The Diagnosis
29 December 2005
After filling my head with my usual melodramatic expectations of everything that could possibly be wrong with Mouse last night, it’s no surprise that I slept like shit. I am not sure if it is my “maternal instinct” or what, but I was waking up every hour or so just to check on her and make sure that she was OK.
It snowed all night and at about 6:00 am this morning a snow plow went through the parking lot below our balcony. Normally, I can sleep through this sort of racket, but since I was tossing and turning anyway, the snow plow was the last straw: I was awake for the day. Now anyone that knows me knows that this is a highly unusual occurrence, but I made the most of it by doing some knitting before the vet’s office opened at 9:00.
I woke A. up at 9:00 am on the dot and had him call the vet for an appointment ASAP. (I don’t like telephones very much to start with and I absolutely hate using them when I have to talk in German!) By 9:30 we were in the vet’s office waiting for Mouse to be examined.
I like our veterinarian very much. Mouse, on the other hand, does not. In fact, after we took her to the vet in May for her annual check-up she hijacked this blog and lodged a formal letter of complaint!
Today however, Mouse was somewhat lethargic and as a result much more cooperative than usual… though she still managed to greet the vet with a hiss. As the vet pulled out her leather gloves, she explained to the wide-eyed assistant that bitch was an understatement to describe my sweet little seven pound hairball.
As the exam began it was obvious to all involved that Mouse wasn’t feeling well: In complete contrast to the exam in May, she huddled close to me and allowed the vet to take her temperature, look into her eyes and mouth, and even get close enough to listen to her breathing. She didn’t have a fever, her eyes were clear, and her mouth was free of ulcers, but her breathing was a bit labored.
My fears were laid to rest when the vet declared that instead of the dreaded Rhinotracheitis, Mouse simply had a cold.
A cold?! I know a lot about cats, but it never even crossed my mind that she could have something as simple as a common cold! Well, since the virus that causes a cat cold and one that causes a human cold are not the same, it isn’t actually a “common” cold, but the duration is comparable and the same treatments apply: Lots of fluids, lots of sleep, and no sleeping on a cold floor.
Cats with colds do have one advantage over humans though: They can get a shot of something that helps to strengthen the immune system so they can fight the virus more efficiently. Too bad the drug isn’t approved for human use: I could have really used it last week when I was in bed sneezing my own way through a cold!
