Cat Poo in My Purse
This morning I woke up thinking about Lola, of course. Kathy and I talked before she left for work and I said that I had a hard time believing it is cancer. However, I could believe that the allergic issues that Lola has had with her skin (eosinophilic plaque) could also affect her intestines. She's a sensitive girl. My opinion, though, doesn't matter so much. I called the vet at 8:30 am to get the blood test results but the vet was with a client, so I left a message.
I had promised the vet that I'd bring in a ... um ... "sample" from Lola today. In preparation, I made sure the litter box was very clean so that I would be ready when she did her business. I worried while I cleaned the box: "What if she doesn't poop until after the vet closes? What time does she poop anyway? What kind of mom am I that I don't know my own kitty's pooping schedule?!? OMIGOD!"
Luckily, within an hour I heard Lola "mock-burying" her sister's plate of food and realized that was a signal I knew. I ran into the bathroom with the little tool that the vet gave me and retrieved the sample I needed. I neatly capped the clever contraption (how come I was never given one of these by a vet before? This is SO much easier!) and washed my hands - just to be careful.
When the vet called back a little while later, she had that tone to her voice meaning she founds something in the blood work that was not straightforward. Overall, she said, the blood results were normal. You always get nervous when they start with "overall" but then take a breath to launch into something.
It seems Lola's blood showed a "whopping high" percentage of eosinophils, suggesting that she is having an allergic response in her intestines. (A-ha!) The doctor said we can put her on a hypoallergenic diet (she was on high-fiber for diarrhea) and give her a course of prednisone to get this under control. Lola has had prednisone before for the skin allergies, when they got bad. Luckily, cats seem to tolerate the drug better than people. We will do a weigh-in in two weeks to see if she's gaining weight and check her blood counts.
The doctor did say that there is a condition called Feline Eosinophilic Syndrome where the eosinophils pervade the body tissue and stop responding to drugs. She said I could read up on it online and then added, "Well, maybe you don't want to do that. It's pretty scary." I felt my chest tighten. I may be the information queen, but no, I don't want to know this right now. I will have to fight my nature to look it up. She also wondered aloud if the problem with Lola's veins could be caused by eosinophils invading her heart. But, she said, that can't be determined on a living cat. I wanted to clamp my hands over my ears. La-la-la! I can't HEAR you!
I asked if I should still bring in a sample and the vet said no, not for now. Well, gosh, what was I going to do with the cat poo? Please don't answer that.
A couple of hours later, I left for the vet. On impulse, I threw the cat poo in my purse. Well, the encapsulated sample of cat poo. While I was waiting for Lola's new food and her medicine, the doctor came by and we chatted. I took the sample out of my handbag and asked if maybe we should run the fecal analysis anyway, to rule out parasites. You see, I've watched House enough to know that it can be two things at once, and my vet seems very House-like except that she is nice. She said, sure, and then took the plastic container and held it at arms length, making a scrunched up icky face. Those vets!
So, now I have Lola's new food down for her and I must say, this looks a whole lot more appetizing than the restricted diet, if I don't think about what's in it. You see, I was talking to Kathy this morning about my stalled weight loss and said, "Maybe I should make recipes with lots of peas and mushrooms, because then I'd lose weight for sure!" (I don't like 'em.) And what is Lola's new diet? Duck and pea! Figures. Let's hope she finds it tastier than I would and puts that weight back on.
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