let's see. where should i start?
chewbacca, our only remaining pet, came to us from nick's nana. she was going into an assisted living facility and could only take one of her two cats. we gave her chewbacca, so she thought we should take him back.
ben loved having a new kitty. a younger kitty. a more playful kitty. orbit was getting up there in years and was quite lazy. ;) not sure that orbit loved the new family member. they would play fight, i hope, and meow and chase each other regularly. i don't think that orbit every really adjusted, even after almost 8 months.
chewy is very playful and very friendly. he'll walk on top of you to get some attention. he sleeps on top of you too, no matter how many times you try to move him to the foot of the bed he's right back in the nook of your back before you know it. ben loves when he cuddles with him at night.
we noticed that chewbacca was being a little weird when we got back from our indy get away. nothing big. thought it was just that he was lonely for a few days. gave him some extra loving and attention and he seemed to be fine.
when i got home from work on wednesday {nick's nana's birthday. it the first one since she had passed}, he was not okay. he was very vocal and wouldn't set his bottom down. if you called his name, he would howl back with a big ole meow. so sad. thankfully, nick didn't get home too much later than i did, and he was able to pack him up and take him to the vet. not our normal vet, she was still on vacation... they went to indiana beach after our weekend adventure, but one of her partners. love that they know who we are!
i was a nervous wreck. ben wasn't much better. the entire time we were home, he kept asking, 'what's wrong?' and saying, 'i'm gonna go check on kitty.' once nick had chewy packed away and was on his way to the vet, ben said, 'now i have no more kitties.' i tried to explain that chewbacca was just sick. that he was going to a doctor so they could make him feel better. ben just wanted to know when he was coming back. i'm sure it wasn't easy on him considered orbit just went to heaven a month ago! i told him that, hopefully, chewy would be home tomorrow. but it might be longer. we would have to wait and see what the doctor said.
nick called me, what seemed like 5 minutes after he left, saying he was on his way home. what? they're quick. apparently, chewy has some sort of urinary crystals. not uncommon in male cats. might just have to change his food. they said if all went well, he would come home thursday.
the house felt weird. no strange noises in the middle of the night that could be blamed on a cat. for the first time since we have lived in our home, nine years, there was no animals.
when we woke up thursday, ben immediately wanted to talk about chewy. 'he no feel good.' 'we have no kitties.' again, tried to explain that he was sick and had to stay the night at the hospital to feel better.
nick got a call at work saying that chewy couldn't come home today. nick immediately asked if we could do visitation and explained how ben was acting considering we just put orbit down. they obliged. so when i picked ben up from school, we stopped in for a visit.
ben smiled instantly. even with the crazy cone on chewy's head, the shaved spots, the tubes coming and going out of the cage, he knew that was his kitty. and chewy immediately stood up and stuck his head against the cage so we could pet him. he even managed to get all crazily tangled. we were only there for about five minutes. but we didn't need more than that. ben now knew that chewy was okay. that he was somewhere else. that he just couldn't be home with us right now. instead of saying 'we have no kitties.' he would say, 'chewy's really, really sick. he's gotta get better.' phew!
friday rolled around and the word was chewy had to stay the weekend. some how the little stinker had pulled out his catheter and ivs and was still having some discomfort. poor guy.
monday we got the okay to come and pick him up. nick was going to go by himself on the way home from work, but i insisted he take ben with him. i guess ben was so excited and proud to walk in there and get his kitty. ;) i think the feeling was mutual. chewy would not stop rubbing up on us. he was so much more loveable. all those days of being cooped up in the cage really made him lonely. ben's been really good about being gentile and avoiding his boo boos.
pretty crappy pictures... but i tried. couldn't help that the darn cat wouldn't sit still and wanted to rub up on the camera every time i tried to take a picture!
his poor little arm.
and his sad neck!
nick and i were worried about what this was going to set us back financially. thank goodness for vet friends giving discounts. fingers crossed the change of kitty food works and we don't have to do this all over again. and beyond thankful because if this had happened only a few days earlier, who knows what would have happened. i don't want to think about the alternate scenario...
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