Thu 9 Oct 2008
Goodest Cat in the World!
Many of you will get the allusion to Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World.”
GOOD: The bronze goes to Caitie, the mighty huntress who went into the garage and came back in the kitchen a few minutes later with a big black cricket… that hopped under the refrigerator.
Caitie, you may be a big game hunter, but you don’t have to bring ‘em back alive!
GOOD-ER: The silver, to Nicky… the jealous boy hates to share his human mom with anyone, but when Pat watches granddaughter Diana for the day, Nicky has to tolerate it. However, after Diana left with daddy Jack last Tuesday, Nicky backed up to the curtain in the family room and began to mark the spot once more as his territory. Um, little Gatito, you don’t have to remind us — especially not that way!
GOOD-EST: And the gold, to Kelly… when we took the Good Cats outside on Wednesday, Nicky began to go off the property in pursuit of a bird. Pat shouted at her Gatito Perfecto and was starting after him to bring him back, when Kelly emerged from the bushes and went after Nicky, too. We’re not sure why the Big Guy did it, but when the chase ended, Nicky was back in his yard where he belongs, and Kelly showed us that he’s feeling much better and can still dominate his younger housemate.
Mr. Kelly… still the King, and today’s Goodest Cat… in the World!
Thu 11 Sep 2008
Medical Report
First, Kelly: Back in February, his blood test showed high blood sugar, so we stopped feeding him carb-loaded dry food and gave him only Stinky Goodness. In late August, we thought he was showing symptoms of diabetes, so we wanted his vet to examine him, but Dr. Donovan was on vacation, and one of the other vets diagnosed a kidney infection.
That brings us to this week. On Monday, we rushed Kelly to Dr. Donovan because it didn’t seem as though Kelly was improving. The vet compared the February blood test to the one from August and noted that blood sugar was back down to a normal level, and there was no sign of infection in Kelly’s urine.
However, the problem now is that blood urea nitrogen (BUN) has risen from 36 (high end of the normal range) to 50 (just plain high), and creatinine was also too high at 2.8 (up from 1.4, which was in the normal range) and both are warnings of feline Chronic Renal Failure (CRF).
The canned food diet helped Kelly lose weight, but also stressed his kidneys with protein. Now the Big Guy is on Hills K/D low-protein canned food, which we hope will reverse the high BUN and creatinine readings.
Next, Nicky: He and Lizzie already had an appointment for Wednesday (yesterday) for their yearly shots, including rabies vaccination and distemper/FVRCP. Lizzie tolerated the shots well, but Nicky had a reaction and we had to take him back today for a hydrocortisone shot. He finally started to show some appetite this evening, and now he’s sleeping on the couch next to Pat.
All told, 3 trips to the vet in four days, with 2 of the trips made on short notice and under stress. (Speaking of stress, we don’t want to forget to mention Caitie’s all day walkabout last Friday.)
So the cats seem to be doing better now… and Pat and I could use some stress relief, believe me.
Oh yeah, BTW, Dr. Donovan noted that both Lizzie and Nicky need their teeth cleaned soon, and we set up a appointment for that for September 24.
That date’s already significant because September 24 is also Kelly’s 13th Gotcha Day anniversary. Hopefully all this medical care is going to help him have many more Gotcha Days to come…
