- Mood:
sad - Music:Kiss From a Rose by Seal
I think I am going to have to put Woody down this week. The lump on his nose never did go back down this last time. He is still eating good, but seems dehydrated, and NO, I cannot give him sub-q, he is NOT that kind of cat. I put meds in his eye yesterday because it was runny, and that looks better, but he is NOT himself and is a bit wobbly on his feet. For the last few days he has gone outside without even having breakfast. He sleeps in one of the flower beds until supper time and then comes in and eats about 3 ounces or so of canned food. Tonight I gave him tuna water, which he loves.
I had hoped he would make Bunny and Louise's anniversary in August. Anubis died 7/24/08. I knew he was sick, we found the tumor a year ago and I had recently noticed his motor skills deteriorating like Annie's did as the cancer spread into her brain, but....I'm still typing through tears. I guess you are never ready for these things.He didn't even know how to play when we got him, but I have pictures of him playing with toys months after we took him in. If those assholes had bothered to get him neutered, he probably never would have gotten the FIV...instead they threw him out to live on the streets for seven years...We managed to give him two years of love, warmth, security, food and water. At least he got to experience that much. I know he knows he is loved.
- Mood:
heartbroken
- Mood:
tired
Woody has more swelling. He is drooling more, and although it is clear, it smells bad. I'm thinking of giving the antibiotics yet another go along with 5mg of pred instead of the 2.5 the vet suggested. He is still eating and doesn't seem to be in pain, but I know stench and swelling are not good. I cannot increase the zenequin dosage as he was already getting the max. Anything higher and I risk blinding him.
Jack has something wrong with his tail. Seems he sprained it or something. He is not carrying it upright and yelps if you touch the wrong spot. This has happened before so we are watching and waiting. Day before yesterday he got into OLD garbage--like from before Thanksgiving Garbage that hadn't gone out because of the Holiday. He barfed for two days, only keeping boiled boneless skinless chicken breast down. Even a bite of anything else and up it came. Shelby apparently ate the same thing so I had TWO barfing dogs...
Tuesday my cousin was rushed to the hospital. She had been driving to school, saw flashing lights behind her eyes then dark. At first they said aneurysm--she has had migraines ever since I can remember and aneurysm symptoms are very similar. However, after running many tests, they ruled that out but failed to come up with another answer.
- Mood:
blank
My mum is having surgery tomorrow. As part of the prep., they did an EKG yesterday. They called today to say there is "some sort of abnormality" (she had an EKG last year and everything was fine) and that she needs to see another doctor today--a heart specialist. Naturally, she is scared to death and I am pretending to be calm with her but am a bit freaked. She is calling my brother, an ICU Cardiology Nurse, as I type this, so hopefully he will be able to help her at least feel a little better. I'm going to call her back and see if she wants me to go with her to the specialist this afternoon.
PS--Woody's swelling is no better, but also no worse.
- Mood:
nervous - Music:Carol of the Bells by Trans Siberian Orchestra
He started the zenequin on Friday, so he has had four doses now. Less black around mouth and nose, swelling looks reduced--knock wood and anti-jinx!!!
Unfortunately, I decided to start weening him off the pred yesterday. He did not get his half pill. He needed it. So, back on the pred because he smells like a homeless person and has to be kept on a towel. OY!
- Mood:
frustrated
He is looking rough today. Discharge from his nose, but no swelling. Dark around his mouth...He JUST had a dental a few months ago when this nightmare began.
NO
I am
NOT
taking him in. They just cleaned his teeth and if it has spread to his mouth I've already played that game and know there is nothing they can do other than what I am already doing. I did just fax them for a refill on his meds. I have enough to take me to Tuesday. Hopefully he is better before I have to leave town for Thanksgiving. The cat we based his treatment protocol on needed the meds periodically for years. I am crossing my fingers that is ALL this is.
ETA: I just got a good look at him in good light. Swelling is back.
:head wall:
- Mood: anxious
He was doing better, but over the last few days there is a new development.
( Cut for Gross TMI, but I DO want Cat People Experience/Input... )
ETA: The general consensus is that this is just a new IBD symptom. SO, I've him back on pred, but only 2.5 mg. Started last night.
- Mood:
worried
I have been putting off doing this because I didn't want to jinx us...
sooo...
KNOCK WOOD AND ANTI-JINX!!!
Woody's swelling is down. He is still sometimes having sneezing bouts, but no discharge from his nose. Instead of just a slit, he has an actual nose-hole again. His nose is still slightly bigger on that side, but MUCH better than it was. I want to thank my cousin, Peggy, for sharing the story of her FIV cat with me and for helping me with the meds and treatment protocol. My vet was skeptical, but the treatment Peg shared with me worked. Woody has now been off of pred. and zeniquin (was getting 12.5 mg once per day for a month). He hasn't been medicated for 10 days. Thank you everyone for your well wishes and your prayers--I *know* they made a difference!!!
Also...
The IMOM Fundraiser is done. They raised over 18K before expenses. Thanks to your generosity, Woody raised $350 all on his own. That is enough to provide insulin and syringes for a year for a diabetic cat or dog. That will supply sub-q bags, lines, and needles for a dog or cat suffering from chronic renal failure for a year. That money will help provide the needed surgery for the lucky winner of the photo contest, Gracie.
Here is Gracie:
Picture is a golden retriever puppy wearing a diaper. She can now have the $3,000 surgery needed to give her a chance at a better life after somebody just dumped her because she was "defective".
Thank you, and Bless You All for your double kindness in not only helping me help my boy, but in helping others with their beloved companions.
- Mood:
touched - Music:Thank You by Natalie Merchant
A couple weeks ago I posted about a fundraiser for IMOM charity. IMOM helps low/no income folks with chronically ill pets, such as diabetics or ones with CRF, by giving them the supplies they need to provide Quality of Life to their pets. They have also helped out animals that were injured or had cancer. It's a wonderful charity!
Woody is entered in the fundraising contest. If he wins, not only does money go to IMOM, but also to Alliance for Spay-Neuter and Pet Rescue. Woody has FIV, an immune deficiency disease that not only sometimes makes him sick, but also makes treating any illness he gets far more difficult. IF his original people had spent the lousy $35 required to neuter him, he would not have this eventually fatal disease. I also chose that charity because since Woody spent Seven Years allowed to randomly breed, I'm sure at least a few of his offspring have been helped by this organization.
If you have a spare moment and a spare few bucks, please take a moment to vote for Woody HERE. Voting ends at midnight (Eastern time) on October 22nd.
Thank you!
Picture is Orange Short-Haired Tabby that has his head tilted to the side and looks like he is smiling/"mugging it up" for the camera.
- Mood:
hopeful
My Faith does not believe in Hell. We believe you come back--that LIFE IS HELL.
Until you have sat by and watched someone you love die, sat totally helpless, exhausted any and all avenues of hope in an attempt to save them, you do not know what Hell is. I have done it over and over--human and animal. I am doing it again. I had Hope, it is fading...Fact can drown hope faster than a tidal wave can take a small village...
Yet I will continue to cling to hope like Jack clung to that piece of wreckage in Titanic. I will keep fighting and keep trying, because that is how I am made. I can't help it, it's how he wrote me--I try to dance to the music even after the music stops. If you Believe...
If you BELIEVE...
Schrodinger's Cat.
I did it once.
Not ten minutes ago I sat on the floor of my kitchen and stroked the fur of a purring cat that should NOT be here. He is very alive. He is very here. He is coming up on five years past his "expiration date". I Believed and I refused to accept the facts...and he is still here.
I did it once.
I've tried over and over to do it again.
If I BELIEVE.
Schrodinger's Cat.
My Great Uncle studied physics under Einstein. That makes me one degree away...
If I BELIEVE.
Schrodinger's Cat.
They had beers together.
I am a Kalvaitis. I am drinking beer and trying to BELIEVE.
Schrodinger's Cat.
I saved Bunny for almost six years.
We beat the odds over and over...
With the diabetes we were told two years and we got almost six
with the cancer we were told six months and got seven and a half--*GOOD* months...
in the end, I could not save him.
I DID save Riley--even when all the evidence and all the facts told me I would NOT.
I have "spent" cat after cat trying to do it again.
Can I pull a rabbit out of a hat?
Can I pull a miracle out of the air by sure WILL?
Is it my doubt that destroys the end result?
Schrodinger's Cat.
BELIEVE.
Gaiman says Gods exist because we believe in them.
All I have to do is believe in one orange cat...
- Mood:
Trying Hard to BELIEVE - Music:The Hardest Part by Cold Play
We had some coupons for Arby's that were about to expire. We eat Arby's *maybe* four times a year. I decided that rather than let these really good coupons expire, I would go pick up roast beef sandwiches for dinner. I got one for Jack and Shelby to split (they had already had some dog food) and a melt without Arby Sauce for Woody.
When Bunny had cancer I had to make him his own plate or I couldn't eat. Bunny had never been a plate moocher, but after he got cancer he became a FIEND and I could not eat in peace unless he had his own. Woody has become the same way. I pulled the bun off his sandwich and ripped up the roast beef on the wrapper and gave it to him. He ate the entire thing! Plus, I ended up giving him two whole slices of ham from my ham n' swiss melt! At least he has a good appetite!
I took this picture of him earlier this week. It is an orange cat with green eyes lying on the bed. You can see the swelling on the left bridge of his nose--Charlie swears it's getting smaller, I think it is simply not swelling any more--either case, I'll take it! You can see where they shaved his right "arm" for his IV when he had his dental surgery--the hair is just starting to grow back. That is Jack's black and brown rump in the right hand side of the picture that Woody has taken to using as a pillow. When Woody first came inside, he and Jack had a falling out and for months fought like, well, cats and dogs. A couple months ago they called "truce" and now you can find them sleeping together.
The other thing I wanted to post about today was something cute Jack did this morning. Jack is 14-years old. We have a fourposter bed. Sometimes it's hard for him to get up onto it (no he will not use stairs--I bought him some and ended up returning them) so he will pat the bed with his front feet. I get down and as he jumps I boost him up. He always pats my arm when I reach around him to do this, as if to say, "Thanks for helping an old dawg out."
Charlie lets the dawgs out every morning while he gets ready for work. After Charlie leaves, Jack comes back to bed. I was already asleep. I felt somebody patting my arm. I opened one eye and there was Jack looking at me, patting arm as if to say, "Hey, it's raining and my joints are stiff. Mind helping an old dawg out?" I smiled and got up and boosted him onto the bed. I'm gonna miss the hell out of that dog when he goes!
This picture is Jack, a beagle/doberman mix, so he looks like a *really large* beagle--he's 43 pounds. He is black and white and brown with floppy beagle ears. His face was brown a long time ago, but has turned white as he has gotten older, however, he still has little black "freckles" where his whiskers come out and black "eyeliner" around his big chocolate-brown eyes. His right ear (visible in the picture) has a slight crinkle on the end where he had a hematoma (sp?) about a year ago.
- Music:rain falling outside occasionally punctuated by distant thunder
Woody is a NIGHTMARE to medicate. Besides that, he has been on one medication or another for well over a month now and is just FED UP with it all.
Fortunately, (THANK THE GODDESS!!!) I have been able to give him his lysine and agaricus supplements in his food. Yesterday was the first day we had No More Baytril Pills, so he needed to at least get 1 ml of anti-robe/clyndamicine. As anyone who has had to give this med to their cat knows, even if you get it flavored with tuna and keep it in the fridge, it tastes *horrible*. I decided just for shits and giggles to put it in a small can of food he really likes. He ate it!!! Worked in again today. Blessed Be!!!
So as long as he is eating good--his normal 3-5 small meals a day--I can give him all but his pred pill in his food. The pred I have to make sure he gets ALL of it, so we have to continue to give him that the "nasty way".
For two days he had discharge from his nose. Today, nothing so far--knock wood and anti-jinx!!! The swelling doesn't appear smaller, but it doesn't appear any bigger either. KNOCK WOOD AND ANTIJINX!!! Since it was growing visibly/noticeably every few days, I'm going to Thank the Gods and Pray we are on the right track. The agaricus is a new addition to his routine that I was able to start Saturday, so hopefully this helps as much as I have heard and we see a Decrease in the mass.
Thank you all for your prayers and wishes--Please keep them coming! We need a miracle.
- Mood: tired
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