Update on Chloe

A few people have been asking, and making a blog is easier than emailing the same info to different people.

Background info: This past Tuesday, my kitty Chloe started dry heaving, which is her typical sign of a hairball. She was still doing this on Wednesday, so I gave her a dose of Hartz Hairball Remedy. That night she started drooling, which is supposedly just a side effect of the Hartz. Her face twitched for a few seconds, but then she was fine, so I let it pass as just part of the side effect.

Thursday (my birthday) I was at work when Mom called me at 3pm panicking to tell me that Chloe had just had a seizure. We rushed her to the vet, who gave her a physical and blood test. The physical showed nothing wrong. The blood test showed she was dehydrated and her white blood cells were slightly low. Basically, there was nothing they could pinpoint to tell us what was wrong. She said a hairball couldn't cause a seizure, and that Chloe would need an MRI to check for brain disease or a tumor. She also suggested a heart test since Chloe's heart murmur never healed up like the last vet told us it would.

We got her home and all was fine for about 2 hours. Then suddenly, Sofie (my other cat) started hiding and hissing at everyone and did this all night long. She's stopped now and we think she was just afraid of "being next." But she still refuses to get near Chloe.

Chloe late Friday night started a new pattern. Now, she'll start drooling and face twitching (it almost looks like she's just trying to stop the drooling), then she'll get freaked out and bolt around like crazy into walls, furniture, in the sink, etc to a spot like a corner or behind some books, or under a table and start dry heaving and more drooling. Then she'll start yowling like she's losing her voice, and then start crying normally.

It is heart-breaking to watch and I haven't slept in 3 days. Every time I close my eyes, I think I hear her and jump up to check on her. When we're gone and at night, we keep her in the stroller. This keeps her safe from running into stuff and hurting herself. She almost jumped on the stove into a pot of boiling water this evening. But still she fights and tries to run in there.

Earlier today, she did have a second seizure right after an "attack". I held her as she went through and came out of it. After all these episodes, she returns to her normal self and wants to eat and play.

I have started putting vaseline on the top of her front paws just like the vet suggested, and now the "attacks" are happening much more frequently. I'm hoping it is just a hairball, and the vaseline is working to try and get it up.

If I lose her, I'll probably lose my mind. An MRI is just not possible right now. I would do anything in the world for her, but the cost is totally out of my reach.

So tomorrow (today?) will likely be more of the same. Will give her more vaseline and pray a hairball comes up and Chloe gets back to normal.