Cats
So, Christmas Eve morning, my cat Tien was meowing at me at close range because it was time to eat, and I'm like "Dude...Something's missing!"
His lower right canine (feline?) was gone. No blood, no sign of the tooth, in fact no idea when it actually came out since he was displaying no sign of discomfort. It was there when I took him in for his annual check-up in September. I got him in to see the vet Wednesday this week, because he's too young to be loosing teeth (only about 4 or 5 years old). She examined the teeth, and broke off a bit of tarter with her fingernail on another tooth. She said he needs his teeth cleaned, and that if I wanted to preserve teeth, I should consider a veterinary dentist who will clean a cat's teeth while they're under anesthesia. The vet said she was able to just go in and pull teeth, but her group wouldn't have the dental x-ray equipment to do a more thorough analysis for preserving teeth for another 6 months. She said there were two places I could go, either a guy down in Decature who specialized in veterinary dentistry (whom she recommended), or over at the University of Illinois, which she said was both a teaching place and more expensive. I want my little buddy to last a long time, so I plan on taking him to the specialist.
That being the case, my vet asked to take some blood to do some preliminary lab work to make sure Tien is in good shape for handling the anesthesia. Turns out his creatinine levels were just a little high. This might be just dehydration, but it might also indicate a kidney problem. They wanted to get a urine specimen to check things out further, but Tien's bladder was quite empty. I agreed to leave him overnight at the vet so they could obtain a urine specimen. Thursday morning, I took him home before going to work. The urine specific gravity was on the high side, also indicating possible dehydration. The vet recommended delaying dental treatment, and re-checking creatinine levels in a couple of months. Some cats just don't drink very much with dry cat food, so the vet suggested feeding Tien more canned cat food (with a higher moisture content). She also said a little water fountain for cats may entice them to drink more.
So, poor little Tien finally came home, and was very happy to do so, but the surprise was how Isabeau reacted. She had been acting a little clingy while Tien was gone, and I imagined she was missing him. Not so! She hissed and yowled at him when he got back, almost like when I first brought him home a couple years ago. She wouldn't go near him, or let him near her. At first, I thought maybe it was because he smelled different, or something. As time went on, she started to react less violently, and accepted him when they napped together, but she continued to hiss at him at meal times. I have a theory that, rather than missing him while he was gone, she was in fact reveling in being the only cat, and was severely disappointed when he returned. Now, a couple of days later, she's about back to normal, no hissing at breakfast, and occasionally grooming him, but the initial animosity was just weird.