I've learned since I got my cat, about 9 years ago, he can not go outside because he will just eat grass, come in and barf it up somewhere in the house. Same goes with the Christmas tree and plants that people leave sitting around the house. We told her not to let him outside or let him eat anything green when she moved in. We thought that would have stuck. Plus, has she noticed our plethora of plants scattered all over the house? No.
I went to work, suffered through the day with lack of sleep, I don't sleep well in the summer time because I want to cram everything into three months due to the nice weather so we treat our summers like we will never get one ever again. Seize the summer!! Fall and winter set in too soon! Anyway, I got home, we had dinner, we relaxed a bit and I played on my computer for a while until it was time to take a shower and get ready for bed. This next weekend was going to be busy and days leading up to it was going to be really busy.
Right after my shower, brushing my teeth and putting my clothes on, I noticed this green blob of plant cat barf just inside our bedroom door. I panic because my cat seemed different almost lethargic unlike he does after eating grass from outside. I run into the living room where the plant was (she had taken one somewhere) and took the tag out of it. I immediately get online and check if the plant was toxic to pets. The plant was called Kalanchoe and I've never heard of it before. I checked the symptoms and the possibly outcomes that could happen if the said pet did not get medical attention right away. One of them was cardiac arrest depending on how much was ingested and what was left inside after it was puked out. I scooped up the barf on the floor with a wipie, wrapped it around the plant tag and put it into a plastic bag. I knew I would probably need it.
I got pissed immediately and told Ben we would have to take Calvin to a vet that is open 24 hours which meant we would probably have to go to Tacoma or somewhere similar to that this late at night. I checked the clock and it was around 9:30...almost time to go to bed so I could get up at 6 the next morning. Ben called vets and got information while I prepared the cat carrier. I did not want my cat to die from a plant that shouldn't have been brought into the house and we had just gotten over Harvey dying from being poisoned. My emotions were running high and I wanted to save my cat.
Ben got a hold of a place that would do it in Lakewood but we had to go through a pet poison place for a consult which would cost us $65. Ugh, I had a feeling tonight was going to cost a lot of money and I was stressed out about my trip next month to Ecuador. This couldn't have come at a better time. The person on the phone basically told us to get him in as soon as possible because we didn't know how much he ate or how long ago it was.
Our roommate sat in her room pretty down on herself for not using her brain and she knew she was going to have to pay me back for all the money I was going to have to spend. I got Calvin into the cat carrier and we were on our way to Lakewood. Meanwhile, Calvin was meowing a little bit in the carrier wondering where we were going. Ben was having a text conversation with her about getting that plant out of the house immediately and never leaving anything like that for pets to get at ever again. She said she was sorry (which didn't take back any of this) and that she would pay me back (probably through small payments which was going to kill my bank account) and that the plants will be gone when we got home.
I tried really hard to keep it together and it was exhausting. When we got there, we chatted with the front desk lady and told her the story, handed her the evidence and gave her Calvin. I told him that he would be okay and he was just getting checked to see if he was okay. He was so confused and scared. We sat for about a half hour while they did a few tests. Then we were taken to a room with one of the doctors on shift. She explained what they were going to do and they would have to monitor and flush out his system to make sure all of the poison was gone. I gave consent for them to do whatever they needed to do to make sure he was safe.
We sat out in the waiting area again and then was called up just before 11:30. I was getting tired. For them to do all of the treatments I had to pay up front $1301 that night!! What?!! It was a good thing I had saved a lot of money this summer or I would have been tapping into my reserves which meant more stress for next month! I was so pissed off. I paid and she printed us our itemized bill so our roommate could see what the actual price of that plant cost her. The lady told us we could pick Calvin up on Wednesday. Ben asked if we could see him before we left and she took us back there. He was hiding in the corner of a silver probably a 3x3 cage wondering why we were leaving him there. I petted him and told him that we would be back to get him in a couple days and these people were making sure you were okay. Ben did the same thing. I thanked her for letting us see him and we left and went home.
I had a hard time leaving my cat behind. I've never had to leave him at the vet for anything since I've had him. When we got home it was weird not having a cat to snuggle with or lay next to over the course of the night. He also wakes me up in the morning wanting to be fed around 4:30 and I tell him to wait about two hours. I was not woken up for two days and I kinda missed that. There was definitely a void in my life.
Ben went and picked him up on Wednesday and brought him home There was an additional $37 to add to the final bill. He gave him so treats and kitty did a lot of resting the rest of the day until I came home and gave him some snuggles. He had a partly shaved tail and all four of his feet had shave spots on them. It was probably going to take about two months until those grew back in.
I am so glad kitty survived our poison scare and it shouldn't happen again and it shouldn't have happened in the first place.
Next Adventure: SE Thurston County Relay for Life and Blitz!
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