On Thursday morning, when she still hadn't left the bed, I called the vet and took her in. They took her temperature and realized she had a fever of 104.5 (this would explain why she slept on my bed since it's cooler in my bedroom than it is in the main living area). Normal temperature for a cat is about 100.5 to 102.5 or thereabouts. Even a change of two degrees, which doesn't sound like much, is major in cat health. The vet gave her an IV under the skin of fluids to help her cool down, and also gave her a shot of antibiotics. Lyra is not the most cooperative at the vet's, growling and squirming, but the vet and the tech understood that and managed anyway. The vet told me to call on Friday afternoon and update her on Lyra's progress. If there wasn't any progress, I was to bring her back in for blood work.
When I got her home, Lyra immediately went to her food bowl and chowed down. She walked around a bit and spent the rest of the day in and out of my bedroom. I kept an eye on her the next day as well. She seemed a little more active, so when I called the vet on Friday, she was pleased that Lyra seemed to be improving and didn't think I needed to bring her in again. No idea what caused the fever. She had a vaccination the previous Wednesday, but if there were any side effects from it, they probably would have shown up in the days immediately after the shot, not a week later.
Yesterday, she spent most of the day in the living room with me and was eating and drinking a little more. I usually give her her asthma pill in a bit of chicken, but since she's not had any asthma attacks lately, I've just been giving her the bit of chicken. She and Tristan both come to the kitchen when they hear anything that sounds like a bag with chicken in it. She was even more eager for it this morning.
I grew up with dogs, and Lyra and Tristan are my second and third cats, and yet, I still don't feel like I have a good handle on pet health. They all get different things, nothing repeats. Louise, my first cat, had a heart murmur, thyroid problems, and stomach cancer. Hunny, my dog, had arthritis, ear infections, and a tumor on her spleen. Tristan had digestive problems when I first got him, although he's fine now, thank goodness. And Lyra has asthma and now this fever. So the worrying goes on, and anyone who knows me knows my worrying can easily get out of control. At least my boss, who is also a cat person, understood my need to work from home Thursday and Friday.
Lyra still seems droopy and she doesn't want to play with Tristan at all. I don't know how long it takes for a cat to recover from a fever, so I can't decide if I should take her back to the vet tomorrow or not. I guess I have to do some more wait and see.
2 comments:
Lyras' a cute cat, but doesn't seem happy to be having her pic taken. I hope she will continue to improve. I've heard nothing about Gwennies cat, have you? Hope all is well Cate.
I hope that she feels better. Poor kid, that's a bad fever!
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