persona non grata

Oh, she's grumpy!

As I reported last week, she has been spending her nights in the laundry room. She spends a lot of time meowing her head off, and alternates that with scratching at the door. Occasionally, it sounds as if she is lunging at the door as well, at least that's how I interrupt the louder indistinct "thump" sounds.

It's all rather distressing, but it's better than having to clean up the carpets every day.

Yesterday I got up early and brought her to the vet at 7:30 to check her in for her teeth cleaning. While she was under, the trimmed her claws and did a blood test for her thyroid levels.

She did very well at the vet, and was even friendly with the techs there(!!!). The doctor was able to save all her teeth even though she had a lot of tartar built up. I'm sure her gums will be sore for a few days, and I have some antibiotic drops to give her to make sure she doesn't get any infections. Since they are liquid, it's really a pip to give it to her, and it's only twice a day. No big deal.

Last night and this morning, every time she saw me she literally ran and hid. She spent most of the day upstairs and didn't venture down to be social until the late afternoon... and I have no idea when she did it, but she pooped on DD's Hello Kitty bath mat.

I know she's not supposed to go out of the box, but I have to agree with the cat's assessment.

The vet called back this morning with the news that her thyroid's fine, so we're going on the working diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease. Once she's recovered from this procedure, we'll start her on steroids and see how things go.

The question, of course, is "Does IBD cause psychotic behavior?" Because even if the IBD helps her digestion, it's not going to be much of a help if she keeps going in places other than her box. Which, btw, is in the same place it has been for 6+ years, and which gets cleaned usually twice a day... the issue is not with the box, the issue is in her very small brain.

Yesterday was very strange because she was gone all day. I kept forgetting that and looking around for her. Was she in her chair? On her favorite perch in the closet? Every time I noticed her abscence I had to remind myself she was at the vet. There was a "hole" in the house vibe yesterday. I didn't like it at all.

So, another few weeks before we try the next thing, and hope that it helps. At this point, what else can we do?