Mojo Improving

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since last posting photos of Mojo's flair, and I have to say that he has come a long way. We are all pleased with the results from the various medications he is currently taking. Here is a photo, taken July 2, 2008.
Mojo's current Medication schedule looks like this...

• 35mg Cyclosporine daily (10mg in the am and 25mg in the pm)
• 1/2 Zenequin daily (antibiotic)
• 1/2 Antihistamine daily or as needed
• 1cc allergy serum every two weeks

After a couple more weeks on his meds this is what he looks like...big improvement! It may be that he will be able to come off of at least one of his meds this week. Keeping fingers crossed for him! GO MOJO!!!

Our next course of action, after speaking with his vet this morning is to continue with the antibiotics until they are all gone. This should be another week or so. Then we will go one more week with just the regular dose of the cyclosporine. Then the following week we will cut down to just 25mg of cyclosporine daily, and after a week at that level, I'll call the vet again.

Next on our list will be tackling the cause of the diarrhea, or at least trying to determine the least amount of medications needed to keep it away. Right now, since we aren't having any diarrhea problems, I guess our course of action will be to reduce meds until we cause it, and then give a touch more to stop it again. I don't know this for sure, but this would be what I would try.

Mojo goes to see his regular vet for his annual visit on Thursday...I'm hoping we will see a little bit of weight gain for him. Mojo is due for his rabies and FVRCP vaccines. Tanner is going along for the ride, so he can get weighed too. He is trying to lose weight because he is a fat boy! At his last weigh-in he had lost an ounce! This was an exciting time for Tanner. I hope to see another few ounces on Thursday. It has been two weeks since our last weigh-in. GO TANNER!!!

Mojo Flairs Again

That title doesn't have the same ring as Mojo rides again, but none the less, that's where we are...Mojo's allergies are having a time this year. We have been working with him since he came to live with me 3 years ago. The first year was a struggle as he was in terrible shape, both due to his allergy problems (yet undiagnosed) and his ear polyp (finally removed) and his weight problem (way too skinny). By the end of the first year with me, and before we adopted him, we knew what his allergies were, the ear polyp was removed, and he had gained a bit of weight. Things were looking promising. To recap, Mojo is allergic to the following things:

• Dust mites**
• two types of molds**
• Pines**
• Red Cedar**
• White Hickory**
• Red Maple**
• Elms
• Eastern Cottonwood**
• Bermuda Grass**
• Kentucky Blue Grass**
• Meadow Fescue grass**
• Johnson grass**
• Red Top grass
• Perennial Rye grass
• Sweet Vernal grass
• Cocklebur
• Yellow dock
• Lambs Quarters
• Rough Pigweed
• Red/Sheep Sorrel
• Russian Thistle
• Fleas
• Cockroaches
• Mosquitos

** Means that we included this in his serum. These were the things that we felt he would come into contact with the most in our immediate area. Fleas, cockroaches, and mosquitos can not be included in the serum. Mojo is an indoor only cat, so exposure to these items is minimized.

Basically, you name it, Mojo's allergic! Luckily we are not allergic to any foods, so he can eat whatever he wants!

The second year I had him, was the first year he was on the allergy shots. In a couple of months, he was on the maintenance plan, which is 1cc every two weeks, of his specialized serum. He was doing well, and we were seeing fewer and fewer flair ups and itching episodes. We were thrilled! We continued this way for another year, and again we saw no flair ups during Spring or Fall, which is when most of his stuff blooms. By that winter, which was 2007, we decided to try going to every 3 weeks on the shots. He did beautifully! Things were going well for Mojo, except for a diarrhea problem, until late Spring 2008, when he flaired big time. His mouth is back to itching and bleeding, but at least we were able to catch it early before it got to the point that it was when we started this whole journey.

This is Mojo's mouth on June 18, 2008. It is healing some, and doesn't look to terrible, but there are some erosions on the skin that are full of bacteria, and it itches like the dickens.

We are working to fix this problem by:

1. Adding soft paws to his feet
2. He gets 35mg of Cyclosporine every day
3. He gets 1 antihistamine tablet daily
4. He has received two antibiotic injections
5. He now takes 1/2 tablet of Zenequin daily
6. Wipe mouth down with damp cool cloth when he finishes eating

The mouth is taking it's own sweet time to heal, but the diarrhea that we've been battling for the last 6 months cleared up in about three days of starting the cyclosporine, and getting the antibiotic injection. We aren't sure which one worked, but something did. My thought would lean toward the cyclosporine, since he normally can't tolerate antibiotics.

I know this isn't the most pleasant of posts, but it's written here more so I don't forget. We are trying to determing the next best course of action to take. Right now, I am to send in new photos of his mouth every week to his dermatologist, and she will evaluate what is working and what is not. I hope we can see some resolution soon, as Mojo is such a good cat, and this itching is driving him crazy!

Here's the photo from this week, taken June 25, 2008. This is the day we were given the Zenequin to start.

Mojo is such a tolerant cat, and a love bug. I hope that we can find the right combinations of drugs to help him through this flair. And I hope that we can learn enough this time to prevent it in the future!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SMOKEY

Today is Smokey's 12th birthday! I am not able to be with him today, but wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday anyway. I hope his aunt, my sister, will give him his favorite canned food tonight, and also some snuggles. I have picked up a couple of gifts for him already while I am here in Washington DC for a conference. I know he will like them!! I can't wait to get home and see him on Wednesday night, and all his brothers too.

I'll get pictures later in the week of the birthday boy...until then...have a great day Smokey!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TANNER

Today is Tanner's 6th birthday! I can't believe he is this old, as it seems like only a short time ago that he was a scrawny baby being bottle fed. He was only 13 days old when we got him, and he weighed about 7oz. Now he is 6 years old and weighs, I'm ashamed to say, almost 18lbs! He is a big boy, and loves to eat.

I'll take some new photos of him tonight during his birthday celebration, but here are a couple until then. We will be having some special canned food tonight, and lots of play time. Don't tell him but his gift from his brothers is a pack of mice that make noise! He loves to shove these under the stove and fridge. He should be a happy boy!

This is Tanner when he was about 6 weeks old. What a cutie!

More of Tanner tomorrow...until then...

Holiday's Remembered

Well, it's a New Year, and time to look back on the last few months of 2007 and ask yourself, "Where did the time go?" It seems that once a year hits September, that it starts moving faster and faster. The Holidays all blur together, and you can't enjoy one without worrying about the next one coming up. So let's take time to reflect...

Halloween was very low key at our house this year. Partly because I had to work, so I wasn't even home! The boys didn't dress up, but here is a picture of Larry the Ladybug rom last year.
I need to work on getting a good shot of Devon in his Pig in a Blanket costume, and Mojo in his Super Cat cape. Maybe that will be a New year's resolution...wait, there I go skipping Thanksgiving and Christmas again! See the holidays are flying by...

Thanksgiving was short but filled with great food and fun with family. Mom makes the best turkey and dressing of anyone I know. We had turkey, ham, and all the fixin's...it was delicious! The only thing that would make it better is if the boys could have been there. Since I went to my parents house, which is about 4 hours away, I didn't take the boys with me. They don't mind riding in the car so much, well except Mojo, but they are really stressed out and nervous at new places. They enjoyed the holiday more by staying at our house alone. I hurried back on Friday to be with them. I gave them some turkey flavored canned food, and they were happy as clams.

Christmas brought its own set of challenges and stresses. I decided that I would wrap a tree in lights in the front yard. I was going to get white, but at the after Christmas sales last year, they only had green left. So I bought 1500 green lights and was all set. I ended up only using 500 lights, but the tree turned out great I thought. I ran out of time, but next Christmas, I'll start earlier and decorate 3 of the trees in the yard!


The boys loved the decorations, and enjoyed sleeping under the Christmas trees. That's right, we put up two trees this year in the house! We were quite festive. They are both pre-lit, and very pretty. I need to work on taking photos of them with the flash off, but for now these photos will work. They show off the ornaments, which are the best part of the tree anyway!



This is the tree in the living room. Mojo enjoys sleeing under this one. We can see this one while watching tv, or eating. This is where we put our tree in 2006, our first Christmas in this house, but felt the neighbors were missing out because they couldn't see our beautiful tree. So, we bought the second one after Christmas for a great price. It's amazing how low the price for decorations drops after the holidays.

This tree is in the study, at the front of the house, so you can see it when you drive up. It is slightly smaller, but still a nice tree. Pirate and Devon tried to climb this one, but it kept on standing. I don't think anyone knocked any ornaments off this year, which is quite an accomplishment!

Again, my sister and I travelled home for Christmas. Tanner usually goes with me, but this year I left him behind because we had a special visitor going home with us. Sasha is a Tortoise we were pet sitting and since she likes to stay nice and warm, we decided to just take her with us. She traveled fine, and enjoyed walking in front of the heat vents in the bathroom. This is Sasha on Christmas morning about to enjoy her buffet of salad greens, banana pieces, and some red grapes. She looks excited doesn't she?

We actually didn't let the cats around her, so I don't know how they would react.

Two more photos before I close out this post. I realize I haven't put any photos of the boys in this post, but they weren't around at the holidays. I'll close with a picture of my parents Christmas tree, and the one at my Granny's house.

This is mom and dad's tree.

And this is me standing beside Granny's tree. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!