Friends, and cat foaming at mouth

5/8/18  Cambridge, MD

So we got up really early to get an early start to our voyage to the other side....of Chesapeake Bay...the land of shallowness (or water) and many islands and who knows what else. Our friends, Alice and John had convinced us. We'd made an appointment for Amelia to be seen by the local veterinarian. Beautiful day.

Tried to give Amelia a quarter of dramamine. Ugly! She spit. She drooled. She flung spewm from side to side shaking her head. She, literally, foamed at the mouth. She tried to escape to the aft bed. "No!" She ran out the door to the deck. "Stay with the boat!" She liked her lips but the reverse of what we generally consider 'licking your lips.' She was pushing the taste OUT of her mouth. I said to David, "Well, that didn't work." I tried to give her catnip or Greenies. She was having none of it. Clearly, I was not trustworthy.

So we got underway and Amelia hid under the bed covers.The day was beautiful, the crossing easy and comfortable. Waves 2' every 2-3 seconds. Easy. We shared helms person responsibilities pretty equally. Arrived in Cambridge around 12:45. Alice and John waved at us as we passed then came over to greet us. Alice had brought their lunch so they ate on board Grace. We'd already eaten. They took us for a drive around town and to show us where the kitty doctor was. We dropped John at their boat, Alice at their temporary home and we took the car back to the boat to get kitty and off to her temporary doc.

The good news : the diagnosis holds no surprises...probably kidney disease or motion sickness and/or both. He (young!)  Dr. Allen) noted high levels of something that points to kidney disease. The new thing was a second elevated something that points to hyperglycemia. He could do a test to confirm. No. We'd have to medicate her and weren't going to be here long enough to get the correct med level. Just hydrate her and show us how. So Amelia got about 50 mg of saline solution and the nurse showed us how to give her more in a couple days. Also left with anti-nausea, motion sickness pills. "Can we take them, too?" David asked. Amelia was much more perky when she got back to the boat than she'd been leaving the boat. Water works!

We picked up John on our way back to our boat where we were dropped off. Later we joined Alice and John and Al and Angie for dinner at the restaurant just 20 yards from our boat. Lovely time was had by us, all, I think. A short visit to Grace so Al and Angie could see her, a walk downtown to get an ice cream cone, back to the boat for goodbyes.

Lovely day and Amelia is going to be with us and pretty comfortable, or the possibility of comfort, for some time to come. What a relief. The vet office women said they'd call tomorrow to see how Amelia was doing. I suggested they should be calling to see how the cat's humans were doing.

Great to see and spend a small amount of time available with Alice and John. Not sure when we'll see them again as they're selling their boat and moving back to CA for awhile. We'll likely see Al and Angie at the Yarmouth Clam Festival this summer. Al is beautiful dancer, Jessica's, dad and John's brother.

A lovely day, all told.