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Spicer-kitty update!
3/2/14 12:21Spicer-kitty gave me a scare last week. I noticed he was eating less, but thought he just didn't like the current set of kitty treats. On Wednesday I realized he was much less active than normal, and spending almost all of the time hunched up like the Sphinx--a posture I know is one he does when he's in pain. :C I made an appointment with the vet on Friday, and proceeded to have nightmares about a repeat of last summer's constant force-feeding. *gulp*
At the vet, he showed me Spicer's last blood test results from early in the month: no overall change, though the actual values fluxuated up and down. Spicer's liver is still off-kilter, and probably will be for life. The vet always calls Spicer "a fragile kitty". :| Spicer hadn't lost weight yet (I caught the eating less in time), and had gained .2 pounds. Everything seemed normal in the examination, but the vet noticed his--this is kinda gross, skip to the next para if bodily stuff squicks you--anal glands were swollen and hard. A cat's anal glands are the scent glands, located on either side of the anus. You know, when cats spray scent? That's where it comes from. (Thankfully neither Spicer nor Kakashi spray!) The vet called in an assistant to hold Spicer while he pulled on rubber gloves and squeezed my poor kitty's bottom until he emptied the glands like two big pimples. This brown, thick paste came out. The vet said it's supposed to be a liquid. There was a LOT of it, too. I can only imagine how much that was hurting my kitty!
He sent us home with some food to tempt Spicer to eat, four doses of painkillers just in case, and instructions about pausing some of Spicer's meds that might hinder his appetite.
Spicer is always relieved to be home after a trip to the vet, and he leaped out of his carrier and ran around with joy, as usual. But the joy continued! He scratched at his kitty tree, played with his toys, darted here and there, leaped up on my bookshelves, leaped back down again, sprinted from living room to bedroom and back again, and giving these tight little meows that I know mean "Play with meeeee!!!!" So I did. We played laser tag for several minutes, and then Kakashi was jealous so I pulled out his feather-on-a-fishing-pole toy.
His appetite came back over the course of the weekend, and he's now eating like normal, following me into the kitchen every time I go for a drink refill, and demanding more kitty food. I haven't had to give him any of the painkillers! It seems the agony was from his poor booty glands, and not a huge crisis like his liver taking a turn for the worse.
I feel like a got off easy AND dodged a bullet. I just hope we're this lucky next time he starts to feel bad. >
At the vet, he showed me Spicer's last blood test results from early in the month: no overall change, though the actual values fluxuated up and down. Spicer's liver is still off-kilter, and probably will be for life. The vet always calls Spicer "a fragile kitty". :| Spicer hadn't lost weight yet (I caught the eating less in time), and had gained .2 pounds. Everything seemed normal in the examination, but the vet noticed his--this is kinda gross, skip to the next para if bodily stuff squicks you--anal glands were swollen and hard. A cat's anal glands are the scent glands, located on either side of the anus. You know, when cats spray scent? That's where it comes from. (Thankfully neither Spicer nor Kakashi spray!) The vet called in an assistant to hold Spicer while he pulled on rubber gloves and squeezed my poor kitty's bottom until he emptied the glands like two big pimples. This brown, thick paste came out. The vet said it's supposed to be a liquid. There was a LOT of it, too. I can only imagine how much that was hurting my kitty!
He sent us home with some food to tempt Spicer to eat, four doses of painkillers just in case, and instructions about pausing some of Spicer's meds that might hinder his appetite.
Spicer is always relieved to be home after a trip to the vet, and he leaped out of his carrier and ran around with joy, as usual. But the joy continued! He scratched at his kitty tree, played with his toys, darted here and there, leaped up on my bookshelves, leaped back down again, sprinted from living room to bedroom and back again, and giving these tight little meows that I know mean "Play with meeeee!!!!" So I did. We played laser tag for several minutes, and then Kakashi was jealous so I pulled out his feather-on-a-fishing-pole toy.
His appetite came back over the course of the weekend, and he's now eating like normal, following me into the kitchen every time I go for a drink refill, and demanding more kitty food. I haven't had to give him any of the painkillers! It seems the agony was from his poor booty glands, and not a huge crisis like his liver taking a turn for the worse.
I feel like a got off easy AND dodged a bullet. I just hope we're this lucky next time he starts to feel bad. >
