Tanner Update

Tanner has put on his bow tie to thank everyone for sending purrs his way this week.  We just received the call from the vet and TANNER IS ALL CLEAR!!  

The mass is an over growth of gum tissue, not commonly found in cats.  It is usually created by a trauma or dental disease.  The vet feels that since we have removed it and cleaned the teeth that the mass won't reappear.  We of course will keep a check on his mouth each time he visits.

Tanner Tuesday

Tanner had the mass inside his mouth removed last Friday.  They also did a dental cleaning while he was there.

He did great during his visit, but was still quite loopy when I picked him up...glad to be going home though. 

At home he was just so happy.  I gave him a tiny amount canned food because he was hungry, but I wanted to make sure he would keep it down.

The mass was on the right side of his face, and you can see he is a bit swollen.  He also had a bottom, back tooth removed on the left side.  Poor boy has stitches on both sides of his mouth!

They didn't get the first IV in properly, so he has two shaved arms and two pretty nice looking bruises.

By Saturday his arms were looking better and he was still just happy to be home.  We were able to open the windows for some fresh air and he found a warm, sunny spot.

He eats well, although he cannot have hard food for a few days.  We are softening it in water because he loves his hard food.  He is on antibiotics and thankfully he hasn't started having diarrhea with these.  Fingers crossed!

Sunday was another beautiful day, so Tanner thought munching on some Sage in the garden would make him feel better.  He is still on pain meds, although I will probably stop them tomorrow as he seems to be doing well. 

We will not find out what the mass is until late this week, probably on Friday.  I will post when we know...

Thank you all for your purrs...Tanner has done well so far...hoping there will be good news to share!

Tanner Tuesday

These photos were supposed to go up yesterday for a Mancat post, but this human is a slacker, so they will be presented today :)

Tanner and Oliver are the best of buds...I loved that was able to catch them lying close together and even touching paws... 

Sweet brothers 

Love these boys of mine!

Tanner could use some purrs this week, especially on Friday.  Over the past several weeks, he has been itching more and pulling at his fur.  He has had a runny eye and some sniffles too.  Although he hasn't suffered from environmental allergies in the past, it was determined that he is being bothered by them this year.  He has been getting lysine in his food to help with the eye, and antihistamines to help with the sniffles and itching.  Although it wasn't really helping like I thought it should.

Yesterday, I went ahead and took him into the vet to see if there was something stronger we could give him.  He has woken me up in the night numerous times washing and licking and pulling his fur, even though he just had an antihistamine.  It was time to look for some relief.

The vet agreed it was seasonal allergies and said many first-timers were coming in this year.  We talked about antihistamines and he said sometimes they just aren't effective in cats like we would hope.  We discussed steroids and agreed to do a depo injection.

He continued his exam of Tanner and found a suspicious mass in his mouth.  We are scheduled to have it removed on Friday and they will do a dental while he is under.  The mass will be sent off for biopsy.  Tanner could use some purrs, specifically:

1) For the antihistamines to help him this week, since we couldn't do the depo injection yet.  We are increasing his dose though

2) For an easy removal and dental cleaning on Friday

3) For Tanner to remain comfortable this week (mass was bleeding after vet messed with it) until it is removed

4) For Tanner to be comfortable after his surgery

5) For the mass to be benign

Thank you all...we have pulled Tanner through a lot over the years, so let's try again!