I have a new title...

For the next few days (at least), I have the job and title of kitty nurse. Marty's kitty, Freddy, our big orange goofball, is really sick.
I ended up taking him to the emergency vet tonight. Freddy was out of sorts for a while after Max died. He was mourning and not eating much. Then, he seemed to be back to normal but, I noticed he had lost a substantial amount of weight which I chalked up to him not eating while he was mourning.  A few days ago, he was back to hiding and being anti-social. When he was out, I noticed his eyes were a bit goopy and I thought he had caught a cold. A little research told me that when cats can't smell their food, they sometimes won't eat and, over a long enough period of time, that can cause liver problems. So, earlier this evening, I went on the hunt for Freddy because it had been almost a day since i saw him out and about. I was concerned about his lack of eating and figured I could syringe feed him some liquid kitten food. I was really alarmed when I found him because he seemed totally listless and I felt something weird on his neck when I tipped his head back to feed him. Off to the vets we went. Joey went with me (Marty stayed home because he doesn't deal well with things like that).

When we got to the vet's office, we found out the poor kitty had lost over 1/3 of his body weight and, yes, their was some sort of mass near the front of his throat. The vet was truly concerned if was a tumor or serious damage to his esophagus.  Best case scenario was that it was an abscess but she didn't think that was likely.  I honestly thought we might be looking at imminent euthanasia. Joey was in almost in tears. I was near tears. And, on top of that, I was panicking about the cost. I felt like shit worrying about the money but such is my reality. We were all thrilled that it turned out to be an abscess. The abscess was putting pressure on Freddy's throat and making him unwilling to eat or drink. Freddy still isn't out of the woods.  There is a chance the infection might have spread too far or that there is another cause but, we are hoping and praying the treatment for the abscess will allow him to recover. 

So, for the next few days, I am a full time kitty nurse.  I need to force feed him a 12 cc syringe filled with food at least 6 times a day. I also have to clean his abscess (eeeeeeewwwwww) and encourage it to drain a few times a day.  The vet says that hopefully in 2 to 3 days he will be starting to do better and, if not, there is something bigger and more serious going on and we may have to consider putting him down.  Please say a prayer for Marty's kitty.