Trees And Other Things

Me neither! He would turn into Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and all those Kung Fu dudes and dudettes, if I tried to cover his eyes.

 

This explains the song Bohemian Rhapsody.

"Freddie Mercury had a total of 10 cats. His cats were his family. He made sure each cat had his or her own Christmas stocking filled with treats and toys."

Bohemian Rhapsody: Freddie Mercury and His Cats, a Love Story

He must have been trying to put one in a carrier at the time he wrote that song.

 

I got a chance to try the battery lawn mower on leaves Thursday. It came with a mulching blade installed. I don't think any other mower I've owned had one of those blades. The cutting height had to be set low to get most of the leaves, because it doesn't vacuum them up like the lifting blade should do. What leaves it does get just disappear, so it does a good job of mulching them.

I think you need to use either the side discharge, or the bag, with the lifting blade. The side discharge somewhat defeats the purpose of "vacuuming up" the leaves, because it spreads the debris all over the yard. This might be a good time to try bagging something (leaves). Doing it once a year would not be too much trouble. At least you wouldn't have to pull a cord to start the mower every time you empty the bag.

I need to put that lifting blade on the mower and try the bag. The problems with the cat are making me not want to do anything lately.

 

I’ve been using mulching mowers for decades. Our latest one was an electric, served me well. The estate clean out guy picked it up along with a lot of other stuff from our garage to take to auction. No more mowing, leaf blowing, snow blowing, chipper/shredding, weed whacking, chain sawing. Done, kaput.

 

(12/3/23) Sunday

Unexpected turn of events

Thursday night "The Cat" ate some regular wet cat food then quickly threw it up. From then on she quit eating and drinking anything. The surprise came when I put some food in front of her nose Saturday and she started gagging without even touching it. I think she had associated every food with whatever is causing her to gag. Goats sometimes refuse to eat anything more than one time when they are sick, even if the food has nothing to do with their illness, because they associate that food with feeling sick. It's how they learn to avoid eating poisonous plants.

I wrote a long post to convince myself it was a good idea to take the cat to the Vet School ER Sunday, even though they don't do dental. Bottom line they would surely give her fluids, and fresh eyes may discover something no one thought of. Very lethargic in the morning. Almost in a daze. She didn't put up a fight and we arrived at the ER at 1:15 pm.

They drew blood again and said her creatinine levels were unusually high 3.0 (normal is < 1.6), indicating kidney problems. They suggested admitting her to the "hospital" and monitoring her food and water intake to see if the numbers went back to normal under controlled conditions. It could be the beginning of kidney failure, or just being dehydrated, not eating, unusual diet, etc. I decided to go for it.

She would be better off there than at home, because I was at a total loss what to do now. Maybe they will get to witness the gagging problem firsthand and come up with some ideas. If she has kidney disease, the sooner it's confirmed, the better. I remember her blood work, just before this surgery, was described as "perfect" for her age. Her creatinine levels one year ago were 1.7. Hopefully it's an aberration.

Just as an afterthought, I asked why they didn't offer dental at the ER. The girl said when the new Vet School complex opened, they converted a building in the old Complex into a dog/cat clinic (not ER, just a regular clinic with practicing veterinarians and student trainees). They do dentals there by appointment. This was news to me. When she gets released from the hospital, I'm going to try very hard to get her an appointment there for a second opinion.

Ten weeks of worrying about her on again/off again eating, and not being able to do anything to fix it, has been very depressing. What's been missing all along in my opinion is an old, experienced vet who has seen everything. Where is Dr. Pol when you need him? I sure hope someone can figure out something before Christmas break.

 

It's so hard to see them suffer. I hope they can help your kitty, Nancy.

 

Yes, it's that helpless frustration feeling.

There's been a flurry of activity this morning. First the doctor called from the ER hospital, saying she still would not eat, and if it didn't change soon, they were going to insert a feeding tube down her nose. After hydration another blood test showed creatine still at 3.0. They were about to do an ultrasound of her mid-section area, and would call back with preliminary results.

Then the assistant at the dental clinic called and said the doctor there would agree to some pain medication that you sprinkle on food. Great. The reason I asked was to see if it was pain that was causing her to not eat. A pain killer sprinkled on food the cat won't eat doesn't help much. Anyway I updated them on what happened and asked if they would fax the blood test results to the vet school for a base line.

Just now the UGA doctor called back and said they found some suspicious things on the ultrasound. Thickened intestine wall, could be IBS, or cancer. Tiny spots on her liver, and enlarged lymph nodes near the intestines. They asked permission to do a special less-invasive needle biopsy. They have a testing lab on site, so the results should be back by 5pm, and then they will call.

From the description of what all could be wrong, it sounds like that cat is a walking miracle just to be alive. I will be very surprised if the results are good.

 

I'm so sorry, Nancy. Hoping for good news. How old is your cat?

 

There is one thing that gives me a little hope. What is the probability all these things happened at the same time and coincidentally around the time of dental surgery. And there were no signs of any problems before her face swelled up from the abscessed tooth. We'll see.

ps. She will be 16 this coming April.

 

I hope things go well for your kitty. When you can see your pets in pain, you know they are hurting, because they hide their sickness and pain very well. Your kitty knows you are trying to make her better.

 

The diagnosis is small cell lymphoma of the GI tract. The spots on the liver are part of the same.

She will have to take an oral steroid pill every day forever. I can do that. It is slow growing, and steroids will work, until they don't work anymore. The Dr predicts an average survival time of 1 year. I'm not sure what "survival" means to her.

Of course it could have been better, but it could have been worse also (large cell lymphoma, which is fast growing with a poor prognosis).

The Dr admits it does not explain the gagging and pawing at the mouth. They are going to try feeding her every 2 hours, and will monitor for that. Will send her to the other UGA clinic for head X-rays if it doesn't stop.

She is going to have to try to eat with a feeding tube stuck in her nose at the same time tonight. They claim she is tolerating that tube very well. Do they have the right cat? They will call in the morning and tell me how it went.

I've been reading what I can find about it. "Lymphoma does not cause acute pain. More commonly it causes a cat to feel tired and under the weather."

I hope this is all written down somewhere. She hit me with so much information in a 17 minute long phone call, I couldn't digest it all.

 

Hugs to you and your kitty.

 

I would think that if you told the vet you would be recording the diagnosis, that she would either be more generous with the details....or much more vague.