The next day I was home from work (stupid cold…) and although I slept for probably 70% of the day, during the 30% that I was up and out in the living room I didn’t see JC at all. When he finally emerged around feeding time I noticed he was limping, looked rumpled, and complained more than usual. I figured he had probably played with a cactus and got something stuck in his foot (one of the cactuses by the TV had mysteriously ended up on the floor…) I brought this to Adam’s attention but by the time he got home from work it was too late to do much about it. I called the Fox Valley Referral Clinic and asked the lady there what she would do. We followed her advice, trying to see if we could remove whatever was causing him pain using tape. We found nothing and decided to wait overnight to see if it improved. In the morning we found him under the bed in the guest room rather than on our bed where he usual installs himself. We figured this was not normal so we packed him into his pet taxi and Adam took him up to the Fox Valley Cat Clinic before work.
The vet examined him, couldn’t find anything on his foot, but was concerned about his breathing. She decided to keep him there all day for some tests and observation. I stopped by after work to pick him up and see what they found. She was afraid it might be FIP, a nearly always fatal cat infliction. But his X-rays looked normal, he ate when they fed him, he slept like a normal kitten, and the next day both his blood and stool samples came back normal. She told us to keep an eye on him and baby him a little. So we pampered him, fed him apart from the other two, and hoped for the best. He limped a bit still for the next couple days but we noticed that he started limping on the other foot at some point. Hmm…
During the weekend he was pretty much back to his normal self. He clawed at the cat tree, chased Ted and Conner, meowed loudly for attention, and attacked our feet in bed. He slept in our bed, next to me, on top of me, on top of Adam, anywhere inconvenient and when he jumped around in the bathtub this morning we figured he would probably make it.
Who knows what was going on? Maybe he just needed a rest. Or maybe he wanted attention. Or maybe something did hurt his foot and he just needed to work it out. The vet remains cautious about giving him a clean bill of health since she’s had 6 cases of FIP from the same shelter we got JC. We’re still supposed to keep an eye on him but since I never saw him breathing heavily/shallowly, I don’t know what I should worry about. He seems normal to me.
If he stays normal we should be able to get him fixed and front-paw declawed by the end of the year. We’ve been going back and forth about whether or not to declaw him as we don’t plan to do either of the other two since they’re older and have had quite enough trauma living through the hurricane and all. JC uses his claws a lot, but never really in a malicious or destructive way. I just think he doesn’t realize that he can hurt us with them. And if his current proportions are any indication of the future, he’s going to be a big cat. And a big cat with big claws could be dangerous even if he’s good-humored. He’s generally the instigator in confrontations with the other cats so supposedly that’s supposed to make it ok to take away his defensive front claws while we leave the others with them. I don’t know. I guess we still have time to think about it but in all likeliness we’ll bring home a kitten who’s been snipped and has little stitches on his paws.
The other cats continue to be more sociable as time goes by. Conner creeps closer to the couch each day, occasionally sprinting across in front of it to get over by the fireplace. He is fascinated by the TV and will sit in front of it, staring. He really gets into chasing the laser pointer. Ted is still quite a bit more stand-offish. The closest he gets to us is lurking in the hallway or in the corner by the cat tree. I get close to being able to pet them both when I feed them but in normal circumstances they still run away. At least they’re out from under the bed for a longer period of time. All three of them will play together in the evenings and Conner and Ted or Ted and JC regularly tousle around on the floor, biting at each other and throwing each other around. Conner has an absolutely hilarious fight move which I call the “Conner Chop.” He’ll stand over Ted or JC and use his arm and just karate-chop them. It’s very entertaining.
All the other fellows in this zoo of ours are doing fine as well. Mo is definitely overdue for a haircut. Einstein seems more skittish than usual but I’m going to try and cuddle with him soon. Howie, Barry, and Gus just kind of mind their own business. We were at Petsmart the other day picking up mass quantities of cat food (see previous post) and I just had to peek in at their small animals. It’s amazing how tiny the baby hamsters and guinea pigs are compared to the colossal beasts we have at home. Although I suppose they all grow. I mean look at how small and cute Mo was when we got him.
And look at him now!
Anyway, everyone is fine and hopefully will continue to be as such for the foreseeable future.
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