Thursday, February 15, 2007

Catblogging - Duncan and Alex back to the vet

Another afternoon at the vet for the two sick boys. I haven't put up a progress report for awhile, mainly because there hasn't been any progress to speak of. Duncan below (our heart patient), for the 3rd time in 3 months, needed fluid drained from his lung with a syringe of some kind. Thankfully they do that procedure out of my sight. It's been done on alternating sides each time, so he has some good-sized shaved patches on both of his sides (and now I know that there's no chance that the hair will ever get to grow back). The arrow is pointing to his bare patch that was newly re-shaved today. We call it his "expensive haircut". Duncan is hanging in there, getting 2 shots of lasix, 2 swabbings with ear gel, and a pill to perk up his appetite, every day. He's a sweet kitty getting the shots, but hates the rest of it!

Alex, also, is hanging in there -- but not really doing very well. He has IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) and his main ailment is what they call malabsorption. Basically it means that he's losing weight in spite of eating plenty, it just doesn't stick to his bones. So he is starting to remind us of bones. Poor baby. He's becoming a frail little old man-cat (of 16). He's getting some meds daily and weekly: pred, pepcid and B-12, but they aren't helping him as much as I would like. Both of these guys have ailments that aren't curable, so we are just trying to make them as comfortable as possible.


Tags and links: Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at Pet's Garden Blog - - -

6 comments:

sammawow said...

Oh you poor sick kitties. It's nice that they have such nice fluffy blankets!

Purrs,
China Cat & Willow

Blueberry said...

Only the mostest fluffiest are good enough for these babies.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm here via the Friday Ark. I see that one of your cats has IBD. We've had two cats with it that have recovered; one case was quite severe. Please email me if you'd like information about their treatments. I see that I cannot leave my email address in the url field, but you can click on my blog and email me through that. Best wishes to both kitties.

beepbeepitsme said...

Being a cat lover myself, I understand your desire to make them as comfortable as you can. Cat;s truly are wonderful little creatures.

Mando Mama said...

What sweet little guys. I'm sorry to hear they're feeling under the weather. After a long hiatus from being a cat family (and with some trepidation since my son had developed an allergy), we welcomed our new feline family member in July. She's put up with us well so far.

Me said...

Poor babies.
My heart goes out to any pet that is faring poorly with their health.