Byron Our Cat Is SIck

by Kate

This week has been very trying and worrying for us all here at home. Byron our black and white cat has not been very well at all; Let me tell you how it all started.

About 10 days ago Byron wanted to go out at around 11pm, desperately, I mean really desperately. He was crying and pacing and looking very agitated and we knew that if we didn't let him out he would keep us all awake all night.

We don't like to let our cats out over night as a rule, as we worry about foxes and also the fact that this is when our cats like to hunt and kill prey. This night though we relented and let him out.

During the night there was one almighty big storm, with torrential rain and thunder and Byron was nowhere to me seen. The next day he didn't turn up until 9pm in the evening. I had been worried about him all day and had been out looking for him several times throughout the day. Thank fully at 9 he appeared but he looked terrible. He was walking slowly and had a blank expression, sort of dead eyed. He didn't want to eat and just curled up on our bed which is always a sign he is not feeling well (He normally sleeps in his own chair).

We couldn't feel any injury and thought it best to let him sleep and see how he was in the morning. Well just like Byron the next day he seemed much better and so we didn't worry much.

As the week progressed though we noticed that Byron was eating less and less and was also starting to look very thin and by the time we got to Friday he was only licking the moisture off his food and not actually eating, we were getting very worried now.

We thought we would wait for the weekend to be over before we took him to the vets, but it didn't work out that way. Saturday night Byron was behaving like a cat with dementia, staring close up to our faces, climbing all over us in bed all night (he just couldn't get comfortable) and purring continuously. Byron never purrs much so we knew this purring was due to distress.

Sunday we got up and took him to our local vet hospital.

There the vet gave him the once over and listened to us telling about all the symptoms. He said there was no obvious cause but I think he had suspicions, as he immediately said he wanted to keep Byron in as he was dehydrated and also he wanted to carry out some tests.

The next morning we called and the vet explained that the test results which had come back so far indicated Feline Pancreatitis. We were shocked as we had not suspected anything as serious as this.

Today is Tuesday and Byron will be coming home after spending two nights at the hospital. We don't know what his prognosis is yet and how we will have to treat him. There is talk of special diets and pain medication but we won't know for sure until later.

I can't tell you how worried I am for Byron. He has always been a fussy eater and has always been a thin cat, now perhaps we know why. Feline Pancreatitis is apparently very difficult to diagnose and the causes are still unknown in most cases. We are just glad that we recognized his symptoms early and were able to get him some medical help before he lost too much weight.

I will update how he is after we have seen the vet this evening.

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