I Could Never Be a Parent

Dukie boy

Last night around 8, I was biting into my sloppy joe when Kevin yelled at me to come upstairs. I could tell from the panic in his voice that something was SERIOUSLY wrong (and not something stupid like I left a wet towel on the hallway floor). I ran upstairs to find Duke (my little kitty) foaming at the mouth.

He looked rabid. There was foam coming out of his mouth and it reached all the way to the floor. Kevin saw him throw up (which cats tend to do once or twice a month) but then he started this foaming at the mouth thing.

We cornered him in my room and shut the door. He seemed fine but a little scared. He was wagging his tail and he let us pet him but he continued to generate foam.

So, I called the vet to get the emergency number. I called the hotline and the lady said to just keep an eye on him. She said that if he threw up more than 5 times in an hour to bring him in. Otherwise, wash his mouth out with a wet rag and don't give him food or water until the morning.

So, I sat in my bedroom as Duke slimed my entire bed and curtains and pillows and floor. I didn't really care about that. I just sat there and stroked him. Kevin was flipping out, asking me a billion questions (as if I was a DVM and knew all about cat physiology).

It's interesting because that's how we are. Kevin always flips out and I always sit there calmly. Although I was just as scared as Kevin, I had my instructions from an expert and I was going to follow them and everything would be okay.

It turns out that everything WAS okay. After two hours, Duke stopped foaming. I changed my sheets and washed up (I was really slimey). Then I locked him in my room with me and went to sleep.

I woke up at 3:30. Duke was YOWLING at the top of his lungs. He wanted out. And Hera (the little girl cat) was YOWLING outside the room--she wanted in. So, I got up and locked up the food dishes and the water and let Duke roam the house. I'm glad he was screaming like that because my room was like an OVEN. I was sweating it was so hot, but that's not really important here.

The important thing is, I'm not sure I could ever handle being a parent to a human. It's so stressful just being a parent to cats! They can't tell you what's wrong and if something happens, I just get terribly scared. Although I remain calm outside, inside I'm a wreck.

I love my kitties. I'm so glad they're both okay now.