Every day at work, parents describe symptoms to me. To the best of their ability, anyway. And my job is to take their description of "those muscles at the bottom of the neck caving in" or "eyes looked like they were staring off into space" and refine it into "retractions" or "absence seizure."
But? My cat? I dunno. She's just gone crazy.
I'd opened the patio to let her get some air and be outside. She was fine for about half an hour, during which time I fell asleep on my couch (just finished night float!). But then she started running around all crazy-like (picture the cat in Cinderella) and furiously licking at her side and leg. And hissing. And running around some more. And growling. And occasionally panting.
I tried to wrap her up in a towel to calm her down. Got a nice scratch across the cheek for that one.
The only thing I can think of as a possibility is that she got stung by a bee. There was a bee flying around my apartment yesterday, and she was enthralled. I think one must have gotten her... Either that or she's got neurosyphilis. :)
I decided to give her some Benadryl to help calm her down. Then I realized I had nothing to tantalize a pill into her mouth. I haven't been grocery shopping in ages (see: just finished night float), and literally the only meat I have in my home is hot dogs. So, I tried hiding crushed Benadryl in a hot dog. She wanted nothing to do with it. (Note to self: get rid of food even cats won't eat). Nor did she want the crushed-Benadryl flavored cream cheese. I could have forced it, but she is kind of scaring me...!
It is strange to be in the position of having no clue what is going on. I try to be empathetic with the parents I see daily. Try to let them explain things that to them are terrifying, and to me are totally normal variants without interrupting or downplaying the situation. It does get hard sometimes, though, when you're seeing your seventy-eleventh patient with RSV bronchiolitis.
So having no freaking clue what to do here is probably good for me. Though people do often compare pediatrics to veterinary medicine (since the patients can't talk, not because they're furry)
Except that I'm really not a cat person, so... I don't care enough to actually call the vet... (I'm a bad pet owner!!)
Here she is - not swollen or in any respiratory distress (stopped panting), so she's at least not allergic to bees. If that is what happened... She's totally still paranoid, though. Crazy cat.
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