happy birthday to me! (a cat-centric pity party)

Today's my birthday!! Yay happy me :)

I have more or less resigned myself to being a cripple for the celebrations... not ideal, but really, not much worse than any other day in the crutches so... c'est la vie, right? But I have fun plans on the docket (including horsey plans!!!) and have every intention of enjoying them to the fullest.

"i have to pee" - martini

It's been a tough week in the Emma household tho. Well, tough couple weeks, honestly. A few days post-injury, my big cat Martini started displaying unusual litter box behavior. That eventually branched into exploring alternative places to pee. This is NO GOOD in my book. No good at all.

kitty jail

I took him to my vet (with the help of my mother) and they prescribed antibiotics (as they were unable to get an actual sample at that time), and over the course of a week's worth of treatment, the cat improved and life was allllll better again!

poor guy doesn't like lock up

Haha... that is, all better again right up until it wasn't. Until the poor kitty pretty much started following me around after work one night telling me he was having serious problems.

he loves windows tho!

Specifically, he was squatting on everything everywhere (see pic #1, wherein he squats next to his food bowl) - but producing nothing. My vet had warned me that a blockage was possible, and that it's actually a fairly critical condition with potentially dire consequences if left untreated.

always super bold in new places - even the hospital waiting room

But naturally it was after hours when I discovered this behavior, so off to the animal hospital we went. Just me, my cat, and my broken leg and crutches down two flights of stairs. Ugh. FML.

"what's out the window!?!" - martini

My understanding is the prognosis for this type of illness is pretty good - easily managed with dietary changes after the initial blockage is successfully treated. But that treatment is apparently quite involved, and Martini remained hospitalized for around 36 hours.

cutie finally decided to hang out and wait (and wait) with me

Careful observation is required following release from the hospital - including separation so that I can confidently monitor his litter box behavior. This is obviously... hugely challenging for me. And required buying a new litter pan, clumping litter (the stuff I usually use isn't clumping, but I needed clumps to assess volume), and then carrying all this, plus the new food AND the freaking cat back up into my apartment.

Guys this almost killed me. BUT I also discovered in the process that I'm starting to be able to put *some* weight on the bum leg... silver linings, right?

he's pretty laid back

Keeping him isolated is also tricky bc obviously he wants to dart out the door whenever I try to go in, so it requires some advanced maneuvers with the cat and crutches to keep everything corralled. Ugh.

"so they help me pee, yes?" - martini

And then naturally his litter box behavior was just as bad, if not worse, than pre-hospitalization, and after a few calls in to the hospital to discuss, they had me bring him back in about 9 hours after they had released him. At 10pm. Ugh. So back down the stairs the whole circus went... then back to the hospital, where they provided some additional treatments and medications but did NOT readmit... then back home and back up the stairs again.

this little hellion tho.... ugh. he has been super vocal and is getting into EVERYTHING in the big cat's absence

All that meant that I also lost my prime parking spot and had to double park to get the cat into the house before hunting for truck-sized spots. Very fortunately, a university security guard was milling about (I live near a university whose students are not from Baltimore and, as a group, are intelligent yet oblivious, making them VERY easy robbery targets. So they need all the security help they can get!) and offered to carry the cat up to the front door for me.

"hellion? i would never raise hell! unless, wait, is 'hellion' a type of food?" - OG

Hilariously, he nonchalantly asked if I was the one who had been hit by a car that evening.... Apparently there was a hit-and-run earlier, thus explaining the heightened security presence? But yea, obviously, no, I was *not* hit by a car (I only looked like it ugh) - but thanks for reminding me that despite my incredibly shitty evening, things could actually be much worse....

driving me absolutely batty is an exhausting business

Anyway, all that back and forth was incredibly stressful. And may have led to much feeling sorry for myself (and perhaps a few tears too, whether they were for me or Martini remains unclear).

As of this writing, I'm slowly becoming more confident that we've "gotten over the hump" in Martini's treatment and that things are getting back to normal... Or at least I really freaking hope so! Cats, they always have such a great sense of timing, right? Ugh.

"plz to be free?!?" - the prisoner immediately before his release from isolation

So that's your sad sack sob story for the day (but cat pics kinda make it better tho, right?), and hopefully things only improve from here. Hope you all have a nice weekend and that your pets are hale and hearty!