Sick Jenna

I spent 2 hours in the vet's office today with Jenna, who lost her voice close to a week ago. I had figured it would pass, but yesterday when I picked her up, I thought she felt lighter than normal. Then I started thinking about how she had been sleeping more than usual lately, which I didn't even realize was possible. I googled "hoarseness in cats" which was not a good idea. I could really freak myself out googling ailments of all kinds. Anyway, I scheduled a vet visit.

We found out she had a fever. She weighed 11.5 lbs. Those of you who know Jenna Sophia Anna Kournikova know that she has been hovering around 15-16 lbs. her entire adult life, so that was rather shocking. She had a blood drawn and was found to have a white cell count that was astronomically high. She got 2 shots and 2 half-sized pills shoved down her throat. Also a camera with a light on the end, which showed she had some pustules (ugh. that's a gross word.) on her throat and voice box.

Poor, poor baby. She was so hacked off with all of us by the end of those 2 hours. I imagine she will not be happy when I have to take her back for another check up on Thursday. Until then, wish me luck as I shove pills down her throat every day. That ought to be fun! The vet says she has some sort of nasty virus and we will have to wait and see what happens. He seemed concerned, but not like freaking out or anything. I took her home and she took a nap until dinner time when she joined us in the dining room to hiss at Boomer and ask to go outside.

Here's a picture of our girl back in her Hawaii days.


She was living it up back then, with no wee ones to harass her and no dog desperately wanting to be her friend. I hope she feels better soon.

In her honor, my favorite cat quotes:

"Dogs come when they're called. Cats take a message and get back to you." Mary Bly

"Women and cats will do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea." Robert Heinlein

"Cats are the ultimate narcissists. You can tell this by all the time they spend on personal grooming. Dogs aren't like this. A dog's idea of personal grooming is to roll in a dead fish." - James Gorman

"One small cat changes coming home to an empty house to coming home."
-Pam Brown