Isabella and the Vet...

Isabella and Victoria have been known to get in to places and things they are not supposed to get in to! Some of these things include, but are not limited to the garbage, cabinets (both kitchen and bathroom), the guest bedroom, purses, drawers, and the counter tops! So, over Valentine's Day weekend my mom flew up from Louisiana, and drove down with us for Alan's funeral, and had some homemade trail mix in her purse. Isabella, being the curious cat that she is, decided to hunt around in said purse and found these yummy treats! She then began vomiting all of the nuts, cranberries, and raisins up over the next 24 hours! We had to leave for the family dinner and funeral, so Mike, my father-in-law, was kind enough to monitor the situation and take care of his "grandkids" while we were gone.

(Here is Isabella....)

The Tuesday after we returned home, Derek was in the kitchen getting his breakfast when he heard noises coming from the cabinet where we keep most of our dry food. He opened it to see Victoria eating through our goods! These items included Baked Lays Sour Cream and Onion chips, pretzels, and long grain rice! Isabella was not in the cabinet when Derek caught Victoria red handed, but she did seem very full and uninterested in her food when it came time to eat breakfast!
Now we fast forward to Saturday! I noticed in the morning that Isabella was drooling more than she normally does, but I didn't think much of it since she seemed to be happy and cozy cuddled up on the couch. When I came home after spending the day with Jillian, I didn't see much of her, but still, I didn't think much of it. I got in to bed later that evening to watch tv, and she came to cuddle up with me, and she was drooling like a leaky faucet! I knew something was wrong; call it a 'motherly instinct,' but I could tell it wasn't just Isabella being the strange kitty that she is!
So, I drug Derek out to the emergency vet at 2:00 in the morning! While we were there, they checked her out and noticed she was "backed up." They gave her an enema, and examined her a little further, then sent us home with instructions to bring her back if the drooling did not stop by noon the next day. For those of you who may not know much about cats, they drool like that when something is wrong with their GI system, or if they have something wrong with their mouths (usually a tooth ache, something punctured in their gums, or even eating or biting something with chemicals on it). So, we arrived home at 5:30 in the morning. Derek went straight to bed (probably thinking I was a crazy maniac for making him take her to the emergency vet in the middle of the night), and I stayed up observing Isabella. By noon the next day, she was still drooling, and so we made trip number 2! Isabella had enema number 2! We brought home stool softeners and pain meds, and waited...
Yesterday the drool had stopped, and she seemed to be more of her relaxed, silly self! This morning Derek and I took both Isabella and Victoria to the vet for their annual check ups, and then to do a follow up with Isabella. She had blood work done, and everything seemed to come back normal. So, the conclusions we have made from this whole thing is this:
1. Isabella acts more similar to a dog than a cat in that she likes to eat whatever is on hand!
2. Raisins (and grapes of course) are toxic to cats, and can cause kidney failure!
3. Long grain rice eaten uncooked can cause dehydration, and can cause a back up in that department!
4. I act as though Isabella and Victoria are our children, and Derek is thankfully tollerant of this!

(And here is Victoria)

So, they are both doing fine, we just have to keep an eye on Isabella and her bowel movements! Doesn't that sound fun?!

So, I hope all is well with everyone, and I hope that your weekend was better than Isabella's! We are starting to get a taste of spring weather (minnesota spring anyway), and I hope it continues this way, although I am not going to hold my breath!