Oh, the horror! (re-post from my other blog)

What a hard week hubby and I have had! It all began when we noticed a lot of little "uncooked rice-like" non-moving "things" left on the blankets and comforters of every place our cat Leo had laid. I called up our vet and they told us to bring them a fecal sample from him to have analyzed at their out-sourced lab. In the meantime, I researched the issue via the pet vet sites (and people I know who also have cats) and everything pointed to tapeworms! How? I honestly do not know since all of our cats are completely and strictly indoor cats only!

A day later, the vet called us and said that he had isospora which is supposedly an intestinal parasite similar to giardia. Now, when I dropped off Leo's fecal, I also bagged up the samples of the "rice-like" dead tapeworms for them to look at as well. I asked them about it and they said he doesn't have tapeworm, just isospora and that they did not "know" what the rice-like things were. Well, turns out they may have been right about the isospora, but they were completely wrong about the tapeworms!

Because these parasites are so contagious, we have to treat all five cats for both issues. So, yesterday morning I called up the vet to let them know that hubby was going to pick up the cats meds and they said they will have them dosed and ready for us. Then when my husband showed up at the vets office to pick them up, he was told some BS about our one cat Midnight had not been seen in the last six months so they couldn't give us his portion. WHAT? How useless is that? Why would we treat only four of our cats and not all as seriously contagious as the problem is? They told us that since we already have an appointment set for this Monday night anyhow to have Midnight seen for three wart-like things on his tail, we should be able to pick up all the meds then ... (sigh)

 

(What the tapeworms actually look like. They break off in segments via the cats anus. Although they come out live, they do not live very long outside the host cat's body ~ that is when they dry up and die looking like uncooked rice.)

 

Last night, we left Leo out by himself in the cat's room to stretch his legs a bit as we have had to keep him in a cage and separated from the other cats until the problem is resolved. Two hours later, I went in the room to put him to bed and back in his cage and what did I see? EEKK!! A live, moving, disgusting tapeworm which had apparently just slithered out of his butt! That was it! I had had enough of the vet's BS and first thing this morning hubby and I drove over to the vet and demanded help! That is when they told us that he also had tapeworms as well as the isopora! Gimme a break, will ya? I was so upset and livid at that point that Dr. Heather had decided to take a break from a surgery she was working on to come out and straighten out their mess!

She maintained that she could lose her license if she dispensed meds to Midnight without the "six month check up." She also said that the tapeworms were more than likely from fleas ~ either ingested by one of the cats or caused by feces in the litter boxes. Now, our cats do not have fleas, but after further thought, hubby told me that he remembered seeing one on Fancy Pants (the idiot neighbor lady's Siamese cat) the last time we watched her for her owner. AH HA!!! Made logical sense at that point and, lesson learned! We will never take another stray cat in for any reason, temporarily or otherwise, that way ever again. I absolutely refuse to go through this nightmare again! Everything, including the water and food bowls, cats boxes, blankets, rugs, etc.) had to be completely washed and decontaminated as best we could.. On top of that, we had to treat all of the cats for fleas.

Dr. Heather must have felt sorry for us and had decided to dispense the isospora meds after all so long as we still agreed to bring Midnight to his scheduled appointment on Monday night. For some ridiculous reason unknown to us; however, she did not give us tapeworm meds, only the meds the cats were supposed to get before their office screwed up.

And so we had to stop off at our local PetSmart and pick up tapeworm meds to give to all of the cats as well as giving them their isospora dosage. It isn't exactly over yet as only time will tell if the treatments worked, and we are keeping our fingers triple-crossed! All of this because we tried to do the right thing thinking that we were helping to save a nice, sweet cat. As the saying goes, "No good deed goes unpunished" ... how true!

This and That ...

Greetings, my dear friends and Happy Sunday to you!! Just a little update on our male cat, Leo. As you all know, our vet prescribed amitriptyline, a medication to help with his stress and aggression issues. This medication is not like volume and does not "knock the cat out" as in putting them to sleep so that you do not need to deal with their problems or anything of the like. They may; however, become a bit less playful and/or tad listless if over prescribed.

At first, Leo was "under prescribed" and so Dr. Heather upped his dosage from a half a pill a day to 1/2 in the morning and a whole at night before bed time.  So far, we have seen a huge improvement in his behavior. He is not picking on the other cats near as much as he had been and he is a happier kitty all around. And, quite frankly speaking, so are the rest of us! LOL!

Haley, Midnight and Lady Tabitha sharing a window view.

 

Mr. Midnight 'n' Kiki cuddling together on the couch.

 

 

That being said, here is this weeks' Sunday Cat Selection and another one of the cats' Disney favorites ... till next time!!!

 

"I Wanna Be Like You" ~ from Jungle Book

https://youtu.be/FOTZJ8EFgpk

For Leo's Sake

As some of you may already be aware, we had scheduled our youngest kitty, Leo, for an appointment with our family vet. After a long, in depth consultation with Dr. Hoy, she agreed to allow us to try giving him 10 mg of Amitripyline. Amitripyline is a prescription drug used by many vets to aid in calming down indoor cats who suffer from severe anxiety issues and/or excessive hyper-activity/aggression. Some cat guardians also use this medication when they must travel with their cats, thus reducing the kitty’s stress level.

 

 

Unlike some other prescription drugs for pets, this one takes time to build up in the animals system and therefore usually takes a few days or so to see any type of affect or improvement. At this time, we are instructed to give Leo a ½ a pill once per day. Since we are always home in the evenings, we have decided to begin giving him his dosage before bedtime as to get him on a set schedule. Though they are rare, there may be possible side effects to look out for such as vomiting, dry mouth, etc. I, personally, know of a few people who have given their cats this particular medication and their cats have had no problems or medical issues with it what-so-ever. I am told that the only thing about Amitripyline is that you must be sure to be diligent when administering it and not to miss even one days’ dosage. If you do, you must begin the cycle all over again as this medication takes time to accumulate in the cat’s system enough to actually help them. And, as with any medication, the dosage/mg is determined by the cat’s body weight and so on.

 

As I have said many times in the past, we always try the homeopathic methods first before even thinking about putting any of our cats on any type of medication unnecessarily. And, we are hoping that this option will only be a temporary solution in the long run. In the interim, we will still have his blood work checked periodically for as long as he is taking his medication in order to monitor his liver and kidney levels ~  just to be on the safe side.

 

In addition to the medication, our vet had also given us the links to some different website address we can utilize:

 

https://indoorpet.osu.edu/cats

http://doctorsophiayin.com

https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/behavioral-medications-cats

 

 ... So far, so good.

This and That ...

Greetings, my friends! Not too much happening here except the usual same old. I have been doing a bit of re-arranging however ... adding a few finishing touches to my scrapbooking albums, putting up wall shelves to make room for my books, etc.

Speaking of books, I have been doing quite a bit of reading as of late. I will go for weeks, even months sometimes, without reading and then all of the sudden I decided I really want to get to reading those many books which I had bought and never had the chance to really sit down and read.

This week, I have already read two of the six or so books that I have been wanting to begin reading ...

"North By Northwestern" by Captain Sig Hansen and "Relapse" written by Jake Anderson. Both books were written by real life cast members from the Discovery Channel's  long-running reality TV show, "Deadliest Catch" about the truly dangerous job of Alaskan crab fisherman in the treacherous Bering Sea.

Hubby and I absolutely love this series. In fact, last year when we found out that "An Evening with Sig & Friends" from the boat the Northwestern was coming to our area we immediately purchased tickets for our anniversary in September to go see them speak. We even had our pic taken with the guys and they also signed autographs for the fans after the show.

Posing for a pic with Jake Anderson, Edgar Hansen, me, hubby, and Sig Hansen

 

Next, I am planning to read two more books this week ~ "Time Bandit" written by Johnathan & Andy Hillstrand, and the book, "Phil Harris: Captain Phil Harris: The Legendary Crab Fisherman, Our Hero, Our Dad" authored by Phil's sons Josh & Jake Harris.

 

Oh yes, and as for our little "B-Boy" Leo, he is still driving us all crazy with his hyperactivity and constant aggressive playfulness, but we are doing the best we can with "damage control"  in regards to our other (and quite older) fur babies.  

 

 

Have a Blessed Sunday everyone!  ;)

Meet our little B-Boy!

Yup, that's right, we have recently nicknamed Leo, our newest member of our cat family, "b-boy" (short for "bad boy")! He is, by far, the most rambunctious of any of the cats we have ever welcomed into our family.

We have had hyper-active younger kitties before; however, those cats have now gotten a bit older and (just like me) do not have the patience with him and they either run like hell from him or hiss and growl whenever he is so much as even within eye shot.

Unfortunately, our female Haley (you know, the one whom we have had major issues with her peeing on the furniture behavior?) has started THAT again because of Leo. She hates him to no end and makes herself quite clear.

For now, we have had to utilize the large dog cage during the day when we are at work and after we go to bed, leaving Leo out and about only when we are able to cat sit him so that none of the other cats get hurt. Not the most gratifying cat rescue we have had, but what can you do? We took him in and pray that he will eventually settle down! After all, he had been through a lot outside and had been beaten up pretty badly when we found him. Besides, we really do love the little guy. 

Leo and Mr. Midnight chilling out on our bed

Coming Along ...

Happy Sunday to all! It's been a little over a week since Leo's surgery and he seems to be doing well. His paws are looking good so far and his aggressive behavior appears to be gradually going away as we try to build trust with him again. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of time and patience with some cats and he is slowly coming along at his own pace.

We have been using "Yesterday's News" paper cat litter and we will have to keep using it for atleast another week yet. Of course, Kiki always has to be in the middle of everything that goes on in the house and she immediately had to check out the bag!

Naturally, we are looking forward to being able to let him walk around freely in his new indoor world.  We are hoping all goes well and that he will be happy in his new life as a house kitty!

The waiting game ...

Well, we are still waiting it out with our newest feline fur baby, Leo. As you know, he is being kept away from our other four kitties as per our vet. Since we don't know what attacked and bit him so badly and whether or not it had rabies, all we could do was get his rabies shot in any case and continue to wait it out for six whole months. 

He has been showing signs of aggression, but my hubby seems to think it has more to do with his being cooped up in the cage most of the time than the likelihood that he actually has the rabies virus. I sure hope he is right. At any rate, he is still a pretty sweet little boy and we just want to get him straightened out as soon as possible. We have; however, decided to move him, cage in tow, upstairs in our living room so that he can feel somewhat a part of the family and he will not feel so alone all of the time.

Haley

As for our other cats, they are naturally curious, but the only one who has shown any type of disapproval so far has been our territorial calico cat, Haley. No worries, she doesn't really like any of our other cats either, but for some strange reason she loves people a lot. Go figure.

Leo's Progress ...

Leo has been settling in rather nicely. He is truly a sweet kitty and we are happy to have gotten the chance to welcome him into our home. Since we must keep him away from the rest of the cats for a few more months, we have been keeping him downstairs in the holding cage with everything he needs until we get home from work and can bring him upstairs to rome around in the spare bedroom. This way, he can stretch his legs a bit and we can interact with him ... playing and giving him the attention he was so craving.

 Have a magickal weekend everyone!!!

Meet Sir Leo!

Happy Sunday everyone! We may have a new addition to our cat family and his name is Leo. One of many, he is a stray whom he have been feeding daily for about a month and a half now. 

He has been coming into the enclosed porch, which we have now turned into a catio, to eat on a nightly basis ... until last night. At around 1:15AM, hubby woke me up from my slumber to tell me that he had gotten Leo inside at last. Since we never allow our other cats to be exposed to any stray until they have been thoroughly examined by our vet at Eagle's Peak Animal Clinic, he is currently being held in our huge dog cage which fits a litter box, food, water, comfy blanket and even toys.

He is understandably scared, but very, very sweet! When hubby picked him up to bring him downstairs, he never even drew his claws, hissed, or tried to bite. He had a fresh wound above his right eye and so I cleaned it up with a cotton pad and some hydrogen peroxide. He also has a fairly large scab on the left side of his neck from what appears to have been a rather bad fight.  

We will get him into see our vet, weather permitting, this week. When I think of what this poor kitty must have been through, it makes me so sad and also relieved that we were finally able to rescue him from this winter's relentless bone-chilling cold temperatures and very harsh weather conditions. Now safe and sound in our home, here's to you, Leo. We pray you will check out fine and be a part of our family for a long, long time!