Meet Esau. Him and Jacob look very alike but Esau has a longer face and a tiny bit more white around his eyes. Jacob's face is smaller and cuter. A couple weeks ago the dog and the kitties were due for their flea treatment so I hurried up and did it before bed. I was halving the kitten's dosage because they aren't full grown. So I put some on Jacob and then when I figured half was left I put the rest on Esau, only to discover that Esau probably got more like 75%. Oh well.
The next day after our play date I was talking to Daddy and Hurricane came to tell me that Esau was shaking and his ears were laying down. I said okay and finished my conversation thinking that she was worried about nothing. When I went to check on him I saw that she was not worried over nothing. Esau was twitching and shaking so much he was practically vibrating! He couldn't even walk and was crying in a most pitiful way. I picked him up and held him cuddled up to me tight and that seemed to calm him somewhat. We couldn't find Jacob so I just cuddle Esau and started reading on line about what over dosage of flea medicine would look like. I found several stories of people mixing up dog and cat flea medicine but just knew that I couldn't've done anything that silly. So I kept reading. Finally I thought I should at least double check myself. So I went and looked closer at the flea medicine. My heart dropped when I saw that I had in fact been that stupid. I had put Advantax for an 80 lb dog on our little baby kitties! And really put most on poor Esau! I ran back to the stories on line of testimonies about this very thing and found awful outcomes mainly on grown cats. So Robert started calling around to local vets asking questions after we washed both of the kitties in Dawn. Jacob had been hiding under the couch but wasn't really twitching yet. We found a vet that we could run to and I set off with both in a pet carrier. I prayed the whole way for a vet that would be gracious to me. I was already feeling like the worst pet owner and mom in the world! I was a total emotional wreck. Praise the Lord for delivering because the vet that was working was overly kind and gentle. She was very honest as well, though. She said the best help we could give them would be to send them to Kansas State in Manhattan for their ICU. Around the clock IV fluids might help flush the poison out quicker. We couldn't afford that so she said the next best thing would be to hook them up to an IV there during the day and I take them home at night to doctor them there. That too, was pretty steep for two kittens. So she called in an order for liquid muscle relaxer for the kittens and gave them the first dose intravenously there before I took them home. I was to keep a close eye on them, keep them in a dark and quiet place. Check on them often and give them the medicine every 8 hours. The muscle relaxer was to help with the twitching so that they were able to eat and drink. By the time we got to the vet Jacob had started twitching too. Neither of them were when we left because the medicine helped quickly. The doctor said that usually cats pull through this poison but since they were so tiny and Esau got so much she was very fearful they wouldn't make it. She said if they did live it would probably take 3-7 days for the poison to fully get through their system. She estimated on the longer side, again because of their size and how high the dosage was that they got. I got them home and settled and fed them tuna which they didn't eat well. Five hours later Esau was twitching awful again! We bathed them again (as we were told to do) and I went ahead and gave another dose three hours too early. Esau couldn't lay down or walk or anything, he just stood wide stanced twitching viciously! After the kids went to bed (and Tender had prayed over Esau several times) I just brought him out to the living room and held him securely to make him more comfortable. For two hours I held him while the medicine didn't work and he twitched and jerked in my arms. When Robert went to bed I moved to the couch and held Esau like a baby thinking any minute he might die in my arms. I fell asleep. About an hour later I woke and Esau wasn't twitching anymore. He was sleeping calmly. I heard his brother crying for him from the laundry room and decided to try to move Esau back in there. I laid him down in there and left them both acting normal. I set my phone alarm for two hours because I needed to keep an eye on them. Every two hours throughout the night I ran downstairs to check on them so that I would know if they needed more medicine. And every time they were acting normal. The next morning you would not have guessed they had ever been sick! They were eating and playing and pushing their little paws out the bottom of the door wanting to get out of that little room! I was shocked! I waited half the day before letting them out and when I did they ran wild having fun! I believe the Lord blessed us with a little miracle. I was so relieved that I didn't kill my children's baby kitties! And Esau and I tight after that episode! He loves cuddling with me, where as Jacob runs right past me!
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LindseyI'm the mama and wife. Updating you on our life! Archives
January 2022
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