Tuxie, Moo, and Fooder Update

[lavendertook]

Tuxie and his little shaved leg.

TUXIE

Tuxie is doing lots better. When he first came home after 3 nights at the emergency clinic 2 weeks ago, he was so full of love, he nuzzled me for hours--he's usually more of a rub against your legs or a short rub to your hand if he's liking being petted, but if he could have purred himself into my pores he would have, he wanted to be so close. He rubbed on Moo as if she was Saki, and got hisses to back off, then she came up and snuffled his face, so it was OK. He's since gotten back to his usual more self-contained sweet self.

The great thing is his neuropathy has reversed. He's walking totally on his toes and jumping into the bathroom window and on the sunroom cat tree like he hasn't in almost 2 years, which is wonderful to see. He's still looking interestedly at the kitty condo in the living room without jumping on it, so I don't know if his neuropathy is all the way better, but it's something. The vet lowered his insulin dose when I saw him the week before, and we'll see if it can be reduced further when we see the vet this week. I don't know if he's going into full remission, or just will be able to be on a small dose of insulin from now on--I'm sure hoping for remission. So the seizure may be due to having been able to get the carbs out of his diet a few weeks ago, but we can't know for sure without doing a brain MRI, which involves anesthesia, which I'm not willing to put him through, anytime soon at least. He's on an anti-seizure pill I give him twice a day for 3 months--he loves pill pockets, so it's easy.

I got a pet glucosemeter, lancets, and test strips, so if he ever has another seizure, I'll know if he is hypo- or hyperglycemic, and know whether he needs insulin or a sugar source, so I don't make the same mistake I made this time that made things worse. I got a lesson on using it at the vet, but I have some reading up to do on how to set it up still--bleh.



One more problem--one of his back claws is dark and caked, and he really struggled when I tried to clean it, so I'm fearing he may have an infection there. We're seeing the vet on Thursday, but I'm worried if I need to get him in before. I wish I could clean it better.

He's also coughing up more than usual. I suspect pollen allergies are adding to his coughing. Its generally mostly spit, fur, and plant matter, rather than stomach contents, so that's not so worrisome. He is grooming better now that he is feeling better, and he's eating more plants since his carbs were taken away, so those are the sources.

MOO

The start of all this was finding wet food that Moo would eat for the first time in years of running foods past her. There was no way to keep Tuxie from nibbling her dry food all day after getting him to eat as much of his DM(diabetic) wet food as I could. The winner is Nutro's Simple Portions Tuna & Salmon pate. No other flavor or brand so far is acceptable. to Moo. Nutro's Salmon and Tuna in a can does not pass muster either. I will continue to periodically run other foods past her, because it's scary to have only one food she will eat if it discontinues or they change the recipe.

The problem is she is not eating enough. The manufacturer says they need to eat 4 2/3 portions a day, and I can only get her to eat 2, sometimes 3 on a good day. She keeps me running because rescooping her food and moving it to where she is gets her to eat more, and offering her a little every couple of hours--call me Jeeves. Though I think the manufacturers often say cats should eat more than they really need, my vet agrees she needs more according to the calorie count they list.

So I got a full blood panel done on her this week because I'm worried about her nutrition for the past month--I want her to lose 3 or 4 pounds (she was over 14 lbs), but not that fast. The vet left a message about the results and I haven't talked to him directly yet, so I'm not sure how they connect with her nutrition. It sounds like it came out mostly good, but there's an indication of some pancreatitis and he has meds he is suggesting. I am very worried about this as I have not found a pill pocket she is willing to take. I don't know what I'm going to do if she needs a pill. I'm messing with her enough in brushing her teeth and the bimonthly nail clip, and for this week ear drops for an itchy ear condition. I really don't want to do any of the pill forcing methods on her, so it's a big worry.

CAT SUMMATION

So my big project for the summer was to try to find a wet food Moo would eat and get both of them off dry food altogether, and I have succeeded in this project. It has resulted in better health for Tuxie after almost killing him. It is clear getting dry food away from him is resulting in better health for him. For Moo, the jury is still out if this is leading to better health or not. It's been a hella lot of hard work. So I've accomplished a lot here, but with it including almost killing Tuxie maybe, and Moo's health in question, I can't call this a success yet.

FOODER

Health woes!!! I think I pinched something in my left shoulder probably from the loss of sleep when I was up all night checking Tuxie into the clinic, stressed and not sleeping well for a few nights after. I also banged my left elbow hard twice during this period, so between the 2, I've had an achy left arm and back--it's particularly bad at night and I can't sleep on my left side, but it's slowly getting better. Swimming has not healed it quicker this time.

And my left foot has been hurting on and off. I'm not sure if its plantar fasciitis because it's on the outside of the foot--cuboid and ball of foot region. It seems that the pain in my fractured knee dropped through my hamstring this winter, and into my ankle and foot by summer. My ankle was swollen in July, so I could see the fluid drop. I will see my pcp in 2 weeks and see if I can get a referral to a decent podiatrist. I do think, like the shoulder and arm pain, it is getting slowly better. But I hate how it limits my walking. It wasn't such an issue this summer as it's been disgustingly humid and hot and with the hot flashes giving me shortness of breath (2 1/2 more years on this chemotherapy med) also limiting my duration, but I am sad I cannot do 2 miles without pain as the weather begins to cool. I hope this will heal. I did get out on a 2.5 mile hike with the older lesbian group yesterday to Patuxent Forest in Columbia yesterday--it was nice and that definitely is my limit--foot is less happy today, but I'm glad I went. It was actually cool in the morning.

I went for a dental cleaning this week and the dentist found a fracture under a crown. Luckily, it doesn't hurt so far. If I'm lucky, it will just need a new filling and crown. If I'm not, it will need to be pulled and I'll have to get another bridge--bleh! Wish me luck. My appointment to have the crown removed and see whats under there is in 4 weeks.

The foot, shoulder, and arm hurts, together with ongoing kitty worries and playing Jeeves, and OMG the election crap has left me feeling decrepit, stressed, and angry and not fit company, but I'm slowly pulling out of it. During our last bad week of ninety degree humid weather the week before, I was without a working bedroom AC for 4 nights the week before--that sure didn't help. It's working fine since the temps only went into the humid 80's this week, and hopefully will hold out through the next.

I LIKE Hillary--what the hell is wrong with so many American voters that they don't? Why must they make things so scary for the rest of us? I tend to think there is a large constituency of people who will vote for HRC but are un-pollable because they are not likely to answer polls because too busy doing things like care taking, and I hope the attacks on how she handled her health will help bring them out.

I'm really glad no one was killed in the blasts in Manhattan and NJ. And that some of it was disarmed by experts before blowing. Entropy's best efforts lost this time. It helps.

List of 5 8 small pleasures:

1. Seeing Tuxie walk on his toes instead of on his whole foot and jump into the bathroom window.

2. Got to go on a hike through local woods I hadn't seen before with a few pleasant folks yesterday and it was in the 70's in the morning.

3. Mango waffles from Trader Joe's.

4. Getting a parking spot in the lot when I came home yesterday and not needing to move the car at all today.

5. Current fun, diverting novel--Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog.

6. I left home for my hike and errands yesterday morning with my computer stuck with installing update problems, but when I came home, it was all easily solved and restarted.

7. If I'm fast, I can get Tuxie to cough up into a paper plate and save myself having to clean it up.

8. The pet glucosemeter is a lovely shade of orchid purple.

Comments

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the update!!! **Hugs to you and the kitties**

I really need to attempt to get my cats on the wet food version of the urinary food. Maybe I'll try again next summer...I really need to do it when I'm at home more.

The election stuff makes me want to put my head in the sand. In fact the news of the world in general wants me want to do that.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

*squooshes*

Yeah, it's a lot of work, so a summer project.

It's a scary time.