This is Ms. Wally in a photo taken yesterday morning before she found out about the appointment with the vet.

This was an overdue appointment. Wally has long been a finicky eater, but for several weeks she’s been more picky, and more stubborn than normal, and in the last few days eating very little although constantly showing interest.

Wally and Kili are well into the geriatric set, well on their way to their 14th birthday sometime in late November or early December, and it’s often hard to separate out gradual aging from gradual medical issues. At least twice I’ve realized that a vet visit was in order, but was too late to reserve time with our regular vet, whose weekends book up fast. Finally, on Friday night, I called to ask who else would be on duty on Saturday. Dr. Ochiai was free, and I took a 9:30 a.m. appointment.

We have appreciated Dr. Ochiai ever since the day we trapped Romeo and delivered him, trap and all, for a medical once-over. At that point, of course, he hadn’t yet been given his name. He was just a stray that had hidden around our house on a noisy new year’s eve, smelly and dirty, and we had no idea how he was going to react to captivity or handling. Dr. Ochiai quickly assessed the situation, got a big towel that Romeo quickly hid under, and then proceeded to do her exam. Meda recalls her comment that this stray was going to be just fine. She was right, and it didn’t take long for Romeo to earn his name as a real lover.

Fast forward to Ms. Wally. A quick exam didn’t turn up immediate dental problems (I had suspected a sore tooth might have been the issue). She then recommended an in-house blood profile, less extensive than one they would send out but it would produce immediate results, needed since Wally had been eating so sparsely, then have additional tests done later.

Turns out Wally’s blood tested okay, but she has crystals in her urine and a resulting bladder infection. So she’s back home after an antibiotic shot (which, if she responds to this particular antibiotic, saves me the twice daily battle to get pill or pink goo down in to a wildly resisting cat) and a special cat food that helps break down the crystals, Royal Canin Urinary SO.

After 24 hours, she is eating more and seems to be feeling somewhat better.

Meanwhile, I took another look at Ms. Harry (a.k.a. Harriet), who has also been less active than normal. Good thing I did! Turns out there was a hidden injury on her left flank, a cut about a quarter-inch long which had abscessed. After washing it with hydrogen peroxide, I dug through our supplies and came up with what looks like an appropriate antibiotic. She had a dose last night, a second this morning, and seems to be perking up. So she’s on medical watch. If she keeps responding, we’ll skip the vet. If not, it’s off to VCA Kaneohe for her as well.

So it goes in our feline household.