Tobie Wan Kanobie gets a claw back into 'The Force.'

I called the emergency vet hospital at 6:30am this morning. The overnight vet was very sweet and had obviously spent some time with our wonder kitty as she already knew that Tobes will growl when she's not happy with you but she never bites. She told us that Tobes had returned to normal temperature but her BGL was still low. It seems that Tobie had had a massive hypo but is not a diabetic kitty. They still aren't sure if the seizure caused the low glucose level or the low glucose level caused the seizure. It also appeared that she had become blind- but that might clear up later. Low glucose levels can cause blindness in cats. She is still very weak and cannot really stand on her own feet.

The theory is that our puss had somehow gotten hold of T2 diabetes medication- ie glucose inhibitors or she may have a tumor in a strange spot that causes hyper production of insulin. We have theories of how access to medication may have happened - a diabetic neighbour may have left medication on his verandah table or some horrible person may have done it deliberately. Either way we are no longer taking chances with Tobie Wan Kanobie. She will stay inside with a litter tray when we are not home and will only go outside for supervised visits. There are plans afoot to build a backyard cat run that will let her in and out of the house at will.

We rushed across peak hour traffic to pick her up and transfer to our local vet who will supervise her for the next few days @ $100 plus a day. The emergency vet ended up costing $640. She's one expensive moggie. But what can we do? We can't exactly say, 'Sorry Tobes, thanks for the purrs and the cuddles but your life isn't worth it'. She's a family member so we will go into debt to try and save her.

Picking her up was bitter sweet. It was great to see her looking perkier, but you could tell that she wasn't able to see- her eyes are unfocused but she tracks shadows so that is a good sign. She can't sit up beyond that tucked up squatting position. She is still so weak. I picked her up and cuddled her into me. She put her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. the vet said it was the first time she had seen her look happy. I didn't want to let go of her but I had to let Bear put her into the cage to take her to the car because the surgery is on a main road. Not that she would have got anywhere if she did jump down but who'd take risks at this stage.

When we got into the car I sat in the back with her. I pulled her out of the cage immediately and snuggled her into her favourite rug. She growled at first the she put her head down on my chest while I rubbed her behind the ears and crooned to her. Her eyes closed again and she started to purr. I teared up- I thought I'd never hear that again. I cuddled her all of the way. She wouldn't let me put her on my lap- she demanded to be held up close to my face. My arms ached but I held her anyway. She felt warm. I noticed a couple of shaved patches around her neck and on her legs. My whole front was coated in fur and she was looking up at me. I spoke to her and she mewed back. That made me feel so much calmer. She responded to Bear's voice too. By fifteen minutes into the trip she was bubble purring (purring so loud it sounds like blowing bubbles) and dribbling on me.

The trip was long but seemed shorter than the trip yesterday. When we got to our local vet I stopped to wipe her down with some pet wipes - she smelled of urine and poo. She began to growl, then peed on me. I sat really still and tried to keep it all in her rug but some still got in the car. Bear put her on the ground and she finished. She actually took a couple of shakey, squatting steps while I cleaned up the car and myself.

We took her inside and waited to see the vet. He was kind and obviously a cat person. Tobes immediately asserted her personality by growling at him while purring at me for rubbing her head. She endured yet another rectal thermometer with a spirited growl then I made another attempt to clean her up while she told me off about it.

So now we've left her in the capable hands of her regular vet. We've checked on her again and they are still waiting on x-ray results. There hasn't been much improvement from this morning but we expect the next stages to take a while. Hang onto the Force Tobie Wan Kanobie-may your kung fu get stronger.