4/3 Boo-ki & Heartworm PSA

Hello everybody!

Boo & Heartworm Public Service Announcement
Boo had a vetty-bean visit last Saturday for her 9th-month blood draw. She also had her poor little "boo-boo" glands squeezed clean and her butt shaved. Dr. Lunn hopefully got the GH blood off in time for testing this week; the IGF-1 blood should be sent off fairly quickly this time, so I might have results soon. Her 6-month results (which I received a couple of weeks ago) were just plain confusing...both the IGF-1 and GH are still very, very high (full results are in the Labs tab of my ss). Milo's are much better than Boo's, yet he's on insulin and she's not. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but it seems to me that Boo's feet are bigger...since it's the IGF-1 that causes growth (rather than the GH, as illogical as that sounds) and her IGF-1 is still sky-high, they truly might be growing.

Unfortunately, all of her kidney values are steadily declining; her PC Ratio almost doubled over the past 3 months. Also, very surprising, she tested positive for heartworm antibodies (thankfully, negative for heartworm antigens, which indicate a mature female worm)!!! I never believed that cats should be given "bug" preventative, like Revolution, unless they went outside, so I just smiled and said "no" when the good vetty-bean tried to talk me into prevention last year. And, because I've been so busy with Boo-ki, I was a bad mama to the drooler and let her heartworm prevention lapse...my vetty bean was sure the drooler would test positive which would entail a TERRIBLE treatment. Thankfully, drooler tested negative yesterday and has a nice supply of Heartgard.

I didn't realize it, but adult heartworms are not treatable in cats. Basically, it's harder for the heartworm to grow in a cat, and they tend to migrate to the lungs rather than the heart, but if your cat suddenly drops dead for no apparent reason, heartworm is a likely suspect. Coughing is a symptom; feline asthma "may" be caused by heartworms. See this link Jess provided: http://www.heartwormsociety.org/pet-own ... eline.html

Spreading the FDMB Message
My good vetty-bean recommended me to a vet for the drooler that is much closer to the house. She was very nice and she recommends Lantus & hometesting for diabetic cats!!! I told her about FDMB, Janet & Binky charts, the protocol we follow, etc. She asked me to send her an e-mail with all the links. She was also very interested to hear that I had an acro-cat - she's never seen one. Finally, I brought her a copy of The Orinch Boyz flyer and asked her to post on their bulletin board and explained that Venita arranges rescues for diabetic cats. All-in-all, very nice visit.

Monster-Kittens and Drooler-Bowel-Blast
The monster-kittens are still being terribly bad. You know something is wrong when you walk into the house and all three kitties are staring intently at an air-return vent. Even worse is when they stare at it for HOURS!!!!! Thankfully, nothing smells yet, so I think it was just a gecko or grasshopper.

Mika has become the drooler's cat. For some reason, she actually likes Jezi to lick her face and ears and will allow it for 10-15 minutes. Disgusting, but it makes them both very happy.

I was a very good girl yesterday and actually cleaned all of my hard floors. Of course, it was because I came home to discover that my drooler had a "bowel blast" all over the kitchen floor (poor thing - that has NEVER happened to her)! Unlike the kitties, she appeared to aim for the hard rather than soft surfaces, so while incredibly gross, it wasn't too difficult to clean.

Happy Easter everybody.

 

And a happy Easter to you too!

Now that was just gross, :razz: I think I would die if I came home to something like that!

Interesting, I was unaware that cats could even get heartworm. We got a dog from the Humane Society when I was a kid that shortly after tested positive. They said the Tx was incredible and expensive and he probably wouldn't survive it so we let them take him back and I assume PTS. Anyway that's when I got monster cat instead. He was at least 25 lbs. when he was full grown. He lived to be about 17 and developed kidney failure.

Glad Boo is doing well, even though her test results say otherwise. Sounds like the new vet is a good one! Maybe you can reffer newbies in the area to her.

Hope you don't have anymore exploding poo piles on your nice clean floors!

 

I've often wondered if I should get heartworm pills for my cats, because they do go outside and are constantly grazing on the grass. My vet doesn't press the issue when I speak to him about my concerns. Is is a once a month pill? Do you have to give pills now?
I don't know what to say about Boo's blood work results and IGF-1 and GH values, except I'm sorry, and I hope they get better soon.
Thanks for having The Orinch Boyz flyer posted. This new vet you found sounds promising.

 

For heartworm, you can use Revolution, which is a topical, or Heartgard, which is a chewable (at least in dogs). Right now, I'm using Revolution because it treats all sorts of "buggies". However, it's expensive and it seems to bother Macy (she ran around the house, pissed at me, for about 10 minutes after I applied it). After a few months, I might switch to Heartgard.

The new vet is just for the drooler (although she likes cats better) - I don't want to abandon my good vetty bean who's been taking such good care of Boo.

 

Happy Easter to you, Heather, and thanks for your posts in my condo and my health thread. Very disconcerting to read your heartworm psa, especially the month my cat starts coughing. I used to give the chews to my dog, but I never really considered it with the cats. Definitely something to look into.

I hope you get better news with your bloodwork this time. Do you feel that using Calcitriol has been of any use with the kidney disease and with the way she feels?

 

Happy Easter Heather,
Loved reading your post. Good info, and I lmao when I read what you said about the 3 kitties staring at the vent. I can just picture that and its so funny the cats stare at things for so long!!!
Anyway good to hear from you!!
Jan

 

Happy Easter, Heather!

Wow!

INTERESTING Vet visit!
I never heard of a cat having heart-worm either and I have spent a lot of time with a vet.
I guess this is something that every owner of an outdoor cat should be checking into...

Did you say this is limited to just cats that go outdoors?

Thanks for the update on Boo and glad you cleaned your floors :mrgreen:

 

I just read a post in Health (?) about heartworm in cats or it could have been from a link. Apparently the eggs can get carried inside on our shoes, transferred to the carpets, the cats pick it up from the floor and when the cats groom.........!

 

No...Boo rarely goes out, and if she does, it's for about 10 minutes. However, mosquitoes LOVE to get inside the house, and they are very quick.

 

Very interesting post on so many levels Heather. Thank you for all the great info!
Hope you all have a Happy Easter...with clean floors and interesting vents! :lol: Great stories!!!

 

Hey nice news writeup you did, and that vet sounds great!
I hope you get some decent results from the tests; just wondering, can you or do you measure the feet?
The heartworm stuff is something that should be gotten for even indoor kitties? The stuff you rub in their ears or something for absorption? Anything I put inside Shadoe's ears, like the codeine gel for pain, well, Booboo licks it off!

Does the pos. for antibodies mean treatment is needed, and if it were antigen, can that be treated also? Is treatment needed to resolve the issue?

just wondering as I know nothing about any of all this and worry if I should pack up my crew and head into my vet, demanding something or other! They have had enough of a break from me so I am due to show up there for something!

Have a great Easter.

 

Nice to see a long report Heather.
I am not familiar with all of your gang, except Boo.
I hope all goes well with the results and I also want to say thank you
for checking in and supporting Max.

 

it's good to hear a boo update!
thank you for the PSA. i tend to forget about cats and heartworm... especially the fact that even indoor kitties can get them.

 

awesome to hear how well Boo is doing! Who cares about test results if she is still OTJ and feeling good. :smile:

Thanks for the PSA. One of my civvies (indoor cat) tested positive this spring, and I'm waiting for the heartworm tests to come back for my other civvie, who was just diagnosed with heart disease. It's hard to stand there and be told that the vast majority of the time, heartworm is a complete non-issue and the worm just dies without causing any trouble, but on the rare occasions when it does cause trouble, it is not treatable and that the cat might die suddenly. I'm glad the 2nd test came back negative for Boo.

One of the versions of Advantage works for heartworm too, so that's what mine are all on now. It's easy to apply.

 

Here's a coupon you can print for a rebate for Advantage http://advantagemulti.petparents.com/couponConfirm.cfm
Dag Nabit, it controls everything but ticks, and that's what I'm most concerned with! I've had to get antibiotics twice because of limes disease. J.D. sleeps wrapped around my head, and we live in tick capital, here.

 

Nice to see a Boo-ki update, Heather. So glad she's OTJ, one less issue to deal with. Sounds like you've found a very open-minded vet. That's great.

 

Happy Easter Heather.

Thank you for all the information......I did not know about heartworm and cats either.
I hope nothing comes back out of the vent.

 

Thanks for dropping by my condo today. It was so nice to see you and also the new pic of Boo. Sorry to hear about the heartworm and hope everything turns out ok- Happy Easter to you too