Coming, Coming, home*..

Happy Bear is going to be very happy later today.. I got the okay to take the kittens home about half an hour before the shelter closed on Wednesday. Since the owner of the company I work for had just walked through the door I emailed back that I would be in for them the next day. I asked after them and was told they were eating pate and kibble and while they still had diarrhea and were still pale they felt comfortable letting them go to me - knowing I don't just let things get worse without letting them know.

I spent too much time cleaning up the kitten room.  I was quite fearful that the smell was going to be overwhelming, but once it had dried it wasn't bad at all.  Don't get me wrong, it was still pretty bad, but it was back to the 'bad kitten diarrhea' smell.. and that is totally manageable for me - heck I even find skunk smell manageable. There were a few spots of stool on happy bear, and I did my best to scrub it off and then soaked the spots in bleach water.. I'm seriously tempted to just throw out the towel that I used to clean the little one off.. I need to talk to the vet about how virulent these worms are, and if a hot water cycle in the washing machine will kill them all, because frankly I don't want to risk contaminating household laundry if it doesn't**. It is hard to track down information on how long parasites lives in the household environment, and if when it gets really cold if I just turn off the heat and open the windows can I freeze it if the bleach didn't kill it all?   Considering all of the cleaning I did, I'm guessing I killed it all.. but I do want to replace the cat climber scratching post thing now.. I wonder if I can find a company to donate one.. because it would be on the dropcam and featured in videos on my facebook page all the time.. it needs to be under 3.5 feet tall and it needs to be enough for mother cats to help keep them in shape. Ah well, I'll deal with it once these kittens go up for adoption and I've got a vacancy at Casa de Gato..  Maybe I'll find another one on Craigslist..


* Thank you Peter Schilling for the inspiration of the blog post title
** (oh wait, everything in there is bleachable, I'll just bleach it all)

Another day with out them but we have a diagnosis

Or if not a complete diagnosis something has been seen and they are now being treated for it.  I got word late this afternoon that the vet found whipworm/lungworm in the stool. Apparently they tested them twice while they have been there and the vet was able to find it.  I do not know if they are using those terms interchangeably or if they have both whip and lung.  the wiki for Lung does not refer to whip, but the one for whip does refer to lung.

I am not sure when I am going to get them back.  I had called after lunch for an update and was told they were doing better and were eating better but they wanted to continue to keep them. I heard the news about the worms about 20 minutes before they closed (they emailed about an hour before they closed) so I'm sure I'll get more information when they open and we'll go from there.

Kittens are back at the shelter for now

I took the kittens to the shelter yesterday morning. I decreed to myself that unless they were dramatically better that they would be going into the shelter for them to decide what steps they want to take next. I had left some KMR down for them and some food, and while most of the KMR was consumed, the food was not. I didn't give them much of a going over, but the little one was sitting on top of the cube and she licked her nose and her tongue looked white. I didn't need any more information than that, so I scooped her up and put her in the carrier. Her sister wasn't interested in going, so it took me a minute to catch her.

The drive to the shelter is about 20 minutes, but the smell coming off them was nearly eye watering. It was 40 degrees out, so I wasn't comfortable opening the windows all the way, so I opened up the back windows enough to keep the smell from being overwhelming.

Once I got there, I gave the shelter tech the rundown on what I have observed and what my foster coordinator had given me for medication and that we had tested the stool and it was negative. I mentioned my fear of panleuk and the flea dirt and my thought it might be anemia and parasites. I asked if the shelter ever heard of using tamiflu for a kitten that had panleuk (she had not) and put the idea in her head in case it came up (someone on Facebook mentioned that one). I asked about picking them up that evening, because I didn't like the idea of them being there alone over night and I left knowing they would do something for them.

I called in after lunch, and was told they had been able to give them fluids, that they had gotten a bath (YAY), and they were eating some. I was also told that the staff wanted to keep the kittens for the night for observation. I was sad over it, but I know that it is probably best. This way they are there in the AM if the shelter feels they need to get to a vet hospital. The shelter does have a spay clinic on site, and often will have the vet there examine pets if need be, but it is not a full clinic and doesn't have full diagnostics. I have no idea if the vet was there today or not as I was getting my information third hand and since they aren't my responsibility I didn't want to be pushy.

I relayed the day on FB, and someone felt the need to yell at me (yes, when you type in all caps you are yelling regardless if you know it or not) telling me I should have taken them to the vet on my own implying I was negligent for not doing so and told me I should take them to a vet, even after knowing they were at the shelter. I have to tell you this kind of advice is not helpful. In fact is is downright harmful. This woman left me reeling all afternoon and apparently evening - even knowing I did what was right. It reminded me of the time a student vet tech told me I was wrong for having a pregnant cat spayed after she was spayed. At the time the tech had no way of knowing that the staff had found that the kittens with in the mother had passed and were harming her.. but her words burned and to this day nearly ten years later I remember her with such venom for her unkind words (well and a few other interactions with her over her internship). Telling someone what they should do (not suggesting, but telling) after the fact.. that is just mean. Not to mention that after just spending several thousand dollars on my own cats, taking on the full responsibility of these kittens is just not in the cards for me and I didn't see her stepping up to offer to pay for it..   and frankly while I might not like the way the shelter works sometimes (because it isn't the way I would work) I have trust they know what they are doing and will not let them suffer. If they need a vet, they will get one. Every single time I have disagreed with the way this shelter has handled a situation, the kitten or kittens in question have been just fine and gone on to live long healthy lives. I can only hope that people will understand just how harmful their comments can be are when they tell people who are going above and beyond in rescue what they should have done.. Most of us who are in rescue wear our hearts on our sleeves where they are easily damaged. I have seen many in rescue being harmed by the self appointed helpful people..  (and yes I am a little bit bitter, and no, it isn't all because of this one woman. It has happened several times over the years, and I have seen it happen to others, so I am clumping all of that into this paragraph. If the woman in question is here reading this, know I used what happen as a teaching moment and not a chance to rag on you in particular, although I imagine it probably feels that way.)

So right now that is where I am. I will call in around lunch time and check up on them and see what is what. I am hopeful they will come home today, but if not, that is okay too. Happy Bear will wait for them.

So.. questions. There were a few things in the comments yesterday..

I did have to laugh at "Katnip Lounge's" comment about vicks.. yeah, they smelled so bad I can only imagine what stench that would have inflicted on me..

Bernadette asked about coccidia or giardia... we did a stool test before bringing them home and it was negative. We did give a dose of marquis paste to kill coccidia in case we didn't see it, and they were on albon to help soothe the intestines and work on any left behind. Panacur is usually given for giardia, but since we didn't see it, we held off.

Catonsvillecats suggested a blood transfusion. that is a serious possibility. I've seen vets do it in the past, but that would be a vet / shelter call.

SquirrelQueen wonderfully relayed what she does for kittens from the shelter. Yup, they get capstar here too.. which is why I found flea dirt and not fleas. They also get a dose of revolution to take care of additional parasites. I tend to put diarrhea kittens right on raw food, and it helped the bigger kitten and she produced a nice solid stool after coming home. Unfortunately they weren't eating it very well so I tried a few other foods hoping to entice them to eat more.. this caused the elder one to have diarrhea again. Since they weren't eating that either, I gave them raw again.  As for KMR it isn't my favorite option.. I much prefer goat milk for older kittens because KMR has a lot of sugar in it.. Because I was told they were older, I initially didn't give them anything, but when they weren't eating well I took a can of premade kmr home and offered it to them. They drank it heartily, and if they were still here I would have gone and gotten them some goat milk for the ease of consuming more calories.  Trial and error.. yup, know it well.. I've been doing this since 2002 and my personal protocols have changed quite a bit from when I started.. I've also learned a lot from what other foster homes have done. (she is oh so lucky to have techs and a vet she can text!!)

Alana asked about testing the stool. Yup, it has been done twice now. I do not know the results of the second one, but considering they are keeping them there I am guessing it is negative.


I know you know I'll keep you updated.. cause that is what I do.. but...

I'll let you know what happens next..

Two little kittens and the battle they face.

So I contacted the shelter to see if they had any kittens for me to take. I was told there were a group of five that were 12 weeks old that weren't social, and another two who were younger that also needed some socialization. I went down to the shelter on Friday to take a look and see. The older group was a little older than I am comfortable taking because I spend so much of my time at work, and sticking five kittens in a cage is a lot of work. The younger kittens were more my speed and frankly..

Seriously, these kittens are unbelievably fluffy, they are also double pawed..

Unfortunately they are also an incredible hot mess. I did not blog about them before now and I was hesitant to do so now but I was recently reminded that people forget that kittens are still pretty much considered disposable, and because of that I decided to share with you what these kittens are going through. It is not pretty. They reek. They completely lack that new kitten smell and smell a bit like garbage and death. They have diarrhea that smells so bad that I do think it could be used to strip paint, and I nearly vomit every single time I smell it.. They have incredibly long fur, and thus look robust, but they are actually little more than fur and bones. I have been trying to give the littlest one fluids to help counter the diarrhea, but her skin is so frail it is leaking right out of her. I have had them for three days now and since she hasn't died I am hopeful we can pull her through it but it has taken some work.

I was thrilled that she came to investigate the plate

I got some seafood canned food, hoping their not eating might be a smell thing but they were not interested in it, some fluids, some pet-tinic, some albon, and some probiotics. I also have some slippery elm bark which I mixed in to some premade KMR which they seem to like. They are eating very little, but they are eating..

They are skittish, they spent some time like this..

I spent some time down in the room ignoring them and watching tv and we have gotten to the point where I can walk up to them and get them as long as I am cautious and aware. They have also completely fallen in love with Happy Bear and are loathed to leave him.

I do not know if the littlest one will survive. While trying to give her fluids I was able to confirm the presence of quite a bit of flea dirt, so maybe this is just a really bad case of anemia and inappropriate foods, and with the fluids and the antibiotics and the nutrition... well in either case I am doing the best I can. They both desperately need a bath, and I'm considering bringing them back to the shelter to do it as I'm not a huge fan of walking these cats through my house and bathing them in my sink not knowing exactly what is going on with them. I am keeping quarantine procedures, using one pair of pants and a scrub top along with a pair of slippers to try to keep exposure to a minimum.. If this is panleuk, it should be interesting to figure out how to decontaminate the room. I've had it in the house before.. one of the kittens I brought home with Jack back in 2002 was euthanized because the shelter said he had it.. but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.. I'm still hoping this is just a bad case of fleas..

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.