I Wanna Be Sedated

Well, Maya was dropped off for his dental cleaning and extraction this morning around 8:00. Now it is a waiting game until the lady gets that ever important phone call from one of the techs letting her know Maya is doing great and is in recovery. We will post updates as soon as we get them. Thanks for all the wonderful purrs!

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2:00 Update

After waiting rather patiently for someone to call her with a Maya update, the lady decided to call the vet's office herself. The lady at the front told her Maya had been give pre-meds and was scheduled to go in next. The lady was really hoping Maya was already in recovery. By pick up time (5:30) Maya will probably still be pretty loopy.

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6:00 Update

Maya is back, safe and sound. The vet had to extract 2 teeth!! Ouch! He came home with pain meds, antibiotics, and some tartar prevention ointment, and also what appears to be a sore on his nose. He is still pretty tanked and is walking around aimlessly rubbing his face along every surface, including Dixie dog! Oh, and Cal is hissing at him. Cal goes to the vet once a week and still nobody ever hisses at him........wth? Maya still cannot eat until 7:00, then he can have just a little bit of stinky goodness. He will be on stinky goodness only, until his sutures dissolve, about 1 week.

Thanks so much for all the wonderful well wishes and purrs for Maya.

Where The Green Grass Grows

(Biggify for full effect)

Hi everyone, Cal's lady servant here. I have to be honest, last week when we saw the x-ray and Cal's weight was down to 8.5lbs, not eating, we began preparing ourselves to make that heart wrenching decision. When we got home from the vet that day, we decided to let him roam the yard. I thought, if this could be the end, I want to fill his days with things he loves. Cal loves the yard and he is the only one who gets to roam without a harness, but supervised the entire time. It really helped to lift his spirits.

I am happy to report Cal improves more and more everyday. He has more pep in his step and now runs to his meals, which he never seems to get enough of. He no longer lays around in dark places or hides under the bed. We couldn't be happier with his progress and pray he continues to improve day by day. That evil, vishus "c word" which was once at the forefront, is now the furthest thing from our minds.

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers, they really work!

Money - Movie

Hey Cal, there are no green papers in there. They've all been used to fix your kitty belly!

Locomotive Breath - Updates

I am not pleased, in fact, I'm pretty hissed off! On Monday, I am scheduled to have a full dental cleaning and extraction of my broken premolar. You know what that means? I can't eat breakfast on Monday morning while all my brofurs and sisfurs get to stuff their faces. So not cool! I protested the entire car ride to the vet -- meowing as loud as I could, but no luck, she just kept driving and brought me into the vet's office. I do have to say I was a very good boy for Dr. T and the lady gave me lotsa scritches while I sat on the cold exam table.

Dr. T went step by step, through the dental proceedure, assuring the lady that I will be intubated and on a breathing machine and completely monitored. They will also use the safest anesthetic on me and give me an injection before I am sedated that will help to open my airways. She also gave the lady a transdermal pain med, to rub on my ear before we leave for the vet's office that morning. This will help to keep me calm on the car ride over. I tend to meow, meow, meow until I start to pant, which makes it a little hard for me to breathe. I will also use this pain med to control the pain when I come home.

I am still not happy about missing my Monday breakfast, but hopefully I will get lots of snuggles and treats when I get home.

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Update on Cal

Cal had his weekly B12 injection and weight check this morning. Guess what...... he went from 8.5lbs last Tuesday to 9.4lbs today!!! That is almost an entire pound in a week! YIPEE!

As always, thanks for all the purrs for Cal and Maya!

Honesty - Award & Breaking News on Cal

***Breaking News on Cal***

The lady got the all important call from Dr. D about Cal's test results. Cal has been diagnosed with SIBO, Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth. The symptoms of SIBO include: loose stools, rapid weight loss, diarrhea, occasional vomiting and intestinal tract sounds (gurgling caused by gas). Cal has all of these symptoms! His tests also showed a B12 deficiency, increased folate and a normal pancreas.

Course of treatment: A round of antibiotics to wipe out all bacteria, followed by a month of Forti Flora, a probiotic to restore beneficial bacteria to the intestinal tract. Also, vitamin B12 injections 1x per week for 6 weeks, then every 2-4 weeks thereafter.

Cal begins his treatments on Wednesday morning and will also get his weight checked. He looks so much better so we are hoping he has gained at least a few ounces. The lady ordered a baby scale online (recommended by Daisy's mom). She is just waiting for the man in brown to deliver it.

Unfortunately, the vet said SIBO can be seen with IBD and the "c word." So it still can't be ruled out. We are hopeful that Cal's SIBO is from IBD!!

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Cliff and Olivia gave us the “Honest Weblog” award/meme. Thank you!

It comes with these rules: “When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to said person so everyone knows who he or she is. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including ones who have no idea who you are because you don’t have 7 friends. Show the 7 random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Weblog.” Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten honest things about yourself. Then, pass it on! “

Well, we are gonna break the rules a little bit....... There are 8 of us total, seven cats and one dog. It would take a small lifetime to list 10 thing about each of us. So, we are going to list one honest thing about each of us instead!

1. Cal - Sometimes I miss being an only child.
2. Maya - I am the only kitty with floof! I am medium floofy!
3. Chevelle - I growl a lot (rev my motor), mostly at Ferris.
4. Ferris - I can eat, eat, eat and never get full.
5. Maizy Grace - The man servant is my favorite person in the world.
6. Rambler - I can't believe how lucky I am to be living on the inside and off the streets.
7. Maggie May - I'm the baby, that helps me get away with a lot!
8. Dixie Dog - I'm just one of the cats.

We are going to pass this great award on to:

Junior and Orion, Cats~Goats~Quotes, Mr. Tuck, The Monkeys, MacVet's Pets, Peffe and Lussie, and Mickey's Musings

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Maya will be going to the vet at 6:15 tomorrow afternoon for a dental consultation. While brushing our teeth over the weekend, the servants discovered Maya had broken one of his top premolars. What was left of the tooth was very red and bloody looking. Maya doesn't seem to let it bother him and still acts normal. The servants are very concerned about Maya being anesthetized because of his asthma.

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Cal had a pretty bad day yesterday. Not only was his tummy upset, it was majorly pissed off! He didn't do much eating either. He seems to be doing much better today though! Still waiting on those test results........
As always, thanks for the wonderful purrs!

Down On The Farm - Feral Friday & Cal Update

Meet Rusty, Beta and Mama Tortie!

These purrty kitties are the first kitties TNR'ed by the cat project in which our lady volunteers. About 3 years ago they were living at a plant slated for demolition and had to be relocated. They now live on a 44,000 acre farm! Mama Tortie is the only one who will allow the lady to pet her, but the others will get pretty close as the lady puts the foods in the bowls.

The farm is about 20 miles away from our house on the creek. The road to the grain silos, where the kitties are, is a 4 mile long dirt stretch. Our lady enjoys taking this trip alone sometimes, so she can crank up the tunes and sing. She can't carry a tune in a bucket, but it's ok cause there's no one around who might hear her and tell her to stuff a sock in it!

We had to show off the lady's cool new bracelet. She was inspired by Daisy to purchase one from the I'm Tired site. For every $10.00 bracelet you buy, I'm Tired donates $5.00 to the cause you choose, she chose animal cruelty. She loves that the bracelet is made out of recycled tires and metals - so fashionable and eco friendly!

This photo is for Elin in Malaysia!

This is Cal in November with the American flag flapping in the breeze behind him. This is one of the lady's favorite pictures.

We all really appreciate all the kind words, purrs, and prayers for Cal. We do believe they are working! The lady has taken him outside to walk around 2 days in a row and it really helps to lift his spirit. He's a different cat when he is roaming the yard with the lady. He is eating very well at the moment, better than he has in months! He ate 2 pouches of Whiskas and 1 1/2 cans of Friskies yesterday. His appetite is wonderful....... is it the medication, the b12 injection, the purrs, the sunshine and fresh air? Whatever it is we hope it continues to work! We are still awaiting the results of the malabsorption profile, we will post the results as soon as we hear from the vet. Thanks again!

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing - Update on Cal

***Update on Cal***

Cal was dropped off at the vet this morning for a couple of tests. The first test was an x-ray and the second was a maldigestion profile. When the lady and man walked into the exam room at 4:00 this afternoon, Dr. D's face pretty much said it all. The first words out of the lady's mouth were, "you do not look happy!" Indeed Dr. D was not happy. Cal has dropped another pound and is down to around 8lbs - not good. Then Dr. D turned the lights out and the light box on to highlight his x-rays. His x-rays showed lots of activity going on in his intestines, lots of air. Then she pointed out a troubling area, which could either be really angry intestines or a neoplasm of lymph tissue - cancer.

The results from the maldigestion profile will take 3-5 looooong days. This test will show if Cal has exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (maldigestion syndrome). This can sometimes coincide with IBD and can cause the runny stools and weight loss. We are actually holding out hope that this test is positive because it is relatively easy to treat, well, easier than cancer.

During his stay at the vet, Cal was given fluids and a B12 injection. The lady and man purchased Greenie's Pill Pockets to make administering medication easier. Cal's pred has been bumped up to 2 pills 2x/day along with metronidazole 1x/day and mirtazapine every three days. Cal is a pain to pill and nearly takes the servants fingers off. They have to take turns being the piller because it can get kinda painful, not to mention frustrating, when he spits the pill out repeatedly. The pill pockets are working wonders so far!

Dr's orders for Cal (while we wait) are to make him eat, eat, eat, whatever he wants, to hopefully gain some weight back.

As always, we appreciate all the purrs and prayers, please keep them coming!