Hello all,
Well, we took Taylor to the vets at 8.50 this morning, and had our appointment with our usual vet, who was really lovely. She listened to everything we told her, and checked out his beck legs and spine thoroughly. Initially she thought it might be a minor thing, and not something to really worry about, but she persisted in checking the back half of his body, and she found a particular movement of his legs and hips which seemed to cause Taylor quite a lot of pain. She kept on with the massaging and maneurvering, and recommended that Taylor have an x-ray to see if there is any bone deformation or damage along his spine or in his hips. We discussed the possibility of having a blood test, but our vet thought the best thing to do would be to have an x-ray first, and take it from there. Poor little Taylor was clearly in quite a lot of discomfort after she found what was causing him the pain, as he fought like mad to get out of his carry box. His paws were fighting through the front bars, and he even turned himself upside down trying to struggle out of it. It was heartbreaking for the both of us. We left him at the vets to have his x-rays and we've got an appointment at 5.30 tonight to see whether they've shown anything.
We were both in tears as we left, and still quite teary now. We really hope he doesn't feel like we've abandoned him there. Our vet is lovely, and we know they'll take good care of him, but it was horrible driving away from the vets without him. He's a very quiet cat, and confined to our bedroom at the moment, but the house feels a little emptier without him. We called the vets at 2pm to check on his progress, as they said we could call them, and he's fine apparently. Made it through the anaesthetic at least!
We haven't really been told anything about what an x-ray might show, so at the moment we're no closer to any kind of diagnosis, but we're hopeful that the x-rays will help clarify the situation. The vet mentioned something called toxoplasmosis as a potential cause of his pain, although we've had a quick search on google and he doesn't seem to have any of the symptoms. She also mentioned that neurological problems may be causing the pain, which will be identified by a thorough blood test. She suggested that this is probably not caused by kidney or liver problems, but we can't really rule anything out at the moment.
The best thing about our vets visit this morning is that we feel like we were taken seriously. In hindsight, we were dismissed quite quickly by our first vet on Monday, whereas our vet today listened to us and knew that we weren't being frivolous. She also tried to find a loophole in our insurance for Taylor, but because this is a pre-existing problem, and because we spoke to the emergency vet on Sunday, the day before we insured him, she doesn't think it'll be possible to claim on our insurance for him, which is a pain. It really frustrates me that pet insurance policies won't cover for pre-existing conditions, but that's a rant for another day!
Thank you for all the messages of support and your thoughts today. We took our mind off Taylor being with the vets by going shopping and pottering around the house. Looking forward to seeing him again later!
We'll let you know later tonight whether the x-rays have shown anything. Fingers and paws crossed for the little man!
Matt and Tish.
