The Blog Pound

Saturday, February 21, 2009 , terribly early in the morning

R.I.P., Socks the Cat

Socks, the famous cat from the Clinton’s years at the White House, passed away this past week at the age of 18. Socks seemed to have led a happy life, especially in his later years, and I know he was loved by his family and by thousands of people who only knew him through photos. I now feel the urge to read the book of letters that he received from children, “Dear Socks”... perhaps I can find it at the library.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/21 at 06:17 AM
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Saturday, February 14, 2009 , terribly early in the morning

A book about kittens mixed with an active imagination

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/14 at 03:44 AM
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Friday, February 13, 2009 , early evening

Cat Remote Control

This is what you’re all getting for the holidays this year… a remote device which is supposed to help you control your cat. It’s powered, of course, by “positive thinking” (or “delusions”). Good luck! Click the photos for a bigger picture and a better look at the button labels:

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/13 at 07:35 PM
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Thursday, February 12, 2009 , terribly early in the morning

Happy 13th birthday, Eli!

I’m surprised and thrilled that we were able to celebrate Eli’s 13th birthday today. Other than her bad arthritis, she’s still lively and playful (and never misses an opportunity to poke at a cat). I remember that Pedigree brand dog food had a commercial many years ago, where the inventor of the food claimed that his two German shepherds were 15 years old. I always hoped that Eli could be a dog like that, and honestly, she’s not much different today than she was four or five years ago. I’m looking forward to her 14th birthday, and have to figure out what special gift to buy her. This year, her gift was an “Old Soul Orbee Ball” from PlanetDog.com, and she loves it… it’s durable enough for her to chew like bubble gum, but soft enough for her older jaws and more fragile teeth. She’s always loved rubber balls, and this was definitely a great purchase. I do recommend that you check out PlanetDog if you’re looking for something a little different… I really like that they have a section of toys devoted to senior dogs.

I’ll take a picture of Eli later today and add it to this entry. She’s got some white whiskers on her muzzle, but hey, don’t we all?!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/12 at 03:51 AM
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Monday, February 09, 2009 , terribly early in the morning

Weigh-in

We had our first feline weigh-in for our fat foster cats, Buddy and Wilbur. After four weeks of being fed a proper amount of wet food (4 oz. per cat, per day), Buddy has gone from 26 pounds to 23.5, and Wilbur has gone from 21 pounds to 19.5. This is a great start, and they’re both already more agile. This new friskiness isn’t great news for Skylar, their roommate, because Skylar is being subjected to regular beat-downs and attacks in the litterbox. He used to be able to just lounge up on a high surface, like a cat tree, but now Wilbur can easily reach those spots too. I’m working on the problem by removing Skylar from the room at least three times a day so he can use a different, more private litterbox, and that’s working out well for him. He enjoys the breaks from the bedroom, but doesn’t act stressed or reluctant when I return him. I figured out the litterbox issue when I went into the bedroom last week and found that someone (Skylar), had peed on the top of a relatively pricey Epson printer. Not a nice surprise, nor nice to have to clean up. I really hope these foster cats get to go home soon so that Skylar can once again be the master of his domain.

One interesting note… by weighing the cats at 4 week intervals, I inadvertently discovered that I’d lost 10.5 lbs. in that same time period. It was confirmed at a doctor’s visit the next day. In all my years of dieting, I’ve never been able to dump 10 lbs in 4 weeks… maybe I could do 8, if I was lucky, and that was while watching what I eat. If I told you what I’ve eaten in the past month it would make you feel green, but it includes numerous pizzas, chocolate croissants, entire boxes of cereal consumed in 48 hours, a large tin of shortbread cookies from my mother, and a load of desserts from Trader Joe’s. I guess it’s time to check my thyroid gland again, especially because I’m sitting here in shorts and a t-shirt while Flippy is bundled up in sweats and buried under the covers. If the only symptom of hyperthyroidism I get is odd weight-loss, then that’s super, but I don’t want to progress to Graves disease and get bulging eyeballs. No sense trying to look like a bushbaby.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/09 at 06:45 AM
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Tuesday, February 03, 2009 , evening

One week, three cat bites

I’m not kidding. On top of the three urinary tract infections and two dental cleanings we dealt with this week, we still managed to squeeze in three totally unexpected cat bites. One was an infected “cat bites dog” sort of thing, which I was able to treat on my own (thank you to all the people who’ve donated leftover/unused medications to me). The second cat bite was found on Missy Mae, yesterday, in the extremely delicate area right beside her butt hole. The ruptured abscess was so deep and sore that we wondered if it was an infected anal gland, but nope, it was a cat bite. We’re treating it with ChlorhexiDerm Flush, betadine scrub pads, hot compresses, pain meds, and another one of those wonderful Convenia antibiotic injections. Today, as I was just about to settle down for the evening and enjoy a nice night of sleep, I went into the guest bedroom and found that Skyler had been bleeding up a storm all over the room… there was smeared blood on every surface, and one wall had a huge splatter pattern suitable for analysis by CSi. I cleaned up most of the blood and examined Skyler as best I could (he has long hair), but I honestly found nothing except a tiny nick on his chin. One of his paw pads has quite a bit of dried blood on it, but the foot doesn’t have any broken nails. In short, I’m mystified. I guess I’ll end up taking photos of Skyler in his present, gorgeous condition, and then shave him down to try to find a wound. If he did receive a bite, he’s lucky that it bled so much (to clean it out).

Speaking of cat bites, I suffered a small one of my own while working with Missy Mae. I enjoyed these couple of YouTube videos about cats in crates, even though one of them is an ad (and ad for a pretty good product):

On an unrelated note (sort of), I’m working on a Facebook page for my vet clinic, and although it’s a work-in-progress (and will be for a long time), I think it looks great. Soon, I shall provide a link (not until it’s perfect :)

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/03 at 09:38 AM
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Thursday, January 29, 2009 , terribly early in the morning

Two more days at the vet, and lots of surprises

Tuesday morning, we took off on another big veterinary clinic excursion. We took Scampi in for a dental cleaning, Eli went for her senior wellness exam (blood, urine, radiographs), and Bunny went for her cardiac ultrasound. As a bonus, I managed to snag Bing, so we took her along for the ride so she could have her vaccines updated and her mouth looked at (I was worried she also suffered from Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesions). It turned out that Bing does have FORLS, although not as severely as Scampi… poor Scampi has mouth ulcers and required a steroid injection for the inflammation. The vet had time to squeeze Bing in for a dental as well, so both cats came home feeling a little sore, but their mouths are happier. Now to try to keep their mouths as clean and healthy as possible to try to prevent the FORLS from progressing, although they’ll both likely eventually lose all their teeth because of this. I just want them to be comfortable and pain free, no matter what it takes.

As part of the surgery, Scampi and Bing had pre-surgical blood work and urinalysis, and it was discovered that both of them had “raging” urinary tract infections. It’s weird, because they’re both totally asymptomatic, but I’m glad it was caught. I’m even more glad about a new antibiotic treatment for cats called “Convenia”—it’s a single injection which lasts for up to two weeks, so no more chasing your cat around with a pill and a prayer anytime it gets sick. Yay! Tonight we’re at the 36 hour post-surgery mark, and both cats seem absolutely fine. One of them peed on the bed last night but I think it was an accident from still being in a fog, and they’ve both been in good spirits. They’re now getting Prescription T/D kibble as a snack, twice a day, to help keep their teeth clean. I want to start them chewing on raw chicken necks as well, but I need to find a local supplier.

I was pretty bothered that siblings Bing and Scampi had bad UTIs, especially when there’s supposedly no real pattern to the infections… they’re quite random. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but wonder if the cats’ littermate, Tie, might also have a UTI, so today we dragged him into the clinic for a urinalysis. Turns out he has a very mild UTI, but he unfortunately has crystals in his urine, and the potential for blockage. The vet wanted to put him on Waltham Urinary S/O right away, but I asked for a two week reprieve to get Tie back eating his normal diet. I’d had trouble getting the right chicken to make my homemade food for the past week and a half, so I’ve been substituting with other canned stuff, and the vet said the crystals could form in a matter of days. If the crystals are a response to the store-bought food, two weeks should be long enough to get him back on his normal raw diet and then we’ll see if there are changes. I hope so, because I can’t afford to feed all the cats Waltham, and it would make feeding time into an even bigger circus. I can’t help but now wonder how many other cats in the house are harbouring secret UTIs, so I’ll probably start to get them checked, one by one, just in case. I’m also going to add a couple more litterboxes in case any of the cats are holding their urine too long because of box stress, and I’ll be adding a few more water dishes as well. Our house offers the cats seven extremely large litterboxes (made from Rubbermaid storage bins), and there are also six or seven water dishes (there was a fountain, too, but they chewed up the cord for it). I want to make sure there’s no territorialism going on over either litterboxes or water dishes, so adding to what we already have will help. We just need to figure out where to put all these new boxes and bowls!

I’m thrilled to say that Eli passed her physical exam with flying colours. Except for the fact her arthritis has worsened (which wasn’t a surprise to me), her blood work was all normal and her radiographs were clear. It’s so nice to hear, given that she’s going to be 13 years old in a couple of weeks. She’s dropped qutie a lot of weight, going from a high of 105 to her current weight of 82, but most of that was just muscle mass. Now that she has trouble with her back legs, she doesn’t run and jump like she used to, and she has skinny, scrawny, old person legs. I wish we had pet physical therapy around here so she could get into a pool and perhaps regain some muscle, which would in turn help take some pressure off her joints. We’ll keep her on Dasuquin with the occasional bit of Rimadyl, and just hope she stays this healthy for her 14 year checkup.

No report back yet on Bunny. The file from her cardiac ultrasound is sent to a group of specialists in California, via email. They then analyze the ultrasound and write a diagnostic report and treatment recommendation. Bunny is doing so well that I hope they find her condition hasn’t changed at all, or has perhaps even reverse somewhat (I’m told this is possible, if the enlargement was caused bya virus). I’m crossing my fingers, toes, and legs for good news about Bunny.

For now, that’s all the latest vet news that’s fit to print… at least, the news from this part of Las Vegas.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/29 at 06:24 AM
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Tuesday, January 20, 2009 , the wee hours

Nevada Ballet Theatre’s bad idea

So the Nevada Ballet Theatre decided to raise some money with a live auction, and one of the things they auctioned off was a 7 week-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel puppy. Did anyone stop to think that perhaps auctioning off a puppy to the highest bidder wasn’t the best way to find the dog a good home? As it was, the winning bidder, Nigel Lythgoe, paid $10K for the puppy, and then gave it away to his unsuspecting date. It’s nice that she’s a dog lover, but she certainly didn’t go out that evening planning to get a puppy. The whole situation shows incredibly poor judgment on the part of the Nevada Ballet Company, but I’d really like to know the name of the breeder of the dog. Any breeder who’d let a 7 week-old puppy go to anyone with a fat wallet isn’t someone who should be breeding dogs.

Here’s a link to the story in the Las Vegas Review Journal (scroll down to the 2nd item).

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/20 at 02:09 AM
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11 cats to the vet, and we lived to tell the tale

Last Tuesday and Wednesday, we carted 11 cats to the vet for vaccines and checkups. It ended up being an exhaustive chore, with the six older cats being the best-behaved and easiest to catch, and the six younger cats being vicious beasts who drew blood. We took in six cats on Tuesday, and were supposed to take in six more on Wednesday, but I absolutely could not catch Bing (well, I could catch her, but I couldn’t get her into a crate). I didn’t even bother attempting to catch Dobby, who won’t allow us to touch her at all unless we’re offering a food bribe. The deal we were offered by our vet was that we’d perform a “working interview” of a new doctor applying for a position at the clinic, and in exchange, all costs would be waived. It’s impossible to pass up that sort of deal, so the aching muscles and bloody scratches seemed a small price to pay.

Overall, the cats are in good health. The main problem is with their dental health, and we’ve been cursed with cats with bad genetics. It’s not surprising that all six older, adopted cats require dental cleanings, but it was frustrating to find out that 3 year-old Scampi seems to have an autoimmune gum disease called FORLs (Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesions), which is painful and doesn’t really have a treatment except for pulling the involved teeth. Scampi’s brother, Tie, doesn’t have the condition, but his uncooperative sister, Bing, seems to also suffer from it (I took a peek in her mouth when we got home). Right now I’ve got Scampi scheduled for a dental cleaning on the 27th, and once we get a definitive diagnosis on him, I can see about getting treatment for Bing. The vet suggested we feed a few pieces of prescription T/D as a daily snack to help keep the teeth clean once they’ve had professional treatment, but warned that the T/D wo萖dn’t remove any tartar or calculus already formed. It truly is a myth that eating conventional dry kibble helps maintain clean teeth in pets, because it’s kind of like trying to clean our own teeth using melba toast. Dental health is largely a matter of genetics (just like with humans), although treats/snacks specifically designed for gum health are becoming pretty popular. Other than the prescription T/D, the vet suggested trying Feline Greenies or C.E.T Chews, but we’ve tried the latter and most of our cats won’t touch them (they have a texture like styrofoam packing peanuts). The other great treat for promoting good dental health is raw chicken necks, but I don’t have a local source for them. Raw diets are generally thought to help maintain healthy teeth and gums, but it’s a lot easier to give a dog a chewy bone than it is to give one to a cat. Our cats eat raw ground chicken meat and bones every day, but the bones are ground so finely that they’re pretty ineffective at cleaning teeth. Hopefully we can eventually get everyone a good baseline cleaning and then find some treats for maintenance (I’m not brushing their teeth… you come here and try to do it).

Other than dental issues, we discovered that Missy Mae has a grade II/III heart murmur, which is odd because she’s been to the vet a couple of times over the last few years and it’s never been detected. She needs a cardiac workout to sort out the problem (hello, $$$). The good news is that Bunny, our cat with HCM, didn’t have any detectable murmur or irregular heart beat. I was just devastated by Bunny’s diagnosis back in Nov. ‘07, but I have to say that she’s doing so well that you’d never know she had any problem at all. She takes Lasix and Enalapril, and is probably the most active and lively cat in our household. So far, she doesn’t exhibit any panting or open-mouthed breathing. The vet said there was a chance that Bunny had a virus when she was initially diagnosed, and that she may not have true HCM, or may not have a progressive form of the disease, and nothing would make me happier. Bunny has an echocardiogram on the 27th, and then we should know more about whether her condition has changed from a year ago.

Kevin, our current stray, also went along on the first day of our vet visit. He was described as “gorgeous” by multiple staff members, and we discovered that he was neutered and seems to be quite young (probably no more than a year old). He also appears to be ear-tipped, although the tipping is slightly more shallow than normal, so it’s tough to say if it’s an ear-tip cut or just a level tear from fight or accident. He’s such a mellow, cuddly cat… if he’s been ear-tipped, he was probably rounded up in a TNR, and I don’t understand why no one tried to adopt him out. It’s possible he’s a stray who was dumped at the bird/farm sanctuary about half a mile from our house, which would explain how he was part of a mass spay and neuter process. Flippy and I went over to the sanctuary on Halloween night, to deliver our pumpkin (to be fed to the pigs), and we saw at least three or four cats wandering the area in the span of 60 seconds. The place must be crawling with strays. Since we’ve brought Kevin inside (where he happily lives in a pile of clothes in the laundry room and enjoys belly rubs and toys), a new, unneutered male has taken his spot in the yard and is eating the food I leave out. It feels like the supply of homeless cats is endless, and this is just one tiny corner of the universe.

I wish I could name the vet we saw, but I don’t want to mention her in case she doesn’t take the job, and in case her current employer doesn’t know she’s looking elsewhere! Suffice it to say that we liked her very much, and would be happy to see her on a regular basis. Our clinic generally keeps three or four vets on staff, and there’ve been times that some of the doctors have been “less than my favourite”, but if this new vet is hired I’ll be willing to see any available doctor with any of our animals. The vet was young but confident, answered all of our questions and entertained us with anecdotes, and most importantly, wasn’t condescending. She also managed to stump me with “FORLs” as a diagnosis, and any vet who can stump me means that I’m going to learn something during the appointments. If she’s hired, I’ll come back to edit the entry to add her name.

Now that I’ve finally finished writing this blog entry, I need to jot a note to the vet who owns the clinic to thank her for the $800+ of freebies, and to tell her that we’d love to see the new vet as part of the staff.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/20 at 01:03 AM
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