It looked, for a short time, that Opie and Guido were going to start co-habiting in a somewhat peaceful manner. But, that changed quickly when one night around ten just when I was going to start getting ready for bed, I heard a terrible ruckus in the basement. As I ran downstairs I could see Opie and he looked bloody. First I had to break up the fight and separate them. Then, I had to grab Opie. His eye was all bloody and glassy looking. I thought he had lost it. I ran and got his carrier, threw him in and rushed off to the Emergency Animal Clinic as it was too late in the evening to take him to my Vet. It turned out that he had a cut just below his eye. That's where all the blood came from. But, his cornea was also scratched and I had to treat it with salve.

After a long interval, I tried putting them together again. But, one morning while I was getting ready for work, they got into it again. It was so bad that spraying them with water did nothing. I took the lid off the spray bottle and doused them. That did nothing. It looked like they were going to fight to the death. The only way I was able to get them separated was when Guido ran over by the basement door. I managed to slam it shut. There I was, a trembling, shaky mess. That was it. Something had to be done. That night I called the Vet.

Kitty Prozac, that's what the Vet said it was. I picked it up after work and gave Opie his first dose that evening. I was so happy. Finally, maybe now Opie would calm down and there would be peace. She said to watch him closely, but that as far as they knew, there were no side effects on cats. It was very safe. Day two, he got his second dose. He didn't seem to be calming down at all, but she said it would take a few days to get into his system. By day four I noticed that something was wrong. Instead of calming down, now he seemed worse. He was walking around the house all wide-eyed, using caution in every step. He seemed to be afraid of everything. This wasn't good. I stopped the medication immediately and hoped that after it got out of his system, he would return to normal.

Two days later on Saturday, I noticed that he hadn't used his litter box - at all. And, he was still acting weird. So, I called my Vet. Opie spent the weekend there. On Sunday, she called me and said he still hadn't eliminated. She had to put him under anesthesia to void him and give him an enema. She even took a few X-rays to make sure he didn't have a problem with his spine. There was absolutely nothing physically wrong with him. She said it was like he just decided that he doesn't want to go. The only thing we could think of was that he was having a retention reaction from the medication. It cost me $297 to be told that he was fine.

I brought him home on Monday and practically followed him around with a litter box. Finally, after a couple of hours, he voided on his own. But, he still hadn't pooped. He had been eating normally all along, so I figured it had to happen at some point. Through this whole ordeal I was worrying that maybe the medication had a permanent effect on him and maybe he was ruined for life. That thought nearly drove me mad. I gave him hairball treatment hoping it would act like a laxative. But, by Tuesday still nothing. More hairball treatment. Wednesday it was my birthday and the only thing I wanted was for Opie to poop! Thursday morning when I got up and checked the litter box, there it was - Opie's birthday present to me - he pooped! A nice big three day pile of poop.

Opie and Guido now live separate lives. Each day they get switched. Guido in the basement, Opie in the rest of the house, Opie in the basement, Guido in the rest of the house. Only, now Guido is getting greedy. He wants "the rest of the house" all the time. I think I need Prozac. ~ Sigh ~

Copyright © Julie Balon
November 11, 2005