Dateline Boston — So we took Shelby to the doctor. She weighed 7.8 lbs., 2 lbs. less than she weighed last year. Not good. She was a good girl during her checkup. She let the doctor prod her, squeeze her and look in her eyes and ears. She didn’t like it when Doctor tried to pry open her mouth to look at her teeth because she thought she was going to get a pill. She clamped her mouth down for that part, but the doc was able to see that her teeth looked good. She checked her heart; that was fine. Everything seemed as it should be.
Except for the weight loss and her occasional “yucky tummy.” The doc talked about the last time she had lab work done, how her liver levels were slightly elevated. She mentioned doing an ultrasound. I think my face went white because she quickly said, “I know you didn’t want to do anymore of those.” Doc wanted more blood taken, which I was afraid of. I went to the front desk and left S.O. in the room so he could give Shelby moral support.
Well, I got through the whole book of New Yorker Dog Cartoons, and she still wasn’t done. They must’ve been in there 20 minutes when S.O. came out and stage whispered to me, “They have to take her to the back.” Uh oh. I heard later that it took 3 people to hold her down so they could get a vein. Poor girl.
And my poor bank account. Two hundred dollars later, we were on our way home, where Shelby eagerly jumped out of her cat carrier and went off to take a nap. All we had to do was wait for the test results, which came back 2 days later. A technician called me and said that her levels hadn’t really changed that much since last time; maybe her liver levels were slightly higher. I asked if anything jumped out at her. She said no.
So it wasn’t her thyroid (Yay! No $1,000 shot!), it wasn’t cancer, and it wasn’t her kidneys. She recommended doing an ultrasound on her liver. She also recommended doing a complete blood count to see if she was anemic. She yammered on something about a B12 shot, yada yada, and said I should talk to the doctor to discuss the results.
I was torn up for the next 24 hours, trying to decide what to do. To ultrasound or not ultrasound, that was the question. I did what I usually do when I need an opinion —I posted my problem on Facebook. The majority of people who commented said I should just let her be. What would an ultrasound show? What could be done with the results anyway? On the other hand, would Shelby just keep losing weight until…could this be the beginning of the end for my feline companion? I decided to talk to the doc and see what she had to say.
Well, the doc got to me first and left a message. Great news! The first thing she said was that she was sorry she didn’t put a note on the results saying don’t mention ultrasounds because she knew I didn’t want one. Then she said she thought we should try an antibiotic for a few days, because maybe Shelby just had an infection in her liver. We’d give her the meds, see if she ate more and gained weight after awhile.
Hallelujah! Simple! No ultrasound! No blood work! No fuss! I will gladly pop one more pill down Shelby’s sometimes-willing throat if it clears up a possible infection. If not, well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Meanwhile, Shelby, open wide…
Ms. Campbell may be contacted at snobbyblog@gmail.com
