The Adventures of Lonnie, Siri, and Obi

We had to take the little baby Sirius to the emergency vet recently because he wouldn’t stop vomiting and was acting super lethargic. He is our super playful, happy go lucky guy so it was very unlike him. We get there around 8 PM and because of the virus, have to wait in the car. Of course, as soon as we get there he starts acting just fine and begging to get out, but we have him checked out anyway.

5 hours in the car and $650 later, they tell us they didn’t find anything in the x ray and are unsure what’s up, so it could be a UTI. Would we like to keep him overnight and run some more expensive tests? In the same breath we are told he is “alert and....lively.” So I know he is terrorizing that cage they put him in and wants to come home.

We decide to just take him home on medications and keep an eye on him for awhile. We put the other two upstairs and confined him to the cage. We were told no food for 24 hours, and if you know Sirius, you know he absolutely doesn’t miss a meal. I slept downstairs with him in case I heard him vomiting again.

Listen, I love animals, but after 5 hours being in the car, not having sleep, and being stressed, I was ready to have it out with this little fucker. I am trying so hard to sleep but first, I hear him scratching at the corner in the cage because there are little crumbs of food and he’s mad he can’t eat. It goes quiet for a minute and I sigh blissfully, happy to be able to go to sleep now. No. No, he was just pausing to finish his warm up. He then starts biting the bars of his cage and rattling the door as hard as he can so I can bring him his dinner. He knows I’m down there and he pauses every once in awhile to dart his head around and see if I am coming with a bowl. A single tear runs down my face. I just want to sleep. It’s 3 AM Sirius, I’m sorry, I can’t do anything. 

It goes quiet for another few minutes and I think it’s over. It’s almost 4 AM now. Then I hear it. A slight jingle of a bell and I am filled with dread. We have a rope that has a jingly ball tied from the top of the cage that they can play with and of course they NEVER actually do. But today, it’s time for that toy to shine. When he’s mad he likes to teach this ball a thing or two and I hear him hanging on the rope with his mouth and SWINGING around the top of the cage. I shine a light from my phone at him and watch him aggressively throw himself around the cage hanging by this jingly ball because he wants dinner and he wants it NOW. I am resigned. I won’t sleep that night. After a half hour of this, he decides to sleep but I no longer care.