Musings on a Small Life

I debated on waiting to post until I get the results back tomorrow (Thursday), but then thought it might be better to give readers a heads-up on the latest with Derry, in case the news is the worst-case scenario. As he's gotten older, he's become a bit messier in the litter box when he pees, and I frequently have to wipe his backside, otherwise he does it himself--usually on the carpet. On Sunday I noticed that the colour of the urine on his butt fur was brown, not normal. I told myself not to panic, but the same thing occurred on Monday. So off he went to the vet late yesterday afternoon, for a urine analysis and full bloodwork. They took a look at the urine in-house (just a "quick" look) and there IS a lot of blood in it. The vet said that Derry's bladder looks irregular, possibly a benign polyp, or possibly a cancerous tumour of course. (I brought up the cancer possibility first.) He's NOT exhibiting any clinical signs of cystitis or a blockage such as bein...

I took Derry to another vet this morning for a second opinion on his eye. Ironically, it was the clinic I had taken Chumley and Annie to, years ago, a bit further away from me. (Another, closer clinic I had called was booking into October, too late for me.) It was very long, we were there for at least three hours all told. Very expensive, as I knew they would be, but also very thorough, which I appreciated. Derry has at least two issues at the moment: 1. Corneal ulcer 2. Eosinophilic keratitis (the suspected diagnosis back in January) AND/OR ulcerative keratitis They did the pressure test for glaucoma, and while the left eye reading is pretty close to the top end (however they measure it), he does not have glaucoma at this time. They also stained the eye, which is how they picked up the ulcer. (My regular vet DID this last week, but either it hadn't yet developed or he missed it.) So right now Derry will get antibiotic ointment four to five times a day, as well as eye lubricant gel...

Poor little mite. (Pic from last week.)     I took Derry to the vet yesterday for a full work-up because he's been throwing up fairly regularly since the latter part of February, usually at night and usually just clear liquid. I was concerned it was his pancreas, kidneys, thyroid, or liver. They sent off a full blood panel and the urine sample and we came home. Well, I don't know why I forgot how sick he gets after the vet visits, being so stressed and traumatized. That's how he ended up at ER the second time last summer. Duh, Kim. He ate a little bit late yesterday afternoon, but nothing since, not even water that I could see. By early this morning he was drooling with nausea. I gave him some Cerenia, as I have several tablets on hand from the fall, unopened of course. That was at 5 AM. Then, around 6:30 AM I gave him some Mirataz (appetite stimulant), assuming the Cerenia would have kicked in and settled his stomach. Wrong. The drooling continued all day (it's about 4...

I took Derry to our regular vet on Monday January 10th, not having been satisfied with the exam and subsequent conversation with the new, young vet he'd seen on December 31st. Snapshot from Jan 6, playing with his feathered stick, something he hasn't done in many months. Our regular vet gave his eyes a thorough check, including the Schirmer tear test, which the previous vet had not done. There was no sign of an ulcer, no sign of glaucoma, but his eye was low on tear production (near the low end of normal), which apparently can be caused by a Herpes virus flare-up. I was given steroid eye ointment (I opted for ointment this time over drops) and am doing my best to get some meds onto the inside part of the lower eyelid every day. It's hit and miss, a lot ends up on the fur below his eye, but I hope that at least some is getting where it's supposed to. Note that the December 31st vet didn't think steroid eye meds were appropriate; she had sent us home with antibacteria...

Our regular vet is off this week; Derry saw a new vet, probably fresh out of veterinary college. She said she could see something at the edge of the cornea, but it wasn't picking up the stain and wasn't presenting as a corneal ulcer typically would. I asked if there was a chance it was cancer and she didn't think so. She really didn't know what it was. Possibly caused by the virus, possibly a scratch, possibly something else. She sent me home with antibiotic drops and instructions to put one or two drops in Derry's eye three to four times a day, for seven days. Hahaha. (She also had offered Metacam, presumably for any discomfort, but I declined at this time, not liking its use in cats.) Anyway, I watched a number of YouTube videos, with apparently very passive cats, then I wrestled with Derry for about 10 minutes mid-afternoon, to sort of maybe get one drop in and that was that. Gave him a treat and a brushing session afterward, to end on a pleasant note. Of cours...

[ Note : I'd previously posted parts of this, but then the vet contacted me again and suggested the pancreatic-specific blood test using Friday's sample still at the lab, so I unpublished this post to wait for those results--negative.] Wednesday September 15th: I'd had Derry at the vet last Friday the 10th for an ultrasound (looked fine, but I'm now having the images sent to the radiologist just to be on the safe side) and further bloodwork. It was less expensive to just re-run a complete senior wellness panel with T4, sodium, B12 and folate than to do them separately, so even though he'd had the senior panel (minus the T4 and extras) in August, I told the vet to go ahead. Last Friday afternoon, back from the vet. Dr. P called me late Monday afternoon; Derry has the blood chemistry of "a five year old cat." Everything was fine, even his T4 and his glucose (he drinks a ton of water these days, I figured something was amiss). The sodium levels that were so h...

I had Derry to the vet yesterday afternoon, because when I got home from work on Tuesday he was having a problem with his left eye. (See very blurry pic to the right.) He kept pawing at it in the evening, and though he was able to open it partially later, I could see it still wasn't quite right yesterday morning (Wednesday). I don't mess around with eyes, human or non-human. So off we went to the vet yesterday afternoon, and fortunately the snow squalls had stopped shortly before, so I was able to get a taxi to and from the clinic without much of a wait. The vet did the stain-thing so the eye could be checked, and fortunately there was no indication that anything was amiss, no scratch, no evidence of other issues. And because Derry hasn't been sneezing or having any symptoms of a virus, it likely was something in his eye, a hair or piece of dirt or whatever, that irritated him. I had blood drawn for a full senior panel while we were there, since Derry's last...

Finally I have an update on Nicki, who had his regular (plus output issues) vet appointment late this morning. Backing up, the output issues have been ongoing since early June, somewhat off and on, but definitely "on" since August 26th. Slippery elm wasn't doing the trick, and I started trying this food and that, which I'm sure didn't help. Eventually I had the bright idea to check the ingredients of the kibble they get (only a small bit, because they love kibble; most of their diet is canned). Well, I do know Nicki has a problem with potato, and somewhere along the way the dry I've been giving them has changed, it now has potato in its top five ingredients. Arrghh. I haven't bothered to check the bags I buy in a very long time, my mistake. And a caution to all, to periodically check your pet food ingredient list because we all know that companies change their food without alerting the public. I won't make that mistake again. I'm still ...

This just in from my vet, via email: "I received the report back from Dr. Crews (the radiologist) and the news is positive. There were no significant finding on the images we sent. The opacity around the heart and lungs is apparently fat deposits and not fluid. There are mild lung markings as we noted within the lungs (the little donuts) She said that without a cough present, this could be normal age related change for Derry. Also nothing significant on the abdomen except she said the spleen was a bit big but no abnormal shape or masses noted. This could be due to an immune response. If you have ongoing concerns about Derry please let me know." Thank you for the purrs and purrayers, they must have worked!

Derry is home, happy to be back, as I am. I have a sulcrate suspension to give him twice a day, to coat/soothe his innards, in case he feels nauseous, and I have three mirtazapine pills in case he needs an appetite stimulant. This weekend is our long holiday weekend (Canada Day on July 1st) and I didn't want to be caught without something if it's needed. Fortunately, he did eat when he got home, after the sulcrate stuff (which I think is unpleasant in taste, based on his reaction). So I hope I don't need the appetite stimulant. (Snapshot from a bit earlier this afternoon.) I'll cut to the chase regarding the x-ray results: He has a small bit of fluid outside the lungs (if I recall correctly), but nothing that needs to be addressed at this time. However, he also has...something...in his chest cavity. Could be nothing, could be a tumour. The vet is sending the x-rays off to the radiologist, though he said sometimes the radiologist also is inconclusive. I woul...

Nicki, happily, has been producing solid output the last couple of days, probably thanks to the canned vet food, which (also happily for me) isn't filled with a lot of grain. However, now Derry is sick.  :-( I don't know what's wrong. He ate a bit of breakfast yesterday morning, but nothing after that. Around 9:30 PM I had to coax him to eat 1/2 tablespoon of kibble, and it was the same this morning. It took some doing to get him to eat a few pieces of dry, and though he seems interested in food when you rattle the jar or treat bag or let him sniff the FortiFlora packet, he's just not eating anything. I can't tell if he's unable to smell or if the scent of food is making him nauseous. His ears are not hot, he has no nasal discharge at this point, and seems to be breathing through his nose normally, again at this point. My boss drove me home at lunch time so I could check on him, and he was in the same spot as this morning, up on my bed. Happy f...

Nicki had his regular vet visit on Monday morning, so off we went in the taxi, Nick singing the Song of his People the entire way.   Nicki later in the afternoon, with a full tummy and done for the day.   He's lost a fair bit of weight (down to 11.2 lbs from 12.3 lbs last April), so I wanted to have a urine analysis done, as well as blood work (along with the usual expression of his anal glands, his claws clipped, his mouth checked, etc.). I've been waiting for the results and finally the vet just emailed me: his thyroid is fine, chemistries are "in line" with last spring's, his Creatinine actually is a few points less this time, but there was a problem with one of the blood sample tubes for the CBC and the cells were hemolyzed (I had to look that up). The vet suggested that the lab run a urine protein/creatinine ratio (as they did last April), and then said that I could bring Nicki back next week for another blood sample, no further charge. ...

I see it's been 10 days since I've done a blog post, so I ought to make an effort. I've got nothing, though. It's winter, it's freezing, I'm either at work or doing the usual stuff at home on the weekends. The boys are okay. I've been trying to cut back on their food, but Derry keeps getting fatter and the one who doesn't need to lose any weight, Nicki, has. He looks too thin to me now, but that might be just because of Derry's sheer size. I think I need some help in trying to get some weight off of him (Derry). It's tough, when you have two pets with two different body types and eating styles! I have nothing but admiration for the many who have a full house of companion Beings and who have to juggle so many different dietary (and health) needs! That in itself is almost a full-time job.   Nicki has a vet appointment on Monday the 21st, for regular stuff, and I've got a few things to follow up on (kidney stones, his weight loss, and...

Poor "little" bear, he didn't have a good time at the vet on Wednesday afternoon. (No one has fun at the vet/doctor!) The good news is that the x-ray showed no problems, all organs are normal, no kidney stones (unlike Nicki). His blood work also came back favourably, with a couple of values in the high-normal range and one just below low-normal, but on par with his results in 2017 and 2015. The urine analysis also came back okay, nothing seemingly amiss at this time. However, while he was there, a woman brought her dog in, with porcupine quills sticking out of his mouth. (No pic of that.) Apparently it's not the first time this has happened, as the dog, which looked like some sort of large schnauzer, is a farm dog. So they took him back while Derry was there getting his tests, and were trying to remove the quills without sedating the dog...ugh. Unfortunately the dog was not a happy camper, was quite vocal about the process, ended up very agitated and snarl...

Chip, one of the resident cats at our vet clinic. (See my August 2017 post with previous pics of and info about him.) Chip was hanging out, obviously not stressed by the comings and goings, though he definitely didn't appreciate the 3-month old puppy that was allowed to annoy him. (Chip swatted at him, justifiably so. The pup's human "mother" just thought it was all funny, that it would teach her dog a lesson. Yeah, whatever, lady.) Anyway, Nicki survived the ordeal of being in the carrier for just over an hour all told (taxis were hard to come by yesterday and it was a long wait to get home), and though he wouldn't admit it, I think he feels better for having had his anal glands expressed. (They were quite filled up.) Chip weighs in at 8 kg, 17.6 pounds. He's a big boy! I picked up some senior food, Royal Canin paté, to see if the boys will eat it. (They already do eat some RC Adult Instinctive that I get from the local pet stores.) I'd li...

I don't even remember the early part of the week. It's insane at work right now. I'm good, but I'm not Wonder Woman. And no, as a matter of a fact I can't pull a miracle out of my butt, so don't come to me last minute, with everything else I have to get done, and expect one. Or hey, even two. I do remember that I had two training sessions this week, one Wednesday morning, one this morning. They gave us a "stress-relieving" troll doll today, and I relieved my stress by ripping its head off and stabbing it a few times this afternoon. Very therapeutic, and a safe outlet for my work frustrations. The doll had an annoying voice anyway. Derry had a vet check on Wednesday afternoon; I had taken a quarter vacation day for that. (No need to explain how stressful this was for both of us.) He's gained weight, as anyone looking at him can see, and he's up 0.25 kg from last year, to 6 kg. It's too much for his little body, so I'd ...

Happy Friday to all and belated happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the U.S.. Now it's "Black Friday," the super-shopping day of the year for many. Less so here in Canada, though most retailers have gotten on board with the big American sale date. (Our huge sale date traditionally was/is Boxing Day, December 26th.) Anyway, I took advantage of one of Ikea's sales and ordered a new TV bench at 15% off. A sufficient deal to make up for the shipping cost and it should be delivered next week. I've hummed and hawed over which one to order for many months now, so hope I'm not disappointed with my final decision. I have a few other things I'd like to order as well, but those will wait till their next "free shipping" date, which I hope will be Christmas. Speaking of deliveries, I got the dining table I'd ordered from Wayfair.ca. (Still waiting on the chairs.) Of course that's Nicki up on the box.     Derry checks things out. ...

Actually, it's been a pretty easy week. Several of our staff are away, either on vacation or out for medical reasons, so it's been nice and quiet, a great time to plug away at a couple of projects that are due soon. Mom called last night to tell me that there's a bed for Harry in a publicly-funded nursing home in the city, at her preferred choice, in fact. (Really good care of the patients, great staff.) So I think she'll go early next week to sign all the papers, then Harry will move on whatever day they indicate, presumably next week also. He'll have an adjustment, especially since it's a shared room (one other person), but once he's settled he can go on the wait list for a private room. Each floor has its own doctor, who comes in every week to check on the residents, there are social activities, etc. Far, far better than Harry's current circumstances. The huge bonus is that this will save Mom $22,000 in annual costs, compared to what she's...