The Only Child Diaries Podcast
The Only Child Diaries Podcast
The Brochure on Midnight Vet Runs & $1600 Hairballs
Motherhood comes in many forms, and for some of us, our furry companions become the children we nurture and protect with fierce devotion. This Mother's Day weekend took an unexpected turn when my diabetic cat Bubbie began experiencing concerning episodes of vomiting that sparked an all-night adventure at the emergency veterinary clinic. Again. We're regular visitors there.
For pet parents with special needs animals, these moments carry extra weight as symptoms could signal more complicated underlying situations. The diagnostic journey involved sedating my notoriously uncooperative cat (a diplomatic way of saying he transforms into a whirlwind of claws and fangs during vet visits), resulting in inconclusive findings but supportive treatment for his inflamed GI tract.
The comedic yet exhausting finale to our 4:30 AM homecoming involved donning protective gear—yes, actual jackets and gloves—to remove persistent vet wrap from Bubbie's back leg while he expressed his feline opinions on the matter. Though my middle-aged body no longer handles sunrise bedtimes with grace, seeing Bubbie recover brings the kind of relief only fellow pet parents will truly understand. Whether you're responsible for human children or furry companions, the emotional investment, sleepless nights, and unwavering dedication reflect a form of parenthood that deserves recognition. Share your own pet parenting war stories with me on Instagram @OnlyChildDiaries—and maybe send some coffee my way while I recover from this adventure!
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The days when I used to go to sleep as the sun was coming up are long gone. Welcome to the Only Child Diaries podcast. I'm your host, Tracy Wallace. Have you ever felt like you didn't receive the how-to brochure on life, that you didn't get enough guidance about major life issues? So did I. You don't have to be an only child to feel this way. In my podcast, we'll explore some of the best ways to better navigate adulting, while doing so with humor and light. Welcome everyone to the Only Child Diaries podcast. Child Diaries podcast.
Tracy:Today I'm going to talk about Mother's Day even though this is dropping after Mother's Day here in the US and also our recent vet visit experience. Our recent vet visit experience. Yes, I'm a mother, but a mother to my animals, our pets. I take that very seriously and I have a series, a host of friends who are also mothers to animals. Mothers to animals, not children. It's a different category, but when you have animals and not children, you do well, you take it very seriously, and all my animals have been very special, especially our cat, bubby. This week he had two episodes two days worth of episodes of vomiting and, yes, cats tend to throw up right, they have hairballs or whatever. But being a diabetic it becomes a little bit tricky because it could signal a high glucose, reading a very high glucose, and that could cause trouble for him. Now, bubby is not what you would call a good or compliant patient, and so taking him into the vet is somewhat problematic. If he was a compliant patient or happy to go along with whatever anybody wanted to do with him, I wouldn't even think twice. But he causes himself and everyone else a lot of aggravation. So the first day this happened I watched him. He was fine. Otherwise, he had a lot of energy, he wanted to play. He also wanted to eat, which created its own issue, because he'd eat and then he'd throw up, and then he'd eat and then he'd throw up. So much to his dismay, I took his food away and then, after oh gosh, I guess three or four hours, I let him eat a little bit. I had given him his regular insulin shot and he seemed to be better.
Tracy:Two days later, last night, he started throwing up again. He started throwing up hair, not food, but he threw up at least five or six times, and that worried me because something might be wrong. Right, he doesn't usually throw up hairballs because he's on a medication that stops his desire to throw up. It has a secondary benefit to his asthma. So off to the emergency that we went last night. They didn't find anything conclusive. His GI tract looked inflamed on the x-ray and they gave him supportive fluids which, if he had a hairball that was not coming up or hard to pass, would help.
Tracy:We finally came home last night at 4.30 in the morning and he wanted to eat. He felt pretty good but he was pretty ticked off. Like I said, he's not a compliant patient and in order to get blood work and x-rays they had to sedate him. But he woke up pretty quickly and he was ready to fight anybody who. He came home and I asked them specifically to take the vet wrap off his legs where they did the supportive care, the IV fluids, and took the blood, and they did get one of them off the front. But then I noticed, as I was trying desperately just to lay down, that he had a light lavender vet wrap on his back leg and so we had to get that off. I put on a jacket and I put on gloves and I picked him up and Bill was trying to cut it off, pull it off, and Bubby was pretty mad. Anyway, we got it off.
Tracy:I'm happy to report that Bubby is, or seems to be, feeling better today. He's eaten, he's used his litter box, he laid in the sun for a while even though it's pretty warm here again today and this animal mom's heart feels a little bit better. But I'm completely exhausted. The days when I used to go to sleep as the sun was coming up are long gone, and it's pretty disorienting to my whole system. So, folks, that's all I've got for today. I'm going to go take a nap now.
Tracy:I wish that everybody's had a good Mother's Day week weekend and we'll look forward to Father's Day, and next week we'll tackle another topic together. I hope you'll join me. If you like this episode, please follow the Only Child Diaries podcast on Apple Podcasts or other platforms you might listen on and consider rating Only Child Diaries and writing a review. It helps others to find us. Please share it with a friend you think might like it as well. Visit my Instagram page, only Child Diaries or Facebook Only Child Diaries Podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Tracy Wallace and these are the Only Child Diaries.
