Sitting in an ER waiting room for Muta, the cat, to get an ultrasound on his belly. The ER is in Weymouth, about a half hour from our house and “half way to the Cape” according to Ed. There must be a thousand dogs here . . . okay, maybe 15. Muta would normally be making a lot of noise because of all those dogs. Today, he is sitting quietly in his crate. He hardly made any noise at all on the drive down in his crate. A sure sign he is feeling really awful.

And I am sad.

Muta is twelve years old. Other than the time when we moved five years ago and he stopped eating, and then last year’s puncture wound, he has been big and strong and healthy. He is the smartest cat that has ever been part of my family. He goes for walks with us and makes friends in every neighborhood we’ve lived in.  He is vocal and pushy at times.  He loves sleeping on our back porch in the warm weather and napping on the wide sill in the living room on sunny mornings.

A nurse (vet tech?) does a triage on Muts (pronounced ‘moots’) in an examination room and then asks if we want to wait here and not go out again to set up camp in the waiting room.  I’ve been advised of a 3-4 hour wait. We went through this kind of wait last year with Muta’s puncture wound which happened on the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend. Even with Muta so quiet, I can’t imagine that all the dogs and frequent dog sounds are not annoying. So, now we are in the small examining room.  

Julia and I share a very small bench. It is not uncomfortable and there is a electrical plug nearby so that Julia can plug in her phone. She is reading Frankenstein, a graphic novel by Jung Ito, and telling me about it.  

Muta is on the examining table, sitting in his crate which is big enough for him to lay in comfortably; however, he has never, ever before wanted to stay in this crate for any amount of time.  Ummm, I may be wrong here.  When we moved to Newton, during the first night, I put Muta, his crate, litter box and food/water in our tiny bathroom. Let him out that first morning and put him in again when the movers were bringing in our belongings. In that impossibly small bathroom, Muta’s choices for hanging out were the tile floor, the bath tub or the crate. He chose the crate.

Muta and I have not been to many vets—getting neutered, shots, hydration when he stopped eating and stitches, etc. last year for the puncture wound. Whenever he has been in examination rooms he has explored and jumped and shed all over the counters and floor.  Today, waiting, he stays in the crate, mostly with his eyes closed, so very quiet. Not at all himself. 

A step back—Muts has been throwing up everyday for almost two weeks.  He is a outdoor/indoor cat and throwing up is pretty common for him. Not every day by any means but perhaps twice a month, especially in the summer and maybe more.  Until two days ago, his appetite and water consumption were about normal—last week he was enjoying a tuna paste that my upstairs neighbor gifted him with—but in the last week he has slowed down. He is not jumping on the bed as much whenever I lay down and not sprawling on the floor on his back with his front legs stretched out for naps. He has been more and more often laying with all his legs drawn in and in peculiar places —on the bathroom mat, on the walk off mat by the front door, on a corner of my bedroom rug. These are not hiding places and I wondered if Muta is looking for somewhere to be comfortable. 

Right now, napping in his crate in a strange place with many new smells, he seems very sick. 

We took him to an urgent care yesterday, Saturday, and the vet there did took blood and urine to be tested. The vet called me this morning as we were having breakfast on the back porch and waiting for zoom church to begin. Like any and every time a medical practitioner has delivered bad news to me, I forget more than half of what he said but I received the visit notes and the test results via email.  (Question: why don’t they do that for people? MyChart is not bad but sometimes it is not possible to figure out test results until the nurse calls which is usually not the next day.  Is it because I am paying for Muta and I have insurance for myself? Is it HIPPA? Don’t want to go down that keep worm hole at the moment.)

From the after visit report: “On physical examination, Muta was dehydrated, had a heart murmur, had evidence of muscle loss along his back, and had a firm object in his abdomen, which I am not sure is stool or a mass. . . . We administered fluids for hydration and an anti-nausea injection to help him feel better pending results. . . If the bloodwork does not give us something to pursue, and Muta is not improving, the next step would be [an] abdominal ultrasound.”

And test results this morning: “bili and bili in urine, mild elyte changes, high CK, low BG. BNP pending concerned about pancreatitis vs neoplasia. I think AUS would be best next step. low BG could be real or artifact if blood sat too long. Advise AUS today, ideally by radiologist at an emergency clinic with a radiologist, such as Angell Memorial in Boston or VCA South Shore in Weymouth.”

And so, we sit and wait.  I explain what I think I know, after a deep dive into google, to Julia.  Julia cries. And we wait.