Scary Weekend

You'll never guess what happened this weekend?  Mom Paula almost had to take me to the emergency vet!  "What happened?" you ask.  I'm going to tell you, so sit tight.

Truffle excitedly telling story

Saturday, the three of us, Mom Paula, Brulee, and I, were just taking it easy around the house.  In fact, Mom Paula stayed in her kitty PJs all day because she was exhausted from her first week back at work after being sick for 3 weeks.  There was also a little drama at work that caused her to be mentally exhausted, but it will be okay.  Anyway, Grandma Faye came over late Saturday afternoon to get Mom Paula to help her with her iPad.  Grandma Faye said something about us being lazy (we don't know what she was talking about).  Grandma Faye brought in two packages that were delivered at the front door and Mom Paula just laid them on the floor.

Truffle resting before all of the drama.

We were all taking it easy in the living room watching TV and enjoying a nice (cold) relaxing day.  Mom Paula couldn't keep her eyes open, so she decided to go to the bedroom and take a nap in her bed.  After about 1 hour, Mom Paula woke up as I jumped on the bed and was gagging.  Mom Paula assumed I had a hairball I was trying to get rid of, so she tried to give me some laxatone to help out.  I didn't really want it, which was unusual for me.  For a couple more hours, I continued to gag and nothing would come up.  Mom Paula tried to open my mouth a couple of times to see if she could see anything, but the inside of my mouth is dark because of my black lips.  When Mom Paula tried to give me some supper, I didn't eat.  That really worried Mom Paula because we all know how much I like to eat.  She tried to  look in my mouth again, but nothing.  By this time, Mom Paula was very concerned because I looked very uncomfortable.  Unfortunately, for us, our vet (Cherokee Trail) closes at 6:00 pm on Saturday nights and it was about 7:30 pm.  Mom Paula immediately began looking up the phone number and location for the emergency vet because my gagging was getting worse.  There is a brand new facility that is less than 10 miles from us and it's open 24/7.  The problem was that we were at the end of our green papers before pay day this week and Mom Paula didn't know how she was going to pay for it.  She took a chance and actually applied for CareCredit because we'd heard many of our CB furriends talk about CareCredit.  Mom Paula was very nervous about applying because our credit has been "terrible" the past 10 years and she's slowly rebuilding it, thanks to the small inheritance she received from her Uncle Bill.  We were pleasantly surprised to find out that we were approved for enough money to take care of me at the vet (she hoped).  

SC Emergency Vet Clinic (this is only a small portion of the entire facility)

Mom Paula was getting ready to put on some clothes and call the SCEVC to take me in, but she decided she'd try one more thing to see if I would eat something.  She opened our jar of Halo Liv-a-Littles freeze dried chicken treats, which are our favorites.  Usually, I reach out and grab the treat from her fingers, but I was having difficult eating the treat.  Mom Paula said out loud, "that's does it, you're going to the vet."  All of a sudden, I began gagging again and this time something came out.  Among the yechy digestive liquid was something about 1 inch in diameter that was dark.  Mom Paula almost screamed when she saw it because she didn't know what it was.  Luckily for Mom Paula, I threw up on a sheet of paper, so Mom Paula lifted it up and went into the kitchen where the light was better.  She rinsed off the dark material and discovered it was a corner of the plastic envelope that her sweater came in.

section of plastic bag beside a quarter

I immediately felt better.  The brightness came back in  my eyes and I was ready to eat again and the best thing was I didn't have to go to the vet.  Mom Paula watched me all night Saturday and all day Sunday to make sure I was okay.  She picked up every single plastic envelope and bag that was within my reach and has either thrown it away or put it behind closed doors.  Some people say I may have something called pica.  Mom Paula says she needs to do some more research on this disorder.  All she knows is that I am back to my beautiful self with my bright eyes.

This photo was taken a few minutes after I hacked up the plastic.