It was disturbing, seeing one of the feline contingent here at The Gulch in distress.
Cole, the oldest of our feline members of the WP clan, went from waking up from one of his many naps to running around the house, hyper-salivating (foaming at the mouth), and constantly meowing in a manner that suggested “Help me!”
It only took me a couple of minutes to wrangle him into the carrier after calling our vet, who in turn referred us the emergency veterinary clinic in our state capitol city. A quick call to them and they told me to bring him right down.
It was a tense 45 minute drive in heavy holiday weekend Friday traffic, a trip that would have normally taken 30 minutes.
The drive down had me wondering why he had gone from cool to in trouble like someone flipped a switch. I knew it wasn’t rabies since he’s been vaccinated and it doesn’t present that way. I wondered if he got into some of the rodent bait our exterminator had set out the other day. (We’ve been having a mouse problem, the first time since the WP Parents moved into this house 18 years ago.) Another related possibility was he ate something that either disagreed with him or something that bit him back.
The folks at the emergency clinic took him right in, ruled out rabies and poisoning. Six hours later I was on my way home with him. It turns out he made the mistake of trying to eat a wasp and it stung him under his tongue. The vet treated him for the sting which caused some ulceration at the site of the sting, gave me some more medicine for him to reduce pain, and told him in no uncertain terms “Bad Cole! Don’t eat any more wasps or bees, okay?”
Today he seems okay, though he is a little off as the discomfort in his mouth has him eating only wet food (no chewing required). The only other sign of his misadventure was a ring of fur on one of his front legs that was shaved down so they could insert an I.V. while they were treating him.
Cole is not a young cat, being almost 15 years old, so any health issue can become life-threatening in short order. This one scared the heck out of me, seeing how quickly it came on and and how much distress he was in.
Some may say “What’s the big deal? He’s only a cat.” Of course those ‘some’ probably never had a cat or dog, and don’t understand that these furry critters are part of the family for many people, including me.
I’m just glad it wasn’t a worse case scenario and that he’s home safe and sound, even if a little more subdued than usual.
