A sick cat.

Last night, Artemis was acting really weird -- she couldn't close her mouth, she couldn't keep her tongue inside of her mouth; she was drooling and shaking. It was odd. Usually when the cats do weird things I freak out immediately and Sean tells me "they're cats!" and that they're fine. But last night, we just sort of knew that things weren't fine and that we should have her seen. After a call to the animal ER, who told us that without seeing her they couldn't even begin to guess what was wrong, we fought to get her in the cat carrier, got all bundled in jackets and blankets, got into the car -- in the negative degree weather and went to the Animal Hospital. It's only about 11 minutes away from our house, which is pretty convenient -- but I really hope it's not some place that we frequent. We left the house at about 8:30 and got home at midnight. In between that time, we saw three different families who had to leave their pet at the hospital for further testing, and one family whose pet didn't make it. It was horrible. In our specific situation, the vets told us that she has many infections in her mouth/gums and that most, if not all, of her teeth will have to be pulled out. She also has a heart murmur. They offered to have X-rays of her mouth done at the hospital -- we opted to wait for a daytime vet as midnight was approaching. They sent her home with antibiotics and pain medicine. Poor baby. So today, I took her to a new vet (since we just moved). She was thrilled, as you can imagine. Two outings within 24 hours of each other. She ran around the exam room, crouched in between chairs, attempted to hide inside the sink, walked across the vet's computer keyboard (she was clearly feeling uncomfortable but comfortable at the same time). She ended up climbing into my jacket while I was wearing it. We were there for about an hour and by the time we got home her leg was wrapped in purple tape from where they took her blood and her face was all wet from crying. Little does she know that on Feb. 10th, she will be having her teeth extracted. I didn't know that cats (indoor cats) don't need most of their teeth (they only need their canines and a few of their molars are "helpful") so it's supposedly a common surgery but necessary for this little one. :(