My beloved Charli has been sickly for two days, but she’s doing better today, thankfully!

 

Two days ago, I noticed that she was doing a lot of out-of-the-ordinary stretching and meowing, as if she was uncomfortable.

 

She wouldn’t lie down for any length of time; she kept rearranging herself as if she couldn’t find a comfortable way to recline, which is very unlike her. She can usually twist herself into a pretzel or into a breadbox position and fall fast asleep for hours.

 

And she was walking super carefully, as if moving her body less carefully would hurt her.

 

Very odd!

 

So, I checked her out from stem to stern. She didn’t fight that, but she meowed softly.

 

I didn’t feel anything out of place, damaged or abnormally warm, so I figured that perhaps she twisted  her back or something coming down from atop the wardrobe closet. But I kept a close eyes on her to see if she would develop any other signs or symptoms of an anomaly.

 

Then yesterday morning

 

…I noticed that she was moving around even slower and acting almost lethargic, and she didn’t eat all of her creamy treat or any cat food, so I checked her again and noticed a lump on her right side about halfway down her body. It was warm.  When I pressed it, she meowed like it wasn’t a good thing for me to be doing to her.

 

So, I manhandled her a little more to make sure she hadn’t been injured (bitten) while she was outside the day before.  There were no tooth marks and no abscesses. Her eyes remained clear and her aspect remained alert and “with it,” so then I got to wondering if perhaps she had been stung by a bee or a scorpion, neither of which would be lethal, but they could sure put a crimp in her style for a while.

Settled on those possibilities

 

…because a venomous snake bite would have gotten serious a whole lot faster than this condition developed.

 

I texted my mobile vet

 

…to explain the onset and symptoms, and said that I might want to have her come take a look if Charli’s condition worsened overnight.  She responded that she doesn’t work on weekends and that if Charli worsened I should take her to the clinic.  I thanked her and said I would continue to monitor the situation and let her know if I wanted her to come by on Monday if Charli didn’t start improving by then, and that I would take her to the clinic if she got worse.

 

Overnight, Charli slept in various places

 

…sometimes on the cold tile under my bed, sometimes on a rug, sometimes above the wardrobe closet, sometimes in the big cat tree. I checked on her every 90 minutes or so to see if she was getting more swollen or warmer. She seemed to be doing same-ol’, same ol’, so I fell right back to sleep.

When I got up at 5 a.m.

 

…she was in the large cat tree looking pretty comfortable. But because she hadn’t gotten up and come to wake me, I knew she still wasn’t feeling like her usual self.  So, I offered her a creamy treat (diluted with water to help keep her hydrated) and she snarfed that down.

 

I started the coffee pot. By the time I checked on her again, she was down off the cat tree and sitting before the screen door in my bedroom, looking like she wanted to go out.  So, I opened the door and let her out.

 

But instead of heading to her usual spot near the edge of the patio, she carefully set herself down on the mat just outside the screen door.

 

I got a cupful of coffee and started walking on the back patio so I could keep an eye on her.  Her side looked a little less puffy — a good sign — but she kept doing the “I can’t get comfortable” thing with her body, trying the scratching post first as a resting spot, then the patio tile, then Deb’s padded  chair.

 

But I did notice then, that she is walking more normally — less like the motion hurts her — and she arched her back and lifted her tail and meowed hello and rubbed her chin against me, which are all signs of feeling better.

 

Then she took a dump

 

…in the garden spot in front of my patio instead of asking to be let into the house to use her potty box. She came out of there acting even better.

 

Then she went out onto the lawn and laid herself out like a rug in the grass underneath a bush for three hours. I checked on her every hour. All three times, she got up to rub against my leg and give me chin rubs.  And I remembered that animals often lie in the grass/dirt when they’re feeling unwell because grounding can help pull toxins out of the body.

 

And the swelling has all but disappeared since then!

 

Turns out she knew exactly what her body needed to navigate the issue, whatever it was. I think she will return from her outdoor sojourn this afternoon feeling fit as a fiddle again.

 

For which I am immensely grateful. When my kitty feels unwell, I do, too, since I can’t interview her to know exactly what/how she’s feeling.

 

But all along, her other normal behaviors continued — eating, drinking, alertness when awake… so I knew to hang in there and just watch for signs of a worsening situation, which never materialized.

 

All’s well that ends well. And we should both get a better night’s sleep tonight!!

 

In Other News

 

I’m hooked on a new author, a murder mystery writer named Denise Diana Huddle. Check her out at Amazon.  I am loving her murder mysteries. She’s a helluva great writer. I will probably buy her romance series, too. They’re  all on sale right now. I got seven of her books for about twelve dollars total.