our weekend

First of all, many thanks to everyone who has expressed concern and support for Nala. Everyone's emails, msn messages, text messages, everything has meant a lot to me - and I am so happy to see how much everyone loves Nala!

Thursday evening after my last post Nala lost bladder control - she knew that she had to use the litter, but she couldn't make it to the litter. This pretty much cemented in my mind that she had to get to the vet hospital asap.

So, Friday afternoon I raced to St. Thomas and Nala was put on IV. Regular updates on her condition over the weekend show that while on the IV she has regained bladder control, she is eating all her food and drinking some water (the IV is giving her more than enough hydration that she isn't really very thirsty) - and she is even up and playing with toys a little!

Sadly, if she was to be removed from the IV she would likely revert back to her previous lethargic state. More information will be known tomorrow after the vet does more blood work and xrays.

In the meantime I am back in Toronto and working this week - thankfully the vet is open at night and I can go there if I have to - and I'm very happy that Nala is at Abbeydale Animal Hospital rather than somewhere here in Toronto, since the head vet there is a family friend.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high - but this could be good news - and in other good news I think over the course of the weekend my mother has come to realize how much Nala means to me, and she has offered to loan me the money to cover whatever treatment is needed - right now we're looking around $1000, which I can manage, but if Nala needs dialysis or transplant surgery the costs are going to be astronomical.

Many people have suggested that Nala should be put down, but I can't imagine doing that as long as something can be done for her. I would never make her live her life hooked up to a machine, or let her suffer in pain for a great deal of time, but as long as she isn't in pain (and I have been assured by many vets as well as internet sites that right now she is not) I have to do whatever I can to save this cat!

Obviously it's hard for anyone to imagine how attached I am to Nala - really I have never been this attached to any person, animal or thing before in my entire life - and quite frankly I can't imagine losing something else that means so much to me right now, so soon after I have lost many other things that have meant the world to me ... but I will deal with that when it happens. Over the past few days I have come to realize that if Nala does die it won't be the end of my world, but I am already devastated, and quite frankly what keeps me strong is knowing that I am doing whatever I can for her.