C
Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)
Guest
Hi all,
I rarely post about my two kitties, just because they rarely have issues. Bob's been sugarfree for two years, and Mullet is just a 16 year old orinch grouchy old man.
He's had a couple problems this past year. One was his less than excellent adventure with devouring some dark chocolate chunks, which caused a two day poo explosion but no long term effects. And then before that it was a broken tooth that wore a hole in his tongue that caused him to not eat for a couple of days, then he feasted on baby food and yogurt for a few days. Since then he's been okay.
I've suspected hyper-T for some time, and I should have dealt with it. But life happened, and he didn't seem so bad off and time flies.
Well, lately, I'm 99% sure that Hyper-T is his reality. All the classic symptoms are in place. And tomorrow, the vet will verify it when I bring him in. But the immediate problem is that he isn't eating. Since Friday, I've had to force him to eat. Baby food meats mostly, but not nearly enough per day. He's miserable. I'm pretty sure it's teeth trouble again. You can tell if he tries to chew, it hurts, so he'll take a couple of nibbles, then walk away from the dish. So I've been mashing up his food, making it soupy. He looks at me like "you want me to eat it NOW? What the hell IS IT???" So I tried pureed chicken breast, pureed human tuna, baby food, etc. Still barely eating.
Tonight was a disaster. I had to syringe feed him. I had to scruff him to even get the syringe in his mouth, and I ended up wearing more food than he swallowed. He is the worst patient in the cat world. It takes three people to clip his nails at the vet (only two if we do it at home). He is impossible to pill. Even liquid meds in a syringe are next to impossible to do solo. It's pretty bad when you have to ask your ex-wife to stop by the house on the way off work to help you clip nails or medicate a cat, but luckily she and I and Mullet have a 16 year history and lots of experience with wild and domestic animals.
At this moment, my biggest concern is whatever is making him reluctant to eat. He's hungry but is eating about a fourth of what he needs to eat, and then only with coaxing 10 times day and night. I've already spoken to the vet and he's going in tomorrow afternoon, and spending the night there because I'm working all night tomorrow. They know he'll need to be sedated in order to even look in his mouth. They are also going to do a blood draw and test for Hyper T. And I'll get them to trim his nails while they're at it. ;-) My hope really is that they find a bad tooth or two and can fix his immediate problem.
And the Hyper T diagnosis, I'll just deal with. I've looked at my options and if he's a candidate for it, I'm going with the radio-iodine treatment. Like I said, he can't be pilled once or twice a day for the rest of his life. And I'm guessing that surgery isn't a good option given his age and overall condition. There are 3 clinics in SC where he can have the radioactive treatment done. And I've looked at "Credit Care" to see if I can qualify, because I don't have a thousand bucks in my back pocket at the moment. I'll figure that crap out though.
I just wanted to ask for some vetty/healing/ouchie vines for my little old man. I've seen the power of "the board" on countless occasions. Miracles happen here. Mullet just needs a teeny one.
Thanks, I love you guys.
Carl, Bob and Mullet
I rarely post about my two kitties, just because they rarely have issues. Bob's been sugarfree for two years, and Mullet is just a 16 year old orinch grouchy old man.
He's had a couple problems this past year. One was his less than excellent adventure with devouring some dark chocolate chunks, which caused a two day poo explosion but no long term effects. And then before that it was a broken tooth that wore a hole in his tongue that caused him to not eat for a couple of days, then he feasted on baby food and yogurt for a few days. Since then he's been okay.
I've suspected hyper-T for some time, and I should have dealt with it. But life happened, and he didn't seem so bad off and time flies.
Well, lately, I'm 99% sure that Hyper-T is his reality. All the classic symptoms are in place. And tomorrow, the vet will verify it when I bring him in. But the immediate problem is that he isn't eating. Since Friday, I've had to force him to eat. Baby food meats mostly, but not nearly enough per day. He's miserable. I'm pretty sure it's teeth trouble again. You can tell if he tries to chew, it hurts, so he'll take a couple of nibbles, then walk away from the dish. So I've been mashing up his food, making it soupy. He looks at me like "you want me to eat it NOW? What the hell IS IT???" So I tried pureed chicken breast, pureed human tuna, baby food, etc. Still barely eating.
Tonight was a disaster. I had to syringe feed him. I had to scruff him to even get the syringe in his mouth, and I ended up wearing more food than he swallowed. He is the worst patient in the cat world. It takes three people to clip his nails at the vet (only two if we do it at home). He is impossible to pill. Even liquid meds in a syringe are next to impossible to do solo. It's pretty bad when you have to ask your ex-wife to stop by the house on the way off work to help you clip nails or medicate a cat, but luckily she and I and Mullet have a 16 year history and lots of experience with wild and domestic animals.
At this moment, my biggest concern is whatever is making him reluctant to eat. He's hungry but is eating about a fourth of what he needs to eat, and then only with coaxing 10 times day and night. I've already spoken to the vet and he's going in tomorrow afternoon, and spending the night there because I'm working all night tomorrow. They know he'll need to be sedated in order to even look in his mouth. They are also going to do a blood draw and test for Hyper T. And I'll get them to trim his nails while they're at it. ;-) My hope really is that they find a bad tooth or two and can fix his immediate problem.
And the Hyper T diagnosis, I'll just deal with. I've looked at my options and if he's a candidate for it, I'm going with the radio-iodine treatment. Like I said, he can't be pilled once or twice a day for the rest of his life. And I'm guessing that surgery isn't a good option given his age and overall condition. There are 3 clinics in SC where he can have the radioactive treatment done. And I've looked at "Credit Care" to see if I can qualify, because I don't have a thousand bucks in my back pocket at the moment. I'll figure that crap out though.
I just wanted to ask for some vetty/healing/ouchie vines for my little old man. I've seen the power of "the board" on countless occasions. Miracles happen here. Mullet just needs a teeny one.
Thanks, I love you guys.
Carl, Bob and Mullet
