Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Not quite the plan....

Mom had yesterday off. She has vacation to use so is taking off Mondays here and there.

But there was a plan for yesterday. Junior had been dragging his behind on the carpet and our vet tried to help him but he was too squirmy and tried to get away. Mom asked the vets who help the rescue if she could bring him in and have him knocked out. They said fine so mom made the appointment.

It took mom about 20 minutes to catch him and get him in the carrier. And she suspects the neighbors may think she was killing him cause that boy can yowl!!!

As you can see above, he was THRILLED to be going. But mom threw a blanket over the carrier and he didn't even sing any warrior songs on the car ride.

Mom left the blanket over his carrier to keep him calm. Mom says she would never suspect him of being a bite risk, but he is a runner.

So the vet tech Rob came in and they gave Junior the once over in the carrier (no reason to open the door until you have to). Our vet said she thought he weighs 13 pounds. Mom and Rob agreed he looked bigger than that and guessed about 15 pounds (cause even our vet admitted that it may not be accurate as Junior was trying to get away). So they get everything together and shot him in the butt. Less than 2 minutes later and he was out like a light.

The vet cleaned out his anal glands (and said they were nasty) and they cleaned his ears and trimmed his toenails. Mom put his collar on (they checked and his chip is there and the number matches his tag). They reversed the drug and mom got ready to go.

As she was waiting to check out, she and Rob stood there talking. Junior was banging around in the carrier and Rob went and got an extra towel and a couple of pillows and they tried to pin in him so he wouldn't hurt himself.

They looked in again a couple of minutes later and....he was having a seizure. Grabbed the carrier and ran for the room with Rob yelling for the vet. It stopped pretty quick (though Rob and mom probably won't need coffee for a couple of days). The vet said it can be a common reaction to Ketamine but she wanted them to stay there for a little bit. They got him on a blanket and under a towel and mom sat next to him. Junior got up at one point and was banging around the room so mom wrapped him up burrito style and sat with him on her lap.

When she finally left (2 hours later), he was still pretty hung over and wobbly, but not nearly as bad. Mom did say she was glad about the nail trimming though as at one point he dug into her leg, into one arm and used his back foot to try to push out of her lap and his nails ran down the entire length of her hand - had those nails been sharp it could have been pretty ugly.


Mom and Junior got home several hours after leaving. Junior is sleeping off the drugs and was let out later that afternoon. And there is a big note on his file (and mom will be sure to tell our regular vet as well) about the drug reaction (though they also suspect that giving him more than he really needed for his size didn't help).  Oh and his weight? 13.1 pounds. Weird - we would swear he had to be bigger than that. The vet did call later that afternoon to check up on him and was glad he is doing much better.

Mom does say this: while she isn't happy about the drug reaction (though better to find out now), she said it was a nice change to be able to sit in a quiet room with Junior all snugged up in her lap and to be able to pet him and scratch his ears. Normally our semi-feral boy doesn't let mom touch him - so having about 90 minutes of one on one contact was a nice thing for mom.

24 comments:

  1. I'm so glad that this turned out okay. My one boy Rocky is eplileptic and I know first hand how scary seizures can be - both for the kitty and their people. Kisses for Junior (even if they have to be blown to him from afar) :))

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  2. I'm so glad that this trip turned out okay in the end. Having an epileptic kitty myself, I know just how scary seizures can be for everyone involved. Kisses for Junior (if only to be blown to him from afar). :))

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  3. Oh that is scary. So glad he is better. And it is very special to hold them like that, when they are feral. My Ellie was feral and the first contact we had made me cry. I was laying on the floor in front of her carrier, crying (due to other things) and she reached out and put a paw on my head....then pulled back and then did it again. More tears happened. Happy tears.

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  4. Glad junior survived his vet visit.

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  5. Whew, very scary! We're glad all turned out okay--poor Junior and your poor mom too. Quite the ordeal. Our human would have needed a couple of shots of the hard stuff after that!

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  6. Wow what a scary time for your Mom and Junior too. We hope he is fine today.
    Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx

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  7. Wow what a scary time for your Mom and Junior too. We hope he is fine today.
    Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx

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  8. It would have been nice to have been warned about a possible reaction to the tranquilizer. That must have been frightening. But now Junior is good for the time being.

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  9. WOw, that sounds scary for all. When I took Oliver to the vet the other day, I had to wrestle him into the carrier, that was not fun. But once at the vet he was a puddle of love, nothing like Junior. I would be a mess after all that, I hope the seizure thing was a one time deal, yikes.

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  10. Oh no! Poor Junior! And poor your mom, too! That had to be scary! We're thankful that he had the seizure while he was still at the vet's though - if it had to happen.
    Hope today is a much better day!
    Play bows,
    Zim

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  11. Whoa! That was a traumatic vet visit for you and Junior! I'm glad you both are back home and okay.

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  12. You had yourself quit ea day, didn't you Junior! We're glad it all ended well and your Mom even got to snuggle with you for a bit!

    Purrs,
    The Chans

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  13. dood....whoa N be jezuz....a nastee kinda day turned even nasteee urr...we iz just glad ya dinna seize while yur mom bee tryin ta drive home.....thanx for de tip on de drug...nother one we will add ta R list oh dont even think bout givin it ta de trotuerz.....hope ewe R way better two day N bak ta eatin fish N givin tim de stink eye just coz ya can !!! st francis blessings ta ya buddy anda beer two yur mom !!

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  14. OMC!!! Holy codfish...we're glad all's well that ends well. Mommy would have emptied her anal glands involuntarily!

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  15. OH my.. so glad they caught the seizures that quickly and that all is OK.

    I can relate to the holding him while he is sedated thing.. I had a group of foster kittens years ago that never slept while I was in the room, always full of go. I spent the whole night with them after their surgeries just enjoying watching them zonk out and being able to cuddle them

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  16. Oh, how scary! We're glad that everybody came home OK,

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  17. Poor Junior!! Glad you're feeling okay now buddy!

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  18. Wow! Holy scary! Sorry you had to experience that. Nice that you were able to spend a bit of cuddling time with him though. Junior, are you getting that your Mama is on your team yet sweetie?! Hope so! :)

    the critters in the cottage xo

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  19. oh you poor thing you must have been beside yourself. Glad all turned out ok ((((hugs))))

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  20. Oh my gosh, poor Junior! And poor mom! Though I bet the snuggle time was sweet. What a trip!

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  21. Oh poor Junior, thank goodness he is feeling better and reaction wasn't worse than it was.

    My Silver girl was similar, she didn't snuggle often and I treasure the 1/2 hour I had with her the day before she ran for the Bridge. She may have been very ill but she still expressed her unhappiness by whapping me with her tail.

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  22. We can see how drugged-up Jr. is in that last photo. What a scary thing to have happen. Glad both your Mom and the vet were standing close by. Unfortunately Jr. won't remember all the cuddling and love he got. We bet he has already gone back to his normal self. So glad he is okay. Purrs and hugs, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

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