Debra & CB (GA) & Gang
Member
Sorry that this has been a long overdue update on my boys, but things have just recently gotten better for them.
Do you remember how TK was always so itchy and how we finally had to resort to having him wear an e-collar to prevent him from ripping himself apart? My vet thought that the itchyness was caused by a food allergy, so we've been feeding the boys Royal Canin HP for over a year, without much change in TK's itchyness. I had him at my vet back in December because he had scratched a huge sore open on his back, right between his shoulder blades. By huge I mean it was at least 3, maybe 4 inches long, about 2 inches wide! He also was having a weird problem with the skin on his feet, between his toes and on the underside of his feet. These areas would get real red, have hair loss, and be swollen and oozing. I would use a q-tip with baby wash to clean it twice daily, and it would all start looking much better, but as soon as I stopped treating it it would go back to looking nasty. Anyhow, my vet examined him, and when she got a good look at his feet the light bulb over her head lit up! Yeast infection! TK has a systemic yeast infection! My other vet, the one I left because of their failing to treat my boys properly, never diagnosed TK with a simple yeast infection in his ears, and so over time it spread throughout his body.
TK has now been on oral steroids and an anti-yeast med for about 4 months, and yes, finally, he's out of the e-collar! We're hoping that eventually we can wean him off these meds, but there is a high probability that he may have to be on them the rest of his life. My vet consulted with other vets about this because it is rare for a yeast infection to go systemic in cats, and they all agreed that this happened because of it going so long untreated and TK's lack of a strong immune system (one of his birth defects). Either way, it's such a relief to finally know what's been going on with him, and to see him now without his e-collar is so good! Strange, we've gotten so used to him wearing it that he now looks like a new cat! And the reaction of my other cats to him not wearing it has been funny! Even they see a "new" cat! LOL!
I still have TK wear the e-collar when I'm not home to supervise him, but when I'm home it's the first thing I do, take that thing off him. He's now playing, running around the house acting just as normal as all my other cats, and it's surely a party for him. :^)
Radar is Radar, as always. He never runs in a full out gallop, but he can be found trotting around behind the others, or getting himself into trouble. We recently got a new mattress/boxspring set, and it sits up a lot higher than our older one. In fact, we had to build a platform just so that my dog could get up onto the bed by herself (nobody wants to pick up an 80 pound dog every night!), and Radar loves the platform! He jumps up onto the platform, then jumps up too high and flys up onto the bed! LOL! He may be blind, but he certainly doesn't let that slow him down any. His favorite pasttime is annoying both the mom maine coon kitty (Lady) and her daughter Heidi. Those two girls just don't care for Radar much, and they try hard to ignore him. Once Radar locates either of them, he starts swatting at them, or just pesters them, and then all I can hear is growling, hissing, and running cats! Thankfully they don't hurt Radar, but seriously, he just keeps on keeping on.
We also had a LOT of repair work done to our house, had a new metal roof installed, all new vinyl windows installed, and also had vinyl siding installed. Needless to say, it was chaos here for a couple of weeks, and really stressed the pets out badly, but now that things are done, they're enjoying the benefits of all this. We removed a small single window from our living room, cut a 6 foot wide whole in the wall, and installed a big double window. Right outside of this window we placed a bird feeder, and now the cats can sit on the bench in front of this window and watch the birds! We also have another bird feeder in the dogwood tree in front of one of our bedroom windows, and the cats can go to that window and watch them from there. They really enjoy watching Bird TV! LOL!
Anyhow, sorry that this is so long, but I just wanted to let you know how things are here now. The boys are doing well, and finally all is returning to normal here, or as normal as normal can be when you've got 10 cats and a species confused drooler!
Debra & Care Bear (GA) & gang
Do you remember how TK was always so itchy and how we finally had to resort to having him wear an e-collar to prevent him from ripping himself apart? My vet thought that the itchyness was caused by a food allergy, so we've been feeding the boys Royal Canin HP for over a year, without much change in TK's itchyness. I had him at my vet back in December because he had scratched a huge sore open on his back, right between his shoulder blades. By huge I mean it was at least 3, maybe 4 inches long, about 2 inches wide! He also was having a weird problem with the skin on his feet, between his toes and on the underside of his feet. These areas would get real red, have hair loss, and be swollen and oozing. I would use a q-tip with baby wash to clean it twice daily, and it would all start looking much better, but as soon as I stopped treating it it would go back to looking nasty. Anyhow, my vet examined him, and when she got a good look at his feet the light bulb over her head lit up! Yeast infection! TK has a systemic yeast infection! My other vet, the one I left because of their failing to treat my boys properly, never diagnosed TK with a simple yeast infection in his ears, and so over time it spread throughout his body.
TK has now been on oral steroids and an anti-yeast med for about 4 months, and yes, finally, he's out of the e-collar! We're hoping that eventually we can wean him off these meds, but there is a high probability that he may have to be on them the rest of his life. My vet consulted with other vets about this because it is rare for a yeast infection to go systemic in cats, and they all agreed that this happened because of it going so long untreated and TK's lack of a strong immune system (one of his birth defects). Either way, it's such a relief to finally know what's been going on with him, and to see him now without his e-collar is so good! Strange, we've gotten so used to him wearing it that he now looks like a new cat! And the reaction of my other cats to him not wearing it has been funny! Even they see a "new" cat! LOL!
I still have TK wear the e-collar when I'm not home to supervise him, but when I'm home it's the first thing I do, take that thing off him. He's now playing, running around the house acting just as normal as all my other cats, and it's surely a party for him. :^)
Radar is Radar, as always. He never runs in a full out gallop, but he can be found trotting around behind the others, or getting himself into trouble. We recently got a new mattress/boxspring set, and it sits up a lot higher than our older one. In fact, we had to build a platform just so that my dog could get up onto the bed by herself (nobody wants to pick up an 80 pound dog every night!), and Radar loves the platform! He jumps up onto the platform, then jumps up too high and flys up onto the bed! LOL! He may be blind, but he certainly doesn't let that slow him down any. His favorite pasttime is annoying both the mom maine coon kitty (Lady) and her daughter Heidi. Those two girls just don't care for Radar much, and they try hard to ignore him. Once Radar locates either of them, he starts swatting at them, or just pesters them, and then all I can hear is growling, hissing, and running cats! Thankfully they don't hurt Radar, but seriously, he just keeps on keeping on.
We also had a LOT of repair work done to our house, had a new metal roof installed, all new vinyl windows installed, and also had vinyl siding installed. Needless to say, it was chaos here for a couple of weeks, and really stressed the pets out badly, but now that things are done, they're enjoying the benefits of all this. We removed a small single window from our living room, cut a 6 foot wide whole in the wall, and installed a big double window. Right outside of this window we placed a bird feeder, and now the cats can sit on the bench in front of this window and watch the birds! We also have another bird feeder in the dogwood tree in front of one of our bedroom windows, and the cats can go to that window and watch them from there. They really enjoy watching Bird TV! LOL!
Anyhow, sorry that this is so long, but I just wanted to let you know how things are here now. The boys are doing well, and finally all is returning to normal here, or as normal as normal can be when you've got 10 cats and a species confused drooler!
Debra & Care Bear (GA) & gang
