be stuck opening her presents for her!

Sammie just got a can ofNature’s Variety Instinct venison and quite enjoyed it!  I just wish it didn’t come in such large cans, as she only eats a small portion of it at a time.  She even chowed down on the peas and carrots in it, along with the deer meat!

I made an awesome discovery on a late night trip to Walgreens last October (I now, I am downright terrible at updating!). I found this awesome leopard print cat bed that is, well, a cat!  Sammie of course took to it right away, and we’ve started calling it her “Kitty.”

Unfortunately, now that the weather has definitely turned to the colder end of the thermometer, she has abandoned Kitty for her heated pad on her condo.  But Kitty still sitting there, ready to be occupied again!

Here we find Sammie enjoying some “Fresh Price of Bel Air”

The bed only cost $10, so it was quite the bargain!  I had also gotten Sammie’s leopard print fleece blanket for $3 from Walgreens, so they’ve proven to be quite the place to find a treasure at!

Sammie’s 3rd birthday is on November 23rd, but we celebrated a night early!

She got a bowl of Nature’s Variety Instinct canned rabbit with a special “3″ candle/

Sammie seemed to enjoy the food very much, and went crazy the minute I set it down for her.  So that is nice to know!  She’s usually not a fan of canned food, and will usually ignore it.  So either she has a thing for rabbit, or was just happy to get her “birthday cake!”

And since I’ve been lazy about updating this… here are a few of Sammie’s “formal” Halloween portraits.  She was a little devil this year!

The Yeowww! Catnip Banana arrived today and Sammie is hooked!  I have never seen her have a strange reaction to catnip, so it was quite fun to watch her go absolutely bonkers for it!

I lucked out and got this great picture:

Some others of her play session:

I also just started Sammie on  Orijen cat food.  This food is labeled “biologically appropriate real food kibble” and contains 75% meat products and 25% veggies and herbs.  It is 100% grain free, and is design to mimic a cat’s natural appetite.  Most commercial cat foods are mostly grains like corn, which is not appropriate nutrition by any means, and have can deadly implications.  Sammie has been enjoying the Orijen, and I am looking forward to the positive improvements in her health.  Also, because Orijen doesn’t have fillers like grains, serving sizes are smaller, so a smaller bag lasts a lot longer, which to me offsets the costs a bit.  I ordered a 5.5 pound bag to start off after a 1 pound sample bag to make sure Sammie would eat it.

As a special treat, I also ordered some high quality grain free canned food for her.  I got one can of each of these:  Nature’s Variety Instinct canned rabbit,  Wellness Beef & Chicken, and Wellness Chicken & Lobster.  I was excited to see different flavors available… they even make canned venison for cats!  Duck, lamb, crab, lobster, rabbit, venison… exciting!  I decided to try out these 3 flavors first to see how she likes them.  I might save the rabbit for her upcoming birthday in November.

Even when you want a moment in the bathroom!

Sammie just can’t stay out of the bathroom when someone is in there… even with a completely closed door she tries her hardest to get inside!

I wanted to see what Sammie would do if I gave her a cuddle buddy

She is very funny with stuffed animals… I caught her grooming a few of them the other morning!

Who says cats won’t walk on a leash?!