Jack, Muffin and Fleurp take a trip to the vet

My cats take trips to the vet in threes because my vet offers a discount when I bring three at a time.  It is nice that they do that, but a bit annoying because I end up waiting until there are three issues (as long as none of the issues can't wait.  If something needs immediate attention they go immediately).

I noticed a while back that Jack had a bit of tarter on his teeth, and I was doing my best to get it off, but I wasn't having much luck. One of his teeth on his upper right side was dark and seemed to bother him when I brushed them, and his eye started watering, so he was issue #1. My poor boy has so few teeth left, I feared they were going to have to take that one too, but they decided it didn't need to go. I'm glad.  He did really well and came home and immediately started screaming for food. He's still a bit wobbly from the sedation, it was a fun combination.  He has eaten and is now resting.

Fleurp needed to go too.  Well, I suppose technically she didn't NEED to go, but for my peace of mind, I wanted to get a CBC done on her to see if she is becoming anemic or not.  She had some obvious issues back in February and I put her on pred for several weeks, then slowly weaned her off of it.  I had her down to 2.5mg every four days and I was trying to decide if she should stay on it until June or if I should stop.  I opted to stop, and I made a conscious effort to groom her fairly regularly until her winter mane was gone.  See Fleurp grows a pretty impressive mane in the winter, but loses it all and looks like a kitten during the summer. If she became anemic in the fall, while growing her mane, it would make sense. Becoming anemic when her hair is falling out makes no sense at all... but on the random chance that consuming all her fur was interfering with something I furminated her almost daily for a few weeks.. so far *knocks wood* things are going well, and her blood work confirms it. I won't feel like we are out of the woods this year until summer officially starts.

For about six months now Muff has had a some of the oddest things going on.  No major red flag, just a bunch of tiny, little, minor things that were bugging me. Originally I brought her to the vet for going into the bathroom and doing her little half mew whine thing. She would stand near where Jack used to pee so I feared she was having urinary issues, but no.  Then in February, I brought her in thinking it might have been her anal glands. One was a bit bigger but it didn't seem to change anything once it was expressed. Lately, she has been less tolerant of other cats in the house and there would be major hiss offs if someone got to close to her. She would also get snippy with me if I touched her hips when she was laying on the bed. She previously had a tremor in her front legs, which seemed to go away after a few days, now she has something so slight that it could be a tremor, it could be a slight limp, it could be I was imagining things, but I thought I would go and bring her in and have someone put hands on her and see if she might have arthritis. Fortunately, and unfortunately, nothing was found.  We decided to do more bloodwork to make sure there isn't a thyroid or some other issue going on there.  The vet also recommended she lose two pounds on the off chance it is the beginning of arthritis.  So I'm going to cut out the random can of Fancy Feast I've been slipping her from time to time (because it is the only thing that pacifies her when she becomes whiny).  She is almost 14 years old, so we might just be entering her cranky old lady phase, but I want to make sure that there isn't something I can do for her to help her be happier.

So $600+ dollars later, I think we are set for a while - well as long as nothing pops on Muffin's blood work.

Twee and her coat of just two colors

I adore this photo of Twee I was able to capture the other day, because it shows off her infamous leg dangles AND the fact that her coat is two sizes too big for her. What looks like excess fur is actually skin and fur. It is odd because she has never been overweight, she was just born with a extra large coat (and she has a waddle that could put your eye out if she ran past you)

Twee also is about to get a visit from the Tooth Faerie.  I was checking out her teeth because we have been using a product to help clean tartar. Twee has had extreme reactions to sedation when she was a kitten so I am so hesitant to get her dentals. When I saw her teeth were covered in tartar so shortly after her last dental (it was a little over six months when I noticed the build up) I wanted to try something.  So far it seems to be working, but she had been flinching when I touched her to check in her mouth. I touched one of her tiny teeth behind her upper canine and she flinched again, and the tooth pretty much came off.  She is doing much better now that it has broken off, and as long as it continues to heal up I am going to wait and see if the root will need to come out when we are ready to do another dental on her.. which hopefully will be much later rather than sooner - but that will all depend on how she does, because I'd rather risk her under sedation when she is in good health than when she is not feeling well from an infection

Eli is going back to the vet

Eli went to the vet last December, right before we started making our own cat food again, and I was told he needed a dental.  I was in a bit of shock over that since he basically had just had one, but looking over his teeth I noticed she wasn't wrong about that.

It was December, and I really really wanted him to wait until it was actually Spring (not just calender spring, but actual warm weather kind of spring) or even early Summer to take him in so I could take Fleurp in for her recheck and probably get someone else looked at too (since my vet offers a small discount if you take three or more pets in at once) but things have taken a turn around here and other health issues have popped up for him.  I think it probably has to do with the stress of bad teeth, so we are going to start there and see what happens.

I know it is folly to think that feeding a raw diet will fix all health issues, especially when he spent so much of  the first part of his life eating junk, but part of me still gets a little angry that it doesn't. Reasonable or not, feelings are what they are.  *sigh*

I feel bad for my boy, and hope that this does a world of good for him - and that he doesn't need dentals every six months for the rest of his life..

Abby and the dental

Yesterday Abby went to the vet to get her dental. I get my information from a shelter worker who gets it from the person who picks her up, and so a lot of the time I don't get a complete story as to what is going on, but one thing stuck out that made it back to me - she had EIGHT teeth removed.

yes.. eight.

No wonder her blood glucose levels were so wonky.  I can only imagine the discomfort she was in.. the poor thing.

Sadly Abby is a very paranoid drunk, and she wanted NOTHING to do with me after getting home, no matter how slow I went or how comforting I thought I was, as you can see in the above photo, she was just hoping I would go away. Sadly I felt the need needed to get glucose levels on her so I would have a gauge of how she was doing, and the procedure that takes about two minutes normally took over ten the first time and nearly 20 the second (at her normal injection time). Once I finally got a reading from her, I went to get the insulin to give her a dose, and she took off.  It was nearly two hours later and I had to leave the room to get her to come out from under the couch and even then she bolted into the litter box box and I had to trap her in the corner to give her the insulin.  Thankfully I was able to do it, because if she had bolted again I would have given up and just let her be because I do not want her to associate getting treatment with stress.

We have pain meds and clavamox pills to give for the next few days. I have not met a cat yet that I can not pill, but I do want to keep Abby's stress as low as possible so hopefully she'll eat them in baby food. I know that I can get it in liquid, but I'm fearful that forcing something in her mouth is going to send her over the rails - and I already have to do that for the pain meds (which is 1/10th the amount of liquid so it shouldn't be too bad).

With her teeth that bad, I am very hopeful that once she heals her glucose levels will level out and *fingers crossed* maybe even go into remission..  Only time will tell.

it doesn't matter, I'll still be extra sweet even if my blood isn't.

and it is good news for Twee!

old recycled photo of her bringing a toy to fosters behind a closed door

I just heard from the vet.. Twee did very well.. she lost one tooth because it fell out when they removed the plaque... but no other extractions. She is a bit slow to wake up from the sedation so I will be picking her up a bit later, in about three hours..

YAY!

Worried about Twee

Twee has always been 'special'.  From the second her litter stared eating solid food I know she was different..

And then I got confirmation of that when we brought her in to be neutered and she had a reaction to the anesthesia and died on the table.  She was revived and we took her home and waited for her to recover.  Several weeks later we took her in again and she had another reaction but the vet was able to get her surgery completed.

A few years ago she had a dental done at the vet who spayed her and he said she came through just fine. Sadly this is the vet I am not going to any more and Twee's teeth are so bad now that I feel that waiting to do them would harm her health in a way we probably couldn't get back. I scheduled an appointment and brought her in this morning and brought the records of her spay with me so they would know of her issues.

I got a call on the way home from the vet, suggesting that I should consider doing an echo cardiogram on her at a specialist at a cost of $800. An alternative option was to do a blood test that cost $120 that picks up on about 80% of heart issues.

I told her I would confer with my husband, and I called him and considering what we know, we have decided to just go ahead with the dental. We are running a real risk here, and we might end up regretting it but since she had her issues when she was a baby, and didn't have issues as an adult at the last dental.. we were both in agreement that we are going to take that risk.. especially since Twee really needs it.

But if you could take a moment and think good thoughts for her, we would really appreciate it.

Jack and Eli and the horrible no good day

Drunk Eli

 Last Wednesday my two eldest boys went to the vet to have their teeth cleaned.  Eli's mouth looked bad, but I had a feeling it was fairly structurally sound.  There was one spot where he cried out when I tried to clean it, but on the whole he looked good - well when I say looked good, I mean covered in tartar and really needing a dental, but I wasn't worried.

Jack on the other hand..

Jack.  What can I say about my sweet sweet, obnoxiously adorable loving boy who likes to lick my nose and rest his head on mine when I wake up in the morning... lets just put it this way, he is delicate.

When brushing their teeth I have noticed that one of his lower canines had a pretty big caries in it. I really really hated the idea of his losing a canine, but I figure it had to be bothering him.  So caught up in the mess that was his urinating in the house then the thyroid, I had been putting it off for a while. It didn't help that I had a very hard time finding a veterinarian I was willing to put my trust in enough to go back to more than once.

So off I went on Wednesday morning with my two boys.. Jack travels very well in the car.. Eli - not so much.

Post by Tails from the Foster Kittens.

The plan was to drop them off and then pick them up and take Fleurp in to make sure her seasonal late spring anemia has cleared up.  I got a call half way through the day. Eli had one tooth removed. Jack had five.

Eli

Jack

I really hate the idea that his teeth were that bad and I didn't know it. He lost all the remaining teeth on his lower right side as well as his canine and one from the left.  I asked about antibiotics and they said he didn't need any. They were given a extended release buprenex that lasted for three days.  Both came home drunk out of their minds. Poor Eli's eyes were so dilated all you could see were black.

Jack tends to get very restless on buprenex, and this was no exception.  He wandered around aimlessly never able to get comfortable. I was afraid to pill him, so I tried to hide his thyroid pill in some baby food. Eli, being a very affectionate drunk, came over to see what was going on. I offered him a little baby food too, and he took one lick and then headbutted the rest so the food was all over him. He then rubbed his head all over Jack and the two of them were covered.

So Thursday they were still loopy, not walking as straight as they normally would, but eating. Jack still hadn't groomed all of the food off himself, and when I got home at the end of the day his mouth seemed like he had been drooling. Eli was now back to his normal self, but my sensitive boy Jack was not. He still seemed restless and drunk. I just assumed he needed more time, so I gave him his thyroid pill in more baby food and went to bed.

Friday.. Jack still seemed off. He was happy to see us, purred affectionately when we patted him, but he was staying very close to the living room and had not yet come to sleep in the bed since the surgery. He also seemed to have had a little diarrhea, which I emailed the vet to report. I tried patting his chest and ended up touching his chin and he flinched pretty badly.

Saturday. Now it is obvious that Jack's mouth is bothering him. It looks like he might have been drooling, or something is going on because the fur around his face is off. He is very interested in the treats I gave him when I pilled him, and he is still interested in everything and affectionate, but still 'stuck' in the living room/kitchen (we have one great room with living room/dining room/kitchen) That afternoon I examine him a little closer and smell something foul in his mouth, and it looked like there was a line of white on top of where his teeth should have been. I saw it when he had the teeth removed, and that was not there. Since I have antibiotics, I decided to give them to him since he had just had five teeth removed, I figure it could not hurt. However, to make it easier on him since I also had a thyroid pill and some more buprenex to give him I grabbed a bag of pill pockets and put the thinnest amount possible around the pill to cover it to entice Jack to eat it. And eat it he did.. and he loved it and asked for more.

I am an idiot.

Because this morning Jack is doing the pee pee dance. Figuring the small amount of glucose/carbs/plants/magickillerjuju that set him off this time couldn't be that bad, I gave him some l-methionine to acidify his urine to break up and crystals that might be there and soothe his bladder and some corn silk to help soothe his bladder as well as his thyroid and his clavamox and some more buprenex.  He continued to dance about, unable to settle.  The question was was he not settling because he was having a urinary issue (not possible I tried to convince myself, there was not nearly enough there to set him off) or because he was uncomfortable about his teeth / the buprenex which tends to make him very restless.  About 15 minutes later he settled down and laid down and seemed to be trying to go to sleep, so I left him for a while.  I wanted to give him some time to let the supplements and medications do their job.  Since he was reluctant to eat his supplements as well as treats offered, I gave him some fluids.  He was not happy about getting them and I only got about half what I would have liked into him. (Interesting aside, he ran way when I said 'Okay, we are done' but I hadn't yet taken the needle out of him. It flung out of him and hit me in the thigh making me bleed quite profusely before I had even realized what had happened)

By 2 PM he wasn't getting better and was laying on his side with his leg up in the air - his sign for his belly hurts - so we packed him up and went to the only emergency clinic in the area that hasn't ticked me off..  (this one was quite lovely and at this point has a five star rating from me) and low and behold he is blocked.. and they want to give him a catheter to help him.  We waited around for the procedure and the vet came out and said he did very well and they flushed a lot of crystals out of him and his bladder was quite spasmodic. So we left, and now I'm home, Jackless..

I have work in the office on Monday, and he will still be at the eclinic until then anyway, but I have a feeling I am going to take a few days off from work. This past week was rough on me to begin with - not sleeping well at all for some reason (it started on Monday) and then knowing my boy was not feeling well didn't help, and now this.  It will be good, because I would like to work on my fundraiser. I want Jack to have I131 treatment for his thyroid condition, and we have had a number of expenses one after the other pile up, and now this.. I'm not broke and we can cover them all but my reserve is getting thin and I worry about what will happen if something else comes up.. I figure if I can provide something that you would like to pay for and it makes you happy, I'll feel good about asking for money from you.  I have a number of cat related items that are just taking up space in my house, and I was thinking of making some cat toys that you might be interested in. I know fundraising is difficult right now, especially going into the holiday season, but hopefully something good can come out of this for everyone :)

My plan (oh like those ever work out for me) is to have Jack have his treatment over Halloween while I am away at Barkworld in GA. I will feel MUCH better about leaving the house for an extended period of time if Jack is in a vet's care, but it is coming up fast and I still need to get my ducks in a row..   Well at this point I have two of my cats in a row...

Lucy and the Dental

So yesterday Miss Lucy went back to the shelter for her dental.

Tuesday was interesting.  I immediately went and fed her when I got home from work to give her the option to eat something.  I went out grocery shopping and when I got home I spent some time with her.  Once again she chose not to eat.  Sadly she was back down under 8lbs.  I warned her that she was about to lose all food for the night, and she scoffed at me, daring me to do it, so I did.  She gave me the back of disdain and I gave her a kiss and went to bed.

In the morning she was oh so happy to see me, and did a little dance about where the food bowls had been and I had to laugh - not to mention I felt a little bad that I couldn't feed her.  So I plopped her in the carrier and off we went.

I was very fortunate to be able to observe the dental.  I was told she would be done at around 1pm so I went off to work and showed back up at the right time.  I had visions of taking all kinds of pictures to share with you but when the time came I just felt uncomfortable asking, so I just observed.

The tech did a bulk of the cleaning which is pretty standard. She was very efficient and did a wonderful job. She let me get a good look at Lucy's teeth and the tartar she had built up.. maybe not as good as I would have liked but I didn't want to be intrusive nor did I want to make it so Lucy was under sedation any longer than necessary. It was pretty bad.  The tartar completely covered the back upper teeth.  It was so bad it was causing some gum erosion and there was an excess of puss.  She used what looked like a pair of pliers and pulled chunks of it off.

One piece from one side,
and I don't have small hands

She made note of every time Lucy "chattered" when she touched a tooth.  Lucy didn't chatter, but she did move her lower jaw like she was chattering to a bird.  It is a pretty standard reaction to a cat during a dental when something hurts.

The vet came over and took another look at the teeth, paying attention to the ones the tech noted, and he proceeded to take her two rear upper molars - one on each side.  I watched the vet pull them out.  Some parts seemed to go very easily, some seemed to be a lot of work, so I asked if they were coming out easily, and he said they were very easy to pull out that the infection had worked up into the root to loosen them.

He said he didn't think she ever had any care to her teeth, and that the infection had to be brewing for months at the least.  He believed Lucy had been seriously hurting for quite some time.  The removal of the teeth left two huge gaping holes that he didn't want to suture up because he didn't want to sew up the infection and cause abscesses.  I left Lucy at the shelter to rehab there.  She will most likely be having bloody drainage for a few days, and a darn good chance her diarrhea will come back.  While it won't be as comfortable there as it would be here, she will have more eyes on her more often than she would here.  I told them if she freaks out or they feel she will do better out of the shelter she is welcome back.

I do have to say it is so interesting watching surgery.  The cats go under sedation so quickly, and the staff always work so efficiently.  They aren't delicate in it, so it can be a little disconcerting to watch them manipulate the cat, but you can tell they care and are very proficient in their job. I am beyond thankful that the staff at the clinic allowed me in to watch and get a better idea of what Lucy was suffering with.

So makes me want to pin all of my cats down and give them a good scrub to their teeth.

I wish you well Miss Lucy. You really are incredibly sweet and anyone would be lucky to have you.

So once again I'm foster free.  Spring is only 20 days away.. when cats start going into heat and mating will begin..  *sigh*  as much as I love what I do, I so wish I was out of business.

Emmy Update

Well, starting last Monday I noticed a bit of swelling on Emmy.. on the left side where her lips end. It was tender to her, so I didn't give her the herbs because that is pretty much where I have to grab to open up her mouth. Well by Christmas it wasn't any better, so I took her in to the clinic today. They were talking biopsy.. which scared me silly, but I'm trying to take a whatever happens, happens approach to her health.

Fortunately, when they got a better look it turned out she had a broken tooth and a few bad teeth.. so they put her to sleep, pulled the bad teeth and the root of the broken one, and sent her home. The high blood sugars concerned them, although it was only 265 when they did it.. which is still 2.5 times higher than what it should be, so they tested her urine, and she has a bladder infection. So she's on antibiotics as well, clavamox.

She is doing well.. adjusting nicely to the missing teeth I think. I have found that Emmy is a major drama queen. When I went to go back and visit with her, she'd look all panic-y and would cling to me, and when I walked away she'd howl like a dog baying at the moon.. enough to break anyone's heart, but it was ripping mine out. Cheryl the lead tech said she was fine when I wasn't around.. so she must have been going over the top to get me to take her home. She did enjoy her wet food dinner. I'm afraid to give her dry food for a couple of days.. not quite sure how that will work out with the rest of the clan, they aren't going to sit still for her getting wet and their not. They just don't understand she's been through surgery.