Chapter 12 #2
“Gomez, what’s wrong buddy?” Carlo’s voice is panicked as I join him at the bathroom door.
Gomez is crying in the litter box. Morticia is sitting vigil next to it, glaring at us as if to say, “Help him, you idiot humans!” My heart sinks, because I’ve never seen Gomez this upset or uncomfortable, and I’ve never had to deal with a sick animal before.
“How was he when you got home while I was at the tattoo shop?” I ask Carlo anxiously.
“He seemed ok, not as cuddly as usual and he didn’t finish his dinner. I didn’t think much of it, though,” Carlo says, still clearly worried as anything about his bff.
“I should have known something was up when they didn’t come out to greet me when I got home,” I say.
He yowls loudly again, squatting in the box, but nothing coming out from what I can see.
“I think he’s having trouble peeing. Shit, the vet I brought them to is closed this late.
Let me look to see if there’s a 24 emergency place or something nearby.
” I run out into the living room to get my phone out of my bag and do a search.
In the next second I’m grabbing his carrier out of the front closet.
“There’s an emergency vet 40 minutes from here in Robbinsville. I’m going to take him,” I call out to Carlo.
“I’m coming, too. I’ll drive so you can keep an eye on him in the car.
” His tone doesn’t leave room for argument, so we gently get him out of the litter box and into the carrier.
We throw on our shoes, grab our essentials, and are out the door quickly.
I call the emergency vet on the way to let them know we’re coming and what’s going on.
Poor Gomez cries the entire 40 minute drive, but we make it to the vet with no issues and they bring him right back to triage him.
All Carlo and I can do is wait anxiously. I lean in so only he can hear.
“Do you think this was the universe telling us we shouldn’t have made out?” I’m only half joking, and I think he knows it.
“Not at all,” he says firmly. “Cats get sick, these things happen.” Then he lowers his voice to barely a whisper as he leans closer to my ear. “If the universe thinks we’re wrong for what happened, I don’t want to be right.” I can’t help but grin a little at that.
“This isn’t the time or place, but I think a conversation needs to happen about what it means for us,” I tell him. He takes my hand, brushing his thumb along my knuckles
“It certainly does, sweetheart.” We chat idly and quietly with our hands still intertwined, doom scroll on our phones, and Carlo is so good at keeping me grounded when I’m so worried about Gomez. After a couple of hours we get called back to talk to the vet in a consultation room.
“So he is ok for now,” the vet, Dr. Sizlack, reassures us.
“We catheterized him and got him to empty his bladder. He was pretty well blocked with struvite crystals, which is common enough in male cats. Female cats have a wide enough urethra where they can usually pass them with no issue if they get them.”
“I’m pretty new to cats, he and his sister are my first. Are the crystals gone now? How did he get blocked?” The words are rushing out of me in an anxious babble.
“We’re going to need to monitor him overnight to make sure he doesn’t block again.
We also have to calm down his urethra. The pain from the crystals has made it spasm, which is not helping with keeping it open to pass any more crystals.
He’s on a muscle relaxer to hopefully help that.
As for how it happened, it can happen from stress, new situations, a new addition to the household like another kitten or baby, things like that.
Has there been a major change in his life lately? ”
“We just moved in together over a month ago, and they were her cats that moved in with me, so that was probably a stressful change,” Carlo says. Dr. Sizlack nods like that explains everything.
“You should be able to pick him up in the morning, with some recommendations to keep this from happening again.”
“Ok, what do we need to do? I’ll do anything to make him ok,” I tell him.
“Recommendation number one is to get him on a medicated diet. C/D formula helps break down crystals and generally works great to keep them from reoccurring. I can write a prescription that you can take to your local pet store since they all carry it. We’ll send you home with some too, of course.
The second recommendation is to get a calming pheromone diffuser, it’ll help with any anxiety with the new living situation.
We have that here, too. You just plug it into the wall, and the refill is easily found online. ”
I run my hand down my face, already dreading the answer to my next question.
“This is going to be a pretty expensive overnight stay, isn’t it?”
He consults his notes.
“Between the catheterization, exam, medicine, the overnight stay, food, etc, you’re looking at well over $700,” he says, wincing a little in sympathy as he says it.
“Ok, that’ll hurt but not break my savings,” I mutter.
“Let’s take you to go see him before we get him settled for the night.” He leads us down the hall from the consultation room to the back where all of the cages are. There’s my little man, looking scared but much more comfortable. I’m just so relieved that he’s going to be ok.
“Hi my sweetie,” I croon to him. He chirps indignantly but reaches to butt his head against my hand through the cage.
Carlo goes up to the cage too with a, “Hey buddy,” and scratches behind his ears.
He has a ring collar around his neck to keep him from licking the area where the catheter went in, Dr. Sizlack explains.
He lets us know that someone will call first thing in the morning with an update and that he’s ready to pick up.
After giving Gomez a little more loving, we head out.
I hate leaving him so much. What if he thinks we’re abandoning him?
As if he can hear my anxiety for Gomez, Carlo wraps his arm around my shoulders and kisses my temple.
“I was so worried. Is this parenthood? Look at us, we just got through our first cat parent emergency together,” he murmurs.
“Oh, we’re co-parents now, huh?”
“Yep,” he says with a pop on the p. “Already had my dad draw up a very thorough and completely legally binding joint custody agreement in case I do something to piss you off.”