Musings on a Small Life

Before I give a quick update on Derry, I'd like to offer my deepest condolences to two well-known bloggers on the loss of their family members. If you haven't already done so and would like to leave condolences, please see the links from the Cat Blogosphere here: https://blog.catblogosphere.com/for-carole-and-katie-isabella/ https://blog.catblogosphere.com/for-ellen-and-family/ ****** As for my sweet little Derry-bear, well, he's sporting the cone of shame, cape-style, to keep him from pawing at his eye. I'll skip over the details of how hard it was to connect with our vet regarding meds. The antiviral he wanted to have compounded is no longer available at their compounding pharmacy, nor was one other option. Another anti-viral, for which he had faxed in a prescription to my own drugstore, was not available except in injection format (for humans). Finally, yesterday afternoon I was able to get antibiotic eye ointment (2x per day), for any secondary infection, as well as...

I thought we were making progress last week, as Derry was doing well until last evening when he started having diarrhea again.   His blood work and fecal tests were great, save for above-high normal sodium levels (dehydration, presumably due to the diarrhea he'd been having plus all the water-absorbing additives I'd been giving him).   Since there was absolutely nothing in the results to indicate a reason for the sudden onset, I have to assume it's food/ingredient related. I've recently been trying a few brands of hairball kibble*, added to his usual Orijen, to see if anything would help; maybe that's inflamed his gastrointestinal tract. It used to be Nicki who had such a sensitive system, not Derry. I've got an email into my vet about a gastrointestinal/fibre dry food, since I can't get him to eat the canned, any needed meds, etc. and will pop over later to pick up whatever is prescribed.   I actually wish there had been something in the fecal test, somethi...

[Update at 9:20 AM Saturday: No real change. He nibbled at some dry and canned late last night and this morning too, but otherwise hasn't shown any interest in eating. I just ground up a mirtazapine pill and mixed it with tuna water, syringed it in--the taste must be so bitter that it's caused him to drool profusely. He's hiding upstairs at the moment, not looking good. I wish I had something more positive to write.] Nicki was fine yesterday...until the evening. He's been sick, not keeping his supper down and looking miserable, so I had him to the emerg vet late last night. No diagnostics, because his vitals checked out fine and the vet said he didn't want me spending hundreds of dollars for nothing, but they gave him a shot to settle his stomach (antacid). He came home and threw up (bile), then did the same overnight. I haven't slept at all, didn't go to work, took Nicki in to our vet early this afternoon. Again, he checked out fine with a physical ex...

This happens every fall. Cats just don't grasp the concept of the fall time change. Thanks to a certain cat in my house, whose name begins with "N," I have been awake since 3 AM-ish every night (morning) since we turned our clocks back Saturday night. It's impossible to sleep with Nicki's strident yeowling, wanting me to get up and feed him. This morning he felt the need to push the hall lamp off the console table and onto the floor. At 3:15. It's not the first time he's done this, and I know it won't be the last but oh, boy, did I turn the air blue when I flew out of bed and rushed downstairs. NOT impressed. I have "raccoon eyes" and am in surly temper from the lack of rest. On top of the pre-existing sleep deprivation. (There was one night in late September that I slept soundly and deeply, the only night I can remember this year. I couldn't function the next day, I was so out of it!) I love you, Nicki, but oh, I don't ...

Update : It's not a blockage, the x-ray indicated that his kidney stones are the same size, placement, etc., as his previous x-ray (when they were first detected). So it's his gastrointestinal tract, we think. I have some of the vet food, which I'm willing to try at this point, but when I get a chance I suppose I'll have to research feline IBS/IBD (if his problem falls into that category) and see what I can do with respect to food, etc. I won't tell you how much I've spent on vet bills in the past two days, but it comes perilously close to four digits...before the decimal point. It was worth it, though. The boys are worth it. _________________________________________________________________ We're still around. My dad is still here today (Thursday June 20th), plans to leave tomorrow, though he's flexible. Great trip, busy, maybe too much "peopling" for me, even though it's biological family. LOL. I'm back at the office today, bu...

My little baby bear currently is recovering at the v-e-t, having had his 3rd or 4th dental now. He lost 4 or 5 more teeth, bringing the total loss to 15 or 16. However, given that cats have 30 adult teeth, he still has 14 or 15 left--which means another dental at some point, if his health and kidneys hold up. Nicki goes to the v-e-t tomorrow afternoon, almost a month early this time, because he's now peed twice outside the litter boxes (once while I was away in Halifax, in an empty Rubbermaid container in the basement, and then again Sunday night/Monday AM in the empty laundry basket in the basement). My first thought: His kidney stones or a UTI. I'll find out. He was fine in early April (UA and blood work), but that doesn't mean there isn't a problem now. Cats don't pee in abnormal places for no reason, and to the best my knowledge, they certainly don't do so out of spite. If it's not a physical issue, I can only think it's stress-related. Wh...

This is Chip. I had popped into my vet clinic first thing Saturday morning, to pick up some Advantage Multi, and Chip was there to say hello. (That's the on-duty staff person, petting him, in case that's not obvious.) Chip is one of three resident clinic cats now. (I got pics of Patches the last time I was there, and I can't remember who the third kitty is, haven't seen him or her.) Chip was one of two cats that a couple (or family, I'm not sure) had, the other being Dale. The people were moving to Cornwall (Ontario) to take care of the husband's ill mother and had brought Chip in to be euthanized because he'd been diagnosed with Diabetes and they felt they couldn't care for him.  I am so tempted to make a cutting, disparaging remark about those people, but I wasn't in their shoes. I know I would not have made the same choice had I been. Even if I felt I couldn't care for a companion Being anymore, I would move heaven and ...

I had a good extra-long weekend, had taken Friday off for Nicki's vet appointment. That was surprisingly and mercifully quick -- his anal glands were very full and were easily expressed. I'm waiting for the vet to get back to me on a couple of things, one asthma-related for Nicki, and one allergy-related for Derry. Regarding probable allergies (Derry), I Googled and read both vet and owner sites that state cats under 15 pounds can take 5 mg Loratadine (for allergy symptoms) daily. This was something I asked the vet about, but he'd not heard of the specific med (I take it daily right, now most common brand is Claritin, the regular one, NOT Claritin D). Anyway, I "risked" it Friday night and gave Derry the half-tablet (they come in tiny 10 mg pills and I have a pill splitter) and he was fine. He's had one a day for the past three days and I think they're helping--at least Derry's not sneezing and snuffling nearly as much and I'm not up every...

I'd give a lot to get my hands on a glass of something alcoholic right now. LOL. Posted an update on the boys' blog -- they did Derry's dental first thing this AM (I finally called them at 1:20PM EDT, my anxiety spiking off the chart). Extracted the upper left pre-molar that was bad, as well as another on the right side, but that was all. Which surprises me greatly. The vet said Derry was recovering well. No one could find the lump (I'm NOT making it up), but the vet will have another go. It's just that Derry has to be sitting up to feel it; I keep telling everyone that. Anyway, I didn't realize just how tense I was until I hung up the phone. Now I feel like a wet noodle and am close to sliding off my chair, onto the floor under my desk. I so want a shot of rye or a glass of wine, but there's no LCBO on my way to the clinic or on my way home. If they weren't so hell-bent on maintaining a monopoly, I could at least get wine and beer at my local corn...

I'm patting myself on the back for making it to Friday this week.  :-) And while it's not yet spring here, we've seen the snow start melting little by little. It was even +6 Celsius two or three days ago! The boys after work yesterday. Bare ground where I had shovelled! Anyway, we had our new person (on the budget side) start Monday. She's sitting in my old cubicle, adjacent to me, though I have a "wall" of overhead cabinets that blocks us from seeing each other and gives a measure of privacy. I like her. I had wondered how she'd fit in, given that the budget folks take all this a bit more seriously than we do. They're all younger, climbing the ladder of career success and on our side of things, we're all older and wondering how many years we'll have to work before we can get the hell out of here. LOL. But she's older than she looks (looks about 35, but she told me she's 46), and she seems very down to earth--for which I'm...

Can I keep track of the days?  That's rhetorical. So what's new...What's NOT new is the minus 33 Celsius temps for overnight and into tomorrow morning. This is an upcoming holiday weekend and it's supposed to be the coldest yet. I hope this is the worst of winter and that things start to improve, because soon I'm going to curl up under my covers and not bother to come out. I'm grumpy, low, low, grumpy, low, and did I mention low? You get the picture. NOT in the mood to blog. Four more days till the 4th anniversary of Annie's death, on February 16th. Do I have to explain further? Valentine's schmalentine's, I really dislike this event. I have a post scheduled for the boys on their blog, but frankly, I could give a rat's ass about it and just want it all over and done with. On a better note: I was off yesterday, a "vacation" day that entailed taking Nicki to the vet in the A.M. for his regular anal glands, plus a check. No d...