a stroke?

we returned yesterday from a glorious, summer-ending week at the beach only to be greeted by one pissed off cat that pissed on whatever he could find and another cat with clear neurological issues. while, the first cat mocked us as we cleaned, the second was taken on an after hours trip to the animal hospital. the details ...

about 10:30 pm i noticed that hubert's head was twitching and shaking. calmly, we performed our own exam and noticed that the twitching and shaking became worse when we pressed on his neck directly below his ear. then, we FREAKED! kristin uttered the unfathomable - brain tumor - and i quickly jumped to a world without our beloved big-boned fat cat. we called the animal hospital and they told us to bring him in right away.

he was such a trooper on the way in - no meowing, just a calm and collected kitty. it's like he wanted to leave us with one final beautiful memory. he valiantly made it through the triage and waited patiently to be seen by the doctor. all the while, i prepared myself to say goodbye and attempted to remain stoic.

finally, at 1:00 am the doctor called us into the exam room. she performed the routine exam and then moved on to the neurological tests - eye exams and the like. she poked and prodded, stuck and swabbed. after what seemed an eternity, she took a deep breath and gave her diagnosis - ear wax and a bill for $110.