Taking my feral cat to the vet

As I posted last week, Ms P wasn't feeling well and eating poorly. On Tuesday, she wouldn't eat at all so with a heavy heart I decided to take her to the vet on Wednesday morning.

In the morning, I locked her in the house and managed to get her into the cat basket while I waited for my lift - cats and motorbikes don't mix. Once there, The vet examined her and couldn't find any obvious signs of illness so she drew urine from her bladder using a needle and checked it for bacteria or crystals but there was nothing to be seen. Her urine was also highly concentrated, meaning that kidney disease is unlikely.

We decided that blood tests would be the next step. Because she had allowed her urine to be drawn via cystocentesis, we thought we'd try a jugular vein blood draw without sedation. My vet allows me to hold my animals while she does this because she knows that I will not faint at the sight of needles going into the neck and cats are calmer if a known person holds them than if a stranger does. The acid test would be whether she allowed her neck to be shaved. She tolerated it so we decided to go ahead. Luckily, Ms P is a cat that freezes when she is afraid, unlike Yoda, who fights.

The blood tests all came out completely normal, only showing slight dehydration so the vet decided to give her an injection of an antinausea medication and told me give her subcutaneous fluids at home and to feed her whatever would appeal to her. I complained to the vet that after all that, we still have no idea what is wrong and she replied that at least we now know that a couple of things are NOT wrong and I couldn't disagree with that.

I learned how to give subcutaneous fluids when my cat Earnest had kidney disease and this has proved to be a useful skill. If my cats are sick and the vet suggests giving fluids, I can do it at home instead of having to drag the cat to the vet every time.

Once home, I gave Ms P fluids and then she ran off and the wait was on to see whether she would start eating or ever forgive me for what I had just put her through. A few hours later, she ate a little and has continued eating. On Thursday morning, I found a rat head on the kitchen floor, which can only be her handiwork.

She still doesn't trust me one bit although she will jump on the bed and allow me to pet her but she runs off if I approach her, especially at mealtimes. The kitchen cupboard is her favourite hiding spot so she currently takes her meals in the cupboard. I don't care, so long as she eats. For now, we don't know what is wrong but we will have to wait and see what happens

Lurking under the kitchen sink. Please finish your food!