Today didn’t happen in any way that I thought it would. Originally, Angel and I thought we were going to have to drive to San Diego to find Mika and abscond with her. We were sort of just waiting on word from her that it would be okay to do so.
Then Lili jumped off the bed, over the foot board, and caught her foot on the way down. I instantly knew that she’d injured herself even as she landed. Sure enough, she immediately pulled the foot up against her body and did not want to put any weight on it. Unfortunately, due to her hind-end issues, she quickly realized that having her foot up like that meant that she was off balance. She made to go under the bed to hide but I nabbed her and put her on the bed where I could inspect her better. At the time, I had been on the phone with Robby but hung up with him quickly so I could focus on the cat.
She was very clearly hurt and in pain. I scooped her up and brought her out to Angel, in the loft, while she was still working and on the phone with someone. Lili sat in my lap and growled, voicing her displeasure while I waited for Angel to clear up. I hated to bother her but I needed an extra pair of eyes and an extra set of hands while I tried to figure out just how badly Lili had hurt herself. She put herself out of the phone and came over. Lili could put a little bit of weight down but it was very clear that she preferred not to. Then she laid down.
That was about the time that she refused to let me touch her. She swatted at us both when we went to touch the injured paw/leg. Lili will swat at me if she is upset but very rarely with claws. She was all paws and claws and even tried to bite me. That was a huge red flag. Angel called her vet and passed the phone off to me so I could make the earliest available appointment with them which was two and a half hours later.
I brought the small, soft carrier out and attempted to put Lili in it so she was confined, comfortable, and quiet. I would have put her in the large carrier if I had felt any sort of comfortable with her being able to move around. I didn’t want her moving around. Well, Lili turned into Demon Cat and clawed me up very well as I tried to grab her and put her in the carrier. Once she was settled in there, she calmed down and I put a towel over the carrier so she couldn’t see the other cats; I didn’t want to just move her into the bedroom and sequester her until it was time to leave. It worked out well.
We drove to Gilbert and made it on time for the 2:30 appointment. Lili was moving a lot better and was putting weight on the injured leg but I was still worried. The vet agreed to do some X-Rays, just in case, and they would have to keep her for a little while so they could sedate her. Angel and I headed out to find some food and kill time. It would up taking nearly three hours for them to finish with Lili since they had gotten busy. The X-Rays showed that there were no breaks or fractures and therefore it was probably just soft tissue damage. They sent us home with some morphine for Lili for the next few days while she recovers and heals. I think they might have thought I was a little silly requesting the X-Rays anyway but since Lili has so many physical problems, it is just too hard to really spot if anything is amiss. I wanted to be safe, rather than sorry… especially since the vet was an hour away.
I got Lili home and coaxed her out of the carrier, carefully pulling her and supporting her weight. She was still very groggy from being sedated. Poor baby. I will give her the first dose of morphine tonight before I go to bed so I know she is comfortable while I am asleep.
All in all, I am just relieved that nothing was broken and that she wasn’t seriously injured. And I am thankful for Angel accompanying me to the vet. I love having awesome friends.
