Friday, July 23, 2010
Good News And Bad News
I'm overwhelmed by all the purrs and good wishes from all my friends since I have not been feeling too good and had to go to the v-e-t. I'm sorry I have kept you all waiting this week for an update, but it has been a bit hectic here. It was my mum's final week at school and today was the first day of her summer holiday. She doesn't have to teach any sticky little people again until September. However, she has spent the last week going in early and running round madly packing stuff into boxes and moving furniture (she is moving into a different classroom next term), throwing away rubbish, saying goodbye to her class and doing all that end-of-term stuff. And the rest of the time she has been devoting herself to my well-being, obviously. So our time for getting on the computer has been very limited.
Anyway, now she is on her holidays and can devote herself to me full-time! That is, unless my humans have any dastardly plans for going away which they haven't told me about yet. And I know they would feel bad about leaving me when I am poorly. The good news that I am already feeling a bit better. I haven't had to go back to the v-e-t yet but the v-e-t has phoned my mum twice and they have had long chats about me. The Loud Australian V-e-t, who is my regular v-e-t and knows all about my history and my diabetes, came back from his holiday in time to go through my blood tests. He made the lab redo a couple of the tests because the results weren't very clear, but luckily I didn't have to go and have any more blood stolen because they just used the blood they already stole from me before to do the new tests.
Apparently I did have an infection so it is a good thing the Quiet Calm V-e-t I saw gave me some antibiotics straight away. I have been taking them for six days and they have definitely helped me to start feeling better. I was hardly eating anything before and now I am eating about two bowls full of food per day. My mum would still like me to eat a bit more to put some weight back on, but it is a good start. Also I have been given all my favourite foods and some gourmet varieties to tempt my appetite, and it is working! My mum has to be careful when she is picking out different kinds of stinky goodness and read all the ingredients because of my diabetic diet. I can have stinky goodness with jelly but not with gravy because the gravy stinky goodness usually says "with sugars" on the ingredients list and that would be bad for me. And some flavours I won't eat now at all, like beef or lamb or turkey. I like tuna, salmon, mackerel, sardine and chicken flavours.
I am being very good about taking my antibiotic pills. The v-e-t said my mum could either give me the whole capsule or open the capsule and put the powder in my food. But I won't eat any foods with hidden medicine in them, so I just get the whole capsule posted down my throat. My mum says I am very easy to pill, compared to my late sister Hattie, whose twice-daily pill-taking sessions (before she went to the Bridge) involved two humans, wrapping in towels, thrashing, scratching, yowling and much stress for all involved. I pretty much just open wide and swallow! It helps that my mum bought a tube of one of the most yummy things ever - Deli Soft Cheese With Smoked Salmon!!!! Just for me!!!! And every time I swallow a pill, I get to lick up some of the delicious Deli Soft Cheese With Smoked Salmon immediately afterwards! It is so worth it!
Unfortunately, even though I am feeling better with the antibiotics and have started to eat more, the blood test results weren't all good news. Most of the tests were fine, but my kidney values were not great and also I am becoming a hyperthyroid kitty. The Loud Australian V-e-t wants to start me on a daily pill to help my kidneys, and maybe later on I might need to have some thyroid medicine too, but he wants to manage any medications very carefully so that it doesn't upset my diabetes, which has been under good control for the last three years. So my mum is going to see him tomorrow to talk about me and pick up some kidney pills. He is also going to keep an eye on my teeth, but he doesn't want to send me to sleep for dental work unless he absolutely has to, because of my age and my health. My mum says I shouldn't worry about all this medical stuff, because it's just something that often happens to senior catizens like me, and I know my humans and the Loud Australian V-e-t will take good care of me. My mum says all I have to worry about is eating as much as I can and trying to get a bit fatter again because she doesn't like being able to feel all my bones under my floof. I think I will make her happy and go and have a snack now, I think I can smell tuna!
(This is an old picture because I don't want any pictures of me with the shaved patches all over where the V-e-t shaved off my mats last weekend!)Thank you again for all the purrs and the well-wishes, my furriends. May you all get Deli Soft Cheese With Smoked Salmon whenever you have to take pills! Yummy!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
V-e-t Update
Thank you so much for all the purrs, furr-iends. I got tossed into the Evil Cat Carrier this morning and taken to the v-e-t. There were four other cats there in the waiting room, some of them meowing VERY loudly, but I just gave a very little mew or two. I got treated like a VIP because I got seen first so I didn't have to wait for ages. The Loud Australian V-e-t is on holiday so I got the Quiet Calm V-e-t instead, which I really prefer. He was very impressed by how laid-back I was on the v-e-t table. I sat there and let him examine me so as to get it over quickly, and I tried to give him some schlurpy hairlicks when he bent down. I got weighed to see exactly how much weight I had lost. Last time I was weighed at the v-e-ts was in January and I was 7.1 kg (15.6 lb). Now I am only 5.8 kg (12.7 lb). Maybe everyone will start calling me Skinny Eric. Six years ago I weighed 21 lb!
Anyway, the v-e-t had a good look at me and he wasn't sure why I was losing my appetite and getting skinny. He noticed I had a bad tooth at the back of my mouth and my lymph glands in my neck were a bit swollen. That could be for several reasons, maybe even the bad tooth is causing a bit of an infection, or it could be something else altogether. The v-e-t took me in a back room and stole some of my blood to send to the lab for tests. They are going to test for thyroid disease, kidney problems and some other things which the v-e-t wants to check. He also gave me an antibiotic injection (in case I have an infection) and some antibiotic pills for my mum to give me at home for a few days. He shaved a patch on my neck when he was stealing my blood, and he also shaved off a few mats I had on my bottom which my mum hadn't been able to comb out. Now I look moth-eaten because of my shaved parts! And I smell like the v-e-t's office! Then he charged my mum £175 and sent us home.
Now we have to wait a few days for the results of my blood tests to come back. As soon as we got home I went and ate nearly a whole bowl full of food because I thought maybe if I ate more they wouldn't make me go back to the v-e-t again. Then I went and hid under the yellow chair in the spare room for a while to get over the whole traumatic experience. After that, my mum had to go and do some of her funny Morris dancing this afternoon at a festival, so my dad and I kept each other company and napped most of the the afternoon. Tonight my humans had Chinese takeaway and I was allowed to have a couple of prawns which were yummy! It seems to make my humans very happy when I eat stuff these days.
Thank you again everyone for all the purrs. I will let you know what the v-e-t says about my blood tests. Tomorrow I am going to chill out at home and maybe give Leo some more Mancat training if I feel up to it. Purrrrssssssss.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Purrs Please
I overheard my mum saying I have to go to the v-e-t tomorrow. I haven't been feeling completely myself for a few weeks, and I don't have my usual hearty appetite. I am still eating a little bit and using my litter box, and I never turn down Greenies, but I can't seem to eat more than half of my dinner or breakfast. My mum talked to the v-e-t recently but at the time it was very hot here and they thought maybe it was just that I was so hot and uncomfortable in my floof that I had lost my appetite. But now it is not so hot and I am still not really hungry and I have lost quite a lot of weight lately, so I have to go and see the v-e-t tomorrow morning. My mum is worried about me. Please send purrs that it turns out to be nothing serious.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Wednesday Is Gingersday
So, Leo, here's the deal. I've been feeling a bit off-colour lately with all this hot weather. You're young and energetic, not to mention hyperactive. If you keep patrolling the garden on my behalf, and pounce that Marmite whenever he shows his face, I might even let you do your own post on my blog...
...Wait, did someone open a bag of treats behind us?
