VETERINARY UPDATES

Well, this has been a busy week, vet-wise. We had three vet visits this week for three different cats. On Wednesday Buddy had his regular eye check-up with Dr. Hermann. The pressure in his eyes is pretty stable, though higher than normal in the left one still. Buddy is so good during the exam and Dr. Hermann is just the best! He answers all my questions like I have a few brain cells and explains things well. We go back in four months.

Wednesday afternoon I finally got Max in for his checkup and fructosamine with Dr. Hseih. Was she surprised when Max showed up at 15 lbs! His exam went well and his fructosamine showed his glucose was being maintained well. He's down to 5 units of insulin twice a day. I was so amazed that I was able to catch him Wednesday morning. I didn't even call for an appointment until I had him secured in the bathroom. For a big guy he can sure move fast! Since he's doing so well he doesn't have to go back for 6 months!!!

Thursday Micha had his recheck. They did bloodwork and an exam. I really like Dr. Werner - she handles Micha well and doesn't take any of his guff  personally. His kidney values were actually down a bit more, which is good. However, he is now experiencing some anemia - a result of the decrease in kidney function. If it continues to increase, he may need some bone marrow injections. He goes back next week. Micha does look much better and his appetite appears a bit better. He has gained 3 ounces since last week. He's tolerating his fluids well and I've caught him nibbling at the dry food. As long as I can get at least 1200 cc's of the special canned food in him each day, I don't really care if he eats the dry, too. He's staying hydrated and that's important. I know his days are numbered, so I want to make him as comfortable as possible. He still has lots of strength and his usual vim and vinegar. When that changes I'll know it's time to let him go. In the mean time we will both enjoy our time together.

So it goes. These guys and their housemates do take a lot of my time, but I don't know what I'd do without them.

FURTHER MICHA UPDATE

It's been a busy, busy week and I apologize for taking so long to update Micha's condition. He spent the New Year's weekend at the emergency clinic for continued IV fluids. Since they were open Monday, he stayed there rather than going to the vet and then back to the clinic. Tuesday morning I moved him back to the vet. His numbers were down, but continued above normal.

The best news was that Tuesday evening he got to come home instead of going to the Emergency Clinic again. He was so happy to be home and I was happy to have him here. He knew he was home as soon as we drove into the garage. I set up a cage in his room as I didn't want him wandering about with his IV catherter still in. He wasn't happy about the cage, but settled in.

Wednesday morning we went back to the vet for more IV fluids and more bloodwork. The vet was disappointed that his numbers didn't stay, but went up just a tad. However, the best news of the week was then Wednesday night he came home for good, hopefully. They felt that this was as low as his numbers were going to go and it didn't make sense to keep him in the hospital for more fluids.

I can tell he feels better as he's not cranky and even talks to me a bit. I move him in and out of the cage depending on the time of day. He's supposed to be only eating some canned food especially for kidney failure patients and he gets a supplement twice a day and, supposedly, an appetite enhancer once a day. We are also doing subcutaneous fluids - 150 ml daily. He's not too keen on the canned food yet and I've caught him nibbling at the dry food. I'm not going to be too awfully strict as he does need to eat, though the dry food isn't the best for him. He's been a doll in taking his subQ fluids. He does not like the syringe feeding. He does nibble a bit at the canned food, too.

Another bit of good news is that he doesn't have to go back for a check until the 11th or 12th!

We are working out a schedule and it's almost time for his fluids so I will sign off for now. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and good wishes for Micha's recovery. As the vet said, there is no "cure" for kidney failure, but we can work on maintaining a good level of living while we can.

MICHA UPDATE

Micha is back at the Emergency Clinic, probably for the weekend. He had a good day at the vet and they were able to get urine for urinalysis and culture to see if anything was going on there. He still hadn't eaten any food. Since the vet would be closed for the entire weekend, he had to go back to the Emergency Clinic.

When I picked him up at the vet, he seemed much more alert though still cranky. I remembered that most of the other indoor cats loved the Purina Cat Chow that I feed the outside cats - they think it's candy! So I put some in a baggie to see if Micha would eat it. Dr. Inman mentioned a possible medication that requires being taken with food.

While we waited at the Emergency Clinic for him to be admitted, I dropped some of the Cat Chow in his carrier and - surprise, surprise - he ate it!! It's not the best thing for a diabetic cat to be eating, even if he is in remission right now. But he needs to eat so . . .

The Emergency Clinic is an interesting place. When we walked in, there was no one else there. The minute we got seated there were three dog brought in, two of which needed immediate attention. So we waited about an hour for admission. But we had people to talk to and I was interacting with Micha. There were two dogs who lived together and were devoted to each other that got in a fight over a knuckle bone. One just had some damage to the face and ears, but the other was in worse shape. I don't know how that worked out. The lady who brought them in was so distraught so we talked about dogs and cats and I hope she felt a bit better when I left.

I will go visit Micha later today with the hope that his bloodwork shows drastic improvement. I also appreciate all the prayers and good thoughts that folks are sending our way. It really helps both of us. I'll post an update later on today when we have the lab results.

ANOTHER MAX UPDATE

For those of you who might be interested, I thought I'd give a quick update on Max. On Monday Max went in for a check-up and it went soooo well. He's up to 14 lbs - double his weight when he went in the hospital 6 months ago! His vet is sooo thrilled with his progress. His blood glucose levels aren't as low as I would like, but they are "acceptable". His heart murmur hasn't worsened either. I've even seen a slight improvement in his neuropathy. So he doesn't have to go back to the vet for 3 MONTHS!!!! Yaaaayyyyy!! I'm so happy and I know Max is, too.

INTRODUCING CODY

Here is the lastest member of the family. His provisional name is Cody. I found him out front the morning after the storm moved thru, all wet and dirty, but purring up a storm. He's a cream point with a lot of Siamese in him. I asked around and no one I talked to knew where he belonged so I guess I'll keep him. I know, don't need another mouth to feed, but what else could I do?

Yesterday I took Cody to the vet to get checked out and be sure he didn't have any communicable diseases. Even tho she doesn't usually do surgeries on Mondays, the vet offered to neuter him so I left him there and ran some errands. (I guess it was a slow day.) I picked him up yesterday afternoon all groggy from the anesthesia, but still purring. All his tests came back negative except he has ear mites and hook worms. A dose or two of Revolution should take care of that. He slept most all of the afternoon and evening. And he's about 7 - 8 months old and weighs 7 lbs, which is just about perfect for his age.

This morning he was back to his cuddly, purry self. I've been racking my brain to try to come up with an appropriate name for him and Cody seems to be the top pick. He's residing in the back bedroom with some of the older guys who are a bit hissy, but will accept him when he stops smelling like the vet. Here are a couple of pictures of Cody and one of Ben and Jerry, his new big brothers. Isn't there quite the family resemblance?

Cody

Cody - look at that tail!

Ben (l) and Jerry (r)

BUDDY'S CHECKUP

Buddy went in to his eye vet for a 3 month checkup and he got a really good report. The doc said his eye pressure was normal (remember, he has glaucoma) and seemed very happy at that. Buddy will keep taking his pills (well, I'll be giving them to him) and we will continue the eye drops, but we can discontinue the eye ointment since the cloudiness has disappeared. Buddy was very good during the exam as always, but seemed relieved when it was over. We don't have to go back for FOUR MONTHS!!!! That's November!! Wow!!! The only downer is that we need more drops and they were out and will have to mail me some when they come in. I think we can eke out enough for a few more days. Anyway, just wanted to share the good news.

Happy to be home

GOOD NEWS

My momma cat, Goldie, went to the vet today to have her jaw xrayed to see if there was any root left from the tooth she lost. If there was they needed to go in and remove it to prevent infection. Luckily it had been resorbed (?) so no surgery was necessary. I had to have her at the vet between 7:30 and 8:00 this morning so we all got up extra early. I got to pick her up around 12:30, after she recovered from the anesthesia. She seems to be feeling fine if just a little miffed that I left her at the vet with no breakfast. She was all better after spending a bit of time at the food dish. lol She's a real sweetie.

Momma Goldie

HAPPY MAY DAY!!

I can't believe it's May 1st already! I guess summer's on its way for sure now. It was in the low 70's this morning and on the humid side. At least there's a breeze and I can have the windows open for a while to air the place out.


No vet call yesterday regarding Goldie's blood work. No surprise there. They will call the minute I leave the house. Never fails!! lol


Thought I'd post a few more cute cat pics since people seem to like that sort of thing. Catch ya'll later!!

These two are Barney and Charlie. Can you tell they are brothers? They have a third brother, Twitty (formerly known as Junior), who is also black and white. They aren't always this loving; you know how sibling rivalry is.

This is Twitty watching his favorite TV show, "Rachel Ray". He really loves chasing the "crawl" across the bottom of the screen.

This pair is Ben and Jerry (can you tell who makes my favorite ice cream?). They are cream point boys and were my first rescues back in 2000. They are the sweetest boys in the whole world!

GOLDIE'S VET VISIT

Took Goldie to the vet today. She's gained a ton of weight lately (she's normally a Skinny Minnie) and she also lost a tooth last night. My regular vet no longer works at the practice so we saw a new guy today. He seems competant. He said Goldie appears healthy based on his inital exam. He took blood for a work-up. He wants to x-ray where she lost the tooth (right fang) to see if any surgery is necessary to clean it up so it won't abcess. Goldie was cooperative, but did growl a bit. Overall it was a good visit. We get the results from the blood work tomorrow. Below I've posted a some pictures of Goldie and her kids, Kurt, Oliver and Katie. Nice family!!

Goldie (rear) and Oliver

Goldie and Katie

Kurt in the kitty condo.

VET VISIT

We made it to the vet on time today, though it was beginning to look doubtful. We had to wait just a bit, but it was quiet except for a couple of cute dogs so that was ok. Dr. Herman was happy with Buddy's progress - the pressure was down in both eyes. We are to keep with the same regimen of pills and drops twice a day plus the ointment once a day. He said to come back in THREE MONTHS!!! That's good news!! I think Buddy was happy to hear that, too, but with cats it's sometimes hard to tell. I know he was happy to get home. His right eye is still much larger than the left, but he still has vision in both eyes and that's a good thing, to quote Martha.

My neighbor dropped by to look at the fence and we decided to do the part that's on the side of the front yard first, since that's what everyone sees, then do the backyard part later. Fine with me! He's going to Home Depot tomorrow to see what the supplies will cost and get back to me. Unless it's more than a couple hundred, which I doubt, I want to go ahead with it. That broken down old fence is a real eyesore!!

Still working on my green strip quilt and I have done 11 of 20 blocks so I'm more than half-way done. I'm getting some pale green flannel for the back. Too bad I couldn't have had it done for St. Patrick's Day, but . . . . I can't wait to start putting it together.

BUDDY THE CAT UPDATE

Just got back from Buddy's appointment with his eye doctor (this cat has more doctors than I do! LOL) I was right in thinking that his eye looked bigger again. The vet confirmed that the pressure was back up. He still doesn't know for sure what's causing it, but he's so surprised that Buddy still has vision in the eye. He said the pressure must have increased slowly so as not to damage the nerves. I asked if there was anything else that could be done and he said that eye surgery on cats usually wasn't very successful. Dr. Hermann said to continue the pills and the eye stuff and gave me drops to give twice a day. Whew!! We go back in three weeks for another recheck. I have to add that Buddy was sooo good. Having someone look in your eyes will all sorts of devices would be disconcerting to me.

I'll do an update after the next vet visit unless something comes up beforehand.