4—Day 11 of 14 with the Cats

July 15, 2026

I’m struggling to destress from ten days of cat health traumas. Outside the grass blower is creating a racket but the sun on the grass bank across the road and the trees swaying in the breeze outside the 3^rd level windows are helping lull the high anxiety I’m trying to moderate. An orange bus slowly pulls into the bus-stop, people go in and come out, it leaves. A reminder that life will flow on after. 

The cats seem to be recovering. We arrived to cat sit 11 days ago. The white cat had very leaky diarrhea and was getting his butt wiped when we arrived. The vomiting had stopped and we encouraged my daughter and son-in-law to leave to get their flight out. Two more doses of meds were given before we went to bed that night. We’ve had white Yoda since he was a few months and he is easy to medicate. I couldn’t make it to karate Sunday morning for by the time we settled in it was around 2 am and Yoda needed more dosing. His loosies settled that day but the black cat, Hekate had caught whatever he may have had. She’s harder to medicate but luckily it was a gel not pills. One litter box needed a complete overhaul but then her tummy seemed to settled, in fact got constipated and had to be given another gel to get her tummy moving. 

Bad enough? But the worst was yet to come. Heka began vomiting Friday evening. Bile and black hair. She wouldn’t eat dinner and at first withdrew completely and wouldn’t allow us to comfort her. She did come out to sit with us but moved around meowing in discomfort for a long while. Frantic messages passed between us and my daughter. The next morning, we found blood stains on the bathroom floor.

Which cat, which end? My daughter travelling in Europe and not available until much later. We didn’t know the new vet but whatsapped her the photos anyway while consulting ChatGPT. Bloody bile or bloody stools are always a cat emergency it said. Meanwhile Heka ate her breakfast which was apparently a good sign. The vet replied and told us what to watch out for. Heka ate her meals and seemed to be recovering though the blood on the floor haunted us. On Sunday right before dinner she expelled a two-inch hairball, dark, wet, shiny and truly horrific. She looked terrified and so were we. But she ate. Always a good sign. 

Was this it and were things going to be ok? Every time we had felt things were settling, they had erupted. My neck pain and pressure rose as the fear escalated. Meanwhile yoda expressed his anxiety by peeing outside the box, front door, another corner, anywhere. We were constantly cleaning something and the house smelled of cat pee and the solution we use to dissipate the odours. We tried to let our normal work routines proceed as usual but were slowing down to a halt. 

Yesterday morning we ‘halted’. Yesterday afternoon the vet visited. Examined Yoda. Easy-peasy. Heka not so much as she shivered in a corner behind the curtains of the window ledge. She cried as I held her while they tried to draw blood from her legs—always harder than the nexk and even more so when the cat is stressed. It didn’t flow, they needed two draws. They were here for almost an hour and half. Heka was wary but ate the snack we offered after they left. Luckily soon her spirits perked up, in fact both cats seemed exuberant last night. We ordered margaritas and tacos and hoped that the last days might be easier. Nothing was defusing our anxiety though. 

Meanwhile the Iran war blew up. Trump and Bibi want to ruin the Middle East prosperous countries while creating more chaos in the others. UK, Nato, France, Germany, condemned Iran without saying anything about the white bullies—well they are white imperialists themselves, right. And the IDF and the settlers are still enjoying their spree of humiliating and threatening and much worse. Well Spain spoke up but was called antisemitic for doing so. 

Another bus lazily drives up to the bus stop and leaves. My neck still hurts but I will get dressed and take myself to the library. Books need returning and the stacks are soothing. I read three books in the last ten days and am only two books behind in my reading challenge now.