Emma Came Home!

After 9 long days, Emma came home. A miracle my Mom exclaimed.

I was sitting on my parent's porch enjoying my dinner when I heard a cat meowing. I immediately recognized the meow and said "That's Emma!". I ran down the stairs to meet her where she was just emerging from beneath a bush. I scooped her up and took her inside. I put her in my parents dining room with food, treats, and water and closed the door so she could eat in peace. After she was done, my sister took a closer look at her and noticed her eye was leaking. That is pretty normal, but one eye was infected. She had obviously lost weight, and her white paws were dirty, but otherwise she looked unharmed. We cleaned up her eye and I started brushing her. She walked away, but then I realized she was headed to her favourite brushing spot -- the ledge behind the kitchen. But, she missed the jump and that is when I knew she needed to be checked out.

It took no convincing that she needed to go to the vet but I would have paid the bill myself had there been. And there wasn't a frying pan in sight. In fact, I think my Dad was pretty pleased to see her alive. I took her out to the car so we could go to the Animal Hospital. She didn't want to go in the car, so fought back a bit -- a good sign. But, once in the car, she settled on the passenger seat. At that point, it sunk in and I began to cry. Partly out of relief for her coming home, and partly out of sadness for her having to go through this ordeal.

We got to the Animal Hospital and we checked her in. I was still a mess, but the vet techs were great. We had to sit in the waiting area but Emma didn't mind. I like to think she felt safe and knew she was in good hands. So, she calmly rested on the fleece blanket in my lap until it was time to go into an examining room. This despite a dog or two coming around. Once in the room, another several minutes passed, but she was fine to rest in the blanket on the examining table. At that time, I noticed how dirty she was. My hands were filthy from petting her. It looked like dust from a garage, so my guess is she got stuck in a garage or shed. The alternative was under a bush recuperating from being hit by a car or beat up by kids. But she would have smelled like earth and had more plant debris stuck in her fuzzy medium length fur.

The vet took a good look at her and determined she was dehydrated. He didn't think she could consume enough fluids herself to recover properly, so recommended she stay for 24-48 hours so she could get IV fluids and blood work done. He thought an x-ray would be helpful, but would leave that as an option if the fluids weren't helping or the blood work looked suspicious. I didn't like the idea of an x-ray because she would have to be sedated and the last time she was sedated she awoke with seizures.

So I paid the $690 deposit (ouch) and left her there for treatment. Mom was fine with the quote though commented how much prices had gone up since her car accident 10 years ago.

I've been dehydrated before (flu) so I know the amazing recuperative effects that fluids can have. I expect that she will look like a new kitty today. I hope to visit this afternoon.

I still can't believe she made it back in as good a condition as she was. At 15 years of age (tack on a few more years from her past injuries), you have to agree she is one tough kitty.

I didn't sleep all that well as I couldn't help but think about Emma. There were a few things that made her coming home yesterday significant. For starters, her mom (my sister Kim) was in town. Secondly, it was a blue moon yesterday. Finally, and this one is a bit of a stretch and requires that I be much more spiritual than I am -- the spirit of my brother's cat, also named Emma and was put down on Friday, helped bring this Emma home.

Regardless, we are all glad Emma is home and suspect she just used up her 8th life. Pretty good for a 15 year old (80 in people years).