Blessed Saturday, friends! As promised, here is an update on Teddy's recovery. When we picked him up at the vets yesterday morning, they told us that he ate very little that morning and to try to feed him when we got him back home. We did just that and he ate his kitten chow like a good boy. Within the first half an hour that we settled him in his holding cage, he had already managed to get his cone off. We tied it a bit tighter this time and so far so good ...
They also sent three kinds of meds home and a list of care instructions for after his surgery. He is doing fairly well with taking his meds, too ...
My husband said that he calmed down pretty quickly after I left for work and THIS is the scene I came home to ... lol!
Daddy loving on our little fur baby ...
I am not doing much at all this weekend - I am on cat duty watching after Teddy. That is okay because there is nowhere I would rather be!
Greetings everyone. I've been pretty busy around here lately so I haven't been able to post as much as I would like to. We have had Leo back and forth to our vets - both Dr. Lila and Dr. Mike have been working, DILIGENTLY I might add, to help us figure out why Leo is having some type of seizures. The blood tests originally showed him with a very high glucose level and therefore diagnosed him to be diabetic. Dr. Mike immediately called in a prescription for him for insulin and syringes at our pharmacy. He has been put on a strict diet and we had to keep running him to the vet during the week to get his blood sugar checked. Both vets told us that his blood sugar is back to normal and to stop the insulin injections for the time being. We are to keep the insulin the refrigerator for six months in the event that Leo should ever need it again, but Dr. Mike said that Leo seems to have gone into remission and is currently no longer considered "diabetic" at this point.
That is the good news. However, we are still not sure exactly what had been causing his seizures but we have been keeping an eye on him and for the past couple of days he has not appeared to have had the episodes that we have noticed. Fingers crossed. He will still need to continue his prescription diet for the rest of his life, but that is not a problem at all as he seems to be eating fairly well. And, per our vet's instructions, we also bought a Alpha Trak for cats and dogs so that we can check Leo's blood sugar at home from now on. In other news, my Victorian boots for my masquerade costume this year finally arrived in the mail this past week ... Leo decided to join me in the bottom pic ...
Also, we have been getting some bad thunder storms in our area here lately. One in particular this past week managed to knock down one of our trees in our back yard and it came within inches of our neighbor's shed ...
The neighbor's shed is on the right. These two pics were taken after we moved the tree.
Last week, we noticed that Leo was having what appeared to be some sort of seizures. He lost control of his muscles in his legs and staggered a bit then laid down on his side. Panicked, we immediately called our vet and they got him in on Saturday morning. They drew blood to perform tests and took some urine from him as well. They told us they found some glucose on his urine stick, but the test results would be back on Monday. So, I took a PTO day from work and waited for the call. This morning, Dr. Mike called us with the dreadful news that Leo has very bad diabetes and will need insulin shots twice a day and be given a special prescription food called DM (Diabetic Management). We had him back to the vet at 1:00pm this afternoon for the instructions on how to give him his meds. Prior, Dr. Mike called in Leo's meds and told us to keep it on ice and bring it along with us for his appointment. Since we can not give him his insulin until after he eats, we will be giving him his first injection at dinner time tonight. He will also need to be checked once a week until we could get his diabetes under control! I was so upset that I have been crying all day. With all that is going on, this was the last thing we needed to deal with! I felt as if someone just punched me in the stomach and knocked the wind right out of me. Dr. Mike told us that he is so bad that if we do not do this, he can and will "crash and burn" at any time! And yes, those are the exact words he used. This gave us no choice but to try - I mean, the only options we have are to either put him down so that he does not suffer OR not give him the meds that we truly CAN NOT afford right now and let him live out the rest of what is left of his life. WTH could we do?? We will see what happens from here. I am praying .... HARD!
Just a quick update on our fur baby Butterscotch. As I mentioned in my previous post yesterday, we called our vet Dr. Lila regarding Butterscotch's very strange behavior. My husband took an unexpected half PTO day in order to get him into his appointment at 4:20. I was supposed to return to work but decided to take a PTO day as well and will be going back to work tomorrow instead. I was so worried about him I could not sleep anyway.
So, after a few necessary questions, Dr. Lila took him inside to examine him while we waited in our car. She came back out and told us that at this point she could not find anything on the external exam so she asked us if we could keep him in a separate room from the other cats until we were able to get a urine sample from him using a special cat litter called Kit 4 Cat and a little syringe. She also asked for a fecal if were could get that as well. We were also able to pick up the two flea treatments for our other two cats and a small bottle of Tresaderm for both Butterscotch and Leo to treat an infestation similar to ear mites they developed which they need to take for the next two weeks. At present, he is camping out in Merlin's catio for a few days. Perhaps longer if we can not get to the root of why he is growling at the other cats. I vacuumed, cleaned up everything, gave him fresh blankets and a nice bed of his own. And with the cold weather back again here, we have the space heater going for him ...
She also told us that upon examination, she found a cyst on the back of his leg which needs to be surgically removed and he needs a teeth cleaning as well. So we scheduled both to be performed on May 28th and he will receive his shots and have his blood work done the week before. Keeping fingers crossed that we can get to the bottom of this soon!
Heading back to work tomorrow after a week off shutdown as my company decided to do as "... an abundance of caution." We received an email today confirming our return to work with some added precautions as well - smart move on their part I would say.
In other news, I took Merlin and Tabitha to the vet this afternoon for their scheduled check-ups. Merlin now has his proper meds for the tapeworm problem and now all the cats are treated. Funny story - our vet, Dr. Lila, came out to my car (as we still are not permitted inside the animal hospital) and she informed me that there are actually three types of tapeworms which cats can be infected with:
Dipylidium caninum is the most common type of tapeworm in cats. It uses flea larvae as part of its life cycle, and a cat must ingest a flea to be infected by this type of tapeworm.
Taenia species are less common than Dipylidium. These types of tapeworms use a bird, rodent, or rabbit as an intermediate host. A cat must ingest an infected animal to get Taenia.
Echinococcus species use rodents, sheep, fox, and coyotes as intermediates. They're the rarest of the three types of tapeworm.
Now, the most common type (Dipylidium caninum) is what our cats contracted - both she and I believe that the source was a flea which one of our cats ingested somehow - since they most certainly did not ingest a rodent or anything of the like. When I explained to her that I had sanitized the house and did eight loads of wash, she said to me, "You would not of had to do that with the type of tapeworm they have." LOL! Oh well, at least the house is cleaner!
After both Merlin and Tabitha were checked out $440.00 later, I took them home, finally gave Merlin his dosage and began finishing up the cleaning of his catio ...
Merlin giving me a "kiss" on my hand after we got back home again! As an added precaution, Dr. Lila also dispensed each of our cats flea medication as well.
CAT UPDATE: We must now call the vet tomorrow and pray they can fit Butterscotch in for an appointment. Just this evening he began acting very strangely. He seemed fine and normal all day and tonight we heard him growl and get upset when the other cats tried to approach him (NOT like him at all!) and he has been hiding underneath the sofa refusing to come out. I was able to get him to eat some cat food, but then he began acting strange again hiding and growling and we do not understand why? He reminds me of a cat when they are sick and survival instinct kicks in and they run and hide to protect themselves. We are very worried about him. I pray the vet can see him and help him! 🙏🙏🙏
A little update on one of my previous posts about The Epler School House. When our ""illustrious" State of Pennsylvania pulled out of the funding which was originally promised in order to move my County's slice of history to the not so far away Berks Historical Center (also about a mile away from where I live), a local woman began a movement to save it, Her name is Jane Goetz. The following is an excerpt from one of our local news websites:
'The county commissioners approved $110,000 toward the move, but when the pandemic hit, the county dropped out. But Goetz and fellow members of the group, like Bonnie Schaeffer, didn't give up hope. "I've got friends that have worked in one-room schoolhouses and I have a heart for education and for schools," Goetz explained.
She said this past weekend, another call, this time from an anonymous donor whose late wife was a school teacher, was fitting, as this is Teacher Appreciation Week. "He said he wished to make a donation for the balance of the cost that we needed to be able to move the school," Goetz said.'
When asked, "But what about those who would say, with all that's going on in the world, who cares?", Goetz said, "This will be over and gone and we will get on with our life, but once this school is taken down, there's no hope."
That's all for now, until next - take care!
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SaveBERN TWP., Pa. - A one-room schoolhouse with deep roots in Berks County has been saved...
Well, we are not out of the woods quite yet as they say but we had Leo back to see Dr. Mike Friday night. We have been taking our fur babies to Dr. Mike and Dr. Lila Comalli for over two years now since our long-time BEST vet in the entire world retired because he had developed cancer and sadly passed away last year. They are the owners and head veterinarians of the Conrad Weiser Animal Hospital in Womelsdorf, PA.
Drs. Mike and Lila Comalli of Conrad Weiser Animal Hospital
Dr. Mike performed his evaluation of Leo's problem by examining him and also took some urine from him so he could run an analysis right away in the hospital. He said that Leo had urine in his bladder but was not near enough to be considered having a blocked urinal tract. He did say that he believes that Leo may have a urinary tract infection however. So he proceeded to give him an antibiotic shot and something to help induce his appetite somewhat. We are to call him first thing on Monday to give him an update on Leo's condition. Hoping for the best and that this is actually his problem.
I am one of those people who have always given my fur babies a middle name. Since Merlin likes to climb his cage like he is Jungle Jim, I decided his full name will be Merlin James Witycyak ... lol
In the meantime, we will keep a close watch on Leo for the remainder of the weekend. He still refuses to eat his prescription CD wet food, but will eat a little of the dry version of it. Keeping our fingers crossed.
