The Dangers of Neighborhood Kitties

Although living in a big city can have its drawbacks, there are times, like tonight, that I am thankful to be here. 24 hour clinics are a blessing, including 24 hour vet clinics.

Tonight as I was letting the dogs outside to do their doody duty, Chloe took off at a mad dash across the yard after some dangerous and sinister squirrel or kitty. Or perhaps a leaf blew by or a tree branch moved. Who knows.

I was distracted for a moment by my daughter who had another successful potty trip so I am not exactly sure what happened next, but when I went back to let the dogs in, only Molly came. I saw Chloe just standing in the corner of the yard and she wouldn’t come when called. She was standly very strangely and refused to budge, so I became alarmed and ran out to pick her up. She was breathing/grunting as if in pain.

I brought her back inside and she refused to move except to walk into her little doggy bed that I brought downstairs for her. After 4 hours of no improvement, Greg and I decided that I should take Chloe to an emergency vet. (Especially considering the sad news we had gotten about her daughter, Daphne, a couple weeks ago in regards to a back injury.)

The vet checked her out and it does appear that it is her back that is hurting, although Chloe is stubborn and didn’t let on exactly where it was hurting. (On an unrelated note, the vet also detected a heart murmur. On a scale of 1-6, it is only a 2, but something we need to keep an eye on.) Anyways, the vet gave me some signs to watch for and a pain reliever we can give Chloe, so I am hoping that she will heal up okay and that the symptoms will not get worse. She is moving around a little more and ate a doggy treat, so I have hope.