“When my cats aren't happy, I'm not happy. Not because I care about their mood but because I know they're just sitting there thinking up ways to get even.” -- Percy Bysshe Shelley

Mr. Creme’s legs have improved.  He has more energy and is walking better.  This morning I went out the side door of the  garage to put some newspapers in the recycle bin.  I heard the jingle of bells on a cat collar.  I knew it was Mr. Creme running to get back into the garage before I closed the door.  I stood and waited, but not for long.  Mr. Creme appeared and wanted in.  He is getting around very well and has only been on the Zobaline B12 pills for a few days.  He has more energy it seems.

He still doesn't like to take the pills though.  He gets mad at me.  Since he doesn't like the pill pockets, I tried wrapping the pill in a small piece of cheese.  He loves cheese, but he was suspicious and wouldn’t eat it.  I tried pushing it down his throat.  He wouldn't swallow it and he kept it in his mouth.  It got all icky and he spit it out.  I tried again and he swallowed it.   

I have a “pill popper" which I used to use all the time when I had to give one of the cats a pill.  It looks like a long syringe, all plastic with a soft rubber tip that the pill fits into.  It reaches to the back of the throat so the pill is past the tongue and it usually goes down easily.  That would be my last resort.  So far, he's getting a pill each day.


I’m just happy to see that the B12 seems to be helping him.

Later-- 

"Love the animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled" ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Today Mr. Creme was started on the Zobaline B12 which is hopefully going to help his weak legs.  He will get one each day.  It’s a very small pill so I didn’t crush it.  I put it in a pill pocket.  He wasn’t interested in eating the pill pocket, so I had to push it down his throat.  Then I gave him a treat and he forgot to be mad at me.

We’re still concerned about his vomiting.  It has been occurring regularly, although I didn’t see any signs of it today...so far.

We called the doctor last week and she got back to us yesterday afternoon.  Of course we missed the call and she left a message.  She didn’t seem to think the vomiting was caused by the changed dosage of insulin we made last week.  In fact, he had been vomiting sometimes, before the decrease.

She said we could pick up some anti-nausea meds if we wanted to try that.  We will consider it.   

Mr. Creme is very nonchalant about his food most of the time, but he does eat.  I’ve been staying with him after I put his food down, to see just how much he eats. 

Most mornings when I go out to feed him, Jason and Jonesie are also in the garage.  They like to sleep out there and that’s fine.  Of course I feed them too.  They have no problem eating. 

After Mr. Creme starts to eat, I go over to the door to watch him and see how much he eats.  He licks and picks at his food.  I would just love to see him take bites and really eat instead of licking the juice, but he doesn’t. 

If Debby thinks I’ve gone back in, she will rub up against Mr. Creme.  She likes him and I’m sure she gets her share of his leftovers, which is fine.  But, when she rubs against him, he leaves his plate and may have eaten more if she would wait until he was finished.  He’s easily distracted.  If I try to chase Debby away, that distracts him too.  I will start staying closer to him while he eats.  Debby won’t approach him if she sees me there.

The main thing is that he eats enough and can take his insulin.  That way his weight will stay up and he will feel fine.

I was reading an article last week in our paper about the medical advances in pet health care and medicines.  It said the consumer spending on veterinary care is up from $9.2 billion in 2006 to $13.4 billion in 2011.  I believe it.

It mostly talked about dogs and their treatments, but of course it includes cats and other animals.  One man had a 10 year old dog who was diagnosed with lymphoma.  She had chemo treatments at her vet in Florida, then the man drove her to North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., where she became one of the first dogs to receive a bone-marrow transplant at its college of veterinary medicine. 

Healthy stem cells from the dog’s blood were harvested and radiated to eliminate cancerous cells.  Then they were introduced into her marrow.  After two weeks of painless treatment and a $15,000 bill, she was cancer-free and they returned to Florida.

Pet owners are given new hopes that their older pet’s life can be extended or saved.  How much to spend in the process though?

Looking back at what we went through with Taz, his chemo treatments, surgery and eventually losing him to the disease, we don’t regret the fact that we did all we could for him.  It could have turned out differently.  Sometimes it does.  He could have gone into remission and stayed with us awhile longer.  That is what our hope was. 

But, as it was, his life was extended maybe by two months.  Would we do it again now?  It would be something we’d have to decide if and when we ever face this trauma again.  We do love our pets and our feeling has always been that if something can be done to cure or make their lives better when they become ill, we will do it if we can.  We’ve also become aware of maybe trying to keep them alive longer than they would like because they are really not having a good quality of life anymore.

I can understand why people want to keep their pets with them for as long as they can.  It’s hard to say goodbye to a companion you’ve had constantly for years.  They are family and sometimes you spend more time with them than you do with anyone else in the family.  If there’s a chance they can be saved, you can make a decision to try or not. 

I also understand when the choice to not pursue medical treatment of cancer or other terminal illnesses for a pet is made. 

Shortly after Taz was diagnosed with lymphoma and starting chemo treatments, I was at my dentist’s office one day.  I started talking to the dentist’s wife who works as a receptionist there.  We were talking about our pets and I told her about Taz.  She said that their dog had lymphoma, but they decided to not do any special treatments for her.

The little dog was happy and really didn’t have any problems for a few months, but then one night when the lady came home, the dog was not at the door.  They found her on the bedroom floor and took her to the vet where she passed away. 

The dog from Florida, who had the bone-marrow transplant, developed liver cancer 9 months later and soon passed away.  But, that was still 9 months that the man wouldn’t have had if not for the bone-marrow transplant.  It’s a personal decision and I’m sure he has no regrets for that extra time.

If not for the new innovations in veterinary medicine, our cat, Rowdy, wouldn’t have lived as long as he did.  He was only about 7 years old when he had his urinary tract blockage.  We made several visits to the vet to unblock him, but he continued to block.  Our only option was to have perineal urethrostomy surgery. 

I found the description at PetPlace.com:  {Perineal urethrostomy is the procedure that is done to make a new opening in the urethra in the perineal area (the area between the scrotum and the anus). The procedure is most commonly done in male cats that suffer from Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD) and to bypass an obstruction of the urethra in the penis. It is also indicated if there is trauma to the penis or lower urethra.} 

The procedure was developed in 1962 and published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association in 1963.  It was modified in 1967, and further modified in 1971.  Rowdy’s procedure was done in 1995.  It saved his life.  He had no further urinary tract problems and he went on to live a normal life until he developed diabetes. 

He was 14 years old when he passed away of complications from diabetes.  That was 9 years ago and today the vets know more about feline diabetes than they did then.

When our dog, Chelsi, was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in her lungs in March 2007, we consulted with her doctor, a specialist.  He was optimistic about removing it.  She was 14 years old.  We had surgery scheduled.  The doctor wanted to do an MRI just to make sure there were no more tumors.  It showed that there were several smaller tumors throughout her chest area.  Although he could have still done the surgery, the other tumors were there and growing.  We opted not to do the surgery.  We brought Chelsi home to be with us as long as she could be here.

She had a happy and normal life for another year and about 4 months.  Then in July 2008, she started losing her appetite and losing weight.  We nursed her along, but on September 15, 2008, she let us know that she was ready to go.  We reluctantly said goodbye to this dog that we’d had since she was six weeks old.  She was just a month short of her 16th birthday. 

We say today that we regret trying to keep her with us longer than we should have.  We just couldn’t make that decision to let her go. 

When she stopped eating, we gave her pills to make her have an appetite.  We force fed her.  We were not doing her any favors.  It was hard on everyone.  We suffered because we were trying to help her feel better, and we were just seeing her deteriorate.  She suffered because she was having a hard time breathing, the tumor was taking up most of her lungs by now, and she just plain didn’t feel well.

It’s a blessing and a curse that veterinary science has come so far.  A blessing because now vets can diagnose and treat  cancers, urinary-tract disorders, kidney ailments, and joint failures with the prospect of a cure or greatly improving health.  They have the latest imaging technology, better drugs, new surgical techniques and holistic approaches like acupuncture and herbal medicines.  A curse because these treatments come at a price, both monetary and emotional. 

Years ago, I’m sure cats and dogs had cancer, hyperthyroidism, diabetes, etc., but we were unaware.  We didn’t take our pets to the vet like we do today.  I remember when growing up, the cats and dogs, always in the yard, sometimes lost weight and then one day you never saw them again.  They would go off and die somewhere.  It was just the way it was.  I would never want to go back to those days again.

I sure hope the sun comes out soon.  It’s only a week before May begins.  We are already getting into “May gray” and “June gloom” here in “wonderful sunny California”....not. 

Later.......

I have felt cats rubbing their faces against mine and touching my cheek with claws carefully sheathed. These things, to me, are expressions of love.-- James Herriot

Kiki, the "foster" cat

 Jonesie has not been outside since I found him down the path on the hillside a couple of weeks ago.  He still gets antsy and begs to go out in the afternoon, but so far I’ve been able to distract him by playing with him and soon he goes off and takes a nap.  I’m guess I’m pretty boring.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that Ellie’s chin was really swollen.  When I checked it, she wouldn’t let me touch it because it was sore.  We suspected a case of ache like some of the other cats have had, but Charlie took her to the vet to make sure.

It was a very big zit.  Dr. squeezed it and Ellie didn’t seem to mind and she wouldn’t let me even touch it that morning.  But, like most of our other cats, she’s very docile when she goes to the vet’s office. 

Since Ellie just turned 12 last month, we had them do a “senior” blood panel on her to make sure she was doing all right.  Her last panel was less than a year ago, but this way we wouldn’t have to make another trip later.  Dr. called the next day and said that everything looked fine, but Ellie’s white blood cells were a little high.  Could be because of the infection on her chin.
       
We had antibiotics to give Ellie for a week and then bring her back for a follow up at the week’s end.  They ran another blood panel just to check if her infection was cleared.  The white blood cells were normal, which was good news.  Ellie has lost a little weight though.  She has always been 9 or 10 pounds.  She is now about 9 pounds, but seems to be eating fine.

The doctor also gave us some medicine to help with Ellie’s muscle spasms.  She sometimes just trembles and it’s related to the neuropathy she has with her hind legs.  Toby also had the same problem.  This medicine, Robaxin (Methocarbamol), is supposed to relax the muscles and hopefully stop the spasms.  We wanted to finish the antibiotics before starting the Robaxin so we don’t know if it helps or not.

Ellie had another asthma episode this morning.  Each one seems to get worse.  The pills, Terbutaline, do help her and they work fairly fast.  In addition to being so congested in her breathing, the trembling doesn’t help.

Ellie in her "day" bed.  She also has a chair to sleep on.

After giving her a pill, I warmed a blanket and held her until the trembling stopped.  It’s amazing to hear the congestion start to break up.  She starts taking deep breaths, finally being able to breath better.  Her airwaves have opened up.  I’ve said I love to hold her, but it’s really the only time she will allow herself to be held for very long.  When she starts feeling better, she lets me know that she’s ready to get down.

Charlie took Mr. Creme to the vet last week to have a fructosamine and blood glucose test.  He is doing okay, but in the past few days, he has vomited several times.  I wanted to make sure he was still stable with his insulin dose.  The glucose test was good, but his fructosamine test came back with a lower number of 282, so the vet said to lower the insulin by 1 unit, from 7 to 6/day.  I was giving 3 units in the morning and 4 units in the evening.  We’ll try it and check him again in a few weeks. 

Mr. Creme does still walk like a raccoon.  He walks on his heels instead of on his toes.  Since he was “stabilized”, his legs seemed to be stronger, though not normal. 

I was talking to my friend, Jan, about it.  Her daughter has a diabetic cat too.  His name is “Neo” and, like Mr. Creme, Neo could once jump six foot fences.  He was indoor/outdoor.

Now, Neo’s legs are very weak and my friend says it just breaks her heart to see him like that.  It is hard when you remember how strong these cats once were.

The only thing positive is that Mr. Creme, like Neo, stays close to home.  In MC’s case, he stays in the backyard and seems perfectly fine with it.  I have taken him to the front yard a couple of times, but I stay out with him to make sure he doesn’t wander off.  Mr. Creme and I have become very close.

Jan told me that her daughter was giving “Neo” a B12 pill, Methyl B12 (Methyl cobalamin).  She said that Neo’s legs were better.  She had crushed the pill and put it on his food.  He was fine with the unflavored pill, but then she couldn’t find unflavored and bought a cherry flavor.  He didn’t like that at all, and hasn’t been taking the pills.  His legs have gotten weaker again. 
 
I have done some research on this B12 for cats and finally found a site that tells me more about it.  I also read blogs from people who have used it for their diabetic cats.  The B12 pill for cats is Xobaline (Zobaline).  I ordered a bottle today.  I will try it on Mr. Creme to see if it helps.

Kiki

Kiki still has the run of the house during the day.  She hasn’t been causing any problems.  We forget she’s in the house actually.  Rhody like to watch her, but she doesn’t give him any signs that she wants to be friends.  She makes herself at home, curled up on our bed or on the cushion by the fireplace.

Her “kittens”, Dash and Cody, also have been integrated into our family.  Kiki ignores or hisses at them and they avoid her too.  They don’t know her as their mom anymore.  She’s just another cat to them.

Yesterday we went to see Cyd, the lady who adopted Dot, Dash and Cody’s sister.  Her name is Spicey now.

When we got there, Spicey was hiding.  Cyd’s other cat, Cynnamon is very friendly.  We visited and talked for awhile.  Then Cyd said we should look for Spicey if we wanted to see her.

We found her upstairs under Cyd’s bed.  She ran out and down the stairs.  I saw her in the kitchen, but she darted across the counter and back upstairs, like a white streak.

Cyd says she doesn’t get much of a chance to pet her, but she knows she’s eating and is fine.  Spicey doesn’t really care for Cynnamon though.  Spicey has gotten wilder.  When she was still here, we could pet her, especially when she was in the cat tree.  She was more friendly than Dash then too.  Now she’s untouchable it seems.

I may get a chance to pet sit for Cyd at the end of the month.  She is going out of town and asked if we could stop by to check on Cynnamon and Spicey for her. 

To be continued later.......

"You can visualize a hundred cats. Beyond that, you can't. Two hundred, five hundred, it all looks the same." -- Jack Wright (of Kingston, Ontario, the Guinness Book record holder for the owner of the most cats at one time [689])

Petco Park Opening Day San Diego 4/5/12

Navy band played National Anthem - sailors rolled out this huge flag on field.  Jet fly over.....very nice.

We went to the San Diego Padres’ opening season game today at Petco Park.  This is the first year that we have season tickets.  We checked it out in January and because the Padres were under new ownership, albeit somewhat in chaos, it seemed that they were reaching out and trying to get more fans to the park.  We were happy with the seats we chose.  They are number 1 and 2 and on the aisle.

Earlier in the day, before the game, Charlie said he was going out to buy a Padres’ T-shirt.  He came back with a nice shirt and a Padres’ hat.  He bought both from Target.

The game started at 4:05pm.  Since it was opening day, we started to the park at 2:15pm.  We didn’t know what parking would be like.  There is a parking garage across the street from Petco Park.  When we got there, people were coming in, but it wasn’t bad.  We found plenty of parking on the sixth level of a seven level parking structure.

We walked across the pedestrian walkway and to the entrance of Petco Park.  We had plastic cards which had to be scanned to get us admission into the park.  Usually when you buy season tickets, they send you real tickets, a stack of them for the whole season, but we were asked if we wanted the tickets or to try the “new” cards.  We chose the cards.

Today, it took us about 10 minutes to get the cards scanned by the poor lady who greeted us at the gate.  She had two gadgets hanging from her neck which were scanners.  She scanned one card with one of the gadgets and then swiped it with the other and then waited.  Nothing happened.  Then she did it again and finally a ticket printed out.  Then she took the other card and did the same and finally printed out another ticket.  “Keep this ticket”, she said.  I thought, yeah, it took a long time to get it, don’t lose it.

Upon entering the park, we each received a San Diego T-shirt.....yes, it was free T-shirt day.  Charlie had gone out that morning and bought a T-shirt to wear.

We found our seats.  We sat there and looked around and admired our view.  It was sunny and warm.  We decided to go and get our hotdogs before it got really crowded.  We didn’t have to wait in line very long.  I love hotdogs at the ball game. 

We were eating our hotdogs when, two ladies, our seat-mates to the right, arrived.  We moved our legs to let them in.  They chattered while finding their seats and stood for a few minutes before sitting down.  Then they started pointing to another part of the stadium and appeared to be looking at seats to our left in another section.  The one next to me was reaching across me with her arm and pointing at the seats.  I was still eating my hotdog and finally said, “Excuse me!”  She stopped pointing.  I’m still not sure if she noticed how rude she was.

I was thinking, “Oh no, is this what we have to put up with every time we come to watch a ball game?”

There are four home games, but we are only going to two of them.  We gave our neighbor, Bridgit, tickets for Friday and Sunday.  We’ll go to the Saturday game.

I whispered to Charlie, “We’ll have to warn Bridgit about these two ladies.”  He whispered back, “Or warn them about Bridgit.”  We both laughed because that was more like it.  Bridgit is a free spirit and these two ladies wouldn’t phase her.  She wouldn’t even notice them probably.

The game was good although the Padres lost to the Dodgers 5 to 3.  It was still fun.  As the game went on, the ladies really weren’t that bad.  No, I was not drinking beer.  They were actually pretty friendly.  My first impression of them and my hostile thoughts vanished.

At the end of the game, I asked the ladies if they would be at Saturday’s game.  They said yes, but would be sitting in their own seats a few sections over.  For some reason, they were assigned the seats next to us for opening day. 

Well, now that they didn’t seem so bad, they weren’t going to be sitting with us!  Who knows who our seat mates will be?  We’ll have to go through initiation again on Saturday.

We’re in the second row of our section, but Charlie had a problem seeing the game from his seat.  There was a big man sitting in front of him.  He said he could see home plate over the left ear and had to lean to the right to see the batter. 

When something would happen, Charlie would lean one way and the man would lean to block his view and so on.  The man’s wife was sitting in front of me and I had no problem.  We’ll try switching seats on Saturday. 

I always look around the field and crowd and message board anyway.  I sometimes forget that a batter is up and then I finally look down.  Usually he’s standing there waiting to hit the ball.  If he hasn’t hit the ball yet, it’s like the game is standing still to me.  I keep checking to see how many balls, strikes, outs are on the board.

We were looking at the Padre game schedule and noticed that on Saturday, everyone would receive a Padre’s ball cap when they came to the park!  Now we had our T-shirts and on Saturday we’ll get our ball caps.  We both laughed.  What was the chance that Charlie would go out and buy both items and then we get them for free at the park?

Jonesie has been going outside when we have time to watch him.  He’s no longer satisfied to sit under the bird feeders and watch the birds.  When he was out, I could check on him from the window, but now he has learned that we have a front yard and it’s a great new world out there.  He doesn’t spend two minutes in the backyard before he runs to jump the fence and land in the front yard.

This is the hillside at the end of our cul de sac

He’s also discovered that we have neighbors’ yards and a hillside to climb.  When I go bring him back, he seems to be getting more and more brave, wandering farther and farther. 

I usually sit outside on the park bench in the front yard so I can keep an eye on him.  He runs back and forth between our yard and Bridgit’s yard and is pretty good about coming when I call him.  As long as I know where he is, I feel like he can stay out.  He really enjoys it and I love watching him run around.

The other day I was outside with Jonesie.  I went to locate him and he was fine.  I sat back down.  A few minutes later, I didn’t hear or see him so I went looking for him.  I called and called, but he didn’t come.  That’s usually when I go and get Charlie so both of us can look.  He came out and went one way and I went towards Bridgit’s driveway and the hill. 

I still didn’t hear Jonesie’s bell on his collar, which is also how I keep track of him.  I decided to walk down by the side of Bridgit’s house.  There’s a path that runs along her backyard fence.  It goes all the way over to the cul de sac behind us and ends at the fence of one of the houses there.  It’s also at the bottom of the big hill that runs up to the street and houses behind us.

I know that a lot of people let their cats outside and let them run around and come back when they’re ready.  I’ve also done that.  Years ago when I lived in Thousand Oaks, I let my cats come and go by leaving the patio door cracked open for them.  I lost at least three cats to coyotes by doing that.  They went out at night and didn’t come back.  I never found them, but it was common that coyotes were in the area and hunted at night.  If I had it to do over, I would have been more watchful of them.

Here, one afternoon, I came home from work at 2:00.  I saw a coyote walking along the drain culvert on the hillside by Bridgit’s house.  Since then, we have seen them on the cul de sac at night.  We know they have taken cats and small dogs.

We have always kept our cats in the house and only let them out when we are home and can watch them.  We try to restrict them to the backyard.  They are never outside at night, unless like Rhody, they get away from us.  Jonesie has been breaking that rule lately though. 

This path runs along the fence by Bridgit's house

I walked along the fence and down the path.  Jonesie was sitting there and when he saw me he stared.  I called him and he came right to me, which I appreciated.  He knew he was in a strange place and wasn’t sure if he should go any farther.  But, I think if I hadn’t walked up on him, he would have wandered on down the path.  I was annoyed that he ignored me when I was calling him earlier.

Needless to say, I took him into the house and he hasn’t been outside since.  It’s not like he doesn’t beg every day to go out.  He tries everything to make me change my mind.

But, my fear of losing him overcomes my joy of seeing him outside happily running around.  It would break my heart if he disappeared.

A few days later, I went out to take pictures of the hillside and the path for my blog.  I walked down the path and took a picture and then walked just a few feet farther and took this picture of the path:

Do you see the cat sitting on the path?

Here he is close up...looks like one of our twin tabby cats, Jason and Kaci, but it's not

I walked towards him, hoping he wouldn't run, but he turned and ran back down the path.  I didn't follow him.  He was minding his own business and probably is safer to run away.

To be continued.......