01/08/2013

 Well, little Sage had his first visit to the vet today. We chose an animal clinic the shelter recommended, which was just a couple miles from the apartment. This cat is ridiculously well behaved when riding in cars. He was a little fidgety in the carrier, but absolutely no whining, no fighting to not go in the car, etc. (Of course, my family/roommates have always had dogs, so I still don’t know what’s normal for a cat. 
He was pretty good at the vet too- a bit skittish (at one point, after a shot he climbed up on the vet tech’s shoulder).
Turns out the poor little guy has earmites, bacteria, and yeast in his ears. Makes me want to smack the person at the shelter who claimed he didn’t have earmites and "his smears are clean".  So he’s gotten an antibiotic injection, the vet flushed his ears, and we’ve got eardrops. We’ll be following up again with the vet in about 3 weeks. 
And little Sage is really little- he weighed in at 6.6lbs (3kg). I was thinking closer to 8lbs/ 4kg, but I think I was confused by how ridiculously long his legs are. Like, he’s stood up and tapped my shoulder when I’m sitting/kneeling on the floor.

We did get some bad news- the vet heard a heart murmur, and we’ll be going to the cardiologist on Monday for some more tests. The vet suspects hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.  We could return him to the shelter (they have a 10 day exchange policy), but we’ve both agreed that’s not fair to Sage (especially since he’s already been returned to the shelter once- he was adopted by a lady who’s four female cats didn’t like him).  And he’s already spent three months in that place. I know that we have a limited budget, and we may not be able to afford the treatment he needs, but he’s still much better off with us than there. He’s not in a cage, in a room with 20 other cats and random strangers coming in and out all day with dogs barking right outside. We’ve got time to play with and snuggle him, and can at least get stuff like ear infections properly diagnosed and treated. He’s an indoor-only cat, and an only pet with us (and the vet explained that this is really the lowest possible stress for a cat, and the best thing we can do for him if he does have a heart condition). And, realistically, we won’t know what we’re really dealing with until after the cardiology workup. Everything might be okay, or he could be really sick. Which sucks, because I’m quite attached to the little lovebug (who’s curled up in my lap right now) and was hoping for 15 or so years with him. But I guess we’re just going to do the best we can, and realize that he has been rescued, and it’s not about us. (Not that I have anything against no-kill shelters, specifically the one we adopted him from. They do some awesome work with minimal resources, but that environment is anything but peaceful for animals).