Ok, well maybe I should introduce Hemi first.
Hemi is the newer addition to the family.
Most of the immediate family know about Schroeder, who we had prior to this. Schroeder ran away two weeks before we moved out here, and was never found or picked up, as far as we know. I had had Schroeder for about 8 or so years. I was quite heartbroken when he ran off, and spent many days in the coming weeks looking for him, handing out fliers, calling all over the place and staying up late. To no avail. He was basically my little boy.
As embarassing as it is to admit, I cried myself to sleep for months over the guilt I felt about moving, even though I had absolutely not control over that considering my husband is in the Navy. Honestly, I do feel pretty silly to some extent admitting that, but I did. I really did. I was a blubbering mess whenever something reminded me of him. Nights were awful because my thoughts invariably came around to him, and the fact that he was not annoyingly snuggled into the foot of the bed.
We arrived in Washington on April first. By my birthday, we had resolved that Schroeder wasn’t going to get found, and told our friend Clint to donate all the stuff of his we left in South Carolina with him. So upon this, James decided to take me to the local SPCA to look for some prospective feline choices. I had been looking around on the websites for the local shelters as well, to see if there were any that jumped out at me, that I wanted to go see. I had seen the ad for Hemi, and the note that he was an ill cat. Schroeder had been too. He had an eye condition, and had been almost blind his entire life. Ok, so yes, it was a little weird that I gravitated to the greyish tabby with the eye problem, but I had a weakness for them. 🙂
We spent some time at the SPCA and were able to take Hemi out of his cage and get acquainted. I fell in love with him right away. It was obvious that he’d been on the streets for a while, they called him a tomcat and had no idea how long he’d been out there. Though, they managed to gauge his age by his teeth, and put him at about 7 years old at the time. He was a bit mangy and needed a bit of a clean up, but he was a complete sweetheart, if a bit lazy looking. But that was ok with me, I was used to it with Schroeder. I do love the fatboys. 🙂
We decided to sleep on the decision for a night, but went back the next day to pick him up. So, we took home Hemi, and decided to keep his name. And this time, they even microchipped him, so if he gets out and found, we can get him back a whole heck of a lot easier. Back to his name. Hemi. Well, his head is huge. Massive. And the rest of him isn’t that small, either. He’s quite a big boy, weighed at about 13 pounds today after a bit of lost weight due to his condition. He’s very long, has huge paws, and is pretty solid. He’s not really all that fat, and doesn’t have the loose jiggly belly that Schroeder did after being neutered young. Hemi was neutered as an adult not long after he arrived at the SPCA on March 1st, 2010.
Wow, I didn’t realize that the background would end up so long-winded! So, back to the title of this post. We brought him to the Animal Hospital today because we’re just basically feeling extremely lost when it comes to whatever is wrong with him, and we’re hoping to find some kind of answer and a way to help him when he gets like this. Now to explain what “this” is. He moves very awkwardly, begins losing the ability to stand up fully and to walk properly. He stumbles but doesn’t ever seem to be in any pain or overt discomfort. He continues to do things as he normally would. After a couple of days, it gets worse and eventually he can’t really move well at all, and will resign himself to just sitting in one spot and sleeping his time away. A few more days and he’s usually back to normal.
When describing this all to the vet, we were quite surprised when she told us that she was stumped. Many of the things that could be causing this, usually don’t correct themselves. Anything from an ear infection to possibly something neurological, or something “other”. My worries about neurological have been basically eradicated after speaking with this vet, but there is a tiny bit in the back of my brain keeping it as a very off-chance possibility, if nothing turns up with blood tests for the normal stuff and for the infectious diseases. She did mention that the side he was leaning toward looked fine (the ear and the canal), so the possibility that it has anything to do with that is slim to none, but we aren’t completely ruling it out at this point.
So, here we are, later in the evening, Hemi having crawled himself under the armchair for lord knows how long (I think he’s mad about his neck being partially shaved), and the two of us just waiting on a phone call to come hopefully within a day or three about the results of his blood test.
From this and other things, I’ve started to notice a much more reserved version of myself. I am getting far more adept at not letting myself worry myself into a blubbering ball of stupid. So, hopefully, you will hear an update from me soon about whatever might be going on, and it will be a level-headed and clear update. 🙂
Mommy Is An Introvert 