Tanner Tuesday

Tanner has enjoyed his week off from appointments.  He continues to eat well and be active.

He did lose about 3 ounces this week, even with all of his eating...so we continue to work with him.

His GI bloodwork came back mostly normal.  His B-12 and his folate levels were fine.  The pancreas levels were mildly elevated, but she isn't concerned about that because he isn't experiencing any symptoms (vomiting, inappetence, etc...)  She also stated that there wasn't any real treatment for pancreatitis, just supporting them through the episode.

Tanner continues to be a mystery and a good medical case study for these students.  My cat mom instinct makes me think that it will just take a bit more time for his system to settle down after all he went through.  We continue to see improvements in his appetite (he eats at least 4 cans of food a day, along with dry food), we see increases in the desire to play, his coat is improved and he feels much softer.  Even though, the vets don't think we are seeing side effects from the chemo, I can't help but think we are.  

I know humans that have been through cancer treatments and they aren't 100% back to normal the day or week or month after the chemo has stopped, so I don't know why they would think an animal would bounce back that quickly.  Now, I know he didn't have the same damaging levels of chemo that humans receive, but there still has to be some effects.

For now, I will continue to support him and offer him all he wants to eat.  Either he will start to gain weight, or he will make his condition more obvious!  We will enjoy our break and live life to the fullest.

I woke up last night to the sound of two brothers washing each other in the bed...music to my ears!

Mancat Monday

The mancats had a wonderfully relaxing weekend. The weather was too cool to open the windows, but we were able to bring in some fresh catnip to enjoy. We had a couple of shipments come in from Amazon (Tanners gifts) and the boxes had brown paper in them for the boys! 

Oliver was loving it!  I think it reminded him of his kitten days because when he came to live with us, we also had brown paper on the floor.  That was his safe spot, and he would stay on the paper when he was downstairs with us at night.  It took him a while to start venturing around the living room. 

Tanner is feeling much better these days, and I hope to hear results soon on his GI blood work from last week.

Here's a quick video showing the boys play fighting...

It's also HERE on youtube.

Tanner Tuesday

So Tanner spent the day at the vet school yesterday...short answer - All Clear!  He does not have to go back for 5 weeks!!!

Now for those that want details :)

Tanner had his abdominal ultrasound which showed that the kidneys and other organs they look at remained stable or mildly improved.  His kidneys always look abnormal on the ultrasound, which is why they did the aspirates to check for disease in January.

The cardiology team performed an echocardiogram and his HCM is still stable as well.  Recommend recheck in 12-18 months.

Remission Status: NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE

His weight was down slightly this month 5.34kg or 11 lbs 7 ounces.  They ran a GI Panel on him (more blood work) but it can take up to a week to get those results.  His eating has actually improved over the past week.  We increased his dose of famotadine and I think that is making a huge difference for him!  This morning, he ate his can of food, finished Oliver's plate and then needed a second can, which he did not finish yet.  This is much more normal for Tanner, so I hope to see some weight gain soon.  I don't want him to put on a ton of weight, but a pound would be nice and at least show us that he CAN gain weight.  It is important, I think, for a cat to have a little cushion, so if they do get sick, there is some wiggle room for losing weight.

Blood work:

Still slightly anemic - monitoring only at this time

All other values (BUN, creatinine, phosphorus, potassium) are within the correct range, either high normal or low normal.

His medications remain the same for us at home.

Tanner is spending more time playing, as the photo above shows.  These crinkle balls are his favorites and he totes one around quite often.

His 13th birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks (April 7th) so I am trying to think of something special to do for him!

Mancat Monday

This weekend was lovely here in the South...it was perfect window opening weather.

Everyone came to a truce and enjoyed the front window.  Left to Right - Tanner, Georgie, Pirate, Sophie. 

Oliver hung out in the living room...there is a tree right outside this window with suet feeders, so it gets a lot of activity :) 

Tanner jumped in the stroller and acted like he wanted to go for a ride, so I took him for a walk.  Today, Tanner is hanging out at the vet school getting another monthly checkup.   

These daffodils were given to me by a friend.  She saw the name of them and thought of my boy Devon.  These are called "Red Devon"  This is their first year blooming, so they look a bit scrawny...they will get stronger each year!

Do you have blooms where you live yet?

Wacky Wednesday

Today's Wacky Wednesday, features Oliver again!  He has learned how to give a high five, sort of, and would like to show off his new skill.  Enjoy!

Once he does the trick, we go and play, so he has learned this is a great way to ask to play :)

Here it is on youtube, if the above doesn't work.

http://youtu.be/DybzxCJAi_k

Tanner Tuesday

Tanner has been working hard at eating more.  He downs a few cans of food a day and some hard food, but he still lost a few ounces this week of weight.  His Thyroid test came back normal, so they will be doing the GI test to see if there is an absorptive issue in a couple of weeks when he goes back to the vet school.

Trying to find flavors that he likes and are still low in phosphorus, or a special kidney diet is challenging.  So far, we have tried all the kidney canned diets we can find. He will take a lick or two, but then walk away.  I went to Tanya's CRF site and found a bunch of foods that are low in phosphorus.  I picked up about 20 cans of various flavors to see what he would like.  I am keeping a list so we will know for the future.  He is doing better with these, but they still don't measure up to his favorites (ProPlan Chicken and Liver, Chicken Entree, or Fancy Feast Turkey Florentine)  I usually end up giving him a can or two of his favorites because he needs to be eating.

He goes to the vet on Thursday for blood work...kidney values, phosphorus, and potassium levels.

He is doing well overall and plays hard in the evenings.  He is taking his pills better this week too, but I am going to ask if any of his meds come in an injectible form.  At least it will give us some options.  He has been taking pills daily for 10 years now, so I can understand that he is getting a bit tired of it!

Tanner's daily medicine schedule is as follows:

Morning:

1/4 Atenolol

1/2 Benazepril

1 Tamil-K

Evening:

1/4 Atenolol

1/4 Clopidogrel

1 Tamil-K

Evening:

0.07cc injection of Famotadine

75mls sub q fluids

Well, that's it for Tanner this week...thanks for the continued purrs.  Your support during these last months has sustained us more than you realize!

Mancat Monday

The mancats had a quiet week.  It was well deserved and needed.

Tanner and Oliver were able to get in some snuggles and washes.  Sorry for the quality, I was sitting across the room, and tried to zoom with the phone.  This was nice to see, as Oliver has not wanted to hang out with Tanner as much lately. 

Tanner found a nice sunny spot and soaked up the rays.  His back leg is completely dangling from the chair! 

Our weather turned beautiful and fairly warm this weekend, so we opened the windows!  Oliver loved it, as he is now the only one we don't trust to take outside.  He gets spooked very easily and tries to run away when you go to catch him...not a good combination for going out in the big world! 

Cousin Georgie was able to go out some with the big cats.  Now keep in mind, that we are standing there with them...they are supervised.  He did pretty well, but was happy watching the birds from inside too.

By the evening, all the cats were completely wiped out and sleeping hard in the den.  We normally don't see Oliver resting so much, so it was quite funny.  Of course, he woke up when it was time to go to bed and he talked for about two hours!  I finally convinced him to come to bed and be quiet about midnight...silly boy!

Tanner Tuesday

Once Tanner was finished with his vet appointment the rest of his week was pretty laid back.  During the snow days and time off with him, I focused on making sure he ate well.  I did an appetite stimulant to see if that would encourage him to go ahead and eat the kidney diet food, but he still refused.  This food is lower in phosphorus than most other foods and would help bring this number down for him.  

He spent a good bit of time in the sun, soaking up the rays.  Notice his freshly shaved belly again! 

Back to eating...he is doing well, as long as it isn't kidney diet.  I need to order some of the different kidney diets in canned variety to see if he maybe would prefer another one.  He started out liking the Hills KD canned, and will still take a few licks, but will not just eat it.  We waste the majority of the can.  

For those of you with kidney cats, which brand did your cats prefer?  Or did you just not worry about it and feed whatever they want?

Here's a quick video of Tanner playing on Sunday...he has been extremely frisky lately and he asks to play a lot.  He and Oliver are doing really well about taking turns during playtime!

http://youtu.be/RdEFpIyW6jQ

Mancat Monday

The weather this past week was a special treat for those of us in the South.  We were blessed with two snows in the same week!  The first was just a small amount that was practically melted by the afternoon.  The other left us with several inches of beautiful, heavy wet snow!

The trees were weighted down! 

Oliver and Tanner loved watched the big clumps as they fell off the branches.  Of course the birds were out in mass as well! 

Tanner didn't get tossed out in the snow because of his shaved belly this year...I think he was thankful to just sit and watch! 

Oliver had to endure our fun and games...as Auntie went to sit him down in the snow, he had all of his toes spread out...he really didn't want to get his feet wet!  He quickly ran back inside!  The cold and wet are not for these mancats.