Comfort is a lousy patient

Comfort

My nutty, little cat. She's sick.  I blogged about her throwing up in November.  She threw up at least twice more after that before Christmas. She was fine all while I was gone.  The Saturday after my return?  Bleeeeh.  She threw up again.  It's not hairballs.  And my friend's husband commented on her eyes that they were seemingly always dilated.
So, I made an appointment for her and Wednesday we went to the vet. 

Okay, Comfort is an indoor cat.  She has no interest in the world outside my apartment.  She is not curious about the balcony or the stairwell.  Loud noises on the landing frighten her.  Comfort doesn't seem to be too keen on men and really isn't overly thrilled with any actual person except for perhaps me.  And that's because it's been five freakin' years.  She didn't even like me all that much when I first adopted her.  But five years on, and more patience on my part than I ever knew I could muster and she is (most of the time) very sweet with me.  Other people, really not so much.  I figure it's good training for kids.  You don't get the kid you want, but you love the kid you have.  I wanted a big, fat lap cat who loves people.  I got a teeny, little scaredy cat, but after five years of letting her be as close or distant as she wanted, she now sits on my lap.  She is still a fraidy cat, though.  When she started throwing up, I chalked it up to not liking change.  I had gotten a new futon and made a cover for it and re-arranged the living room while I was at it.  I'm guessing Comfort doesn't cope well.   While I had the cover off to wash, she threw up on another throw (one of my favorite hand-woven Irish blankets).  Then she threw up on my bedroom floor.  She may have thrown up one more time before Christmas, but I have blocked it out (but I'm pretty sure she did because I remember washing the futon cover a second time).  She threw up on the blanket that I had put over the futon (and cover) last Saturday, so I called the vet Monday for an appointment. 

Searching on Dr. Google (which is probably the worst use for Google) for conditions with symptoms of dilated pupils and vomiting came up with Feline Chronic Renal Failure.  All I can say is, "God, I hope not".  As much as I love my cat, I cannot afford dialysis for her (not that I think she is that stage of it if that's what she has).  Wednesday evening, I threw a towel around her and bundled her into her cat carrier.  She hates that box and hasn't been in it since Christmas 2006.  (I really thought that it was three years ago, but according to the stamps in her vaccination record, it was 06)  She was not a happy camper.  She yowled, and cried and sounded very, very pathetic. The vet weighed her (3.2kilos, barely seven pounds), prodded her gums, and wanted to take her temperature.  Hmmmm.  I held Comfort and the vet inserted the thermometer.  Comfort was so shocked that she bit me.  Not hard, didn't even leave a mark, but she was quite surprised.  As if that wasn't enough fun, the vet also wanted to draw some blood.  A vet tech came in to hold Comfort and I was supposed to stand facing her.  I think it was worse than watching a child get a shot (and I mean in the situation of it's a one-off, very occasional occurrence, not the my child has been diagnosed with something awful and I consistently have to watch my child in pain sort of circumstance).  They tied a rubber tube around her leg, and needed to take off three little vials of blood.  First two were bad enough but by the third, Comfort was done.  They managed to get just a couple of drops in the third vial and then she shook herself out of having the needle in her leg.  Thankfully, the vet said that two vials should be enough.  I was almost a wreck of nerves at this point.  I am supposed to call back today for the results. 

Comfort seems to have recovered from her ordeal and doesn't seem to hold it against me.  I am still a bit traumatized.