Old Age...

Not my dotage...instead this post is about Eduardo, 'The Next Stage' cat. Ed will be 17 in September and has been getting rather skinny.

He was also having a bit of trouble chewing. So not quite 2 weeks ago, I made an appointment for him at the vet's for a check up.
So the cage was dusted off...

There are no photos but let's just say that Eduardo was most uncooperative in getting into the carry cage...I even have scratches that attest to that! He thought that a visit to the vet was really unnecessary. He howled all the way there...luckily only a 2 kilometre drive. Then he howled in the waiting room 😒. The veterinary nurses all came out into the waiting room to check out the cat with the 'fancy name', Eduardo Felipe, lol.
But as usual on a visit to the vet, when we went through to the consulting room, Eduardo was 'as good as gold'...he purrs!!! ( possibly a nervous reaction ? 🤣) In fact the vet had difficulty listening to his heart because of the purring...but in the treatment room he did stop purring for a short while when the blood tests were being done.
Kat, the vet checked him over...and my goodness he had lost a kilogram...not good!😔 Kat took blood samples which were sent off for testing and also a urine test which showed no bacteria or blood...so that was a tick! The teeth will need some attention but that will be a bit later. Kat mentioned 3 conditions that could cause his weight loss...one was hyperthyroidism...and next day she rang to confirm that that was indeed the problem.
Three methods of treatment had been explained to me and I chose the least expensive...tablets every day for the rest of his life. The most expensive was $1500 for a one off treatment using a radioisotope...no tablets...but he is nearly 17...😙
Now Eddie is very difficult to get tablets down his throat, but the tablets crush up easily and the vet was fine when I said that my cat LOVES Nestles Reduced Fat Cream and would it be okay to mix the tablet in a teaspoon of the cream...after all, he is nearly 17. Kat said some people mix crushed up tablets in with Vegemite or condensed milk. I did try the Vegemite but Eduardo didn't like it.

So each morning Ed takes his tablet...he looks forward to it! Lol. Next Tuesday we go back for another blood test to see if that dose is working. It could be my imagination but after 11 days it does look like he has put on a bit of weight.
Stay tuned...

An unexpected outing...

On Monday, DH ended up taking Eduardo the cat, and I out for a short drive later in the morning...it all started like this...
DH reported that the cat had not eaten the dry food that he had put out for him early that morning; Eduardo had ignored the food and just stayed curled up on the chair on the veranda. Now this is the cat who starts up his cacophony of piteous meowing as soon as he hears footsteps in the morning.
I checked him and he was quite listless. I checked for ticks and then for any wounds etc from a possible catfight early in the morning. I didn't find anything.

The next step was the 'chicken test'. I got some uncooked chicken from the freezer and shaved off some pieces...let them thaw and then offered them to him. He wasn't interested, so I knew something was wrong. You know the old saying about 'walking across hot coals'? Well Eddie would certainly do that for raw chopped up chicken! lol   So I rang the vet and organised an appointment at 11 am.
(Now through all of this, DH thought I was overreacting and that the cat had just had a 'hard night' and would be perfectly fine but because he loves me 'he went along with how things were going').

So the cat carrier was brought upstairs by DH, taken out of its covering bag, dusted and a towel put on the base. Unlike other cats I've had, Eduardo did not sneak away when he saw the carrier, lol. So that's how I had my outing...DH drove us to the next suburb to the veterinarian practice that I have been taking my pets to for years, although the original owners have sold up and retired for quite a while now...

We had to wait about 10 minutes, so Eduardo 'sang' in his carrier...

That's bags of expensive dry food for dogs in that unit in the waiting room...

The vet checked him over very thoroughly; also taking blood and urine samples and checking his temperature. I noted that the vet looked between the cat's toes, looking for ticks there too...I didn't realise that ticks could be there as well as the more obvious places! The vet could find no ticks and no cat bites or scratches that had been infected. Eddie's kidneys were fine but two sore spots were found on Eduardo's back. Shane, the vet, decided to treat Ed with an anti-inflammatory drug and gave the cat a dose straight away.

While DH put eduardo in the car, I just had to take a photo of the bougainvillea growing over the fence of the front carpark at the vets..

Within an hour of getting home Eduardo was back to normal, walking around, eating etc. Phew! And that evening I took this photo of him looking rather smug sitting on the sofa...on the rug I made years ago especially for DH...Eduardo thinks the rug is his! lol