Update on Smoke:

The vet is pretty confident it was a stroke, likely caused by high blood pressure, although they don't know the reason for that. Apparently, unlike in humans (where most hypertension is "primary", meaning no underlying cause), feline hypertension is usually caused by something else. They've ruled out kidney, thyroid, and heart causes, which are the most common. There's apparently some chance it could be caused by a tumor and they could do a CT to check, but it's not clear if that's a good idea. They need to use general anesthesia for that which is not risk free especially for a 16-year-old cat, and if they were to find one it's not clear they could do anything about it anyway.

For the first couple of days he got worse, he stopped walking in circles but mainly because he stopped being able to walk. :( Sometime Wednesday night he turned a corner though, and now he's doing much better. He's still a bit wobbly, but he's walking around the house again looking much like his old self. :)

--Ian

Glad to hear he's doing better.

I recently had to deal with the same thing man. Dudi was also 15-16 years. At the end there he was meowing all night (I suspect he was in pain), we had taken him to the vet countless times with no avail. We had him tested in many things and thyroid was only issue. The last week he stopped allowing us to pick him up. We took him to the vet and a ct scan showed that there was a tumor in his lungs which explains why he stopped letting us to pick him up. His chest was hurting. His last day he had a seizure that lasted about a minute. That day we decided we didnt want to see him suffer and had him put to sleep. I grew up with that kitty so it was extremely hard for me and its probably one of the hardest decisions i've ever made but now that i look back i dont regret it. he was suffering and as much as it kills me that hes gone, thinking about seeing him suffer kills me more. My only advice on the subject of an old cat is keep him comfortable. If you see them suffer it might be time to let go.

:(

Here's Cammy in one of my saddle bags to lighten up the mood a little.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...969ef4f07a.jpg

Yeah, we've been through this with Cinder (Smoke's brother). He had a vaccine-associated sarcoma about 5 or 6 years ago, had some pretty major surgery to deal with it. He recovered from that and had a few more good years beating the odds significantly, but got another (apparently unrelated) cancer a few years later. At that point he was 14 and there really wasn't much we could do except keep him comfortable for his last six months. He passed away almost 2 years to the day before Smoke's stroke -- not a good time of year for my kitties.

Here he is, my piano-toed cat. I still miss him. :(

https://photos.smugmug.com/Pets/Smok...G_7343-XL.jpg?

--Ian

A little something to cheer you up sir.

https://www.facebook.com/abc13Houston/videos/10154092084719342/

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...49c3e9bc82.png

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9ea73b556b.png

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ab33b6d33c.png

two words: explosive diarrhea.

This was too good to pass up:

Cat named ‘Baby’ attacks 7 pit bulls, sending one to vet and owner to ER

POSTED 12:08 AM, AUGUST 18, 2016, BY TRIBUNE MEDIA WIRE


VICTORIA, British Columbia – A cat viciously attacked seven pit bulls and a woman Monday, sending one of the dogs to the veterinarian and the pup’s owner to the emergency room.

Kyla Grover, of Victoria, British Columbia, said she was out with a walking group called Pit Bulls of Victoria B.C. Monday night when the cat, named Baby, charged them.

“The cat is swiping at them and latched onto one of the dog’s faces,” Grover told the Victoria Times Colonist. “I got bit and scratched in the process of trying to separate them.”

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d618abe4be.png
Rodriguez took her pit bull Bandida to the veterinarian after a cat attack her dog and six others. (Javiera Rodriguez)

“I spent the whole night at emergency because cat bites are nasty.”

The Times Colonist reported that the cat’s owner agreed to foot a $222 veterinarian bill for one of the dogs, Bandida, which ended up with a scratched face.

The cat’s owner, 78-year-old Betty Jean Thompson, said that the cat was startled when one of the dogs showed a friendly interest.

“She’s kind of a slow sort of thinking cat, but one thing is she is very protective of me,” Thompson said.


Cat named "Baby" attacks 7 pit bulls, sending one to vet and owner to ER | New York's PIX11 / WPIX-TV

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6a597a2497.jpg

Bravo Baby! Pit bulls are good for muddying up the gene pool and nothing else.

Now did the dogs go through the old ladys yard or something?

To be fair, they're reasonably good at tearing the arms off of middle-aged women.

Florida woman who was viciously attacked by FOUR pit bulls loses her left arm | Daily Mail Online

Since social protocol dictates that you must blame the owner, and not the dog, in such attacks, I guess we have to blame the victim on this one.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...93c837052a.png

James Cudmore, a police officer, halted traffic as a cat transported five kittens, one by one, across Lafayette Street in Manhattan in 1925.




'Dat camber.

took my kitty to the vet yesterday for her very late annual exam. everything looks great but the doc says "i hear a gallup rhythm in her heart"

the internets say it's related to cardiomyopathy but if I want to know for sure, I have to drop $700 on a cardiologist exam. then they will tell me "oh there's nothing you can really do to stop it anyway"

so I guess I keep an eye on her and just ... who knows.

kitty doesn't have any symptoms in terms of activity level or abnormal behavior. she was SUPER lovey about 20 minutes after getting home from the vet which is good.

Maybe Connie gave Abby hers? as hers went away.

it wasn't dr house so I will take her back to dr house next time.

and the last kitty I had with a murmur at least did not die from the murmur.