Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Vet time for Birchy!

I've whipped myself into a big paranoid frenzy that there's something wrong with Birch.  It's probably nothing, but he's overdue for a checkup anyway, so I'm taking him in tomorrow.

Here are the things I'm worried about:

-I don't think he threw up once in the first year I had him, but for the past few months he's been throwing up from time to time.  Not a lot, but still.
-The Boy made an offhanded comment about Birch's gut feeling firmer and less floppy than it used to.
-I think he's been sleeping more than he used to.  Although I'm not positive.
-Recently, Birch has started making sudden squawking noises...like he'll be lying on the couch minding his own business and suddenly go "MRAH!" and get up with a pissy expression on his face and go sleep somewhere else.  The first time or two, I was sitting right next to him and I thought his tail must have gotten caught under the side of my ass or something...but then he did it a bunch of times when no one was anywhere near him.
-He obsessively licks and chews plastic bags.  It looks like the bags he's molested are tattered but still intact - I don't think he's actually eating any of the plastic - but all the previous points make me wonder if he has a huge tumor of wadded-up plastic in his belly that's giving him random, shooting stomach pains and making him throw up.

Again, he's probably fine.  His semiweekly pukes don't have plastic or blood in them and neither do his poops.  Also, the start of his barfing may well coincide with me changing his brand of cat food a while back (I can't remember).  But I'll feel better once he's seen a professional.

Send us happy thoughts!

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