Brody's Vet Visit

 Brody:  I went to the vet again.  The only bad part is that thing stuck up where it doesn't belong.  All the fluid is gone from my chest, so I only have to get one shot a day.  Yay!  I feel good.  Look at me up here on the file cabinet.  The vet even gave me some food.  I just wish I didn't feel too tired to play all the time.

Karen Jo:  Brody's temperature is 104 and his weight is down to 6.7 lbs from 7.8 lbs last week.  The vet says that it's just a matter of time, but we will keep up the medications and hope for a miracle.  Brody feels so good because he all the fluid is out of his chest and he can breathe normally again.

 Tabitha:  This is the best photo Mom has been able to take of me so far.  I decided that I really like the lady, so I will call her Mom. Mom picked me up and took me on a tour of the house yesterday and showed me all the kitties here.  There are a LOT of them. I did exciting things today.  I came out of my room four times and met other kitties and explored.  There are a lot of litter boxes around here.  I sniffed and sniffed them.  I explored the bathroom and played with Bambino in the bathtub.  I met Julius and we played chase in my room.  We chased each other around the big chair and Mom laughed because it looked like I was chasing Julius.  I met Brody and we nose sniffed each other.  I met Horus and he sniffed and sniffed my behind.  I briefly met Oja and she hissed at me so I ran back into my room.  I met Rocio and he hissed at me a tiny bit, too.  I am back in my room now for the night, but I bet I will be out of my room tomorrow again, at least for a while.

Spyro:  All these goings on make me want a nap.  I haven't met the squirt yet, but I will.

Oja:  The tiny kitten is coming our of her room now.  I don't like it.  I just know she'll pester me.

Karen Jo:  She might not.  There are lots of other kitties for her to play with.

Rocio:  Tabitha might not be so bad.  I went into her room for a little bit.  She's pretty fearless when it comes to the rest of us.  Oja scared her, but Oja scares all of us.

Bambino:  I like Tabitha.  I hope she comes out for good soon.

Horus:  I am King of the Mountain on top of the cat tree today.  I don't know what to think of Tabitha.  She smells good.  She didn't try to smack me for being so personal.

Julius:  Hahaha!  I made Mom lie down on the floor to get a picture of me.  See how wide open my eyes are?  That's the signal that I am going to bolt if she comes any closer.  I like Tabitha.  She's fun to play with.

Cissy:  I have given up trying to get Brody to play with me.  Now when I want to play with another kitty, I go to Bambino or Julius, especially Julius.  This cushion under the chair is the safest place to nap.  Mom started wondering if I really dragged the cushion under the chair or if it ended up under here by accident and I just took advantage of it.  The other day Mom noticed that it had been moved under the table, then it was back under the chair and I was on it again.  Now she knows that I move it.

Day of Hope, Day of Terror

UPDATE: I don't believe it!  I was so torn up over the appointment that I remembered the time wrong and missed it.  Now I have to wait until tomorrow.  Sigh.

Brody:  I'm feeling OK today.  I didn't cough last night when Mom gave me my medicine, but I did this morning.

Karen Jo:  You coughed quite a bit this morning.

Brody:  I didn't sleep with Mom last night.  She gave me my meds just before she went to bed and I wasn't ready to cuddle with her after that.  I did get a bit of my own back.  I bit her finger.

Karen Jo:  You bit me pretty hard, too.  I bled a little.

Brody:  Serves you right for sticking nasty things in my mouth.

Karen Jo: You have to take your meds to get well.

Brody: At least I get treats afterward.  This morning I was my old self when it came to treats.  I tried to eat every cat's treats and I got a lot.  I wish I felt even better, though.  Yesterday morning Cissy tried to play with me and I hissed and growled at her to make her go away.  I never do that.

Karen Jo:  I am all torn up about Brody.  In some ways he seems better.  He is fighting his meds harder and when Herman did that he was improving.  He won't play and I was shocked when he hissed and growled at Cissy, but that could be an improvement on just ignoring her, which is what he did Saturday.  I put some catnip out yesterday to distract Cissy and that worked just fine.  Brody watched the other cats get all nipped up, then retreated to the stroller when they started to get rowdy.  I am both hopeful and terrified of what the vet might tell me this afternoon.  Brody isn't sending me any signals that he is ready to go to the Rainbow Bridge, but that cough has got to hurt.  It shakes his entire body.  I want him to get better if he can, but I don't want him to suffer any more than he has to.  I have been going over and over in my mind what to do, but I can't decide until I know more.  It's got me tied up in knots.

Brody Is Feeling Better

Karen Jo:  I apologize for not posting again sooner.  Worrying about my little mancat has disrupted my sleep cycle and I keep falling asleep early in the evening and waking up past midnight.  Luckily I remember to give Brody his medicine before I go back to sleep again.  Now I'll let Brody tell you how he's doing.

Brody:  I feel better. I slept with Mom the last two nights, which is my usual habit, instead of on the floor next to her bed, which I had been doing when I felt really sick.  I jumped up to her bedroom window and sunned myself this morning, which I hadn't been doing.  As you can see, I'm napping up on the furniture instead of down on the floor.  As you can also see, I've been shaved on my side and on my leg.  I also have a little shaved area on my neck.  I have been begging and begging for treats and getting them, too.  I am eating Stinky Goodness, but not as much as usual.  Mom is giving me the most delicious food, just for me, though sometimes I walk away and leave a little.

Karen Jo:  Brody has lost so much weight that I am giving him all the treats he wants and an extra meal of Elegant Medleys.

Brody: The only bad thing is that Mom keeps sticking something down my throat and squirting liquids in my mouth.  I get even with her by scaring her.

Karen Jo:  Brody, you have to take your medicines.  You don't seem to mind your Amoxidrops or your Interferon too much, but you really hate your Prednisolone.

Brody:  It's awful.  I fight it so hard sometimes I start coughing.

Karen Jo:  The first time he did it, I thought his chest had filled up with fluid again, but he didn't do it again until Pred time again.  I figure that he exerts himself so much that he starts to cough.  I am hoping that this means he has pneumonia.  That sounds like a horrible thing to wish for, but it's about the least horrible thing that could be the matter with him at this point.  I have to wait until Monday to find out.

Purrs for Brody

UPDATE:
I got home with Brody a little while ago and so far it's mostly good news.  His fever is gone.  He is eating better.  That part had me scared.  He went from 10.3 lbs on July 17 to 7.6 lbs yesterday.  He is feeling better.  He is a bit more lively than I have seen him in the last few days.  I misunderstood what the vet was saying.  She said his FeLV might have given him FIV not FIP.  That brings his chances up for survival of #6 from nil to maybe.  Of course if both his FeLV and new FIV are active now, his chances are pretty slim.  He came home with amoxicillan in case it's pneumonia, prednisolone in case his FeLV is suppressing his appetitie and polyprenyl immuno in case he developed FIV.  The bad news is that we (the vets and I) don't know what he has yet and won't know until Monday when the results of his latest tests come back from the lab.  Thank you for all the purrs, prayers, healing light and kind thoughts you have already sent.  Please keep it up for little Brody.  Cissy sure was glad to see him again.

Karen Jo: I hate to go from a party post weeks ago to a Purrs post, but I feel that it's necessary. Brody was having what looked all the world like dry retching when he went into his wellness exam on July 17.  I asked if it could be coughing, because I had never seen a cat cough and wouldn't know the difference.  The vet said that his chest was clear and for me to give him a hairball remedy.  When I went in for a consultation on Thursday about Horus, who hasn't been very nice lately, I mentioned it again and was prescribed some Laxatone and told to bring Brody in if he wasn't better in 3-4 days.  Three days ago he started acting sick and I called as early as I could on Monday to get Brody an appointment and got him in yesterday afternoon.  It wasn't good.

His temperature was 104 F.  The vet did x-rays and a large blood panel.  His albumin and red blood cells were low and his white blood cells were a little high.  He has a large amount of fluid in his chest cavity, but only one side.  She sent me to the large emergency and specialty animal hospital in Santa Fe, who kept him overnight to drain his chest and whatever else they thought necessary.  That vet said he needed more in hospital care, so now he's in his regular vet's for more x-rays and to have the chest fluid analyzed.

Here are the possibilities as to what is wrong with him, given in the order of his chances of long-term survival:

1. He had a fall and banged the side of his chest hard enough to cause the fluid to form in his chest.  In this case he will survive, no problem.  The retching was because the fluid in his chest made him uncomfortable and he was trying to expel it.

2. He has pneumonia.  His chances of a full recovery are very good.

3. He has the type of FeLV that attacks the lungs and brain and he is having a flare-up. He might survive this attack.

4 He has both the type of FeLV that attacks the lungs and brain and the type that attacks the bone marrow and he is having a flare-up.  Chances of surviving this attack much slimmer than for #3.

5.  His FeLV has given him cancer in his chest cavity.  Chances of long-term survival next to nil.

6. His FeLV has given him FIP.  Chances of long-term survival nil.

Please purr for my little mancat.  I will do an update when I get him home again at 4:00 MDT.  We may know a lot more then, or not much more.

Purrs for Bambio

Update: Bambino was making motions in his mouth with his tongue like he was thirsty, so I thought I should syringe some water into his mouth, but I remembered that kitties generally don't like that.  Then I remembered that Herman would eat Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys when he refused to eat anything else, so I went to the store and got some.  The Elegant Medleys have a much higher moisture content than the pate style, so I would be taking care of two problems as once.  I gave Bambino just a little bit of the Elegant Medleys and he ate most of it.  I'll try to get some more down him later tonight.  Right now it's "Yay!  He ate!"  Thanks to all of you for the great comments and the purrs.  I know they are helping.

Update:  I had a long conversation with my friend who is an experienced Mom and foster Mom to special needs kitties and we came to the conclusion that as Bambino is not terribly sick yet and his vet knows him and has dealt with FeLV+ kitties before, it would be best to wait until tomorrow and get him an appointment with her.  At the emergency vet you never know who you will get and it's a long trip.  His regular vet also has a new treatment for FeLV+ kitties that the emergency vet might now know about.  Many thanks to Ann of Zoolatry for the badge on the sidebar.  Please feel free to put it on your own blogs.  I know the power of the purr.

Karen Jo:  I am worried about Bambino.  He hasn't eaten much since Saturday.  I have tried putting him in front of the food and the food in front of him, but he sniffs it, licks it and walks away.  He ate a few treats yesterday, but today he walked away from them.  He hissed at Horus this morning, which really worries me because he has NEVER hissed at another cat.  He spent most of the day yesterday sleeping.  I can't take him to his regular vet today because they are closed.  I left a message with a good friend of mine about maybe taking him to the emergency vet, but I'm not sure they would see him.  He is still walking around with his tail up and jumping up on the furniture, so he's not deathly ill.  This could be something minor like a kitty cold or it could be a FeLV flare-up.  Please purr for him.

A Little Scare

Mom didn't take any new pictures of me, so here is one that she took a while ago and didn't use.  I caused Mom a bit of concern Thursday and Friday.  Thursday morning I had bad diarrhea and she chased me around with wet paper towels.  I hated that.

Karen Jo:  You had poop all over your bottom and I had to clean it off.  I could tell how much you hated it, but you were pretty good about letting me clean you off, even though it took three tries.  You did threaten to bite me the third time, but you didn't.

I went and hid for a couple of hours after than and didn't eat much all day.

Karen Jo:  You didn't even want to share me steak, which is highly unusual.

I told Mom I wanted my breakfast early Friday morning, but then I didn't eat it.  I only ate half my sardine later and when Mom came in to make her lunch, I barfed.

Karen Jo:  I am so glad that you always barf on the plastic mats I put under your food dishes.  It makes it really easy to clean it up.  I got worried that you weren't eating much at all and didn't want to play, though you did come over for your brushing.  You had me worried and while I was at work, I made arrangements to have you go to the v-e-t, if you weren't feeling better by Saturday morning.

I am all better now.  I met Mom at the door when she got home from work and really talked to her about how hungry I was.  I hadn't eaten my stinky goodness, but Mom got me some fresh and I ate it all up and wanted some more.  By now I have eaten almost all of that and told Mom that I want some more before bedtime. After I ate, I tore around the house like my tail was on fire and wanted to play and play.

Karen Jo:  I am really glad that you are all better now.  I wonder if that Newman's Own food I gave you on Wednesday upset your tummy.  Something sure did and that was the only new thing that you ate recently.  You will be glad to hear that you don't have to go the the v-e-t after all.

Yay!