The Daily Joke.
Well, I'm back! 😉
After a short absence, the daily Twitter joke and, if I can come up with more, daily photo is returning.
The short social media break I made started in the early hours of Friday 24th July with a pet medical emergency. I was woken at around 4am by our 16 year old neutered tom cat, Joey, making a strange noise and was then aware he was struggling to stand upright. He had been asleep at the foot of our bed and he jumped off, landed awkwardly and then tried to run upstairs. It was clear he was not well at all.
It is in the nature of animals to want to run away and hide when they feel vulnerable and in Joey's case that was no exception. He wanted to go outside. Our doors were closed so he just sat and meowed loudly at the door, looking up at me and pleading to be let out. He was acting abnormally, moving his head from side to side and seeming as if he was finding it difficult to focus. His back legs were weak and he was unable to stand still, swaying.
It would not have been inadvisable to let him outside in this state. We are surrounded by open land, on many different levels and with steep inclines. There are foxes, eagle owls and stray cats about in the countryside and at that hour of the day, it was dark. It presented too many dangers to a vulnerable cat.
I picked him up and carried him downstairs. He hates being picked up and I've received many a battle scar in the past when I've tried to hold him. He will come and sit on my lap and he craves attention but like all cats, it has to be on his own terms. This time, unusually, he relaxed. He didn't fight to get away. I took him to our living room and laid him on the sofa where he likes to sit in the cooler months. He was tense but remained where he was. After a while, though, he jumped down and hid behind a chair. It was encouraging to see that he had recovered his steadiness and was walking more normally but he was still distressed.
We faced a difficult time ahead as the vet in our village would not be open for another five hours. We wanted to make him as comfortable as we could without creating any further stress for him but similarly we did not want him to be in any pain or discomfort. After a short while he emerged from behind the chair and then jumped up onto a seat under our dining table. He had certainly improved and was looking much better and far more comfortable. Within a few minutes he fell asleep.
The hours seemed to drag on but as it got light we started formulating a plan to get everything ready to take him to the vet. He hates being put into a pet carrier and is not a great traveller in a vehicle having been known to expel copious amounts of body fluids and other matter on journeys.
Eventually, the time arrived where I was able to call the vet. Having described what had happened to Joey the surgery nurse informed me that they only had one vet on that day, they normally have two, and all the appointments were taken. She told me that there is a vet hospital at Torre del Mar, about half an hour's drive away, if we felt it was an emergency.
This was a set-back. The journey down to the hospital would have been very stressful for him, and frankly for us too, but we also did not want him to suffer. We were contemplating what to do for the best when Joey walked up to me, meowed loudly and then proceeded to run upstairs as if nothing had happened. Our house is an upside-down dwelling so he had run up a level to our back door to go out. The kitchen is on that level too so I followed him and decided to try to tempt him with a treat that which comes in a viscose liquid form and is his favourite. He lapped it up, quite literally. It was also apparent that he had recovered from whatever had happened. He was virtually back to his normal self though still a little wary and he did not want to get too close to us. I suspected he could smell the pet carrier.
As it was now light, we decided we would let him out.
He wandered around outside quite normally, visiting all his favourite spots. As he was progressing well we took the decision not to stress him out any further and resolved to watching how he progressed. Over the next few days we monitored him although I think he felt that we were stalking him. He had completely recovered from what had happened. On the call to the vet, the nurse had suggested that because of his age, he probably had a minor stroke however, whatever it was that ailed him, he had recovered well from it. While we were keeping an eye on him over the next few days, I stopped looking at social media and later decided to extend the break for a little longer as I was enjoying it. A number of people contacted me to enquire as to my well-being for which I am very grateful and I thank you all.
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