As some of you know, my wife and I have a cat named Ernie. Ernie is 15 years old and has had quite a bit of health-related issues in his lifetime. He has had three surgeries to treat his crystal problem in his digestive tract, as well as the typical declawing (he is a pure inside cat) and nuetering.

Well, on Firday we found out that Ernie has three stones in his bladder. These stones are about the size of small marbles, and are causing Ernie a good deal of trouble whenever he tries to use his litterbox. In fact, the only reason we knew something was wrong with him is because one day last week, he specifically urinated on the newspaper, and almost all of it was blood. He hasn’t acted like he was in any pain, and he has beeen as active as he normally is, so this was the only way he could show us that he needed attention. Needless to say, he got all of our attention immediately.

Friday afternoon, we took him to see his vet at the Alamo Feline Health Center, and his vet took a sonagram of his bladder and easily found the stones. There are three of them, and I have started referring to them as “Larry, Curly and Moe.” Ernie hates to ride in the car, so we boarded him at the vet’s office and he will have his procedure on Monday. If he tolerates the surgery well, we will take him home on Tuesday.

Now, some people may think that spending close to $1,000 for this procedure on a cat is a waste of time and money, but I can’t disagree with you more. Ernie has woven himself into a full-fledged member of our family over the past 15 years. My wife had purchased him from a pet store when he was so small he could fit into the palm of her hand. He was also too young to have been separated from his mother, so my wife had to bottle feed him for a while before he could eat regular kitten food. Ernie and my wife are really, really close and I have no doubt that the cat actually thinks of her as his mother.

When I met Ernie, he was 5 years old and was a little standoffish. He would come up and sniff me, but if I tried to pick him up or pet him, he would run away. A few months after I started to seriously date Rene, I guess he noticed that I would be hanging around a lot as he started to become more and more friendly towards me. By the time Rene and I got married in 1997, he had pretty much accepted me as someone whom he could trust, and we got along famously.

Over the past few years, Ernie and I have grown a lot closer. When I sit in my recliner, no more than a minute or two goes by before I feel his four paws land on my lap. If I am late getting home from work, he paces back and forth on the back of our sofa, waiting for me to open the door. When I do open the door, he starts yelling at me until I pick him up and give him some attention. Finally, if I am in bed and he gets into the bedroom, I can be sure that soon he will be licking my hair as a signal to lift up the blanket so he can get under it and cuddle up to me and go to sleep. In short, I have become very, very close to him.

It is tough on us to have Ernie gone for these few days to get well. The house seems very empty and we both miss his antics. Most of all, we miss the affection he shows us by rubbing up against us, jumping into our laps, or yelling at us when get home. If you have some time today, we would appreciate it if you could keep Ernie in your thoughts. I know his vet is the best there is, so I have no doubt the surgery will go well, but still, we are concerned. Paying for this will be a burden, so if you have a dollar or two to spare you can use the Tip Jar in the sidebar if you want. I know Ernie would appreciate it, and so would Rene and I.

UPDATE: Just talked to the vet, and they ended up removing 5 stones from Ernie’s bladder. They were each the size of a pea. He tolerated the surgery well and is now recovering. I will go see him at lunch time to make sure he’s okay and knows that we haven’t abandoned him.

UPDATE II: Just got back from visiting Ernie in the hospital. He is still a little groggy, but he recognized me and was glad to see me. I spent a few minutes with him, rubbing his ears and letting him rub his head up against me. I was surpirsed that they did not have a “lampshade” on him (to keep him from chewing on his stiches), but he didn’t seem to be in any kind of hurry to poke around down there. We should be able to take him home tomorrow after 2:00 p.m., so my wife is already counting down the minutes.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 30th, 2005 at 9:46 pm by Nick, and is filed under Animals, Health Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.