Wednesday, August 10, 2011
More Cats
We let this whole cat blog thing slide... I think we should update it with some of the more recent news, new cats, etc. This blog really took a turn for the depressing back in late 2009, and we need to put some of the better stuff up here too. I'll get to work on that.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Here We Go Again
We'd noticed that Sophie was acting a little strange--she was sleeping a lot and she was really drinking a lot of water--so we took her to the vet and had her bloodwork done.
The bad news is that her creatinine was 2.5, which is just above the top of the normal range. Back in January, her creatinine was 1.6. So that is a big change in 7 months.
I'm really upset about this, but there just isn't a damn thing I can do other than try to feed her the best food and make sure she drinks lots of water. At least we had some practice with Farley...
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Jezebel
We are still getting used to Jezebel not being here. I have to stop myself from wondering if I forgot to give her insulin this morning, or wondering if she is okay. It is strange to go from spending so much time thinking of her and caring for her, to not having to worry about her at all. But I still think of her.
Both Jezebel and Farley were very people-centric cats. They loved to be held and cuddled. They would follow you around from room to room. They were determined to be where you were. Fred and Sophie are very sweet too, but they aren't nearly as focused on being with the people. They are content to ignore us until they've decided it is time to be affectionate. So, in that way, we feel a bit more lonely here without Farley or Jezebel. There is less cat cuddling to do...
I wish I'd taken pictures of some of the daily routines Jezebel and I had. One of the things we started doing in the last year was keeping a bowl of water in the bathtub for her. In the mornings and evenings as I'd refresh the water, she'd come walking into the bathroom and watch me. When I'd sit it down in the tub, she was walk over to the side and stand up on her hind legs with her front feet on the side of the tub. Her tail would make a question mark shape as she looked down into the tub to see the bowl. Then, she'd hop up on the side and stand there. Then she'd slowly hop down into the bathtub. First her front feet, with her back legs still on the ledge, and then both back legs together. And then she'd drink. Most of the time, she'd put her face too far down at first and jerk her head back when the water hit her nose. And then she'd lap up the water.
Of course, she was drinking water because of her diabetes, and she probably wasn't feeling 100%, but it was one of the moments she and I shared often. I'd pet her while she drank. When she was done, she'd hop back out and leave little wet paw prints across the tile floor as she wandered over to the back ledge of the couch or up on the head of the bed. Both places had lamps where she'd lie in the light and nap.
Both Jezebel and Farley were very people-centric cats. They loved to be held and cuddled. They would follow you around from room to room. They were determined to be where you were. Fred and Sophie are very sweet too, but they aren't nearly as focused on being with the people. They are content to ignore us until they've decided it is time to be affectionate. So, in that way, we feel a bit more lonely here without Farley or Jezebel. There is less cat cuddling to do...
I wish I'd taken pictures of some of the daily routines Jezebel and I had. One of the things we started doing in the last year was keeping a bowl of water in the bathtub for her. In the mornings and evenings as I'd refresh the water, she'd come walking into the bathroom and watch me. When I'd sit it down in the tub, she was walk over to the side and stand up on her hind legs with her front feet on the side of the tub. Her tail would make a question mark shape as she looked down into the tub to see the bowl. Then, she'd hop up on the side and stand there. Then she'd slowly hop down into the bathtub. First her front feet, with her back legs still on the ledge, and then both back legs together. And then she'd drink. Most of the time, she'd put her face too far down at first and jerk her head back when the water hit her nose. And then she'd lap up the water.
Of course, she was drinking water because of her diabetes, and she probably wasn't feeling 100%, but it was one of the moments she and I shared often. I'd pet her while she drank. When she was done, she'd hop back out and leave little wet paw prints across the tile floor as she wandered over to the back ledge of the couch or up on the head of the bed. Both places had lamps where she'd lie in the light and nap.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Another Hypoglycemic Episode
Yesterday around 3pm, Jennifer noticed that Jezebel was acting more groggy and lethargic than usual. She decided to check her blood sugar, and it was 24, which is way, way too low. We gave her some karo syrup and some treats, and rechecked her blood sugar and it was 37. Then about 15 minutes later, it had dropped back down to 27. So we went to the vet.
They gave her some dextrose and force fed her some A/D food. After that, she ate about 1/3-1/2 a can of A/D on her own. So we brought her back home. At 10pm, we checked her blood sugar again, and it was only 172. That is a good number normally, but it seemed too low for a diabetic cat, and we skipped her normal insulin dose.
This morning, we checked again, and her blood glucose was only 212. Again, that is good, but much lower than we'd thought. She also wasn't interested in eating or drinking, and she still seemed to feel out of it. Since 11:30am today, she has had about 1 to 1.5 oz of her "Rad Cat" raw chicken food. That's all she'll really eat, though, and she still hasn't been willing to drink any water.
Since her blood glucose is still in a decent range, her behavior makes us think that she is probably having indigestion. We gave her some Pepcid this morning, and we hope that helps her out a bit. We're about to call the vet again to see what they think we should do about the refusal to drink water. As time passes today, she seems to feel better and she looks a little more alert now than she did a couple of hours ago.
I just wish she could talk sometimes.
They gave her some dextrose and force fed her some A/D food. After that, she ate about 1/3-1/2 a can of A/D on her own. So we brought her back home. At 10pm, we checked her blood sugar again, and it was only 172. That is a good number normally, but it seemed too low for a diabetic cat, and we skipped her normal insulin dose.
This morning, we checked again, and her blood glucose was only 212. Again, that is good, but much lower than we'd thought. She also wasn't interested in eating or drinking, and she still seemed to feel out of it. Since 11:30am today, she has had about 1 to 1.5 oz of her "Rad Cat" raw chicken food. That's all she'll really eat, though, and she still hasn't been willing to drink any water.
Since her blood glucose is still in a decent range, her behavior makes us think that she is probably having indigestion. We gave her some Pepcid this morning, and we hope that helps her out a bit. We're about to call the vet again to see what they think we should do about the refusal to drink water. As time passes today, she seems to feel better and she looks a little more alert now than she did a couple of hours ago.
I just wish she could talk sometimes.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Jezebel update
Jezebel went to the vet on Monday this week (April 5). The doctor said she had an overgrowth of bacteria in her intestines, which was causing the diarrhea. So, that is better news than we'd feared. We put her on some antibiotics, and the diarrhea went away pretty much instantly.
She is also a very hard cat to give a pill. She stuck her sharpest claw deeply into my palm on Tuesday night. I called the vet to let him know she was doing better, and asked for advice on how to handle her craziness when giving medicine. He said to just stop the antibiotics. Phew!
But we may have to start giving her a liquid supplement every day to keep everything moving through her guts more easily. I will probably need some training on how to control her. She is great with the insulin, but she is vicious when you try to put something in her mouth.
She is also a very hard cat to give a pill. She stuck her sharpest claw deeply into my palm on Tuesday night. I called the vet to let him know she was doing better, and asked for advice on how to handle her craziness when giving medicine. He said to just stop the antibiotics. Phew!
But we may have to start giving her a liquid supplement every day to keep everything moving through her guts more easily. I will probably need some training on how to control her. She is great with the insulin, but she is vicious when you try to put something in her mouth.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Jezebel's Situation
We took Jezebel in for an ultrasound on March 25th. We knew she was having some issues with her digestive system because she was having gigantic poop and she seemed to be feeling lethargic and sluggish.
The ultrasound showed that her internal organs all looked good, which was good news, but her lymph nodes were slightly enlarged and her intestinal walls were thicker than normal. Based on the ultrasound, Dr. Phillips said that she likely has either Inflammatory Bowel Disease or lymphoma, and possibly a condition called mega colon. The treatment for IBD and lymphoma is pretty much the same, unless you want to do radiation and more aggressive cancer treatments.
On Friday night, April 2, we noticed that one of the cats had diarrhea. On Saturday, we saw it again, but we still weren't sure who it was. Then, on Sunday morning, we saw red blood in the diarrhea, so we had to figure out who it was. We separated the cats, and figured out that it was Jezebel. So she had gone from having large, hard stools to diarrhea in the span of a week or so. Today, she's had diarrhea 4 times so far, and 3 of them had blood that I could see.
About 3 or 4 weeks ago, we started feeding her a couple of new canned foods from Royal Canin called Instinctive and Intense Beauty. Both had high protein and the Intense Beauty has higher fat. I'm not sure if the diet is related to the diarrhea. We were excited to feed it to her because she was eating it much better than anything else we'd tried in a long time, and she seemed to be holding on to her weight.
The other weird thing is that she seems to be feeling a little bit better over the last few days. Maybe just not being constipated is an improvement, but the blood in the stool is very troubling.
I'm going to call the vet first thing in the morning to see what we can do, but we're very worried about Jezebel and her insides. I don't want her to be hurting.
The ultrasound showed that her internal organs all looked good, which was good news, but her lymph nodes were slightly enlarged and her intestinal walls were thicker than normal. Based on the ultrasound, Dr. Phillips said that she likely has either Inflammatory Bowel Disease or lymphoma, and possibly a condition called mega colon. The treatment for IBD and lymphoma is pretty much the same, unless you want to do radiation and more aggressive cancer treatments.
On Friday night, April 2, we noticed that one of the cats had diarrhea. On Saturday, we saw it again, but we still weren't sure who it was. Then, on Sunday morning, we saw red blood in the diarrhea, so we had to figure out who it was. We separated the cats, and figured out that it was Jezebel. So she had gone from having large, hard stools to diarrhea in the span of a week or so. Today, she's had diarrhea 4 times so far, and 3 of them had blood that I could see.
About 3 or 4 weeks ago, we started feeding her a couple of new canned foods from Royal Canin called Instinctive and Intense Beauty. Both had high protein and the Intense Beauty has higher fat. I'm not sure if the diet is related to the diarrhea. We were excited to feed it to her because she was eating it much better than anything else we'd tried in a long time, and she seemed to be holding on to her weight.
The other weird thing is that she seems to be feeling a little bit better over the last few days. Maybe just not being constipated is an improvement, but the blood in the stool is very troubling.
I'm going to call the vet first thing in the morning to see what we can do, but we're very worried about Jezebel and her insides. I don't want her to be hurting.
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