Recovery Begins

..I hope.

Yesterday, 1 day after surgery, I was allowed to bring my little cat Piper home. I was a bundle of nerves and excitement for the remaining few hours of work and the drive over to the vet's office come 5pm.

I arrived to a massive bill, special instructions with pills, and a sad looking cat. I know many people think - "It's just a cat", but he's more than just a cat to me. We've been through a lot together these past 5 years and it breaks my heart to see him hurting and unhappy. Before I left, the vet gave me the opportunity to take a look at the x-rays of my little guy's bladder. I think I literally proclaimed to the vet "Holy Cow!". On the x-ray, you could literally see a pile of stones with the crystals all around it. This mound took up more than 3/4 of poor Piper's bladder! No wonder the little guy was having troubles. The vet then compared with an x-ray post-operation and you could see that they managed to clean out about 97% of the crap in his bladder, so he shouldn't have any more issues with blockage now.

After saying our good-byes and I was given my final instructions, I packed up Piper in the car and off we went on our trek home. He let out one sad, scratchy little cry and didn't make a peep the whole rest of the trip.

Upon our arrival at home, and a hello from his 'sister', my other cat Boo, I then spent the next half an hr following Piper throughout the house with paper towels as he was bleeding as a result from having a catheter in for over 2 days. -- Does anyone have tips for removing blood from a light beige carpet?

Once he made his walk around the house, he parked himself in front of his water dish and started to drink! Yippe!!! I was so excited because for 2 days before I brought him back to the vet on Tuesday, he would not drink.

He spent all of last evening either on me, or right beside me on the couch snuggling and purring his brains out, so I guess that's a good sign that he's feeling a bit better. I decided to have him sleep in my room with me so that I could monitor his bathroom usage, although he did not go overnight. He actually spent the entire night right beside me on my bed. It was really nice to have him home.

My mom went to visit him after lunch for me since I am stuck at work and although he still has not peed, I sent her over with some new food which he gobbled right up. Now that he's eating, hopefully stuff will start to come out again. I may have to call the vet again when I get home tonight, but I remain hopeful. There are many other little things that he's been doing since being home which show me he *is* feeling better, so I think it's just a matter of time before his body starts functioning properly again.

In the meantime, I will continue to baby him and do my best to take care of him on this road to recovery.