Felix Rodriguez*

That’s him and I last spring. He laid like that for almost 15 minutes; just laying there, breathing. It was adorable.

I got home tonight to find a somewhat typical sight: a pile of cat puke on the wood floor right as you’re entering my apartment. He does this at least once per week. I go into my kitchen to find some paper towels. I wipe up the mess and walk in to my bedroom. I say hello to Felix (or as I call him, Kitty) and grab my laptop off of my bed. I pick up the computer and walk into the living room. Once in the living room I notice a dark red spot on the top of my computer. I touch it and it smears like blood. Confused, I run back in to my bedroom.

I now notice dark red spots all over my white comforter. I quickly pick up my cat. That’s when I notice how limp his body feels. That he has drool coming from his mouth. I notice a smell. I notice his butt. Bloody diarrhea everywhere. I panic. I put him on the floor and run to my phone. I call the only person that I can think to call- Dave. Dave isn’t sure what to say, I think, but walks me through directions to the animal emergency hospital- the one that we took his ferret to when she was suddenly dying. I call my sister; no answer. I call Rachel; no answer. I frantically push my cat into his carrier and run out the door, sobbing.

My sister got a hold of me as I was driving. "I think Kitty is dying, Ali!" I screamed. She said that she would meet me at the animal hospital.

Once there I quickly explained what I came home to and his health history: 16 years old, has a known small mast-cell tumor on his head which was surgically removed once but has grown back, has type 2 diabetes controlled by a high quality, grain-free diet, had a full blood panel done just a few months prior and found that his organs were acting normally (‘wonderfully’ is what his doctor actually said). She quickly took him in back to test his blood sugar.

His blood sugar came back normal, which wasn’t a surprise to me. She did a quick look at the bloody stool coming from his backside and said that it was full of bacteria (I’m assuming more of which than what is typically found in feces?? Come to think of it, her comment doesn’t make a lot of sense to me) and that he appeared to have a bacterial overgrowth. She said that with his age and health history it would make the most sense to do a full blood panel on him. With overnight care, fluids, antibiotics, other injections, pain medications, the full blood panel, and anything else that he might need I was looking at $1000. And they couldn’t bill me. I don’t own credit cards. I only had just under $1000 in my checking account.

I explained that I don’t want him to be in pain and I want him to be cared for, but that I didn’t have enough money to do everything that they were asking to do. I explained that I’ve had him since I was 10 years old and that he deserves all that I can give to him, however, I just didn’t have the money. I said that his blood panel and organ function tests just came back normal a couple of months back (‘yes, but with his age things can change quickly’); I wasn’t sure what that would do for him. Clearly I couldn’t take him home; he wasn’t doing well. Clearly he was going to require care.

Eventually I settled on fluids, antibiotics, any pain meds necessary, and overnight care. $550. If I hear nothing over night, then I’m supposed to show up at 7:00 tomorrow morning to pick him up. They’ll give me aftercare instructions and any necessary medications. Tomorrow morning I will find whether or not they want me to bring him in to his regular veterinarian, or if they think he’ll be okay. Of course that’s what we’re hoping for, here. If nothing else, though, I know that bringing him to his normal veterinarian won’t be as expensive as the emergency place. It’ll still be expensive, but not like that. I signed a form agreeing that they should not resuscitate him if he crashes. He’s old. He’s sick. He enjoys his life, but I just don’t know that resuscitating him if he crashes would make a lot of sense. And I don’t want him to experience any unnecessary pain.

If I hear from them tonight, I should expect that something horrible happened.

I really hope that he makes it through this. I need him to make it through this. He deserves so much better than to die in a scary, sterile veterinarian’s office all alone- he hates it there. I want him to be at home with me. I don’t want him to be scared.

It’s 8:38 am and I have him home. When I went to pick him up this morning his veterinarian said that he responded well to the antibiotics and fluids that were given to him. She sent him home with a bunch of oral antibiotics, directions on what he should eat (cooked eggs, boiled chicken), and told me that I should take him in to his normal veterinarian in 2-3 days for a check-up.

I cleaned him up because he still had some blood and feces on his body and cooked him some eggs. I’m going to go in to work sometime around 11 today.

Oh, did I mention that the veterinarian’s office inadvertently double charged me? And that my student loan payment was taken out of my account just prior to that? Yeah, I’m about $330 overdrawn right now . AND I just paid my rent yesterday, meaning that another large chunk of money will be taken out of my account. I spoke with the veterinarian and with Wells Fargo and have called my building manager (no response from him, yet) so all are aware of the problem… I just hope that it gets straightened out before my rent check goes through.

Ugh, stress.