Tanner Tuesday

Tanner continues to do well.  He is eating great and is now proud to be the "Big Lug" once again!  He has regained his spot as the largest in the house.  This week, he passed Oliver, and now weights 15 lbs 5 oz.  Now we don't want his weight to keep trending upwards, but I am happy he is eating well, and gaining.  We all know how quickly they can drop when sickness occurs.

Tanner enjoys playing in the floor at night.  He, Oliver and I have a routine now and they both seem to enjoy the time together.

Tanner also enjoys a good catnip toy and can often be found washing one or more of them!

This nip nanner and green catnip pillow are his favorites.  He also has a green pickle he enjoys.

Tanner also does a good job washing his own body, although he does tend to over groom some areas.  Here's a quick video of Tan washing.  I've moved around so you can still see his shaved and saggy belly, and notice on his hips/back legs you can see some thin spots in his fur.

It's here on YouTube as well.

Tanner and I would like to ask for some purrs.  I leave to go back to Kenya in 7 weeks.  Tanner still needs his potassium twice a day, but not everyone can give him these huge pills.  I have ordered some powder to see if he will eat it in his canned food.  Please send good thoughts that he will eat the food with the meds in it!  Otherwise, he may have to be boarded while I am gone.

Tanner Update

Many of you already know that Tanner has a heart condition called HCM.  When he was at the vet school last June, it was determined that he is at an increased risk for blood clots.  Therefore we decided to try him on an aspirin therapy, for prevention.  We tried taking 1/4 of an 81 mg pill every three days...Tanner could not tolerate this medication.  Severe vomiting occured each time we tried to start.  We tried about three times, in case there was something else going on with his stomach at the time.  Each trial produced the same results. 

 After speaking with his cardiologists and his regular vet, we have decided to try him on Plavix.  This drug is relatively expensive, but I hope he can tolerate it.  He will take 1/4 of a pill each day.  I have a months worth at the house, and we will be starting tonight. 

I would like to ask for some purrs that he can tolerate this drug, as there aren't any other options for prevention for him.

On another note, he has lost almost a pound of weight!  We are very excited about this, and continue to work on his diet for more loss.

Purrs Requested

This is our friend's cat Kotaro. He is 10 years old, and was recently diagnosed with cancer, type unspecified. He is going downhill pretty quickly, and we know the power of the purr, so we are asking for healing purrs for him today.

Thank you all for supporting Kotaro and his family today by purring. We will keep you posted on his progress.