Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Tanner Tuesday

Tanner continues to do well for the most part.  He went to the vet school last Thursday for his monthly recheck.  Of course, they shaved him a bit!  This time they did a full ultrasound, a couple of aspirates and he had a neurology consult.  Short answer - Still in remission!
The ultrasound showed some changes to his pancreas and spleen.  They aspirated the spleen but did not find any evidence of lymphoma.  The pancreas is too sensitive to aspirate, so they presume it might be scar tissue from his bought of pancreatitis earlier this year.  His kidneys looked good still, and his blood values came back unchanged.  He is slightly anemic again, but that seems to come and go with him.  He does not have to return until the end of AUGUST!!!! 
You may be wondering why we had the neurology consult..well June 14th, I came home from cat sitting to find all the bedroom doors closed.  I called to Auntie to see what was going on...she had had to separate the cats because Tanner snapped and was attacking anything and everything that he saw.  Oliver and Sophie were in one room.  Tanner was in the room with Auntie and Pirate and Georgie.  Tanner had a strange look in his eyes and was quite scary.  I finally grabbed him and put him alone in the bathroom to calm down.  After a while, I went to see how he was doing and took him some snack.  He was purring up a storm in the bathroom and ate like he was starved.  I wanted him to spend a bit more time chilling, so I went to leave.  He wanted to come out, so I tried to block him with my foot on the way out, but he came out anyway.  I called to Auntie that he was out, and she headed back up the stairs to help me.  We didn't want the whole thing to start over with his attacking everyone...since they were all spooked!  Tanner turned to me and was swatting at my legs...Auntie tossed a towel over him and back in the bathroom he went.

We left him in there about an hour, partly to give him time to settle, but also to give the other cats time to become less scared.

We went up to go to bed and wondered how we were going to manage during the night, but hoped everyone would be back to normal, now that some time had passed.  Well, Oliver is like an elephant and he did not forget that his momma had attacked him!  As soon as he saw Tanner, he flipped out...growling, hissing, puffing out his tail and generally scaring everyone in the house again.  Tanner saw this as a challenge and went after him...here we go again!

I should note that no cats or people were injured in these events...a lot of swatting and squealing mostly with some wrestling rolls thrown in.

Tanner spent the night in the kitten room, with a litter box, food and water, alone.  The night was peaceful.  The next morning, we let Tanner out and all was well for the most part.  Oliver still growled some when he saw Tanner and would not go in the kitchen with Tanner, but Tanner wasn't bothered by his actions.  When I got home from work that day, everyone had made up.

That night, Auntie did something loud and spooked Oliver and we started up again.  This time though, when you called Tanner's name, he would stop and walk away.  A much more normal response than what we had the night before.  Everyone stayed out during the night and we slept peacefully.

This is actually the second episode that Tanner has had in the past few months.  I mentioned it to a friend and she says that her dog does something similar and her vet has concluded that the dog is having a seizure.  Another friend says her cat does this about every two months, and is also taking Plavix like Tanner.

I mentioned all of this to the technician when Tanner went in, and they wanted Neurology to come over and do a quick workup on him.  They did not find anything abnormal on their consult, which is good.  They have recommended some testing (MRI, CT Scan, etc...) to rule out a tumor.  Lymphoma also has a history of spreading to the central nervous system, so these tests could check the spinal fluid for cancer cells.  However, at this time, we are just going to wait and see.  My theory is always "It will get worse or better".  If it gets worse or more frequent, then we may can try to figure it out. 
In the meantime, Tanner is enjoying playing with this new string.  His green "girlfriend" string is behind him.  We have cut our fluids and pepcid injections in half...so he only gets poked 7 times a week instead of 14!!  

I also bought some "Safe Space for Cats" by Jackson Galaxy.  When we notice attitudes are shifting or emotions are running high, we give the downstairs a good spray.  It is hard sometimes with multiples to know when something is just behavioral or when it could be worse.

Well, that is a long update...I would love to hear your experience with fighting and how you have been able to address it.  Does anyone have knowledge of seizures in cats?

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Tanner Tuesday

Tanner continues to do well.  This week he tipped the scales at 13 pounds 0.5 ounces!  He has earned a gift for reaching a new pound mark.  I plan to visit the Pier One Imports and get him some more of his favorite Chinese yo-yo's.  He is a cheater though because right after he weighed, he headed to the litter box!  Sneaky boy just wanted his gift :)

Tanner will be going to the vet on Friday afternoon to have his phosphorus rechecked.  I am going to speak with the vet about how much fluid therapy he really needs at this point.  I also want to let him know that we have stopped the Pepcid injections and Tanner is responding well to that.

Here is a video of Tanner doing one of his favorite things...eating!  This is leftover pizza crust that got a little tough when we zapped it in the the microwave!



You can also click this youtube link if the video above doesn't work.


Also, we want you to be aware that Oliver and Tanner have been interviewed by Mousebreath Magazine.  The interview will be out on Friday!

Tuesday, June 02, 2015

Tanner Tuesday

I can't believe it has been so long since we gave you a Tanner Tuesday post!  Needless to say, Tanner and I have been enjoying our break from all the vet visits!!  Tanner did go to the vet school on the 28th for his monthly checkup...he is still doing great!
Tanner has been working hard at growing back his fur and was starting to look like a normal cat again.   
Unfortunately, they did shave him some at his last visit, so we are back to a shaved belly.  

We can deal with that because Tanner's results look good once again!  

Ultrasound - normal to improved
Remission status - No evidence of disease
BUN and Creatinine - normal
Phosphorus - slightly elevated - recheck at regular vet in two weeks
Anemia - resolved
Weight - up slightly...pleased with progress

All in all, Tanner continues to impress his vets.  

We are trying to take Tanner off of his pepcid.  He would normally get this daily.  He is doing well, and if we can remove just one medicine from our routine that will make us both happy.

Tanner's meds:
Atenolol - twice a day
Potassium - twice a day
Clopidigrel - once a day
Benezepril - once a day

Sub Q fluids - 5 times a week (going to try just doing every other day)

Adequan (arthritis injection) once a week

Thanks for all the good thoughts on Tanner...he is continuing to do well.  We go back to the vet school at the end of the month.  

Monday, June 01, 2015

Mancat Monday

Over the weekend, our parents drove up and brought our Granny's piano.  She passed away two years ago, just a couple of weeks before Devon.  Her piano was supposed to go to our Aunt (dad's sister), but his brother's daughter's daughter thought she wanted to take lessons, so it went to her.  After two years, and no lessons, they decided it should come to us, so mom and dad brought it down.
Oliver and Tanner immediately had to check it out...it's not so scary. 
They were both incredibly brave as long as it wasn't making any noise :)  Tanner did not mind hearing us try to play...it's been almost 20 years since I've played!  Oliver was not having any part of that and he would run off.  As the weekend wore on, he would not run as far...progress!

Growing up, I took lessons for many years.  I had a cat named Socks (Grey and white), and he had a particular song that he loved.  Fur Elise, by Beethoven.  Anytime, I would play that song, he would jump on the bench and sit beside me...as I continued, he would put his paws on my shoulder and nibble at my neck/hair.  I don't know if he liked it, or was trying to get me to stop!  MOL.  Either way, we thought it was quite funny, so he did it every time I played.  I'm hoping Tanner and Oliver will learn to appreciate the piano.