20 Days Without The Fur Babies.

Tomorrow morning I hop a plane to Ireland without my two boys, Seamus and Baby.  This is the longest I will have ever been away from them before.  I've been telling them throughout the days that their aunt will take care of them but I think that's more for my benefit than I believe it is for theirs.  I have had a suitcase opened in the spare bedroom for a few days now but Seamus never cared.  Well, until tonight when I started packing.  Of course he jumps right in and just sits there.

I took Seamus to the vet two days ago and got the results yesterday morning.  His creatinine levels have gone back up.  They're at 6.6 now when they were 5.8ish a few weeks ago.  His phosphorous levels went down, so that's good news.  However, he lost 2 ounces.  Le sigh...  I blame myself for the increase in creatinine.  I wasn't that responsible about giving him his fluids over the last few weeks and I even knew he wasn't feeling right.  The doctor said that Seamus should be put back on everyday fluids.  Again, le sigh...

So, yeah.  Seamus has had his fluids three days in a row now and is doing much better.  Earlier this evening, Baby was just walking by, minding his own business when Seamus came out of nowhere and pounced in front of him then bounded off down the hall.  Clearly he's feeling better.

I've resorted to feeding him Fancy Feast again just to fatten him up.  I'm kind of desperate for him to gain some weight back.  He's not even aggressive or particularly pushy when it comes to asking for food.  He just sits at my feet and stares at me.  Baby, however, will paw at the paper plates.

I've resorted back to the wet food which of course means that Baby has been eating it too.  The little stinker growled at Seamus the other night for sniffing his share.

Tonight, Seamus was on his box, pawing at the refill of his fluids.  The refill is sitting in a blue plastic bag, hanging on the door handle.  He then stared up at the fluids.  We always do his subQs in the same spot, so I thought for sure he was asking for fluids.  So I warmed them up and of course by the time I was ready, he had lost interest.  But he was a good boy as usual: sat down for us and stayed very still.  He's gotten so comfortable with it that he doesn't even run away when we're done.

Baby, however, doesn't know how to keep his nose out of Seamus's business.  As soon as he hears the noises of the bag and the hanger, he comes running over.  He will jump up on the tote just to see what's going on.  These are pictures of Baby jumping up after the fluids were done.  I realize they're very blurry and silly looking but that's the best you can get with cats sometimes.

So.... there we have it.  I have to leave my boys in the morning and it's pretty sad.  I hope they don't get too comfy with their aunt :)

Murry Catmus!

Hi everyone!  I have been meaning to update about Seamus but once December hit, all hell seemed to break loose with school.  Suddenly every class had a million projects due.  Thank god for my sister.  If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be able to keep my head straight about which days Seamus needed his fluids.  My days were so long and exhausting that I would forget what day it was.

Seamus hasn't been required to return to the vet since his last visit.  I'll be leaving the country on the 31st for about 20 days so the vet wants him in a few days before I leave just to make sure he's on the right track. Seamus's treatment has been fluids three times a day of about 100ml or more if he's still, his Tumil-K twice a day and his normal Purina Adult Cat food.  I've started warming up the fluids in a Ziplock bag in the bathroom sink before administering them.  He responds much better this way.  Last week we had an incident where we didn't even get 50ml in before he was struggling to get away.  We decided afterwards that it's best to always warm the fluids.  He doesn't twitch afterwards or lick himself feverishly; he doesn't get all cranky.  It's just better all around.

There had been a stint there where I didn't give Seamus his fluids for quite a few days.  Maybe three.  (Maybe four =/ )  It was completely unintentional but again, the days just escaped me.  When I finally remembered to do the fluids, Seamus was more than willing.  He had been sitting across the hall in my sister's room when I started fiddling with the bag.  As soon as he saw me and heard the hanger it hangs from, he leaped up and ran over to me.  He's no dumb cat.  He knows what's food for him :)

The food I've been struggling with.  I was feeding him Fancy Feast twice a day for a little bit there but I didn't feel like it was doing any good.  For my budget, it was kind of expensive.  It won't be such a big deal when I get back from Ireland, but for now it feels like a lot.  I also conferred with a renal failure support group that I'm in and everyone agreed that Fancy Feast isn't necessarily healthy food.  It was suggested to me to look into grain-free food.  I'll ask the vet when I go back on the 28th, but for now, Seamus will continue with his Purina crunchies.

Anyway, Seamus has been doing great.  He's been defending himself and running around like the playful boy I know he has inside.  He's also been addicted to this box that used to be in my sister's room.  I'm not sure what it is about it or maybe it's just the warmth it generates, but Seamus loves it to death.  He spends all of his time on this damn box.  We've had to put more papers in it so that he doesn't sink so much when he lies on it.  It's like... it's his throne.  Which is so fitting for Seamus's personality.

I thought it would be nice to try to take some photos of both of my babies with my mini tree in my room.  My sister has wrapped some gifts up for them and put them under the tree.  She's such a good aunt to them. Anywhere, here are these silly boys.  These were taken after Seamus's fluids last night.

   

The top right picture was taken shortly after the picture at the top of this post.  Baby had decided to stretch out on the floor and extend his little toesies to touch Seamus's tail.  This was literally seconds after Seamus's fluids, so he wasn't having it.  Seamus took a few steps forward and sat in front of me.  I thought this was the most perfect photo opportunity for the two of these little boos.  Then I took the box down from on top of his throne and put Seamus's fishnets inside.  I should have taken a picture, but honestly, I doubt you would have been able to see them.  My sister went to go get some head ornamental things but of course Seamus ran into her room once he heard her moving around.  We will get pictures though.... I promise... Well, I doubt I will be posting on Christmas or even the day after, so I would like to wish you all happy holidays.  I hope all of your fur babies are safe and warm inside, where they belong.  Don't leave them out of the festivities!

Stubborn Steven and a Nervous Nelly

Nervous nelly.

Seamus is being less and less cooperative with each trip we take to the vet.  And rightfully so, of course.  Our first visit, a few weekends ago, he willingly walked into his carrier.  But now he knows what to expect and fights me, as most cats do.  This was my first visit alone.  Normally my mom or sister goes with me.  They have medical backgrounds so I feel more comfortable with them understanding and knowing what extra questions should be asked.

Upon walking into the vet's office, I saw two kittens in the cage that they keep up front.  One was orange, one gray- just like my boys.  It really made me miss the days when they were super duper tiny and would fall asleep in my lap and would curl up around my neck while I slept.  Back then, Seamus had had an upper respiratory infection and I was so worried for him.  We cranked up the heat (I had my own apartment at the time) and would wrap him in blankets- of course after taking him to the vet and giving him antibiotics.  But it was just such a much more simpler time, ya know?  Now we're into subQs and creatinine levels.

Must nuzz all the things. 

As I mentioned in two posts ago, Seamus's creatinine drop a little more than 3 points which is great!  He weighs the same amount, 12.6lbs which kinda makes me sad that he hasn't gained any more weight back since the two weeks of treatment we've been doing.  The vet ordered some of the Canin renal food for us, which I was very grateful for.  Again, she offered to do his subQs and they took some blood.  He came back in really grumpy; his ears were played back and he wouldn't even look at me.  He purposely sat facing me, then got up and turned around so that his butt faced me.  Sorry, Seamus, but it's for your own good.

The vet called the following day with his creatinine levels.  They have gone down to 5.6! (Or 5.9)  This makeh me so happeh!  Of course Seamus is all, whatever.  But this means that his body is responding positively to doing subQs at 100ml three times a week.  He has also had a considerable amount of Purina adult food and chicken flavored Fancy Feast  in the last week but I don't know.  The vet still wants me to try to keep him on mostly renal diet, but again, he's being a butthead.  He ate up the Canin food the first night we had it.  Of course, in the morning, he had had enough.  I mixed the turkey broth with it but I guess that's a bit too old now and should just toss it.  I'm also worried about the protein?  I don't exactly understand the full concept of why CRF cats aren't supposed to consume too much protein....  But how much protein is in turkey stock really?  Or tuna water.  I have yet to mix the Canin with the Fancy Feast but I imagine it will be the same outcome.  Man, some people's cats will eat this stuff for breakfast and dinner but Seamus just won't budge.

So again, Seamus is improving which is awesome!  I just wish he would eat the food so it would help out his kidney function even more.  And of course since I've been feeding the Fancy Feast- even if I leave crunchies out, Seamus will still wake me up at 7am for food.  Granted, this is better than the 3am that we struggled with before so I guess I should pick my battles.

The vet also said that considering the functionality of his kidneys, his urine is in great condition.  Not entirely sure what that means or what kind of perspective she's considering, but I'll take it!  She did say, however, that he does not have any protein in his urine so, yeah, positive!

Seamus's bandage

Also, when we were at the vet, Seamus bruised after getting his blood taken so they wrapped him up with some gauze and some kind of stretchy Ace bandage type thing?  Of course he hated it and kept shaking his leg.  I wanted to get a picture of him in it but he kept his tail curled around it tightly.  Then when I got home, I didn't have the heart to leave it on him any longer.  Of course, my lazy self should have put it in the trash instead of leaving it on a plastic tote.  Because apparently it became a cat toy in the middle of the night.  And of all cats to be playing with it, it's Baby!  When he first smelled Seamus upon returning from the vet, Baby hissed at him and even growled this time.  So for him to play with the gauze/bandage seems really weird.

I don't need to take him back for another few weeks.  I'm leaving the country for 20 days starting December 31st so I'll be taking him a few days before that.  I'm really nervous about leaving him, obviously.  One, I feel guilty for other people having to take care of him.  Two, my mom and sister will be away for about 5-6 days while I'm away and it will be up to my dad to give him his fluids.  My dad has always been a very anti-cat person but I know he'll take care of my fur babies.  I still have lingering thoughts in the back of my head of him trying to hold Seamus down for the subQs and it just getting ugly and nasty.  It's also a two person job.  Oh fuckin great, now I've totally gotten myself really worried.  If I have difficulty doing it alone, how should I expect him to be able to do it?  Maybe the vet will be nice enough to do it for him for free.  Seamus can be a real stinker when he doesn't want to do things.

Anyway, after this upcoming visit, the vet said that we should be down to one vet visit a month now.  I'm sure he's relieved, I know I am.