A decade ago, Shadow was really sick. He was yowling as he was peeing and he refused to eat. I asked his foster mom what I should do, and she said to take him to the vet ASAP. I took him late that afternoon (first appointment I could get), my heart in my throat.
Today, I woke up to Shadow yowling in a similar way. As any cat companion will tell you, you know the different meows of your cat. There is the ‘I’m hungry’ meow. The ‘I’m bored’ meow. The ‘pet me now’ meow. Then there’s the ‘I’m in distress!’ meow. The last is the one you never want to hear as it’ll break your heart.
He was straining to poop, and it was clear he was constipated. He would strain and nothing would come out or just *warning, graphic* drippy diarrhea. There was one medium-ish nugget of diarrhea, but no actual poop.
I tried giving him Temptations. Nothing. Wet food with hot water (his favorite way to eat it). Nothing. I will fully confess that I have not taken him to the vet since (I know, I know), and I found out that the place I used to take him to had no record of him and was not taking new clients at this time. I know vets have been slammed, so I understood. But I didn’t like it. Obviously.
Animals can’t tell you when something is wrong. Cats are especially good at hiding their pain, much to their detriment. He was fine yesterday. He ate normally and peed normally as well (checked the litterbox this morning). But he’s vomiting clear liquid and has done it several times. In addition to his drippy butt, and it’s clear that I needed to take him in.
I found another vet with stellar reviews and 2 minutes from my home. I talked with the receptionist and set up an appointment for 1 p.m. This was at 9 a.m. or so, and 1 p.m. was the soonest appointment they had. As I was making the appointment, Shadow wandered by and howled.