Blogging for peace my big furry behind

I am so not talking to you right now

So rumor has it today is supposed to be a day of peace (and sadly not piece, like in pieces of chicken which we totally love) but apparently our momma didn't get that memo (someone PLEASE help her, she obviously needs it) and decided today was to be as not peaceful as felinely possible.. 

Yes, you guessed it, I was taken to the vet!! To make things worse, she brought Muffin, Fleurp and Kit with me.. (and yes she drooled again, stealin all of my attentions) 

And yes, she forgot to bring a drool bib for Kit and slobber went everywhere.. I did my best to stay out of the way by staying in my basket of protection, but I hears everything.. 

I was there to make sure that my thyroid was doing well. It was so pointless, momma KNOWS it is doing well because I'm not peeing all over the house and I'm slowly losing the weight I gained.. but you know those doctor types, always wanting proof.. so I let him has some more of my bloods.. 

Muffin was there for a check up. She's been vomiting a little more than 'normal' so they took some of her bloods too. The doctor said that she checked out okay physically. Momma said she used to have a bump behind her ear that has been there for months, but wasn't there today.. isn't that always the way?!?

Fleurp was there to make sure her RBC is in the normal range. We expect that it is because things have been going well with her too. For some odd reason she has started licking the mirror lately, but I thinks she does it for attention.. (attention that SHOULD be mine!!) but again those doctor things like proof, so she had bloods stolen too.

Kit went because she has had a major case of ADR going on lately. No one symptom lasts more than a day or two. She was congested this past weekend and didn't eat at all but then went on an eating spree on Monday. Sometimes she purrs funny, today she had a bit of loose stool.. She is a petite little girl, and she is eight and a half so momma thought that she should have some bloods stolen too.. and the vet tooks them. *sigh* I hope he isn't a vampire.. 

Fleurp, don't stand on Muffin.. 

Even under duress I am handsome

The vet said we all checked out okay, but we do have to wait for the bloods to come back (where are they going? and I hope they don't hurt as much coming back as they did being taken) but now it is so very much naptime.. 

and I totally think the momma should be giving us lots of treats to make up for this.. I don't care if she has a splinter in her hand and it swelling, she can still open up those treats... I know because she just fed herself..  and at the very least she could be kissing me.. 

~Jack

Jack and his health issues.

For those of you new to this blog, this is Jack. He is the first foster kitty that I ended up adopting. He came to me in my third set of fosters, and I even returned him to the shelter to go up for adoption, but I sobbed and sobbed.  Jack is special to me in a completely different way than my other special kitties..

Last year he was diagnosed as hyperthyroid. Jack has had a life long issue with urinary issues, and we couldn't figure out why after nearly ten years of being stable we couldn't get him stable again. Routine blood work found the issue and I put him on medication and things stabled out. I did a cost comparison of medicating him for the rest of his life and doing the radioactive iodine 'gold standard' treatment for this issue. The I131 treatment was going to come up as slightly more expensive but it would 'fix' the problem where medication would only mask it.

Last October he went to Angell because they were the only facility I felt comfortable with. I had three options, one picked the dose of radioactive iodine based on his weight, the other on his thyroid level and Angell would do the scan and dose based on that.

Jack did very well, and his one month blood work came back as good. He only peed inappropriately a few times. His three month blood work came back and I had a feeling it was a little low. He was originally just over 5 in a scale that went from 0.8-4.7  This three month check up was just over one. I asked if that was too low, thinking that maybe something more ideal would be in the middle of that range, but both my own vet and Angell said no, he was fine.

He was due to have more blood work at the start of the summer, but I heard of a new test that would be coming out this summer that would better test his kidney values, so I held off for a bit. He seemed okay, but he was gaining weight.  Then I noticed he seemed to be shedding a bit more than is normal for him and he was starting to get small matts.  Still I held off.  His weight continued to increase, and he now weighs over fourteen pounds.

The other week he started limping. It caused him a great deal of distress since the litter box is down stairs. Some pain meds for a couple of days and he was feeling better, but while at the vet I decided to do his blood work to see if maybe his thyroid wasn't working right. This time his blood work came back within range, so the vet said it was perfect.

It didn't 'feel' right so I contacted Angell and asked what their opinion was since he was putting on weight. Their answer was that it was right in range, so it was okay, and maybe the weight might be from his diet. Jack eats very cleanly and no more than the other cats and none of them are overweight, and it is the same diet as before the procedure so I pushed. It was suggested to do a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) test.  I asked my vet about it because I wasn't excited at the idea of bringing him back down to Boston, and yes, my vet could do it, and he could also do a full panel which would show other thyroid levels. Both tests, just the TSH and the full panel, was going to take 7-14 days to get back from my vet. Angell said they could get it back in two days.  I made my appointment with them and went down to Boston.

Interestingly enough the results of the panel were back before I even made it home that day - driving between MA and ME on a Saturday is not for the faint of heart - and I was right. He is hypothyroid, and we need to supplement him.  I am so not happy about this, but it is what it is. I asked if this would be life long, and was told that it might not be, so I have some hope about that.  My boy is only 13..

Please, if you think that the vet isn't right in their diagnosis or that you don't have the whole picture, get a second opinion. Push for additional tests. It might be that you are wrong and you are spending money to figure that out, but it might turn out that you are right and you can improve the quality of life of your pet.

Jack and the great big case of what the carp?!?!

Last week I noticed something was wrong with Jack. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew something was off. Since he has a history of bladder issues, I gave him some of the supplement I have for him for such things and waited to see what happened. The next day I was more concerned. I thought he might be limping, but I couldn't really tell. He seemed very taught in his mid section, so I gave him some more supplement and hoped that what ever was going on would present itself a bit more clearly then the major case of ADR (ain't doin right) he had going on or, preferably, would resolve.  Thursday night his midsection was very taught, and while he didn't seem lethargic he wouldn't get up to get treats.  He ate them happily when I offered them.  I was majorly confused. I was about to lock him away in my bedroom with a litter box to see what was going on but when I offered it to him he went right in and went pee.

Okay, so he wasn't blocked. He was attention seeking and eating. I couldn't be sure he was or wasn't limping. It was nothing really conclusive, and by the time I had convinced myself I saw it, I had also convinced myself he hadn't.

Friday morning I got up and Jack was in his favorite spot, next to Mirror World looking out the window on to the front porch. This is his morning routine.  He laid there while I talked to him.  He laid there while I offered treats to his sisters, and he laid there while I gave him treats... now he usually stands to eat his treats.. however when he is blocked he lays quite differently and he won't eat.

I had a major case of 'what the carp'  His belly was quite taught, but he had no symptoms of pain, he didn't whimper or snap at me while I was manipulating him. He did get up, and he did that 'is he limping??' walk, but then he laid right back down.

That was it, he was going to the vet. His strong reluctance to stand up got me an emergency appointment as long as I didn't mind waiting (I never do), so I packed him up and off we went.

I had actually planned to call the vet next week to get him and Fleurp in for blood work rechecks. He was due for this thyroid panel, she is due for checking her anemia and make sure it is gone. Fleurp is in the week post pred, so I wanted to wait another week and make sure she was holding her RBC... you know how it goes, you plan cats laugh.

So we get to the vet, we happily wait because we know we'll be seen long before the first available appointment they had. He gets examined and his bladder feels very large. He is walking just fine at the vet, not a hint of a limp. Vet jumps to the idea he might be blocked. Don't think I didn't get there on my own. She takes him out back to draw the blood for the bloodwork and to do an xray of his bladder to make sure there isn't a stone. After they take him I think that if he is limping he isn't going to want to walk down the stairs to use the box, so I ask the staff to give him a litter box and they said they would.  Well low and behold he used it and left them a nice deposit to clean up. Phew, not blocked.

But what is going on?? The vet wondered if he didn't get into a fight or an accident, and since we haven't had any discord in the house in months I can't imagine it is a fight issue. One suspect clue is that his weight is now nearly 15lbs.  He has put on a LOT of weight since his I131. He should be around 12. His bloodwork came back on Saturday and his thyroid level is 1.2 (0.8-4.7) which the vet treating him thinks is ideal, but I wonder if it isn't too low for him. Weight gain is a sign of low thyroid..

So, what we are speculating happened is because of his weight he jumped down from somewhere and gave himself an injury of one type or other. The vet gave him an injection of pain meds there and gave me three days of meds to go home (although it is an eight hour medication and she only gave me two doses, so... not quite three days, but I'm guessing they just wanted to help take the edge off)

We brought him home from the vet and he went right back to his corner and laid down. He was there two hours later when I got home from work. He was still there a couple of hours after that, but that evening he was running around after us looking for attention.

The next morning Miz Robyn was stopping by, so I got up nice and early to give him the pain meds, and by the time she got there he was himself - which was so nice for me and Robyn :)

I noticed he hadn't been getting up on the bed, so we went and got the cat stairs we made years ago for Em, and that we broke out again for Ollie. I am happy to say I have gotten my morning licks, but he has been spending way more time than what is normal for him on it.

I put a litter box in the bathroom for him so that he doesn't need to go downstairs, but EVERYONE is using it.. (my cats are so lazy) but at least he has somewhere to go, and his bladder is happy for that. If he isn't better soon I will be bringing him back for more xrays of his joints.

I've also emailed the clinic that gave him the I131 with the issue of the weight gain and how it is bothering him. They questioned if it might not be the food, although none of the other cats have put on two pounds and they all eat the same,  and also suggested a test that might see if we need to do something else for him. I'm currently looking into that option and hope we have answers soon

Life with Jack

As most of you know, for the past couple of years we have had to deal with inappropriate elimination with Jack. I still firmly believe that some treats that were made in China had something to do with it, as the correlation was way too strong.

Last summer we took yet another trip to yet another vet for inappropriate elimination (peeing on the heater in the bathroom and on the front of the washing machine) in hopes to ward off his blocking again.  This time the vet recommended a full blood panel. Jack was 12 at the time so it was well worth doing a senior panel and it had been a while since he had a regular vet, so I agreed.

That blood work came back that Jack had a higher than normal thyroid level. It was not obnoxiously high, 5.2 or 5.4 when the high reference was 4.7 (0.8-4.7 being the normal range). It was recommended we put him on thyroid medication and see what happened.

Well except for a few more incidents right at the beginning he has been pretty much (but not completely) inappropriate pee free since.

Pilling him was easy, but I could tell that he was bothered by it.  I tried offering it to him in treats but the pills were bitter and it was hard to hide it in food. I decided to crunch the numbers and see if I could afford I131 - the radioactive iodine treatment which is the 'gold standard' for treating hyperthyroid issues. The radioactive iodine when done right kills off the high functioning cells of the tumor that is pumping out excessive thyroid hormones while leaving the healthy tissue alone. I realized that buying pills from my vet I would be ahead of the financial game if Jack lived three to four years longer. I could find cheaper sources of the pills which would bring that number out longer, but I would still have to force pills down Jack's throat twice a day. To me, there was a price I was willing to pay to not have to do that to him.

Deciding to inject your cat with radioactive substances is not an easy one. This is one of those things that you are told to avoid at all costs. Then you are bombarded with how you need to keep your cat isolated and his waste is so radioactive that you need to keep it isolated for 90 days. I'll admit, I was more than a little freaked out; but then I pilled Jack and he looked at me like I had just betrayed him and I started looking for a place to perform the procedure.

I had three semi local options.  One about half an hour away one about an hour and a half away, and one in town Boston. I researched what would be the best option for Jack. Getting the thyroid scanned would give the most accurate dosing level. Some clinics dose on the weight of the cat, some dose on the level of thyroid dysfunction, and some do the scan and know exactly how much should be given. Only one clinic scanned and was willing to take a higher risk cat - which Jack is with his history of blocking; we went to Angell in Boston.

We did the treatment while I was out of town at Barkworld. We picked him up as I was coming home. I had done some research on the levels of radiation that Jack would be emitting post treatment and I realized that it was pretty minimal. They want you to be extra cautious because it is hard to know what a person's radiation exposure will be in a lifetime and it is better to keep it as low as possible. I decided I have very little exposure in my life. I don't travel by plane all that much, I broke my leg in the 8th grade and that was the last time I had an xray save for some dental xrays. So other than discouraging Jack from licking me (which was oh so hard since he just recently started licking my nose to tell me he loves me) I decided I was not going to exclude him from my life. He slept on my bed, we snuggled, I kissed him regularly.

It was recommended that I test him one month post treatment and three months post treatment. One month post his thyroid level was 1.9 (ref 0.8-4.7).  I was a little concerned this was a little low but I knew we had just really started on this journey.  For the most part Jack has been acting like a 12/13 yr old cat. Sometimes he seems 'poopy' to me, but all I need to do is talk to him and he perks right up and chats with me and he is interactive (aka asking for cookies).  His fur has also been less than perfect with a smattering of small matts showing up where they never did before. About a month ago I was afraid that he might have something else wrong because he seemed to be in pain due to the way he was standing with his feet slightly closer together and his back slightly arched (no, my husband didn't see it). A trip to the vet didn't show anything and over the next few weeks he seems to be getting over it. I still constantly worry about his urinary PH. I do not know why but a lot of my cats have urinary PH of 7.0. Considering how much raw meat they are eating and how few plants, their urine should be closer to 6.0. To help him deal with this I still occasionally give him a pill created for optimal urinary health that helps acidify his urine.

I just took him to the vet for his post three months (yes, a bit late) and this time his thyroid level was 1.4 (ref: 0.8-4.7) which concerns me a bit. Because of his age, I would feel more comfortable if his level was closer to if not slightly above 2.0.  I would also be more comfortable if his level wasn't going down.  I emailed Angell last night to see what they make of his levels and see if they make any recommendations.  I am not unhappy with these numbers, just slightly concerned so I thought I would ask.

Jack is still "frickin amazing" and he makes me smile every single day. Yesterday he stole one of the hairball relief tablets I bought for Fleurp (in case her anemia has ANYTHING to do with the major shed she goes through each spring) when it fell out of the container when I took the cotton out of the jar. He liked it so much that a few minutes later he nosed the container right off the counter hoping it would pop open when it fell and he could steal some more. When it didn't work, he threw a few other things off the counter hoping to hit the bottle and have it pop open.. since this method has worked for him in the past.

I seriously love that boy of mine.

Jack and I131

So I have been blogging about Jack and his issues but I thought I should make a full post about what went on so there would be a good reference point if ever I feel the need to share my story with someone.

Jack, born in 2002, has had a nearly lifelong dance with urinary issues. He blocked for the first time when he was three or four years old. We had a hard time with it, and he reblocked pretty quickly. At the time Eli had already blocked and was on 'prescription' urinary food and we had successfully transitioned him to canned food without issues. Em was still alive and she was diabetic, so she was on diabetic food. Trying to feed my household of cats three different types of food was not easy. I read a lot and learned more about feline nutrition and realized the best food for my urinary boys was the best food for my diabetic cat and it was also the ideal diet for any cat, which led me down the road to feeding raw.

For years Jack did very well on this diet unless he got into things he shouldn't. I would bring home dry food for the foster kittens and he would find it and chew through bags. I brought home wheat based cat litter and he did the same, and again with the corn based litter.  I was able to control his urinary issues knowing what happened to him and giving him acidifying supplements and limiting the amount of plants he ate.

A couple of years ago I bought some treats that were made in China. The print on the bag was so small and barely legible and the buzz words on the front of the package were so akin to what I was looking for that I didn't bother to search for those three words. Shortly after he ate them he started having problems and started urinating around the house. I could not figure out why, no one could. I blame the treats, and to this day I still do. Might it have been a major coincidence, sure. Might it be the treats, why not.  They will never take responsibility for it though. Heck to this day they still don't know why jerky treats made in China are killing pets, but anyway..

Jack's tolerance for plant based ingredients went to about 5% to less than 1% of his diet.  Whenever he got too much, he would start peeing, and on a few instances would block. It got so very expensive for us. Vets recommended the Perineal Urethrostomy (PU) surgery for him which would remove his penis so he would have a much harder time becoming blocked. I didn't much like this idea because how would I know when he was uncomfortable?

I was without a vet at this time since my last vet gave my cat medication without my permission and did not care that I was upset. I had taken Jack to several different vets to examine him when he would start urinating. I was running out of vets in the area that I could go see because each one invariably would do something that gave me some serious concerns about allowing them to continue to treat my cats. I ended up taking him to one of the newer clinics in the area owned by a vet that used to work with a woman I used to work with. I am not completely satisfied there, but at least they accept what I want and what I don't want. The vet that saw him there the first time suggested running a full blood panel on him since nothing showed up upon initial exam and she found he was hyperthyroid.

Later I joined a hyperthyroid board and apparently inappropriate elimination can be a sign of hyperthyroid. He had none of the other symptoms: eating too much, drinking a lot, weight loss.

The vet gave me the option of medication. They put Jack on 2.5mg of methimazole twice a day, and we retested his blood three weeks later. His thyroid level was on the very bottom rung of normal which scared me because we were supposed to test him at four weeks. The vet was pleased with where he was and suggested I keep up that dose. I went to support boards online and learned that he should be in the middle of normal and the track he was on would lead him to be hypothyroid.  I immediately cut his dose in half - a fairly standard dosing for a cat - and we retested him in four weeks and his thyroid level was right in the middle of where it was supposed to be.

We were very lucky that he did not have kidney issues being hidden by his high thyroid levels. If we had, we would have dealt with that too.

There are four ways to treat hyperthyroidism in cats. The first is medication. The medication suppresses the thyroid production, but does nothing to treat the actual condition that is causing the problem. Leaving the tumors will allow them to continue to grow and risk them turning malignant. There are also some significant side effects that some cats have to deal with.

The newest way is to remove all iodine from the cat's diet by feeding them the new thyroid diet. This can help cats that can't be medicated, and people who can not afford additional treatments, but the food is very low quality and provides very poor nutrition for cats. If you are looking at long term solutions, this is not one of them. My biggest problem with this food is there no animal based proteins in the dry food.  For an obligate carnivore this should not be an option. There is a nice write up on why the iodine deficient food is not a good choice here, so I will just leave it at that.

They used to perform surgery to remove the nodules on the thyroid, but this is very invasive, and the success rate isn't what it is with I131. Also the cost is often comparable to I131.

The 'gold standard' of hyperthyroid treatment is now I131. Since the thyroid is the only known organ in the body to use iodine, they believe that making it radioactive will kill the highly producing tumor nodule, leaving the less active normal thyroid gland alone. They inject it into the muscle and let it do its thing. The only down side of this treatment is sometimes they give too much and it does kill off some normal thyroid gland and the cat becomes hypo. Faced with having to pill Jack for the rest of his life, hopefully six to eight years, I was willing to risk that. Jack is easy to pill, but no matter what I do and how I go about it, it was obvious that he would prefer I not do that. There were times that I missed his pill and he started showing signs of being uncomfortable, so I was faced with his urinary issues becoming more of an issue, and when I added up the cost of the pills (not to mention the regular blood work) it would have only taken a few years before the cost of I131 would have been less.

I then had three options for treatment centers. There is a place with in my own state, but it is owned by the same clinic that sent Jack home covered in blood when he blocked while I was in Kansas. There is the popular nationwide chain that is located in Massachusetts, and there is Angell in Boston MA. They are one of the few places that are willing to take on a cat with multiple health issues. Because Jack has a recent history of urinary problems, I decided to go with Angell. One thing that I really liked about their program is that they do a thyroid scan prior to dosing to be sure of the size, shape and location of the tumor.  Some places dose on weight and some dose on the thyroid level in the blood. I feared that both were more likely to lead to hypo, so this added to my choice of Angell. The cost was several hundred dollars more than my local place, and the two hour road trip to get there was not an easy decision to make, but when I weighed the benefits it was really the only option I could live with.

Jack blocked the last time I went on a trip, so we had plans to have him go in hospital while I was at BarkWorld. Due to their schedule, he had to go in on Monday and they generally release on Saturday. They scan on Monday after drop off and give the treatment on Wednesday. We had made arrangements to pick him up on Sunday when I arrived home so I could pick up my boy, but they only did pick ups until four, so we had plans to pick him up first and then me, but he was hiding while at the vet - very unlike my outgoing boy - so my husband went and picked him up on Saturday.

We had plans to isolate him, but he did not want that at all, and when he got free the other cats were not bothered by his presence other than to sniff him wondering where he was, so we just let him have free run. He is spending more time with me and my husband than is recommended, but he is needy and confused when we push him away, so I am putting up with the radiation. I don't engage in many activities that would put me in contact with a lot of radiation, and I asked for pat downs at the airport instead of the x ray machine, so I'm hoping I'll be okay.  Jack generally wants 10-20 minutes of lovin in the morning and the evening, and I am putting an end to it a bit earlier than he would like.

Fortunately the side effects from the treatment will only show up in the blood work, so there really isn't anything to watch for now and my only job is to make him happy.  He is himself in every way, aside from his being slightly more needy since the trip. I was told he would be radiation free and all restrictions should end on the 15th and at that point I'll let him lick my nose (and eyelids) all he wants. Sometime after that I will take him in for a follow up blood test to see how he is doing.  So far we haven't had any known instances of inappropriate elimination, so I think things are going well.

I ended up coming down with my annual cold a few weeks early so I've been in bed for the past two days and all of my cats have been VERY happy about that. I currently have all seven of them in the bed with me.

Jack's trip to Angell for his I131

Yesterday my husband and I took Jack down to Boston to be checked into Angell Animal Medical Center for his I131 treatment for his hyperthyroid. I had options that were closer but I chose Angel because they dosed cats based on a scan and not by weight. I didn't like the idea that a cat who has a high thyroid reading got the same dose as a cat with a very high reading. I also chose Angel because they can treat cats with multiple health issues and I was freaking out at the idea of him being overly stressed and it causing him urinary issues.

We had a 10 am appointment and it is two hours away so we got a very early start.  Someone was not impressed.

He mewed quite pathetically once he was in the vehicle, and I was afraid the guilt of his unhappiness was going to kill me, but once we got under way he quieted down and we didn't hear from  him again.

The drive was pretty uneventful thankfully but even with leaving extra time we got there at 10:02.. they got us into a room pretty quickly and the doctor was very personable and Dr Duddy was very nice.  Jack was a bit freaked out by the drive, but I got him purring and making biscuits and eating treats, which helped my mental state a lot. He adapts very well to new situations since he was introduced to a lot when he was a kitten, so I'm sure he is adapting very well. However they then said to take my carrier with me. Leaving a veterinarian office with an empty carrier has only happened when end of life has occurred, so I was very close to tears, and I made my husband run the carrier out to the car while I waited to pay. The bill was the high side of the estimate I had gotten and was nearly $2000.. *sigh* but he is worth it, and believing this was his best option out of the three I had (and it was only a couple of hundred dollars more than the local place - which I REALLY did not want to give my money to considering how they treated him last time)

Post by Tails from the Foster Kittens.

After we dropped him off my husband suggested we go for lunch at Panera. When we were there I had strong memories of being at Panera in Kansas with Amy and Lisa when Jack blocked, but I kept reminding myself this would not be a real issue at all.  They don't sedate him, the only real risk I could tease out of all of my reading would be they overdosed him and it kills some of the regular thyroid and he turns out hypo instead of hyper. Since we had to pill him twice a day without this, I figured we'd be right back where we are now if that happened, and this gives him the best chance of 'fixing' him and I am hopeful that all of the peeing we have had as of late can be attributed to his being hyperthyroid (it is a symptom that often happens but isn't really recognized as one of the standard side effects).

So when I get sad about his not being safe at home, I remind myself this is in his best interest.

I just got my daily call about how he is doing. He ate dinner for them and the scan went well so they are all set for tomorrow to give him the treatment. I wish I had been more comfortable asking more questions like 'is he flirting with you' and 'did you call him a handsome boy today?"  and yes, I REALLY want to ask for the camera feed that is monitoring them, but darn it if I don't have a lot to finish up before I get on a plane tomorrow.  I'm probably not going to be online a lot between now and when we get home with Jack, who is coming home with me as my husband is picking him up before getting me from Logan Sunday night.

I can get through this.. really.. I just have to remember to not focus on he isn't home.. Interestingly enough this was his horoscope from Caren and Cody for this month:

Taurus cats typically like ritual, consistency, and a laid-back lifestyle. However, the planets may have something else in store this month. The positioning of Mars – as well as Jupiter and Uranus – will break down the routine and open up for something new.

Update on Jack

Quick recap:  Jack had five teeth extracted a week ago, and he was off since then. In an attempt to help him I gave him something I shouldn't have and the stress of the dental and the carbs caused him to block and he ended up in the emergency clinic on Sunday. I was able to bring him home Monday night. There is yet another set of vets and staff who absolutely adore Jack, and they kept gushing over how wonderful he was and how well he was eating.  Yup, my boy is ridiculously awesome.

I brought him home Monday night and things seemed to be okay. He was obviously not 100% but he was already much better than he had been since the dental. I asked them to take a look in his mouth when he was sedated, and the e-vet thought the suture might have been too tight causing some discomfort for him. Because of everything he has gone through, he is on an antispasmodic for his bladder, clavamox (antibiotic) for his teeth, his thyroid pill and buprenex for pain. I'm also supplementing him with l-methionine to keep his urine acidic and corn silk to help soothe his bladder. I am so glad I saved some of the gel caps from some of his supplements that I had previously mixed in with food to stick them all in instead of having to give him three or four pills. He is thankful too.

I'm also giving him fluids once or twice a day depending on how he is doing.  His kitty bits are all shaved and you can see his penis sheath, and it is still pretty swollen.

Anyway, Monday night he hung out in the bedroom with me, but at some point he had to 'use the facilities' and left. Apparently Eli is completely confused by Jack - he did have a bath while he was at the eclinic - and there was a scuffle. I got up and it was over before I found them so I assumed it was nothing big. I went back to bed, but Jack didn't come back, so I got up and went into the living area where Jack had been hanging out prior to the trip to the eclinic, and Jack and I hung out together for a while and I got a little sleep.  There was another scuffle which again was over before I got up, but it bothered me enough to set Jack up in the bedroom.  Mostly because Jack peed on the couch because he didn't feel welcome enough to go into the basement. I also found out later he peed on a pair of my jeans, which I'm sure was the result of that first scuffle. The rest of The Crew is not happy about that as it is a favored place. He is still there. We have had a few field trips out into the house to reintroduce his scent to them and to cover him up with their scent. Hopefully Jack will be feeling well enough soon to stand up to Eli being a goober and peace will restored to our happy home.

This does not bode well for his I131 treatment at the end of the month. I am not sure exactly how long Jack will be gone for that, but it will be at least a week. But Jack shouldn't need a bath and he shouldn't be feeling carpy when he comes home, so hopefully this won't be an issue.. and HOPEFULLY *knocks wood* we won't ever have to deal with this again since I now accept fully that my boy is so sensitive that his kinda ridiculous..

Sponsored Post - Petnostics

A while back I ran across a company called Petnostics. I was floored by the idea and really wanted to a) try out the product and b) share it with all of you, so I contacted the company and asked if they would be interested in sending me a sample to test out.  They agreed.  The delay in my post is because I had a few complications while using the product which I will share with you below, but all in all I still love the idea of the product, and they seem to think my situation was a fluke.  Maybe it was, maybe it was my phone being older, I don't know, but I still support the company.

So Petnostics is a home diagnostic test kit. You collect a urine sample and use their test kit along with an app on your phone to take a photo of the results and do the diagnostics.

Can you understand why I love this? I am a HUGE fan of anything that puts more information in the hands of the pet owner to help them understand their pet and get a handle on what is going on with them. It started out for me when I learned years after the initial diagnosis that I could test my diabetic cat with a human glucometer to find out what her blood sugar levels were instead of having to trapse her down to the vet every time I wanted to know.

I originally contacted them back in May and Stephen was very receptive to my inquiry and sent three samples out to me via FedEx. In each box is a collection cup, a pair of plastic gloves and the diagnostic cover. The cover comes with a multi pad strip on it that once the urine touches it will give you a diagnostic result - much like a PH strip (and urine PH is one of the things measured on here). The app allows your phone to use a photo you take of the cover - you need to line up the squares on the cover with the squares in the app - and it interprets the findings.

The box with everything in side

the diagnostic cover, sealed tight to keep it from being contaminated.

My phone and the app

I was so lucky that Jack just gave me a sample.

waiting the 60 seconds after exposing the strip to the urine.
The app even does the counting for you

waiting.. 

I had a bit of an issue getting the squares on the cover (see the ones with the black outline and black square in the middle?) to align where they needed to go in the app, but it probably only took me 10 seconds. Once I got it right, it took the photo automatically for me, and then gave me the results.



Each results is three images long, so I'm keeping the images small so you can see them all together.

This initial result freaked me right out. I was testing Jack because he is my boy with the urinary issues and was peeing inappropriately. I had recently given him a supplement to lower his urine, so I was concerned but not overly so about the very low PH. Ideally it should be somewhere in the 6 range. When Jack starts peeing around the house his PH is usually up near 8. (7.0 is neutral)

What I didn't know was why his bilirubin was 'large'.. and not only large but with three +++'s.. arrgh! So I had to put on my big girl pants and find myself a vet. I know 'too much' and really have severe issues with several vets I have been to in the past, and trusting someone was hard, but I picked one finally and got Jack in. We did a urinalysis on him and his bilirubin was fine. I asked the vet if there was any way he got the above reading (after explaining to her what it was and what was going on) and she did not think it was likely.  Jack was still having issues though, he was still peeing on the bathroom floor so I had the vet do a full work up on him and it turned out my boy is hyperthyroid!

So who knew that being hyperthyroid could cause a cat to pee inappropriately? (doesn't raise hand) well I do now.. cause except for a few incidents that are all mostly or partially explainable, my boy has been pee free since I started him on medication.

But, this is about Petnostics.  So I wondered why the result was off. I wrote to Stephen and told him what was going on, and he asked me which version of the app I was using because they did have some issues with an earlier version of the app. I checked and I was using the current version. See one of the technical aspects of this product is that it can accurately read the results no matter what the lighting situation is. So wondering if that was a one time thing, I set about getting another sample from my boy who will not pee in a box if he is locked in a room with it, but who will apparently pee in a box he doesn't think he is allowed to use, so using the same trick the first time I got a second sample.

This time I got this first result, and I thought it odd. So to see if it was the test, the app, or the urine, I immediately set about getting another photo of the diagnostics on a different surface - the black of the stove - and then I went and took one in direct sunlight on a white painted windowsill.   As you can see I got three pretty different results.





I wrote to Stephen and explained what happened, and at first he thought I waited several minutes between diagnostics, but once I explained it was mere seconds, he was at a bit of a loss. Maybe it is that I have an iPhone 4s and the colors were a bit off because it is older, I do not know. There have been a lot of people who were very happy with the results and who then went to their vet and got similar results from the professional tests.

I still recommend this product. Anything that can get more information into the hand of the pet owner and help them make informed decisions about their pet is a good thing.  I do not know why my results were so far off from the norm, but I am glad they occurred because this test does not test for hyperthyroid and I might have gone on for who knows how long lamenting about what was going on with my boy and freaked that I could not fix it. I still have two more test kits, and I can't wait to try them out once I upgrade my phone.

Would you like to learn more about Petnostics?  Check out their website, their Facebook page, their twitter feed, or their blog. They even have an Instagram account! :)

The post about Jack

What can I say about my boy. Jack came to me in a litter of four kittens in 2002, and it was the third litter I fostered. One of the four got very ill and was put down rather soon after I brought them home. I think back then they had so many kittens coming at them all at once they just took four that were of the same general age and put them all together. I don't know that, but looking back it seems very possible.

Because of the early loss, I feel in love with them rather quickly and rather deeply, but wee baby boy Jack (known then as Houdini and for good reason) quickly stole my heart, right out through my ear lobe. That boy was OBSESSED over nursing on my ear lobe. I still ache to this day that he outgrew that. I know it isn't all that acceptable, but it was so endearing.

I had made my husband a promise when I started fostering that I wouldn't keep any of the kittens I fostered (feel free to laugh at both of us) but when Jack came along I was totally distraught at the prospect of sending him back. I had two cats at the time, Em and Ollie, and we really were foolish to bring another cat into the house full time, but the heart wants what the heart wants. I was home crying that night after returning them, and my husband pretty much said if you are going to cry over him, you might as well go get him. I FLEW down to the shelter the next morning and snatched him right up.

I was unemployed at the time, and as a result where ever I went that I could bring him, I brought Jack with me. He learned to love riding in the car, and he loved his harness, because it meant spending time with me. He would often go and sit by the door and ask that we go somewhere together, and I could never resist him. Sometimes we would go to the local ice cream shop and get him an ice cream. Weren't we a spectacle, how often do you see a cat getting an ice cream?!? Once I got a job, I wasn't able to take him out as much, and he lost some of the confidence he had in new places, but he still doesn't mind riding in the car and he still overflows with confidence in the house and constantly asks anyone who shows up if they might have a smackerel or two of honey treat for a roly poly kitteh.. (he is not fat, he's fluffy, and he has a big dulap)

A few years ago I was watching a TV show about different breeds of cats, and on that program the highlighted the Nebelung. I was looking at cats that looked exactly like Jack. Every Nebelung I have seen looks amazingly similar, and they all have that wonderful outgoing friendly personalities. I have since started calling Jack a Nebelung, and part of me wonders if I will avoid adopting any others once he passes, or if I am going to form a Nebelung rescue and have 100 of them.

Jack has had way too many health scares for my liking. First was he was exposed to FeLV and ended up testing positive back when I used to let my resident cats mingle with my fosters. He tested positive twice over six weeks apart and I then started supplementing him on Vitamin C.  A year or so later he ended up testing negative.  When he was a young cat, he ended up being blocked after developing urinary crystals. I had one cat who was diabetic, and Eli had also recently blocked, and I was determined to make sure everyone else was healthy, so I bought them 'premium' dry food. It had all the right key buzz words, and it felt like I was doing the right thing for him and my other cats (the word truthiness pops to mind at this point) Well he blocked, and then he blocked again and I was told he had a very narrow urethra. After his second blockage is when I started my crusade to figure out what I could do, and when I learned how snowed over the general population is when it comes to feline nutrition. Unfortunately Jack is a wee bit (OK fine, a lot) food obsessed, and he is willing to eat just about anything he can get his paws on... and sometimes he bypasses his paws and goes right for the gobble.

Since becoming blocked as a young mancat, he has blocked a few other times, mostly when I am not careful and he gets into too many treats with plant based ingredients (which are currently banned from the house) or I don't put the dry food I bring home for the kittens away fast enough and he chews through the bag and eats till he gets sick. The most recent time he blocked was when I was visiting Amy and Lisa, and I was absolutely beside myself.

And I think we have a reason for that.

Due to my not being comfortable going back to my original vet, I have been shopping Jack around for the past few months / years with his urinary issue. I now have a list a mile long of vets I will not go to *sigh* and I had been attempting to help him myself and doing a very poor job of it. I finally broke down and tried 'one more' vet. There were a few that I was considering, most were more than 30 minutes away from my home. While Jack doesn't mind the car, most of my other cats do. A new clinic opened recently just a few hundred feet away from where my original vet (who took care of the cat I grew up with) and by a vet who used to work with a woman I used to work with who said (back then anyway) that he was very nice. So when Jack peed on the floor one too many times that week, I called them and asked to be seen. They squeezed me in - since it was a urinary issue in a male cat.  He tested normal once again - no obvious reason why he was peeing, and I suggested we do blood work to look at liver and kidney values - because I still believe and I always will that those treats I gave him harmed him - and the vet suggested we run a comprehensive panel - aka old kitty blood work.  Since cats are considered old at 8, and he is 12, I thought it a good idea.

Well his thyroid level came back at 5.4 (out of a 0.8 - 4.9 range) so we started him on thyroid medication. Originally we started him out at 2.5mg BID and in two weeks he tested at 0.8.  The 'other' vet at the clinic that called with the results said he was 'right where we wanted him to be' and I asked three different ways if I shouldn't be worried about him going too low, because we were told to test in 2-3 weeks so I assumed it hadn't fully settled yet, and each way I formed the question her answer was 'he is right in that range' and I was none too happy, especially since she completely avoided my concerns, and about ready to find a new vet, but I had scheduled an appointment with Muffin (perfect), Eli (perfect) and Fleurp (still dealing with anemia), and I decided to keep it and ended up having a nice discussion with the vet I had intended to have treat my cats anyway.

So truth be told, he should be around '2.something' not 0.8  After consulting on the yahoo thyroid board and reading more on thyroid, I took a day off of giving him the pills and lowered his dose to 1.25 BID. Since he really wasn't showing signs of being hyperthyroid other than the peeing (which oddly enough is actually a symptom - hence my 'unnecessary vet visit' post from Monday) it is very hard to tell if he is doing better with this new dose or not. The vet I intend to have as my primary vet agrees with my decision.  I am not overly pleased with this vet, but he is someone I can work with, and that is very valuable to me.

I am currently in the process of working up the courage to contact yet another vet to discuss doing the I-131 radioactive iodine treatment.  I am way too introverted and way too phone phobic to enjoy doing this, but I will get it done for my boy. Part of me, a very large part, wants to put off treatment until the end of October when I am going to be out of town at BarkWorld so I don't have to stress over him being stressed over my being gone, but we will have the discussion sooner than that and see what they think is best.

#howIwakeup is a regular feature on my instagram account

I do not know what the future will bring for my boy, but I do know that he will lay on my pillow each morning he can and lick my nose, because that is now his thing.. (I still wish it was my earlobe)