They say adopting a pet is one of the most rewarding things a person can do. The unconditional love, the companionship, they are things money can’t buy. What the adoption pamphlets do not mention is that rescues come with a history, one you aren’t always prepared for.
One woman adopted an eleven-year-old chunky rescue cat, fell completely and immediately in love, and spent the next several months learning exactly how far that love would be tested. The cat is fine, by the way. She is also fine. Getting there, however, involved a level of chaos that can only be described as biblical.
More info: Reddit
Adopting a senior rescue pet is one of the most rewarding things a person can do, and nobody mentions that the rewards occasionally come with uninvited guests
Image credits: Getty Images / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
A woman adopted an eleven-year-old, nineteen-pound rescue cat and fell completely in love with him despite the health issues, the vet bills, and the mystery cough nobody could explain
Image credits: jcomp / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Six vet visits and an air purifier later, she was told it was probably allergies and that some things you just have to live with, which turned out to be more accurate than the vet intended
Image credits: fxquadro / Freepik (not the actual photo)
One morning, she woke up to his latest toilet offering, saw things moving that absolutely should not have been moving, and then made the catastrophic decision to check her bed
Image credits: Freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The cat had been shedding tapeworm eggs across her bedding for approximately three months while she slept cuddled up next to him every single night
Image credits: hoverstock / Freepik (not the actual photo)
They received matching diagnoses and prescriptions, a bonding experience she wasn't quite ready for
Image credits: leyvaine Davids / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
She took the meds with food she could barely touch, said a final farewell to the worms, and woke up with her face swollen completely shut from a severe allergic reaction
Image credits: carsgobeep3
The pharmacist took one look at her face and said "oof," her doctor charged her $140 for a five-minute video call, and she came home with steroids and $20 worth of candy
In January 2020, our protagonist adopted an eleven-year-old, nineteen-pound rescue cat who had been returned by his previous family with a bad case of fleas. She fell instantly and completely in love. He was a chonker, he was a senior, and he came with a list of health issues longer than most people's resumes. She thought she knew what she was signing up for. She did not know the half of it.
By February, the cat had developed a mystery cough and stopped using his litter box for number twos, choosing instead to leave his deposits on the wood floor and immediately sprint away from them. Six vet visits later, she was told it was probably allergies and behavioral issues. Then, one morning, she woke up to his latest floor offering and saw things moving in it that absolutely should not have been moving.
Tapeworms. Everywhere. She checked the bed and found that what she had previously assumed were gravel crumbles from her brick wall were actually tapeworm eggs, scattered across her pillow and sheets for what the vet later estimated had been approximately three months. She and her cat had been sharing a bed, a diagnosis, and apparently a parasite the entire time.
The cat got his medication for $13. Hers was significantly more. She took the medication, lit a candle, called her best friend for a virtual worm farewell ceremony, and went to sleep on her couch without blankets because all her bedding was in bags. She woke up with her face completely swollen shut. It turned out she was severely allergic to the tapeworm medication!
She video called her doctor, was told to get Benadryl immediately, and was charged another $140 for the five-minute call. She walked to the pharmacy with her face barely visible above her glasses, was greeted with a sympathetic "oof" from the pharmacist, and came home with steroids, a box of wine, and $20 worth of candy.
The cat, meanwhile, had stopped coughing entirely the moment he got his medication and was thriving. She was unemployed, alone, swollen, and sharing a studio apartment with a parasite during a global pandemic. She would do it all again for the cat. She said so herself.
Image credits: carsgobeep3
Tapeworms are flat, segmented parasites that live in the intestines of their host and shed small egg-filled segments that look, horrifyingly, like grains of rice. Cats most commonly get tapeworms by swallowing an infected flea while grooming themselves. The flea acts as the middle-man, carrying the tapeworm larvae, and once the cat ingests it, the tapeworm sets up permanent residence.
An estimated 50 million people worldwide are currently hosting a tapeworm. Eew! In the U.S., they are considered rare, affecting fewer than 1% of the population, which means our protagonist joined a very exclusive and deeply unwanted club. Infections are most common in developing regions of South America, Africa, and Asia, and in a very cuddly senior rescue cat.
Here is the part where petMD would like a word. Flea control should be maintained year-round, not just during warmer months, because fleas are the primary carrier of tapeworm larvae in cats. The cat in this story was defleaed before adoption but came from a flea-positive environment, meaning the tapeworm had likely already taken hold before he ever arrived at his new home.
The good news is that tapeworm infections in both cats and humans are very treatable with a single round of medication. The bad news is that the medication costs ten times more for the human than it does for the cat and carries a small but memorable risk of causing your face to swell completely shut. Adopt senior pets regardless, as our hero said herself. Just maybe start the flea prevention on day one.
What is your most memorable pet-related medical emergency? Share them in the comments!
The internet devoured this story, gagging a little on the side, and breathed a sigh of relief once they saw photos of the happy and healed chonky boy
Image credits: carsgobeep3
