Me-andering: No news is..............

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No news is..............

Ok, I know Koko has zillions of followers out there, and all of them are wondering why she hasn’t updated her blog in a long time.  Well, the truth is Koko is lazy.  Koko is fat, sassy and totally in control of this household EXCEPT when it comes to getting me to assist in blog updates.  In that particular instance I am lazier than she is. Nah nah…………….

Koko is doing very well and truly rules the house.  The other cats have learned to hiss and leave if she hassles them, leaving her to whatever they were eating/playing with.  Several of them have found it is best to make friends with her and if they ask nicely she will sometimes allow them to share a dish of food, and will groom them while they take a bite!  Pays to let her be boss I guess.

Slim is getting a bit lamer and I am concerned about where it will take us in the months ahead.  He still loves to take walks but will often not be able to decide which of his rear legs to hold up off the ground.  He hasn’t figured out a way to hold them both up – yet.  Arthritis meds are very expensive and, from what I hear, hard on a dogs tummy.  Slim already has an upset tum-tum on a fairly regular basis.  When he does, his belly grumbles keep both of us awake!  I end up dosing him with some liquid Mylanta and eventually we can both sleep.  Poor baby.  Vet says he isn’t’ that old (about 10 years) but with both rear legs having torn ligaments he is heading towards becoming a cripple with some tuff choices ahead for me.  He is my sweetie so it will be hard to get thru.

Polar Bear knows he is my secret favorite and that he can get away with all kinds of stuff.  It is summer so when we go for our walk he gets to take a swim in the neighborhood pond.  He loves to swim but his mass of fur gets so water logged he has a hard time keeping his nose out of the water after a minute or two.  I am seriously considering getting him some type of poodle cut for the summer so he can enjoy a real swim but I am afraid he will look so silly!  And will it grow back?  And if I do it, do I leave him a lion’s mane around his head?  Do I leave his tail plumage to wave freely?  Will he look silly if I leave his mane and tail and trim the rest?  What to do, what to do. 

For the second year in a row my whole house A/C isn’t working and I can’t afford to get it fixed.  He is miserable – as am I – as are all of the animals.  Window A/C is VERY limited in what it can cool so we all suffer when the temperature climbs above 80.  Sigh.

In a different vein, there is a neighborhood tomcat that has decided to skulk around my place and pick on my cats when they go out.  Lucky had to go to the vet cause the darned tom picked on him and chewed his butt – literally.  I was rather embarrassed for Lucky that it appeared he must have been in retreat in order to get wounded in that particular portion of his anatomy but by the time he came home, (he was gone for 2 days and I was a nervous wreck,) it was so infected I couldn’t yell at him, just had to take him right to the vet.  She had to open the wound, express and dress it and express his kidneys too cause he hadn’t been able to urinate!  Poor baby!  2 weeks of Amoxycillin and he was fine but reluctant to go outside.  All of the cats appear to be less enthusiastic about being outside with that mean tom around.  I love all animals but that cat is pissing me off.  If I could catch it I would, at the very least, neuter it before I let it loose again.

The newest kitty, Lacee, is doing great, getting along with the sociable cats and sleeping with Slim when he will let her.  She appears to be a naturally small-boned kitty and I don’t think she will get much bigger.  But then I didn’t think Slim would get big either and look what happened.

All of us are doing fine, surviving and happy to be doing so. 

-Me

Slim, Polar Bear & Chica

Koko, Lucky, Shaggy, Lil Red, Taz, Newbie, Scruffy, Lacee, Sid Vicious & Buddy

Oops... Koko hasn't got much to report but.........

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Hello to my three followers ;-p

Sorry for the delay in posting but a lot of nothing has been going on in Koko’s medical life.   Thank goodness!! Her home life still entails being an instigator – always the one picking the fights.   One of the three anti-social cats, usually Shaggy Kitty, will be up on the ‘private’ cat counter eating and Koko will climb up on the top of the cat food storage container and stick her paw/hand over the edge of the counter to swipe at her.  Shaggy will, of course, take immediate offense, growl, hiss and swipe back.  This usually brings the dogs running and other cats like to sit around and spectate.  Sheeze.

Anyway, since her last surgery I can guarantee Koko’s right eye socket will NEVER seep again.  That thing was stitched so tight it truly pulls up the right side of her face so her teeth still show a little and her whiskers are up higher than the other side of her face and at an upward angle.  Doesn’t seem to bother her anymore tho.  She eats and drinks (and hassles everyone else,) just fine.  She doesn’t have to look at it.  I do and I am not thrilled with it but I guess she isn’t ever going to be in any kitty beauty contests so who am I to say she isn’t beautiful?

I volunteered at Dr. Dans Pet Health Day event in Adams County again a few weeks ago.  I fall in love with all the animals but this time I just couldn't resist one of the young cats.  Her name is Lacey.   The young ladies who are vet tech students and volunteer at the health day named her for me.  She is a semi-long hair calico with bird bones.  It feels like her bones are hollow - she weighs about as much as a fluff ball.  She has pretty feathers in her ears and is an awesome purring machine.   Unfortunately, the woman who initially rescued her had her vaccinated for everything but didn't have her tested for Feline Lukemia (FeLV) first.  I have been told that the FeLV vaccine is a modified live virus which means from now on she will test positive for it so don’t know if she really might have it or not.  She seems healthy and gets along surprisingly well with the other cats and all the dogs.

I also rescued another cat from a lady who was feeding ferals.  She lives in an apartment on a heavily traveled road with nothing but retail and multiple family dwellings.  Her neighbors were complaining she was inviting him inside now and then.  No animals allowed.  She had seen me when I was with the dog rescue and so called to see if I could help out.  I went and picked him up and brought him home.  Presley (she named one of the other ferals Henry Fonda !) stayed inside in a crate for several days until all the other animals got used to him.  Then he was in the house for several more days although constantly trying to sneak outside.  I finally gave up hauling him back in so let him stay out.  He stuck around for a while, came back in to eat a couple of times and then apparently found someplace he liked better.  I haven’t told his initial rescuer he hasn’t been around lately cause I feel kindof bad about it.  I had introduced him to the protected food and water available for my outside cats so hopefully he just prefers outside cause he is used to it.

Shaggy Kitty is loosing weight and vomiting fairly often.  She has been vet checked several times and all systems are go so I suspect it is just advancing age.  I can't remember when she was born or when I adopted her out and her initial adoptor doesn't remember either.  I got her back when he married and moved to Caman Islands (poor guy) and couldn't take her with him.  I suspect she is about 12 - 13 years old.  She also is longhaired so fur balls have been a problem in the past.  I guess nature will have to take its course.  She still insists on jumping up onto the bed as soon as I click off the light.  Then she sticks her face right into mine and paws at the covers until I let her underneath.  Once there she gets petted for a few minutes.  Then after making sure she sticks her furry whiskery face into my face a couple more times, she jumps off and goes to her ‘bed’ on top of one of the dressers.  That may stop soon as she is beginning to have trouble jumping up there as well as onto the cat countertop.

Lucky may have been hit by a car but seems OK.  He was gone for two days and that was unusual.  He is usually in and out several times a day.  I was afraid he had pulled a Presley and taken off on me but then he came limping up onto the back deck.  He was very lethargic, meowed in discomfort when I picked him up so – once again a pet to the vet.  Left him there while I had my own Dr. appointment.  Came back to find out no internal injuries, nothing broken, just apparent stiffness/soreness in one back leg in particular and his hind end in general.  I brought him home and will try to keep him inside for a few days.  He is moving VERY slowly but then, I always did call him my “Slow-Mo” kitty so I am not too worried about that.  We will see.

All other cats and dogs are doing OK altho the dogs aren’t getting walked much.  Almost two weeks ago while walking my three dogs I re-aggravated a rotator cuff tear I got a few years ago, pulled or tore a groin muscle and lost my tennins bracelet.  Other than that it was a nice walk.  A neighbors unrestrained free-roving dog started tearing into mine who were on leashes.  Then, when the neighbor dog, (Randi) realized it was a losing proposition, she took off with mine in hot pursuit - and me still clinging to the leashes.  At least for a while.  I finally just let the leashes go.  Either that or fall on my nose and get pulled along like a sled.  I lost my tennis bracelet and experienced a pulled groin muscle in trying to dig my feet into the ground to stop them.  If you have never had the joy of experiencing that let me tell you that you don’t want to.  If I could have walked and sat in the car I would have gone to the emergency room.  Been 12 days now and I am just starting to be able to sleep, walk and sit.  So if no rain, we will start short walks with the dogs again tomorrow.  I HAVE spoken to my neighbor.  Randi will be restrained.

Koko and Lacey are best buds by the way and sleep together after mutual grooming sessions.  Too cute.

-me

Koko, Lucky, Lacey, Shaggy Kitty, Newbie, Sid Vicious, Lil Red, Taz, Scruffy, Buddy      & maybe Presley

Slim, Polar Bear & Chica

Koko meets Petals but only for a minute....

                                                                                                                  Friday, March 16, 2012

Koko is recovering fine from thelatest surgery on her right eye socket.  She had her stitches out (turned into a 16 legged, 900 tooth killer tiger during the process) and spent over 10 hours traveling in the car with me that day.  The vet is almost 2 hours drive away and there was a mix up in my appointment so the Doctor who did the surgery was at the opening of a new office over 45 minutes further away.  Naturally I had made my appointment with him, as he is the one I know and did the surgery.  All kinds of apologies, another, very nice and competent vet took a look at Koko the snaggle tooth and agreed it looked as tho the stitches were definitely pulling.  They asked if I was willing to drive to the new office to see Dr. Dan.  I went.  He removed stitches and said all looked fine. Things might relax and let the lip drop down a little with time.  During it all, for the most part, Koko rode well, preferred being in my lap or standing with her feet on the window acting as though she was viewing the scenery.  Did better than some of the dogs I have had in my car!

Since then her lip seems to be lowering, teeth on the right less exposed and she is no longer sneezing and having other issues when trying to drink so I think she is fine.  I guess her human, (that would be me,) is just not thrilled with the way the poor girl looks but then she doesn’t spend her time gazing in a mirror so it doesn’t seem to bother her as much as it bothers me… Duh.

In the meantime, a week ago Monday I got a call from a woman whom I met while volunteering at the Animal Health Day last fall.  She had two very young cats dumped on her and one of them had just died that day.  She brought the sister, Petals in and found she tested positive for Feline Leukemia (FeLV+).  She was distraught, weighing her options and considering having Petals put down.  Dr. Dan had her talk to me.  I explained to her that many FeLV+ cats can live a while and be reasonably healthy and happy.  That some turn into what I call “Typhoid Mary” cats and may carry the disease but show no symptoms and live quite a long time.  I asked her to consider taking her home and loving her for the time she would have (she had no other cats,) and told her if there were issues, to give me a call.  She decided to take Petals home and give her whatever life was in the cards. 

Petals did fine all fall and winter, climbed drapes, made friends with the dog, became a love bug.  If there was a lap, it was hers to sit in.  If there was a warm human body in the bed it was specifically for Petals to snuggle against, knead some bread, purr and sleep with.  Whenever her human sat down Petals appeared like magic demanding space on her lap.  So the day the human sat down on the couch and Petals didn’t show she was worried.  When she saw that Petals was hunkered on the rug in front of the window facing away from her and was not responding when called she was really worried.  Within a matter of 3 days Petals stopped eating, became extremely lethargic and declined rapidly.  Her human called me and I went to pick her up last Thursday. 

I immediately took her to my vet who re-tested her for FeLV and she tested negative.  What the……..!  I had heard that could happen but could mean a number of things including that she had fought off the virus OR that it had made it’s way to her bone marrow and was doing it’s dirty work out of sight.  My vet gave me antibiotic to try and address the symptoms of infection and build up her strength.

She was a fighter who wanted to live.  Kept purring, turning into a squiggle worm when petted.  She would turn herself inside out to ensure you didn’t miss a spot during her petting sessions, but she wasn’t getting better.  My vet wasn’t available so I took her to Colonial Animal Hospital and Dr. Bohls.  He examined her and determined her kidneys were enlarged, she had jaundice, her liver was affected, her throat was so swollen she couldn’t eat or drink, she was dehydrated and basically starving to death.  All within 3 – 5 days.  He suggested several options including steroids to try and reduce the swelling in throat and kidneys.  She was very interested in eating and drinking, just couldn’t swallow.  She had to be force fed because of her swollen and sore throat and receive subcutaneous ringers lactate to keep her hydrated.  Me, Petals, some needles and a bag of Ringers Lactate went home to see what was to be.

Koko and all my other cats are old enough and have been vaccinated for FeLV so I allowed them to meet Petals altho I kept her isolated for most of the time she was here in the master bathroom.  She and Koko (Koko the bully and instigator of fights!) sniffed noses, sniffed other orifices and then laid down together for a nap!  I was amazed.  So Petals had some company for a little while. I took her outside and she loved being in the yard but was so weak she could only walk a few steps and then had to rest.  All the other cats that go outside came up several times to sniff and say hello and followed her around the yard.  During all of it she was the happiest little kitty I have had in a long time.  As long as she wanted to fight the fight and didn’t seem to be in pain I was going to do what I could for her.  It was possible she could fight her way out of it and have some quality time left.  It was not to be.

Wednesday night she fought terribly when I tried to give her the subcutaneous fluid and I only got about 50 units in her before I gave up.  As soon as I let her go you could watch her shut down.  I held her most of the night and she still purred when petted but she had given up.  She began displaying symptoms of pain at about 0700 Thursday morning and Dr. Bohls again told me to bring her in and he would look at her in between his scheduled spay surgeries-for the third time in 3 days.  Her jaundice had gotten much worse and her kidneys seemed to have been too far-gone.  It was time to let her rest.  At 0930 yesterday morning, 1 week after she came to stay with me, she got her two injections and went to sleep in my arms.  I called her human and took her home to be buried next to her sister who had died last fall. 

Feline Leukemia is a vile and nasty disease, in a way like AIDS in humans.  It makes the body susceptible to whatever nasty diseases are in the mood to invade and all you can do is fight the symptoms as long as you can.  As long as the animal seems to want to fight to live and doesn’t seem to be in pain it is one day at a time.  I hope we can find a cure some day.  Another sweet fur baby went over the rainbow bridge to join her sister.  RIP Petals.

-me

Koko, Scruffy, Shaggy, Lucky, Newbie, Lil Red, Taz, Sid Vicious and Buddy

Slim, Polar Bear and Chica

And for a while, Petals the love bug.

Update on Koko

Friday, 2/24/12

Koko is much improved.  I was concerned for a while but after talking to Dr. Dan’s office I began warm compresses (ever try to put a compress on a tornado????) and later that night had to put her in a crate so I could find/catch her and force feed her.  THAT she doesn’t like at all.  She used to come when I called her, now she runs and hides every time she hears my footsteps.

Yesterday she appeared much better, ate, drank and used the litter without any ‘help’ from me.  She still won’t eat canned cat food (always was picky about the brand and flavor!!!), eats a little bit of regular dry food but not that much.  If i rattle the kitty treat bag and she comes still comes running altho has to hear the treats hit the floor right in front of her cause she won't come up to me.  I feed her that and some ‘special’ cat chow, which she will eat a bit of.  (The cats usually get a generic brand from the local feed mill and I hold some of the Purina and other stuff in reserve for occasions like this.)

So Koko seems to be recovering.  She is, once again playing with the other animals a bit, started grooming her face a little and sleeping part of the night on the bed altho she is most definitely avoiding me.  I can’t pet her without her struggling to get away.  Gonna take a while to rebuild her trust I guess.

Thanks to all who sent her good wishes.

-me

Koko, Shaggy, Lucky, Scruffy, Buddy, Lil Red, Tasmanian Devil, Sid Vicious, Newbie

Slim, Polar Bear and Chica

Information on Koko's surgery

                                                                                                            2/22/12

Well………………  This is gonna be a long one.

Koko and I arrived at All Creatures in Amelia about ½ hour before her surgery was scheduled and after about 1 hour and 20 minutes driving.  The traffic was lighter than I expected and I left a bit early. 

She did well on the trip once I released her from her leash in her car seat and let her sit in my lap.  You would think she had sight if you saw her craning her head around at every sound and smell (I cracked the window a little so she could smell the new scents as we drove.)  She was very quiet and well behaved when we were signing in and in the exam room. 

I was surprised to find my friend, Joy was there for tooth extraction surgery for her dog.  She lives in Adams County and volunteers at the Pet Health Day there for Dr. Dan as I do so her drive was further than mine.  Doc, her weiner dog, had been rescued from 8 years in a puppy mill crate and had multiple tooth abscesses, etc., so she was very concerned that it go well.

After a quick check up by Dr. Dan, at 9:55 Koko got a pre-surgery shot to relax her a bit and then at about 10:20 went into prep.  I watched them sedate her, prep her leg for the IV, insert the breathing tube down her throat and hook up the monitors once she was out.  Then they took her into the surgery and I went over to their rescue facility, Friends of Noah with Joy so we could walk some of the dogs waiting for adoption.  They can always use exercise.

When we went back to the clinic Joy learned Doc had come thru surgery fine, 10 teeth pulled.  A little later he was brought out to her, still groggy, and after settling the bill, etc., they went home.  I waited.  I was told Koko was out of surgery, had come thru fine, but was still under the anesthetic.  I waited.  At about 1pm I asked again.  I waited.  At 2pm I was told she wouldn’t be released until at least 4pm.  As I had talked to Dr. Dan and been told otherwise I pulled an end run and had another person talk to him directly.  Then, Dr. Dan walked thru and I asked him what he had found.

He said he had removed glandular tissue from the socket.  No signs of infection but then, she had been on antibiotic for about a week.  She came thru the surgery OK and there was definitely no more glandular tissue, tear duct or anything else remaining he could see that should cause any further issue with the socket.  A few minutes later Koko was brought out to me.

OH MY!  There was no doubt she had been through surgery!  The right side of her face had been shaved, of course.  Most of her right side whiskers and eyebrows seemed to have jumped in front of the shaver.  Oops.  Her face was swelling so the sutures were already pulling with raw edges of flesh bulging between.  Her nose was swollen to where it looked like one of the Inca statues you see on National Geographic.  Her face was swollen so much her upper lip was  pulled away from her teeth on the left side so she had a one-sided snarl.  WOW!  He must have dug deep to make sure he got everything.

She woke up by the time we got out to the car and was very vocal.  I finally let her sit in my lap again and she semi-dozed most of the way home.  I gotta say she looked gross.

We got home at around 4:15 pm and once inside she wanted down and away from me.  The dogs checked her out and Slim, my mother hen dog, wanted to start cleaning her face so I had to put a stop to that.  I made her up a private bed away from the other animals and then........waited.

I offered her food several times but she showed no interest.  At night I gave her some of the pain medicine along with her antibiotic.  And waited.  As far as I know she hadn’t had anything to drink or eat since coming home, nor had she used the litter.  Later in the evening I woke to see she had climbed up on the bed for a while but she was back to her private area in the morning. 

Today, she finally ate a few cat treats but not til well into the afternoon, and then she threw up.  She seems to snort fluids up her nose when she tries to drink, then sneezes and walks away.  Oh Boy.

I called the clinic and one of the women checked directly with Dr. Dan.  I am to put warm compresses on her face several times a day to try and relieve the discomfort and bring the swelling down.  If she doesn’t start eating and drinking on her own I may have to force-feed her to ensure she doesn’t dehydrate.  If she hasn’t improved by tomorrow, back we go.  

If you need a great Vet and are in the Cincinnati area, you can't go wrong with Dr. Dan.  His people and fellow vets are great, their attitude is wonderful and they really care about all animals.  Many people, like Joy and I, travel 1 - 2 hours to get our animals to their care.

Just as I was about to post this, (Wednesday, 4:15 EST) Koko ate some more cat treats and some greenie pill enclosures (always one of her favorite 'treats' and good for her).  She held them down – so far - and then went over to the dogs water bowls and drank some water!  Hooooorrrraaaaayyyyyy! 

Please send good thoughts Koko's way!

-me & Koko & furry crew

Surgery scheduled for Koko

021812

Well, it’s official.  Koko goes to Cincinnati (Amelia actually,) for surgery number 6 this coming Tuesday morning.  Dr. Dan appears to have offered a considerable discount but we are still talking several hundred dollars.  He is a darned good surgeon and his skill and training are worth it but it certainly plays h_ll with the fixed income I find myself on.  He is doing it as his last surgery of the day so I can stay down there and bring her home soon after instead of having to make the round trip twice.

I suspect it almost has to be some type of infection because antibiotics seem to clear it up for a while, and then it starts again.  I can’t let it go no matter what the cause but infection means it can’t wait any longer; I have waited far too long already and I hope I haven’t done her harm.  On top of that, she is developing a sneeze and cough so he called her in a prescription for Azithromycin because she has to be clear of the congestion before he can do surgery.

In addition, I think I have seen seepage from the left eye socket recently, which is NOT a good sign.  That makes it even more likely to be infection I suspect and that is scary!  I will have to ask him to confirm – or not – when I take her in.  Of course if the Azithromycin clears up her congestion it may clear up the seepage as well so he might not see a sign of it in the left socket even if it is there.  Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.  

In other news, Charlie seems to be doing very well at his new home.  I haven’t checked on him in the last week or so but I've heard from others that he is doing great with the kids.  I just can’t imagine he stopped chewing and making messes in the house as soon as he got a new home but apparently he is behaving well so who am I to take it personally.  If he didn’t like me so be it!  I am just glad he is happy and appears to make them happy.

Buddy, the new kitty is a snuggler and fights for space on the bed with the dogs.  Bad me, I let Chica (dog) up on the bed a couple of times when it was storming because she freaks when it thunders.  Until I did that she was the only animal in the house the didn't get on the bed.  Now she is just like the rest and thinks part of the bed is hers.  She crowds in to try and be the first up so she can get the preferred spot.  The human doesn’t seem to have much say in the matter and I often wake in the middle of the night – several times – because I can’t roll over or straighten out my legs.  I know, I know.  I should chase them all off, out of the room and lock the door but what the heck.  I have been leaving the furnace set between 58 – 60 degrees to save money so 3 dogs, 5 – 6 cats (on average,) and an extra blankie make for a warm sleep.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and that all have a safe St. Patrick’s Day.  Stay off the roads and out of sight.  All the green beer drinkers will be out to get ya.

Awwww... I was such a cutie.  

-me

Slim, Polar Bear & Chica

Koko, Lucky, Shaggy, Newbie, Lil Red, Taz, Sid Vicious, Scruffy & Buddy