“Will she or won’t she?” has become a nightly question in our house over the last few weeks. But who are we referring to?

Will She Or Won’t She

When you have a cat with epilepsy you have a very different relationship than with other cats. Or at least we do with our Emmy.

Some History

I found Emmy over four years ago, wandering, completely spaced out with saliva dribbling from her mouth. Born to one of the (then) feral cats, Scruff, I thought she had been poisoned. I rushed her to the vet only for her to have a seizure on arrival.

In my blog ‘Living With An Epileptic Cat – Emmy’s Story‘ I tell how it turned out that Emmy had epilepsy. I left her at the vet clinic but several seizures later she was blind and brain damaged, not being able to walk properly. Reading about autistic children gave me an idea on how to work with Emmy and, sure enough, our plan worked. Her sight came back and she learned to walk properly again. I won’t repeat all that here.

We managed Emmy’s condition on Kepra but eventually that stopped controlling the seizures and we had to turn to Phenobarbital. I cried when I gave her the first dose as it is such a severe drug. I wrote about that in a follow up blog.

Current Health

Emmy hasn’t had a seizure since she started Phenobarbital. She has a few facial tremors from time to time but otherwise has been really good. At the time of writing is eight months since her last seizure. Instead of laying in bed worrying will she or won’t she have a seizure in the night I get to sleep!

No Cuddles

With all our cats we enjoy our cuddles – except Emmy. It holds no interest for her at all! She doesn’t like being picked up and never jumps up on our lap. Her main interaction with us is really when she sits on the unit by the television. She stares at us for hours with those huge saucer eyes! We get to stroke the top of her head and I always kiss her when I give her meds as she is such a good little girl taking her tablet. But it would be lovely to have a real cuddle with her. I always tell her she is the ‘bestest little tablet taker in the world’. No struggling, she just lets us open her mouth and pop in the tablet.

Things Are Changing

Things have been changing over the last few weeks. We don’t know why but Emmy is thinking about coming up on the sofa with us. She started sitting right in front of us looking up as if she might come up with us.

Of course we sit and hold our breath and try and encourage her to come up. Literally, will she or won’t she jump up. But she turns away eventually and wanders off.

A Near Miss

Last night I was reading on my tablet and was aware of a cat getting up next to me on the sofa. Absent minded, I put out a hand and stroked the top of the cat’s head. It was a moment or two before it dawned on me – it was Emmy!

I couldn’t help it, I went rigid! I tried to relax but it was such a wonderful moment. She started to move as if to get on my lap and I thought it would be such a wonderful moment if she actually got on me and curled up. My eyes filled with tears! Then she changed her mind and got down.

But you know it could happen! Will she or won’t she?

I’ll let you know.

Update:

With great sadness I have to report that we lost little Emmy in March 2020 owing to liver and kidney failure. This was probably caused by the new medication. The vets did their best including a blood transfusion but it was to no avail. At least we had another year with her and we all did our best to ensure she had a lovely life while we had her.

Cat Art Images

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Before you go

My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound, an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.