So the Bailey story. She has had this sneezy-thing for a few months that then progressed to coughing and pushed me over the edge when she began mouth-breathing. Have you ever seen a cat mouth-breathe?? It is soo creepy looking! Cats are not meant to breathe out of their mouths! So off to the vet she went again. One liver panel, one set of xrays, one thyroid panel, one new antibiotic prescription, one new food, and one $237 bill later, and I have a very traumatized cat. Thank god my mom took her!! (Side note: Mom dropped something off at my apartment two days later and all she saw of Bailey was her butt as she ran under the bed!)

So here is where the sudifed comes in. Bailey had lost 11 oz (which is a lot for a cat that barely tops 7 lbs) and so I told the vet that I thought part of the issue was that she couldn't smell and Dr. L agreed but they don't make a decongestant for cats - strange, huh? Dr. L told me to get children's sudifed and give her 1/4 of the smallest dose. So off I go to CVS and sign away my life and dna and called my mom to cosign, etc... and home I go to dose the cat. Cats do not like getting medicine period. They really, really, really do not like getting GRAPE flavored medicine. She looked like she had rabies - foaming at the mouth, panting, hacking... it was gory. Of course, through all this taste bud misery, she still cannot breathe through her nose. Spit went everywhere!

But, next day, she was breathing through her nose a little - lots of sneezing which was good. She ate and beat up on the other cats a little. All good signs. This morning, she ate half a can of food, beat up on all three of the cats, and didn't breathe through her mouth once! The sudifed was a total success!! Dr. L ROCKS! Grape flavored medicine, not so much.

So due to the financial strain Bailey has caused, we are on a ramon noodle diet this week. The one week I decide that it is o.k. to spend $100 at Target on new pants, the cat's health crashes. Everyone assures me this is how it always works so that makes me feel a little better. What made me feel the best was my mom floating me $137 until tonight. God Bless Mothers!