Giovanni's Upset Tummy

 

Hi everybydoy, it's me, Giovanni!

Me has been vomiting fairly often lately, so despite my loud, mournful, pitiful protests, Mama put me in my carrier and took me to the vet last week! It was quite the indignity!

Me couldn't see my primary vet 'cause hers was already all booked up, so mes saw another nice vet in the clinic, and hers worked with my primary vet to come up with a plan for me. 

The nice vet lady felt my belly for any tumors, and hers felt none! That was everybody's main concern since mes had a cancerous subcutaneous mast cell tumor last year and had to have a toe removed from one of my little back feeties. Mama was very relieved that me has no masses in my belly!

Thankful Thursday

 

Hi everybody, it's mes, Gabe, and me is joining Angel Brian's Thankful Thursday blog hop today!

Here me is on Tuesday on my way to de vet. Me gotted poked a lot! Theys gave mes two vaccines and did something called an FIV/FeLV test. Me had the test cause me spent my first month outdoors before a very nice man founded me and my siblings and took us to de shelter. From there, mes went to my foster home at CFFR and then here to my forever home. Mama didn't think me had FIV or FeLV, but hers wanted to make sure.

And de results came back, and me is NEGATIVE for FIV and FeLV. Mama and mes are happy and thankful for dat!

Me is also thankful that me is done with my baby vaccines and won't need another for a whole year now!

What does you be thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday

Hi everyone, it's mes, Gabe, and me is joining Angel Brian's Thankful Thursday blog hop today!

On Tuesday, Mama dragged mes back to the vet to get my eye checked out again. The vet was very happy that my eye be all better.  

Today, mes is thankful that me is all done with those yucky Clavamox drops and those icky eye drops for my upper respiratory infection! Mama is thankful, too, MOL!!

What does you be thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday

 Hi everybody, it's mes, Gabe!

We is joining Angel Brian's Thankful Thursday blog hop today. 

Me has been sneezing a lot the past two weeks. My vet told Mama to give me lysine last week when hers took me in for my vaccine. It helped a little, but mes is still sneezing often. Mama noticed mes was getting boogers in my right eye a few days ago. And me has been a bit fussy about my noms.

On Tuesday night, my right eye was all leaky and mes could barely open it. Mama knew mes had an upper respiratory infection, so hers took me to the vet on Wednesday.

Today, we is thankful that our vet was able to see mes between her surgeries. We is especially thankful that Mama didn't have to leave me there for a "drop off" appointment and come get me a few hours later. They were able to see mes while Mama was there.

The vet agrees that me has an upper respiratory infection. Hers gave Mama some eye drops (Tobramycin) to put in my eye three times a day and some antibiotics (Clavamox drops) to give mes twice a day. 

Mes is making it fun challenging for Mama by squirming and kicking and twisting when it's medicine time!  Mama says this is gonna be a long week, MOL!!

Me has to go back to the vet in a week so they can make sure me doesn't sound all congested anymore and that my eye looks better. 

What do yous be thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday

 Hi everybody, it's mes, Gabe! 

We is joining Angel Brian's Thankful Thursday blog hop today.

Yesterday, me and Giovanni went to the vet. Giovanni had to get his annual exam and me had to get a kitten exam and a vaccine. 

Mes weighed in at 2.83 pounds while Giovanni weighed in at 12.13 pounds, MOL!! Mes has gained 0.6 pounds since me came to live with Mama. Hers can't believe how fast me is growing. 

Today we is thankful that we both gotted a clean bill of health! 

Mama could only get a photo of mes cause Giovanni was hiding in the bench the whole time. Hims be a scaredy cat at the vet. Meanwhile, mes had fun exploring the room and getting fussed over. Everybody thought me is mighty cute!

We is also thankful that our dear friend, Ann, from Zoolatry made us a new header and footer for our bloggie! Didn't hers do a pawesome job?! Thank mew, Ann!!

What does you be thankful for today?

Tylan Isn't Well

 Hi everyone, it's the Mom today with some news about Tylan.

Tylan hasn't been feeling good for a little while now. He had blood work done at the beginning of April, and when his white blood cell count came back high, our vet decided it would be a good idea to treat him with Orbax in case he had a kidney infection. His kidney numbers were also up a little from the previous month. 

Unfortunately, the Orbax seemed to make Tylan feel worse. He also seemed to have some kind of allergic reaction to it - he got these sores on his neck from where he was scratching himself so much. Tylan has never had skin issues, so the vet and I decided it was like an allergic reaction to the antibiotic. 

In any case, the medication didn't seem to help him.

Thankful Thursday: No More Bandages

 Hi everybody, it's mes, Giovanni! Today we be joining Angel Brian's Thankful Thursday blog hop!

You might remember that three weeks ago, on March 26th, mes had a toe amputated from my back left footie because it had a cancerous mast cell tumor on it. Then mes had to wear this pesky thing. For 18.5 whole days. Mes was not amused.

For a whole 18.5 days, mes couldn't run, curl up in my tiny tree, get in the window, or chase my favorite toys. It was all kinds of no fun for Giovanni! Mama tried to help mes not be so bored. Hers gotted me a new thing called a snuffle mat, and mes and Tylan had some fun hunting for treats in it. But mes was still sad me couldn't go where me wanted or do what me wanted.

Thankful Thursday and a Tylan Update

Hi everyone!

The Mom here with another update on Tylan. 

It's been about a week and a half since Tylan came home from the hospital. The first few days were pretty rough as he did not want to eat much. After talking to Tylan's Internal Medicine (IM) vet, we decided to raise his Zofran dose, and that does seem to be making him feel better as he is now eating more. 

He went back to the hospital on Monday to have labs done for his Internal Medicine specialist. 

When he came home from the hospital, Tylan's creatinine was 5.8. On Monday, his creatinine was 6.1. His IM vet warned me that his creatinine would go up once he was off the IV fluids, so I wasn't surprised to see it go up a bit. I was surprised that it didn't go up more than it did. I am thankful that, for now, he is holding relatively stable. His creatinine isn't good by any means - he is now in end-stage kidney disease, but I truly am grateful that he is doing better than he was before he was hospitalized.

Do you know what else I'm thankful for? PET INSURANCE! 

Tylan's hospital bill (for 5 days) was nearly $6,500.  His insurance is reimbursing me at 90%, which means I'll be out hundreds, not thousands, of dollars. I am so thankful I decided to get pet insurance for Tylan when I adopted him six years ago. It has been a real blessing and has helped me tremendously with the costs of his care.

That's all we have today. We are joining Angel Brian's Thankful Thursday blog hop. Please let us know something you are thankful for today in the comments; we love hearing from you!

I'll continue to keep you all posted on how Tylan is doing. Thank you all so much again for all the love and support you have been and continue to give us.

 

Thankful Thursday on a Friday Plus an Update on Tylan

 

Tylan sits on his nest of blankets in his kennel at the hospital on Sunday night.

Hi everyone,

The Mom here with another update on Tylan.

Tylan spent last Thursday through this Monday in the hospital receiving IV fluids, antibiotics, anti-nausea medication, and an appetite stimulant. I visited him every day, and he was always happy to see me and never wanted me to leave him. It was heartbreaking for me to leave him each night. 

Tylan's kidney values were tested daily. He entered the hospital with a creatinine of 12.1 and a BUN of 140. Upon discharge on Monday afternoon, his creatinine was 5.8 and BUN was 74. These values are much improved, but they are still too high. Sadly, he is in end-stage (stage 4) kidney disease now. I am still in shock over how fast he went from stage 2 to end-stage. I am thankful that the IV fluids and medications bought us a little more time together.

Tylan's Hospitalization So Far

Tylan in his kennel in the hospital. They put a lot of soft blankets in there for him to snuggle up in. 

Hi everyone! The Mom here today. I thought you all might like an update on how Tylan is faring.

On Thursday, when he was admitted to the hospital, his creatinine and BUN were incredibly high - 12.1 and 140, respectively. 

In the wee hours on Friday, I called to check on Tylan, and his overnight vet tech told me he had eaten half a can of k/d! He had hardly been eating anything here at home, so I was both shocked and pleased. She told me he was sleeping at the time and he had been sleeping for a couple of hours. I was glad that he felt safe enough to get some rest. He needed it.

On Friday morning, Tylan's Internal Medicine vet called me (yes, she works at the hospital I took him to - I chose this hospital partly for that reason). She told me his creatinine had only gone down to 11.5. She sounded doubtful that they could get his creatinine much lower and began talking about quality of life. 

Needless to say, my mind was reeling. I was in shock. Numb. This had all happened so fast. I just couldn't believe it.

I visited Tylan on Friday night. He was obviously happy to see me, but he looked so small and weak. He wanted me to hold him forever. I held him for a while and talked to him. He was quite fascinated by the IV/infusion machine on the top of his cage that is constantly running. 

Tylan Urgently Needs Purrs and Prayers

 

I'm giving Tylan a hug good night before I leave him in good hands at the hospital.

As many of you know, Tylan has been really strugging since the beginning of December, 2024. At that time, his labs confirmed that he was having an acute bout of pancreatitis (he has chronic pancreatitis that flares every little bit). We also found out at that time that he had gone from stage 2 kidney disease (where he’d been stable for 3 years) to mid stage 3 kidney disease.

At the end of December, 2024, Tylan continued to struggle with his pancreatitis, and his labs showed that he had moved into late stage 3 kidney disease. Given that there were only 3 weeks between his two sets of labs, I was disturbed by the increase in his kidney values. But the veterinarians at his clinic didn’t seem too concerned about it. At that time, we decided to put him on subcutaneous fluids every other day and to get him through his acute bout of pancreatitis and start him on a renal diet once he felt better.

On December 30, 2024, Tylan was feeling so crummy that in lieu of acupuncture, his vet took blood work and an x-ray (to see if he was constipated as I hadn’t seen him poop lately). Tylan WAS, in fact, pretty constipated. Long story short, he ended up going back to the vet on January 2 to have an enema because the lactulose and miralax weren’t relieving the constipation.

Tylan had been eating less at the end of December as well. We all hoped that the constipation was the key – relieve the constipation and he might want to eat more.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

An Update on Tylan: Continued Purrs and Prayers Needed

 

Unfortunately since our last update about Tylan, things have gotten worse.

Tylan was doing relatively okay with the meds he was taking for his pancreatitis flare, but late last week, he started going downhill. 

I noticed he was getting into his litter box, digging around, and meowing mournfully. So, I began to watch him. It's very dangerous if a male cat cannot urinate, so I wanted to make sure he was able to pee. He was urinating fine. But he was constipated. 

Thankful Thursday

 

Giovanni loves this condo on his cat tree.

Hi everybody, it's mes, Giovanni!

It has been too long since Mama helped mes post here. Hers was all busy with that pesky book of hers that mes isn't even in, and then once hers got done with that, hers said hers needed to catch up a bit on de housework. Now hers is a bit caught up on all de stuff. So there shouldn't be any reason hers can't help mes post here more, right?

Mes has a couple of thankfuls for today. Mes is going to join Brian's Thankful Thursday blog hop! Mes hopes to see many of our friends there.

First, mes went to de vet with Tylan last week. Mes always tries to get into Tylan's carrier when Mama pulls it out to take him to acupuncture. Hers thought it would be wasy to get mes in my carrier because of this. NOPE!! Mes squeaked and mewed and squirmed and made it very hard for hers to get me in my carrier! Mes squeaked and mewed a bit on de way to de vet but not nearly as much as Tylan. Mes has never heard Tylan be so LOUD. Hims yelled and yelled and yelled the whole way there. Mama says that's what hims always does in de car. 

When we got to de vet, they took Tylan away so de vet could do his acupuncture while mes saw a different vet for mines exam. Mama stayed with mes, and mes was glad. 

Mes was a very good boy and letted de vet examine mes, feel my tummy, stretch out my legs, listen to my heart, look in my mouth, and even look in my ears and eyes. The vet and Mama said mes was a very good boy.

Purrs and Prayers Needed for Carmine

 

Thank you to Ann of Zoolatry for making this beautiful badge for Carmine. 

Hi everyone, it's the Mom here today with some news about Carmine.

Carmine has not been feeling well lately. He has not been eating very much. I suspected that his kidney disease was getting worse because his glucose has been pretty stable lately. 

I took him and Tylan to the vet on Tuesday for their kidney panels. Carmine lost a little more weight and is now down to 8.62. The vet is worried about the fact that he does not want to eat much.

I got Carmine's kidney numbers today, and they are as follows.

• BUN: 52 (up from 45).
• Creatinine: 2.9 (up from 2.7).
• Phosphorus: 5.0 (up from 3.0).
• Urine specific gravity: 1.018 (last was 1.019).

As you can see, his kidney values have stayed pretty stable, a little worse, but not enough to account for the big change we've seen in his eating. 

Carmine neutrophils are a little high. He may have a UTI so we are going to run him on a course of antibiotics for that.

Carmine's sugar has been running a bit on the lower side of normal, so we are keeping a close eye on that. Since he has not been eating well, there have been times where I have had to withhold his insulin so his sugar doesn't fall too much. 

We are increasing Carmine's appetite stimulant. We are also increasing his laxative as he is a little constipated from the pain medication he takes for his arthritis. We are hoping this will help.

I went home with a whole case of prescription a/d canned food for Carmine as he has always loved that. He isn't eating a lot of it, but he has been eating a little here and there. 

We are puzzled as to why Carmine doesn't want to eat. He is on anti-nausea medications, so nausea shouldn't be an issue at this point. 

I am going to book an appointment with an animal communicator. Hopefully Carmine will tell us what he wants or needs. I will get whatever it is for him. I just need to know what "it" is. So, if you have any animal communicator recommendations, please do let me know. 

In the meantime, we would appreciate purrs and prayers for Carmine. And if you can convince him to eat more, that would be wonderful. 

Thankful Thursday: Stability

 

Last Tuesday, Carmine and Tylan went to the vet to get their kidneys, thyroids, and glucose levels checked. Both boys get a kidney panel done every three months to monitor their kidney disease. 

Carmine's kidney disease has been stable since he was diagnosed. I am happy to report that he remains stable with his kidney disease. His glucose was great at 137, so there will be no changes in his insulin or kidney disease treatment. 

Unfortunately, Carmine has been struggling a lot with his advanced arthritis in the past couple of months. Raising his gabapentin dose helped temporarily but quickly lost its effectiveness. Since he is already on gabapentin and adequan for his arthritis pain, we decided the best course of action would be to give him an injection of Solensia. Those who follow me on Facebook know that I've been waiting about 9-10 months for this medication to become available to vets after it was approved by the FDA for use in cats with osteoarthritis at the beginning of the year. 

Carmine was the second patient at our clinic to receive the injection. If it works for him, he will receive an injection once a month. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I really hope it helps ease his pain. 

Tylan's creatinine (a kidney value) actually came down a little - from 2.7 (in August) to 2.4, which is a good thing. He may be stabilizing with his kidney disease. His thyroid was right where it should be. So, there will be no changes to his thyroid or kidney disease treatment for now. 

Today we are thankful for stability. I am very pleased with the boys' most recent lab results and hope they continue to stay stable as we move forward. 

What are you thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday with Carmine

Carmine at the vet.

Hi everyone, it's mes, Carmine!

A few weeks ago, mes wented to the vet guy and had a little nap. When mes woke up, mes noticed mes had a couple more teefers missing. 

When the vet tech lady brought mes back to the Mom, hers was telling the Mom that mes doesn't have many teefers left. But the Mom said mes still has more teefers than Tylan does. MOL!

Here is my dental chart. See all the teefers that are shaded in? Those be the ones that mes no longer has.

Carmine's dental chart, May, 2020.

My dental went well. Mes healed up nicely. 

Carmine and Tylan's (Fun) Vet Adventure

Tylan: Hey Carmine, isn't this fun?

Carmine: Fun?

Tylan: Yeah! You come here, and all the people make a fuss over you and give you hugs and tummy rubs! 

Carmine: The vet peoples are nice and all, but mes would still rather bes in my heated bed at home. 

Don't Mess with My Ears!

Hi everyone, it's mes, Carmine!

Last week, mes wented to the vet for a blood sugar check cause mes is a sugar kitty now, but that be for another post. 

The Mom asked thems to look in my ears cause mes had been shaking my head a lot lately. Sure enough, theys found a lot of wax in my ears. 

The vet guy took mes to the back to give my ears a washy. 

Most of yous probably know that mes ams a very cooperative mancat at the vet. Mes allows thems to do whatever theys has to do, and mes doesn't fuss...

.....Except, as it turns out, when it comes to my ears!

Theys started cleaning my ears out. Mes put up with it for a minute or two, but then mes meowed at thems to cut it out! Theys didn't listen, so mes meowed again to quit messing with my ears! 

A Few Words on Wednesday from Carmine

Hi everyone, it's mes, Carmine!

A few months ago, when mes gotted my annual bloods work done, my sugar tested high, so the vet and the Mom decided to lower my Pred dose. My sugar is still high, but mes is no longer in the "diabetic" zone. 

Unfortunately, the lower Pred dose has caused my little joints to hurt more from the arthritis. Mes is on adequan once a week, but mes is still having a lot of pains. Mes is having trouble giving myself a nice bath. 

My fur actually got all matted and tangled, and the Mom had to comb thems out of my furs. That did NOT make mes happy! Now, hers gives me "brushies" with the comb just about everyday so mes doesn't get anymores tangles or mats in my furs. Mes tries to bite the comb when hers does this. Mes has never liked being brushed. 

Tuesday with Tylan

Hi everyone, it's the Mom with an update on Tylan. 

On July 3, Tylan went to the vet for another stem cell therapy treatment. He is not progressing as we had hoped, so the vet called the CEO of the manufacturing company, and he said they had had some success giving another cat a double treatment of stem cells, so that is what we are going to do tomorrow. Tylan will get a double dose of his stem cells. 

Tylan was having a lot of asthma trouble at that point, so while we did not want to complicate things, we decided to give him a depo medrol injection because breathing is kind of vital to living...

I am waiting for a Flovent inhaler to come for Tylan. As soon as it does, he will start on Flovent for his asthma. I hope it is helpful for him. 

Tylan has good days and bad days. I'm trying not to take you all on the roller coaster ride I'm non with him, but if you want to see more updates about him, just let me know in the comments.