Cat health update x 3
There's good news and worrisome news regarding the feline inhabitants of Sector 7. They're all getting on a bit.
Cally
Cally is showing her age of 18 more and more. She rarely sits now, instead lying down at every opportunity. What's most disturbing is that she doesn't always close her eyes, but stares blankly ahead. Somehow there's a huge difference between her staring when she's sitting and doing it with her head down. She's also taken to sleeping with her eyes open a fraction, so you can actually watch the REMs when she dreams. Her hips continue to bother her, and by degrees she's becoming both less athletic and more clumsy. I think she has arthritis in her front left paw now. She wheezes in her sleep and quite often stops breathing for just a few seconds more than instinct says she should i.e. her sleep apnoea is getting worse.
Her claws could use some attention *whistles*.
Her coat is in quite good condition, but I can see dirt on the skin of her hind paws under the short white fur; she can't hold her yoga positions for long enough to thoroughly clean everywhere. Her appetite remains sound and her weight is good, but I can see muscle wastage in her hindquarters. Hearing and eyesight are good, but sometimes she wakes up suddenly and seems confused, looking around her with wide eyes and twitching ears. If I'm in another room she'll sometimes make distress calls, perhaps after waking up to find herself alone, because she never does that if I'm there. A single answering mrrrorrr from me will always make her stop immediately. Princess prefers a few rounds of dialogue.
Started Cally on a new course of Metacam tonight, and I actually had to wake her up to deliver it. It only took a second or so for her to rouse, but normal cat response it to come alert or at the very least react immediately to any touch. It's amazing how frightened one can become in under a second.
Her personality is changing from evil creature to old domestic housecat. It's very strange; she licks me, is a total smooch, and offers her tummy for stroking. She reaches out to touch me with her paw, not to rend and destroy, or snag my hand to bring it in for the kill, but just to poke. I deliberately broke our rules of contact and reached across and over her head to see how she'd react. In the good old days she'd have firmly snagged my forearm in her jaws and dragged it in close for some claw-enhanced kicking. Now and at best with deliberate provocation she merely gave me a small hug with her teeth.
Where's mummy's little psychopath? :-(
(ED: Awww! She just hissed at Princess!)
Princess
The news for Princess is better. After some 10 weeks on the hypoallergenic diet her ruff is starting to grow back in and she looks a lot less scruffy and more like her royal fluffy self. Two weeks ago she was put under to remove wax from her ears and while she still shakes her head a bit and has the occasional scratch, I'd say things are looking good there for the time being. I'm to take her back to the vet for a followup tomorrow to sort out her new maintenance schedule.
Pumpkin
Pumpkin has been pretty much his usual Birmany self, but I've had to groom him a bit more than usual to work out some matting in his fur. I'm always on the lookout for knots, but it's not easy to notice the formation of dreadlocks at the roots when those roots are 3-4" away from the surface. Ordinary stroking and scritching are no longer sufficient to monitor his coat; I now have to part the fur to make sure it separates down to skin level. That's no great hardship, but my baby is 12 next month and I have to remember that he's not as young as he used to be. That's quite hard to remember with a Birman, but when I think back to the sort of athletics he used to get up to I guess he has slowed down quite a lot.
So the cat maintenance is adding up. It's almost like owning a dog ;-)
Cally
Cally is showing her age of 18 more and more. She rarely sits now, instead lying down at every opportunity. What's most disturbing is that she doesn't always close her eyes, but stares blankly ahead. Somehow there's a huge difference between her staring when she's sitting and doing it with her head down. She's also taken to sleeping with her eyes open a fraction, so you can actually watch the REMs when she dreams. Her hips continue to bother her, and by degrees she's becoming both less athletic and more clumsy. I think she has arthritis in her front left paw now. She wheezes in her sleep and quite often stops breathing for just a few seconds more than instinct says she should i.e. her sleep apnoea is getting worse.
Her claws could use some attention *whistles*.
Her coat is in quite good condition, but I can see dirt on the skin of her hind paws under the short white fur; she can't hold her yoga positions for long enough to thoroughly clean everywhere. Her appetite remains sound and her weight is good, but I can see muscle wastage in her hindquarters. Hearing and eyesight are good, but sometimes she wakes up suddenly and seems confused, looking around her with wide eyes and twitching ears. If I'm in another room she'll sometimes make distress calls, perhaps after waking up to find herself alone, because she never does that if I'm there. A single answering mrrrorrr from me will always make her stop immediately. Princess prefers a few rounds of dialogue.
Started Cally on a new course of Metacam tonight, and I actually had to wake her up to deliver it. It only took a second or so for her to rouse, but normal cat response it to come alert or at the very least react immediately to any touch. It's amazing how frightened one can become in under a second.
Her personality is changing from evil creature to old domestic housecat. It's very strange; she licks me, is a total smooch, and offers her tummy for stroking. She reaches out to touch me with her paw, not to rend and destroy, or snag my hand to bring it in for the kill, but just to poke. I deliberately broke our rules of contact and reached across and over her head to see how she'd react. In the good old days she'd have firmly snagged my forearm in her jaws and dragged it in close for some claw-enhanced kicking. Now and at best with deliberate provocation she merely gave me a small hug with her teeth.
Where's mummy's little psychopath? :-(
(ED: Awww! She just hissed at Princess!)
Princess
The news for Princess is better. After some 10 weeks on the hypoallergenic diet her ruff is starting to grow back in and she looks a lot less scruffy and more like her royal fluffy self. Two weeks ago she was put under to remove wax from her ears and while she still shakes her head a bit and has the occasional scratch, I'd say things are looking good there for the time being. I'm to take her back to the vet for a followup tomorrow to sort out her new maintenance schedule.
Pumpkin
Pumpkin has been pretty much his usual Birmany self, but I've had to groom him a bit more than usual to work out some matting in his fur. I'm always on the lookout for knots, but it's not easy to notice the formation of dreadlocks at the roots when those roots are 3-4" away from the surface. Ordinary stroking and scritching are no longer sufficient to monitor his coat; I now have to part the fur to make sure it separates down to skin level. That's no great hardship, but my baby is 12 next month and I have to remember that he's not as young as he used to be. That's quite hard to remember with a Birman, but when I think back to the sort of athletics he used to get up to I guess he has slowed down quite a lot.
So the cat maintenance is adding up. It's almost like owning a dog ;-)