Kitty Induced Stress!

Shoowee... Its been a rough week.

And just a warning, this serves as a bit of a TMI warning for this post.

This afternoon around 6PM it was a week since I suddenly lost my Taxi. I am still waiting for his ashes after we arranged to have him cremated. An expense I know, some might say a waste of money, but I can't imagine not having him with me.

And then, this morning after I woke up, Minx jumped up onto the bed to come and call me for breakfast and I noticed her face looked a little lopsided. I had a look and I could feel a slight swelling under her jaw but nothing really clear, it was just swollen.

I immediately made an appointment with our vet as I am not one to ignore anything strange with any of my furbabies. When the vet examined her she was surprised I'd seen anything as the swelling is very slight, but I know my furry masters very well. Especially the cats since they are inside with me all the time. I very quickly see a change in their litter boxes, appearance or behaviour. The vet shaved a small spot over the swelling and took a couple of samples from a swollen lymph node. And now we wait for the test results. Minx has some antibiotic tablets to take in the meantime.

I took pictures of Greebo and Minx being cute and doing their little mini-me skit last night and I looked at the photos now and you can see a slight bulge just under Minx's right jaw (on the left in the picture).

And then a little later in the day, I was working in my kitchen when I heard a cat throwing up. Anyone who has heard that sound will know it sounds too awful, and cats are not supposed to throw up at all. I quickly found the sound and was surprised to find Turk heaving! I thought I'd wait till he was finished so I could give him a once over and clean the mess when my son pointed out that there was something in his mouth. I realised there was about 3cm of a black organza ribbon hanging out of his mouth and he seemed to be working it in again! I was stunned, and perhaps I shouldn't have- but I grabbed the protruding ribbon and as Turk reversed away from me, the full length of the ribbon came out as he retched. Its a 1M length of ribbon, and its from a whole lot that I was cutting earlier this week for a customer order! Damien had found Turk and Magic playing with the cut, hanging 1M lengths and had taken a chewed ribbon from Turk and moved the remaining 200 odd ribbons into a closet. I assumed all was okay until I pulled the one out of Turk today. I counted the ribbons again and I think they're all now accounted for, but I am a little afraid he may have another one in his tummy, so he's being watched like a hawk. 

In case you're wondering why I'm worried, cats ingesting string or ribbon or such is dangerous as it can literally tangle their intestines!

I do hope this is the end of my kitty worries... And I do hope Minx's test results come back with nothing serious.