Thankful Thursday

I am thankful...I really am. Thankful that Brighton, although still having difficulty urinating and so stuffy that he is breathing with his mouth open a little (If you biggify the photo, you can see his mouth open slightly)...that I still have him with me, that there is hope he will improve and get back to his sweet, porpoising self (I call it porpoising when he does this sweet greeting where he raises up on his hind legs and arches his back like a porpoise jumping out of the water...he then 'body slams' into my leg and I ruffle his ears as he passes by).

I took him in to work with me on Monday for a progress exam, but his bladder was empty (a good sign) so we couldn't run another urinalysis. He was finishing up his meds from the emergency visit, so Dr Lamb gave him an injection of Convenia--a 7 day antibiotic that is good for both the urinary tract infection and the respiratory infection. And we changed his 'relaxant' to diazepam to see how that worked for his urethral spasms.

So far, he is about the same I'd say...sits in the litterbox for 10 minutes, leaving maybe a teaspoon sized clump of urine. Not normal yet. Not sure why. His stuffiness has affected his appetite some, but then the diazepam stimulates it, and I wonder if he wasn't on that if he would be completely off food. That's a worry.

I am still giving him 100cc sub q fluids every day, and he is so good about that, which is a blessing. And he loves his Vetri-Lysine SoftChews, his freezed dried chick-hen treats, his Zuke's HipAction Glucosamine and Chondroitin treats. Not so much the Duralactin Omegas but they are good for inflammation of any kind...so takes your medicine like a good cat, Bright One!

I am glad I will have the next 3 days off to spend with him (oh, and Disco, Kiki, Coco, Sammy, Hiro and Bosco, too). I am keeping Brighton confined still, both to monitor his urinations and to not expose Hiro and Bosco to his URI, as they are getting ready to leave their birth home here and I'd hate for the stress of moving bring on a cold in them, too.


That's always a risk and well, I am being careful-disinfecting myself after handling Brightie, but the all live together anyway so it's kind of like shutting the barn door after the horse escapes...

Hiro's new family comes on Sunday to pick him up and Bosco's person is coming down from NYC on Friday to get him...so the house will be kitten-less until July 15th, when Coco's kittens are due to arrive. It will be just enough of a break for both her and I :-)


AND NOW FOR THE STRAY CAT STRUT...UPDATE

So much has happened since my last post on Sunday! My vet said to bring in the kittens on Tuesday as we weren't booked full with appointments. So each one got a full exam, found a few live fleas so more stuff to make the fleas flee and more deworming and on the good side...lots of petting and cooing from all the staff.

Of course, with feral cats and kittens, one always has to be aware of contagious diseases that may be incubating, AND of the possibility of Rabies if we get bitten. So we handle them accordingly, of course!

Already they are not hissing at us and are purring for us, too! One rescue group contacted me (out of the 5 emails I sent out)and put word of them out on their network...but so far no foster homes have contacted me. One of our techs said her mom would foster them if the rescue team would pay for their 'maintenance' needs (she's home all the time so that would be great for the kittens).

But if each of our staff pitched in something (I brought food in, someone else could get a bag of World's Best Litter, another person could buy some toys...and so on). I think it will all work out and when they are old enough to go to new homes, they will be healthy and well-socialized!

For the most part, their exams were great--no URI'S, no oral ulcers, no ear mites. One kitten (actually the first one I caught--that sweet one looking up with blue kitten eyes from the storage box bed) was breathing a bit hard--could be roundworm migration or early pneumonia or a URI starting. We did a HCT/TP to check for anemia or first signs of FIP, but those results were normal.

By the next day, he had lost an ounce so we xrayed him and all looked normal, so we gave him a baby kitten dose of azithromycin antibiotic. He gained a bit overnight but still looks a bit rough today, Thursday.

Then another kitten has some kind of strange lesion on it's eye--not the typical herpes ulcer though. My vet said it looked like something he might have been born with, so she took a picture and emailed it to an ophthalmologist at The Hope Center and she emailed back that she'd take a look at him for FREE--cool, huh?!


So one of our staff came in on her day off yesterday and took him over there and well, the vet said she hadn't ever seen anything quite like it before but thought it was something he was born with...but she took a bunch of pictures with her fancy camera and will post it for other eye vets to comment on...

They are all eating great and using the litterbox like good little kittens, even though they are so young! Here's a photo of them in their hospital cage:


and MamaCat? I trapped her last night and she came in with me to work today and had her LadyGardenectomy, after testing her for FELV/FIV and deworming/defleaing her with Advantage Multi. She was quiet, surprisingly, for the 45 minute car ride in to work with me, and not frantic in the trap...but wowza, she didn't get too sedate after her pre-anesthetic injection (given through the wire of the cage--she IS feral) but often even when they don't look hyper-excited, they are and the sedation doesn't work as well.

The techs got her in the induction chamber, wearing protective gloves of course, and while they were prepping her for surgery, I combed and combed out fleas...nuking them with Ovitrol--die, die! She is in good shape, about a year old, no wounds or skin issues and NO gingivitis! What is it about outdoor wild cats...oftentimes their teeth are in great shape...no spoiled pampered dietary lifestyle of the rich and famous cats maybe?

I will take her home and put her in the cage on my porch and as long as she is calm in there, probably keep her confined til Sunday...then I guess I have my first 'outdoor' kitty ever! Oh, I am sure she goes someplace during the day and some irresponsible pet owner just got a free spay at our wonderful cat only practice...but I sure feel good that I did the responsible thing!

Here she is (I'm calling her Punky Brewster) in recovery...in the Hav-a-Hart trap, of course, cuz there would be no handling her once she woke up!

Brighton Update, and Stray Kitties Update, too...

Brighton has had a stable weekend, not as much improvement in urine flow as I had hoped to see, but he is feeling good, eating well and taking his meds and sq fluids like a good boy.

His culture results at 48 hours show no bacterial growth so that will probably be negative after 72 hours...one less worry. He has started sniffling, so I hope that doesn't worsen and hope he didn't pick something up while hospitalized or the stress cause him to have a URI recrudesce. He's already on antibiotics, but I have added Lysine to his food starting today.

CatHerder had asked if he was on a special prescription diet for Urinary Tract disease, and right now, the answer to that is no, since no crystals were found in 3 urine samples. His blockage was due to protein material, not crystals. For right now, he is on an all canned food diet and no dry kibble, to help increase his water consumption, as canned food is 87% water. It is possible stress could have brought on FIC (Feline Interstitial Cystitis) although I have gone away on vacation before with no problems.

I am truly hoping his urine stream improves, which may mean changing or adding medication--anti-inflammatories and/or anxiety meds, and I pray he won't need that 'last resort', a perineal urethrostomy to enable him to urinate normally again, as that surgery is not without it's risks and problems, too.

Here's some links to info on Urinary Tract Disease in cats:

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/urinary.html
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1111

He will go in to work with me tomorrow for a follow-up exam and to express his bladder and look at another urine sample. So keep him in your thoughts and keep the purrs coming...

As for the stray mama and kittens...I captured all of them on Saturday--4! I think 1 girl and 3 boys. They are safe and dry and flea free now and eating canned food. I was hoping that mama would find them in my backyard and not just run off...and when I got up Sunday morning she was next to the cage.

She disappears during the day but is around after dusk. So I am hoping I can trap her Tuesday night and take them all into work with me for mama to have a sedated exam and tests. Another friend is going to post info about them on the rescue network and another organization said we could bring the kittens to adoption fairs after they are 8 weeks old. Still up in the air if we will TNR the mama back to this neighborhood but more than likely so.

Another friend has a colony of cats she cares for at her barn--some feral but most not--most surrendered due to urination and spraying issues but happy as clams as barn cats. They get the best of food, flea control and cat 'apartments' in the barn so not a bad life at all! So that might be an option, too.

Here's a few pix of the kittens and the cage setup on my patio (before I caught the 4th one):

Brighton Update, and Stray Mama Cat n Kittens...

Here's the Friday update on Brighton, and my thanks again to all of you who are watching his progress and sending your purrayers.

He is still taking a long time to get a silver dollar sized spot o' pee out, but I actually saw him make a 'stream' a time or two and that's an improvement. I still have him confined to the bathroom so I can monitor his litterbox leavings but he seems content and resting.


While I was cleaning up the bathroom this morning, I let him out into the bedroom and all his buddies said hello to him (oh, I gave him a bath, much needed and now that he was feeling better, I wanted to wash the 'hospital' smell off him, as there is no way to stay 'pee free' when one has a catheter in place. A little later, I found him curled up on my bed, happy to be home!


He was a very good patient getting his sub q fluids this morning and ate a whole can of Fancy Feast Medleys, so all's well with his appetite, too. His blood chemistry panel shows improvement over yesterday, too. His BUN is 36, Creatinine 0.9, Phosphorus 4.8.

I took him back into work (aka the vets) for a squeeze and a urinalysis and Dr E was able to squeeze out a stream. OMC, she was excited about that--vet's are funny sometimes! And his u/a showed improvement, too. Still no crystals, and 25% less white blood cells, too. Still sort of iced tea color but that's ok for now. The culture results will be back Sunday and we will know then if he needs to change the antibiotic he's on.

I am pleased with his progress and I dropped the emergency hospital an email with his 'status report' as I know even though they see lots of pets there...they like to hear happy endings! They were very attentive to him and and I both and I felt so good knowing he had 24 hour care, a heated cage, someone monitoring his breathing (because of his heart murmur, being on IV fluids can be risky and can push them into congestive heart failure sometimes) and some extra TLC cuz our previous pet sitter is a vet tech there.

So, now that Brighton is doing better, I can tell you all about the next 'cat-astrophe', which I hope will have a good ending, too.

I live in a townhome community, sort of like condos, with neighbors cheek and jowl together. The neighbor on my right is irresponsible in many ways and the neighbor on my left is kind of a hoarder. I had seen an orange kitty hanging around for a few weeks, and in my neighborhood, you don't see outdoor or feral cats much.

While I was away, my petsitter found that this kitty had made a 'nest' under the neighbors bay window, in the bushes and she saw 3 orange kittens making their way into a burrow underneath my concrete porch. She said they looked about 2 weeks old. I told her I would look into it when I got home and see if I could help.

The mama is feral so will need trapping, but I have handled all 3 kittens, deflea'd them, and given them all a dose of Drontal. I had to put the dewormer in a pill pocket and I think the mama ate it, mixed in with some canned food. The kittens were covered in fleas, and could be anemic from that but otherwise have no URI signs right now, thank goodness! Of course, I disinfect myself after handling the kittens as I don't want to bring anything in to my kitties inside!

A friend who is involved with cat rescue made some phone calls for me and checked with 4 rescue groups in the area and so far no luck in them taking this family. It is the 'kittening' time of year, and I hate to have to make the choice of taking them to a 'kill' shelter, though the kittens would stand a chance of adoption, not so the mama.

This same friend has a humane trap and has offered to help me trap the mama cat next weekend. And my petsitter is coming over tomorrow to help me set up a cage on my patio and I will corral the kittens there, and I have a 'dream' that I can get the mama cat to get into the cage to be with her kittens and I can drop the door shut before she escapes...I know, dream on.

I will have to keep the door shut unless I can watch the cage, or she may move the kittens and then I might not find any of them again! I made a shelter out of a storage box, but so far, none of them has voluntarily entered it...they'd rather sleep in the dirt and leaves, sigh...I thought maybe they'd all hunker down in the storage 'cave' and I could close the 'flap door' and trap them, and that ain't gonna happen it doesn't look like!

Wish me luck tomorrow and then with trying to find homes for them all...anybody close by to me looking for a new gingercat furbaby??

Brighton's Home!

First of all, I want to thank everyone who has visited to check on Brighton over the past couple of days and will purrsonally visit each and every one of you this weekend, cuz I know some of you are 'new' visitors to our bloggie! And some are very frequent visitors...I treasure each comment and they feel like warm hugs, which I very much need right now!

On Wednesday night, about 6:00pm, I stopped by The Hope Center to visit Brighton, and they asked me if I was ready to nurse him at home...of course, I said Yes! They had taken out his catheter about 2:00pm and his bladder was empty so he hadn't urinated yet.

I was a bit anxious about taking him home, afraid he may reblock during the night, but I knew I could take him back if he did before he got into bad trouble again. I so wanted to sleep with him last night, but he was still dribbling urine a bit and he was a little woozy from the pain meds and relaxants he is on, so I set him up in the bathroom adjoining my bedroom.

I visited him every 15 minutes or so, staying with him, kissing-bonking-massaging him, and he was in the litterbox a lot! Just drip-drip-drip with lots of concentrating on his part. He wasn't really straining, but possibly due to swelling, he was having a slow go of it!

I stayed up with him til about 1:00am and he ate some baby food, nibbled at his favorite treat, t/d dental diet and he asked for attention...so I felt comfortable knowing I'd be awake again at 4:30am to get ready for work.


He did urinate a few larger clumps during the night, which was encouraging. So I loaded him up to go into work with me for Dr E to evaluate him and to collect urine for further testing, repeat his chemistry panel and give him some sub-q fluids.

I had a car full--Coco going with me for a pregnancy check as she was bred 21 days ago (YAY--2 buns in the oven); Bosco and Hiro with me for their last kitten vaccination (I've so enjoyed watching Miles and Pierro's activities the past couple of weeks!); and Bebes along for a 2nd urine culture to see how her UTI is doing on the new antibiotic (so far, she is behaving herself and using the litterbox...next step will be moving her into the guest bedroom and possibly changing her anxiety meds).

Dr E was able to express Brighton's bladder and collect a sample of urine, still slightly pink tinged and with a small blood clot in it. No crystals but lots and lots of white blood cells. He just started on antibiotics, but we submitted the sample for Culture and Sensitivity anyway in case he has a resistant strain of bacterial infection. Those results won't be back for 72 hours but hopefully what he has will be sensitive to the Clavamox he is on now.

She said a bacterial infection can also cause a blockage, with debris and mucous forming a plug. I would be happy if he didn't have to have a prescription diet, but of course, I would make any adjustments to all the cats 'lifestyle' if it meant keeping him healthy!

Brighton is on pain meds, and also meds to relax the bladder and reduce inflammation, but it's really only been just over 48 hours since his treatment began, so I am hoping as each day passes, he will become more comfortable and urinate more easily. Dr E added another relaxant to his meds, midazolam, which is an injection just once a day. He got it this afternoon and really seemed a lot more comfortable.

I am glad I have the next 3 days off and can be an attentive nurse. I am going to tempt him with all kinds of tasty stinky goodness, give him pedialyte to drink and buy him a water fountain, too.

I am purraying by this time next week, he will be feeling better, and enjoying the companionship of his buddy, Disco and will be back to sleeping with me once again!

Brighton Update

The vet just called! Much improvement!

BUN 48, CREAT 1.6, PHOS 3.9, TBILI 0.5. Urine slight pink tinged.

Will remove catheter around 2pm and see if he can void on his own. If so, will probably discharge tomorrow.

I will visit him tonight after work.

Look what rumbly purrs and purrsitive thoughts can do
and the excellent vet care certainly makes me feel positive, too!)

Brighton is in Intensive Care...

I knew ML would get the word out to the CB (even though she herself is recuperating from a recent illness) and already Brighton is receiving lots of healing rumbly purrs! As all of us with cats know, they like to hide their illnesses and things can go from Super to Serious very quickly!

I was away on vacation and my petsitter (and her wonderful husband and their 4 kids) were caring for the kitties while I was away. They know my cats welll and even have a Furrydance kitty of their own, Pixie, so they know their personalities and behavior well. They said he was feeling fine on Sunday, playing with the kids and very 'interactive'.


On Sunday (around 5pm) they came by, and stayed for an hour or so like they always do, and Brighton didn't come downstairs to greet them and play and they found him curled up on the bed in the sunniest room of the house-the guest room. He did play a bit, and didn't want to leave the upstairs to follow everyone around the house as they did their 'cat chores' Someone had vomited but she didn't know who, but made note of it for me.

I got home at 1:00am Monday morning, after spending all day in airports and planes, dreaming of a nice long restful sleep and day off on Tuesday before I headed back to work. But while Brighton got off the couch to greet me and followed me into the bathroom (so I could use the 'litterbox'), he was wobbly and missed the jump onto the sink twice and when I picked him up he growled and leaked bloody urine (mostly blood) onto his fur and me and the floor.

I am an hour from the Emergency Hospital that I trust, but knew I didn't want to take him to the one nearby. I did a quick check of the house, looking at the litterboxes and for any other evidence of blood or vomit and found red pawprints in the kitchen sink and his favorite cat bed was wet with urine and blood.


So I loaded him up and jumped in the car, sped over to The Hope Center
Click here for more info
and they whisked him right back to the treatment room and started their workup on him. His bladder was full and he appeared blocked but the blood tests showed he would have been an anesthetic risk at that point (BUN 230 -- should be around 24; Phosphorus 8.2 -- should be around 4). They started an IV for fluids, gave him pain meds and I waited...

Within a couple of hours, the phosphorus came down enough for them to put him under anesthesia and place a urinary catheter, empty the bladder and I waited some more...for him to come out of recovery. The doctor came up and talked with me after every step of his treatment and I knew we were both worried but I felt he was in very good hands and had 24 hour monitoring and nursing care.



He got quite cold during the anesthesia, and his temp was down to 94 so they had him in a Bair Hugger Warming System
Click here for more info
and I got to visit him before I left at 4:30am and even though he was sleeping still, I kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear and I went home to try and get some sleep, not even sure I could relax enough to do that.

But I took an Excedrin PM and fell asleep for a few hours, not even minding when about an hour into my sleep, the vet called with a morning report. He had made it through the night and was sitting up and pretty alert, in spite of the pain meds which make them sleepy, too.

I drove over to visit him in the afternoon and he was hooked up to 3 'lines'--IV for fluids, Urinary cath and collection bag, and one even on his tail (I forgot to ask what that one was for) and he was wearing an Elizabethan collar to prevent him from chewing out the IV's and urinary catheter.

He looked very sad, and I tried to be strong for him and gave him a nice massage and lots of kisses. The nurse said he ate some canned food and was head bonking them (to the best of his ability in spite of his 'cone head') and I am waiting for an evening report from the vet, although it's now 10:00pm and I hope they don't hesitate to call in fear of waking me! They repeated his labs this evening and I am praying for the kidney values to show some improvement and give me hope for another day.


Update: It's 10:30pm and the vet just called. Some good, some bad news. Brighton's BUN has come down to 130--good news; He is eating--good news; He is not anemic--good news; and he is being a good patient--who couldn't fall for him?

But his Total Bilirubin (a liver test) is elevated and the doctor is concerned about pancreatitis or bile duct problems, though his other liver tests aren't too out of whack. If it's on the rise in the morning, I will need to have an Internal Medicine consult and probably an ultrasound to look at his liver. Also, as he is on IV fluids, they are watching his heart murmur to make sure he doesn't get over hydrated and go into congestive heart failure.

In the morning they will repeat the organ function tests. They won't pull the urinary catheter until his kidney values are closer to normal but I am hoping he will improve enough soon to be able to be discharged and have me do home care on him-sub q fluids etc...but while I know his care is going to be expensive, I feel like I have to try and get him well! He is young--only 4 years old, and he holds a very special place in my heart.

If I have to spend all my income tax refund, take 'kitten money' out of savings and put off my garden improvements and patio...well, it will be worth it to have him still in my life!

I talked to ML a little about doing a fund raiser for Brighton, as I know how much the CB pulls together for cats in need. Right now, I am so shattered by what is happing with him, that I can't really concentrate on much else...writing this post tonight took all my effort to complete but I knew our furrends were worrying and purring for Brighton and I just had to let you all know, and thank you for your thoughts and prayers...