Broken Brady AMBG 60 and Vet update

Brady is still broken :mrgreen: We're very happy with this status and have informed him that he can maintain it. ;-)

Took him to the vet yesterday to get ab's for his URI, got bloodwork done (results below, came in while I was typing) the vet did a skin scraping because Brady has been plucking out clumps of fur and a couple of spots had dry patches, he has some bacteria on his skin. We have medicated shampoo and lotion to deal with that now, he isn't running fever so vet said I can bathe him whenever I'm ready (I had held off because I wasn't sure if I should do it while he's sick). He also gave Brady the FVRC vax, said it can help knock out the URI and said to give all the other kitties Lysine (all of them have had the FVRC vax in the past year), with that and the ab's he said that if Brady is no longer sneezing in a week we could let him out.

Brady doesn't have ear mites, he has a nasty ear infection though. Both ears are squishy when you rub on them *blech* so he said to continue the Tresaderm and cleaning.

There were several things they wanted to do that I declined. First was a fructosamine test. No need for that, it'll just show whacked numbers from the overdose the shelter had been giving him. I said that I do home testing and will monitor his numbers AM/PM for the next few weeks and if he really wants to see more numbers I can do a couple of curves but we're not paying for a fructosamine test when we can get those numbers ourselves. I told him that Brady has not been given insulin since last Thursday and that his highest number since then was 109.

I also declined the Convenia injection he wanted to give. He only wanted to give it for convenience and so I informed him that I would just as soon skip that and go with pills. So he gave us Amoxicillin 250 mg BID. I need to go find the post from Dr Lisa on Convenia to print out and take to him. I couldn't recall exactly what she said but I remembered enough to know that it isn't advised in lots of cases. He wanted to know why I refused it so I said I would bring him the info I had read. I did say that if it turns out that it is something that Brady truly needs to get better, I would allow it but that I'd much rather try the Amoxicillin first.

Then I declined the 3DX snap test for FeLV, FIV, HWT because I know Brady was tested before he came out here. Will need to get records from the shelter for the vet's office. The only records we have are from vet visits, which are done off site. We think/know that the shelter does some vax and such in house so the records we have are incomplete.

I also declined the $17.38 they wanted to charge me to TRIM HIS NAILS confused_cat wtf? I just trimmed 'em Sunday for one thing and SEVENTEEN DOLLARS to trim nails? (Maybe I should add nail trimming to the services offered in our petsitting business!)

I declined for the moment a fecal and urinalysis (he wanted to check his urine for sugar...???) We can do those later if they really need to be done but I skipped 'em for right now.

When I took Brady out of his crate I noticed he had a poop trying to come out... it was hard, fur filled and stuck. We had to pull it out (now I guess we should have kept it and they could have sampled that). I asked if we should be giving a laxative and the vet said to wait and see if better nutrition and the ab's (possible they might give him the runs I gather?) takes care of that. So we're waiting. I haven't seen a poo in his box since then (need to ask the boy if there were any when he scooped the boxes the past few days but I don't think there have been) Brady has had two doses if his ab's so far... how long should I wait before doing something if he doesn't start pooping on his own?

I asked about a rescue discount and the receptionist said they do that but they need to have a contract with the rescue. Venita, maybe we should get in touch with them about that before the dental? (Looking at the bill I got some sort of discount ($12.37) but I'm thinking that was a multi-pet discount.)

I got a quote for the dental. I will scan it and email it to you Venita. They did say that if we did it within two weeks the blood work they did yesterday would still be good so we could skip that. There is also another quote for some things they would like to do at that time. I have no experience with dental stuff or any of the things listed on the second quote so I will need some advice there. I'm just assuming since they tried to sell me so many things that I declined, that these quotes are also stuffed with things I can/should decline.

Vet just called with blood work results. Brady's white cells are mildly elevated. Said it could be the skin thing but he really wants to get the shelter's records because it could also be heartworm or FIV/FeLV so he wants to know for sure if they tested for those things.

He also said Esoinophils are elevated and that this could be an allergy or intestinal parasites so he really wants a fecal sample. I'll take that up just as soon as Brady gives me a poop.

He wants to see Brady again in a week to make sure the skin condition is improving and the ab's are helping.

 

Why not give him some hairball gel to help things get going???

 

Miralax may be helpful too. I give Lilly Grace a small amount every third day to keep her stool from getting hard. Some cats take it daily, but since Lilly Grace can't walk and has to lie on her side to relieve herself, I don't want things too soft, if you know what I mean Clean up would be, well, not so much fun.

I can't wait until Brady can come out and meet the rest of the crew.

 

Nice report Marvie.

Did you want me to call Vicki at the shelter, or will you? Her cell phone is better and the number is on this secret page in the Blog that only people with permissions, like you, can see.

I look forward to seeing the estimate for the dental. I assume the vet's name and phone # are on it, so when I get it I will call to arrange a rescue discount.

 

I have to leave here in a few minutes to go do two dog walks, I will be out... close to three hours. I can call when I get back unless you want to call sooner?

I sent the quotes a few minutes ago, the phone number is on there.

I'll stop and pick up some hairball gel as well as Mirilax to have on hand, if Brady doesn't poop by this evening, he's going to get some help. He's eating pretty well so he should be pooping. I want to get him some yogurt too since he's on the ab's. I hope he'll eat it, the others give me the stink eye when I put it in their foods. They're all po'd at me over the Lysine anyway, Isis is po'd because I have panties and a pad on her and Boomer is pouting because I keep yelling at him when he tries to mount Isis. I'm almost looking forward to two dog walks in the heat of the day with the heat index of 42,000 degrees (or 98, I could be exaggerating a touch) :lol: just so I can see some puppies who are happy to see ME lol.

 

Sounds like Brady is already doing much better now that he's with you Marvie! And it's really cool to see his numbers doing so well without insulin!

I'm no help on all the other tests and stuff, but wanted to congratulate you on his improvements so far, and again say I think it's great that you took him in. :mrgreen:

Oh, and with the stuck hairy poop, I'd go for some hairball gel to get things moving. He may still have some of that hairball stuck and blocking things, and if the abx do give him the runs, he might have an explosive poop if it isn't unstuck soon.

And I'm totally LMAO about the pads/panties/mounting issues with the dogs. :lol: If Brady won't take the yogurt, you can (I think, someone correct me if I'm wrong) sprinkle some acidophilus (yogurt bacteria) on his food. I do that all the time for my kids when they're on abx--mix in applesauce or pudding or something, in this case, wet cat food. My toddler has never complained about the taste, so I would think Brady won't notice it. You can buy capsules of it at the pharmacy, just open them and dump into his food.

 

I called Vicki. Oops!! Brady has not recently been tested for FIV/FeLV/HW, so that will have to be done.

Diane, the shelter volunteer who handled the transport, was to be typing up the shelter records of treatments there to send us. I will email her a request.

The dental and other quotes haven't shown up yet. I'll keep an eye out for them.

 

I thought he was tested for FIV/FeLV... we had asked that he be before I adopted him I am sure. Looks like we'll be going back in then.

 

We just started antibiotics for Yoda and he started getting runny poos by the second day. But also take note that he was pooing just fine before that. I would give the antibiotics 2 days max to help clear things out.

 

I don't recall. So many of these kitties run together for me. It is our policy to ask for a current test. You have his vet records. Maybe call them and see whether there was a test done after the last date that you have in those records. He was in there since that last date for at least his travel papers.

So much of this was done verbally, because the shelter and the shelter manager do not have internet access.