Cloud is the most destructive kitty I’ve ever owned.

Ever since he was tiny, he’s needed something to chew on and tear apart. For a while this was the crown of our kitchen cabinets. It took us forever to curb that habit and by the time we did, we had to sand, fill in, and repaint the corners. In one spot I had to reattach the molding. Now we keep an empty box on hand specifically for him to violently tear asunder with his little fangs.

Cloud is thin, but deceptively strong. At one point we had lost the screw that keeps the draws in the base of our bed shut. Cloud wanted to get in there, so we put a weight in front of it. Ten pounds was not enough. Twenty pounds was not enough. Thirty pounds slowed him down. Unfortunately I don’t own heavier free weights.

He’s always enjoyed chewing on things and has a special fascination for hair. He used to love to climb onto my shoulders after a shower and gnaw on my hair. At first it was cute, but I had to put a stop to it. Not only because I discovered he wasn’t just mouthing it but actually chewing off chunks of hair, but also because in his desperation, he would leap onto my shoulders when I was fully naked and trying to get dressed. I don’t think he was really trying to eat my hair, I think he just enjoyed chewing on it and maybe the feeling of his teeth cutting through something.

This Christmas we went to Peoria to visit my husband’s family. The cats have been to their house a few times before and they’re very familiar with the hotel that we stop at halfway there and back. Aang hates the car, but they both love the hotel. They roll around on the bed, run circles around the room, etc. This year, Aang even managed to get inside of a pillowcase. With the pillow.

The visit as a whole was low-key. Which was fine. I am suffering from my own stomach issues, which means I can’t take NSAIDs and was experiencing extreme ovulation pain, so I basically spent the first two days on the couch with a heating pad and a book. The cats were initially skittish, but settled in.

On Christmas Day, Cloud was puking frequently. It wasn’t a lot and it was liquid, so my first thought was that he had a hairball he was trying to cough up. He hid under the bed most of the day, but since there were children over, I didn’t think that was too unusual. But he didn’t come out to cuddle that night.

The next morning, we packed up to leave and he huddled under the Christmas tree the entire time and didn’t put up even token resistance when Dean put him into the carrier. I was concerned. Dean thought that maybe he was stressed from the trip, but I didn’t think that was it. I said if he didn’t perk up when we got to the hotel, we needed to call the vet.

At the hotel, he immediately went behind the one chair in the room and curled up in the corner. Normally the first thing they do when we get to the hotel is eat and/or use the litter box. Cloud did stick his head in the toilet before we got the bowls unpacked and drank heavily, but that was it. Dean made an appointment at the vet for the following afternoon. In the meantime, my mother-in-law texted to say that the cats had gotten into the sewing room. Four spools of thread had been pulled off her surge and chewed on.

I was seriously worried then. I knew that ingesting string could screw cats up. It’s why there are lids on most of my trashcans. Especially the one in the bathroom. My previous cat, Jake, loved eating dental floss. He actually passed some once and I will spare you those details, you’re welcome. But from then on it was kitty proof trashcans all the way.

At around 11 p.m. Cloud vomited again. It was more liquid this time and it was forest green. We tried to find the emergency vet in Mount Vernon, IL. I’ll save you the suspense, there is no emergency vet in Mount Vernon or the surrounding towns. There was a vet on call who we did speak to. She said that the closest emergency vet was in St. Louis and that the best she could do was triage him, she wouldn’t be able to treat him. I asked at what point should we drive through the night. She said if he was still alert and responding to us, and it had been a few days without change, we could probably wait and get him to Nashville in the morning.

During the drive, I continually glanced back to check Cloud. He was curled up in his carrier while Aang wailed away, but he did look up every time I touched him. The vet called while we were on the road. They had read the file we’d submitted online and said they wanted to see us as soon as possible. We changed our route and drove straight to the vet.

Dean dropped Cloud and me off and turned around to take Aang and the luggage home and to put gas in the car. Cloud and I didn’t have to wait too long before we were seen. And he knocked off a few Hamiltons by being good for his X-rays so he didn’t have to be sedated. They sent the X-rays over to a technician, but the vet did point out that, 1. Cloud was constipated, and 2. that there were some indications of bunching in the intestines. They were going to wait to see what the X-ray tech said, but she laid it out for me. There were no surgeons at our vet that day and the recommendation was that we do not wait. We would have to be referred to an emergency clinic and likely they would keep Cloud over night after surgery for observation.

It may not look like it, but that’s thousands of dollars worth of thread right there.

Cloud’s surgery went well. The thread was wrapped around the base of his tongue and went all the way to the jejunum, which I believe he said was an earlier part of the intestine. They had to make an incision in the intestine and one in the stomach to remove all of the thread. They kept him overnight to make sure he was eating and responding well.

I got a call the following day that he was trying to climb his cage and had eaten so I could come get him. I was so happy to see that little boy! I opened the carrier to scratch his ears beneath his cone and he leaned in hard. He has to have medicine three times a day for pain management and he has to go back in two weeks just to check to see that he’s healing properly. Unfortunately, he’s not allowed to jump and must wear the cone for two weeks. There’s really no room in our house that doesn’t have things he could jump on, so I borrowed a large cage from a friend who had been through this before. I’ve set Cloud up in it and he HATES IT. As I write this, he is sulking by sleeping in his litter box. (Had to get him litter made out of newspaper so the dust didn’t get into his incisions and I don’t think he gets that he’s supposed to pee in there.)

The next two weeks are going to be rough, but at least he’s here. And it’s only for two weeks I hope he gets used to the cage and starts eating and drinking. And I hope he gets used to the newspaper litter.

I’m going to give him his next dose and see if he’d like to be held for some cuddle time.

The one where Cloud has emergency surgery.