Today was the appointment day and I would like to start this post with how God answered mine & your prayers.

• I put some food in the back of Cino’s carrier and she went in to eat which allowed for me to be able to shut it without a fight. (Pray that she doesn’t catch on to this and refuse to go in again)
• I arrived at the vet clinic at 10:45 a.m. and was home at 12:10 p.m. (Believe me, it is rare to not be there for at least a few hours)
• Cino is ok (I’ll explain)
• I am ok (I’ll explain)

I received a phone call a week ago Tuesday about the blood in Cino’s urine for the third time in a row. The appointment for the ultrasound was today. So, I had one week to, well, go crazy. You tell your self over & over again in your mind that worry will do absolutely NO GOOD, but the rest of you doesn’t listen. Before you know it you are imagining all the terrible possibilities. It’s the waiting, the waiting is what kills us.

As I mentioned in the poem I wrote in my last post, my emotions have been all over the place this past week. There were days I was so strong! There were days I was so weak! As it got closer to the appointment day & time, I was losing it.

I prayed over the last week the things I asked you to pray for as well as that I would be able to glorify God somehow through all of this. Normally when I am the vet I don’t talk to the other people waiting, I am caught up in the stress of being there and just wanting to get out. But today, God used me. There was another woman there waiting to have an ultrasound done on her dog. We chatted almost the entire wait. Her dog was twelve years old and she & her husband just found out this past December that he has heart disease. She said it turned their world upside down. They have him on medication and this was the third ultrasound to see how things are going. She was just as nervous as I was waiting there, she explained they do not have children so that little guy is their child. I said oh, I can relate! Her dog went in and came back out. The veterinarian came to speak to her and she was told things were looking great! She immediately broke down into tears!  She was embarrassed for crying, so I said to her “there is no reason to be embarrassed, this is someone you care about deeply. I am so happy to hear things look good for your dog!”

A technician came out and said they were going to take Cino in the back to shave her stomach and then I could go with them in the room for the ultrasound. I was doing so good, but now it was Cino’s turn, and I immediately became a wreck. I heard a cat “meowing” very loudly and when I looked up it was Cino being carried into the ultrasound room. I have never seen an animal getting an ultrasound before and guess what…they don’t like it! They held her down, she fought, meowed, and even tried to bite (which she does not do). They said a few times “look there is mom”, but I swear it seemed like she got worse then.

What was I doing? Biting my hand, swaying from side to side, taking deep breaths, and wondering why in the world I decided to come in here with her to see this!? (As hard as it is, I do feel it is very important to go with your pet when you can. There are some places that are not so nice to animals behind the scenes. Don’t just blindly trust them because that is what they do for a living!)

So what’s going on with Cino….she has a small stone on her kidney. There is also some inflammation on the bladder wall. I need to change her diet to help break up the stone and I need to give her some gel that is anti-inflammatory. He says they believe it is diet/allergy related.

My veterinarian said “this is great news, it is nothing life threatening. We were really looking for a tumor or something that may have required an operation.” He said it a few times and the way he said it, I think he was waiting for a different response than I was giving him. It wasn’t that I wasn’t ecstatic that it was this, as I realize it could have been much worse. I was just so exhausted from all the worry and seeing Cino being held down and really disliking it, I just wanted to know what needed to be done and I wanted to get out of there!

Changing Cino’s diet is not easy, she is very picky! But you know what…HALLELUJAH!!!! Cino is OK! We will monitor her urine samples.

We are home and we are both resting! Well, at least that is what I plan to do after I am done with this post. (picture below is not the best quality, but I am too tired to try for another one right now)

Thank you! I am so grateful for all of you, for your prayers, and your understanding of the love between a girl and her cat.

Most of all, thank you Jesus!

I would appreciate continued prayers that I have success with her diet and that her future urine samples will be free of blood, so we know these things are working.