Tag: Veterinarian

Update: Still Not Himself

First I want to thank everyone for their concern and encouraging words. There are regular commenters here and I’m extremely appreciative of their feedback, but I also know only a small fraction of readers leave comments and I can see from the stats that lots of people in many different countries — a surprising number of them — read the blog. I don’t know who you are, just that you’re out there, so it’s nice to hear from some of you and to see new names for the first time.

Buddy and I are appreciative of all the well-wishes.

As for Bud, he yowled quite a bit on the way home and made it clear he didn’t enjoy the veterinarian, which I took as a good sign. If he’s complaining, he must feel at least a little better. It’s the laying motionless with eyes half closed and not saying a peep that’s scary.

One of the first things the vet said when she examined him is “I don’t like the way he looks,” so I’m glad I brought him in. There is no question that he needed help.

When we got home, Bud didn’t need an invitation to leave his carrier. I put down fresh wet food and water and he ate a very small amount, the first time he’d eaten all day. A good sign.

After a little while I sat down on the couch, Bud climbed up under his own power and he slept in my lap.

However, he did not get up when I turned the TV off and went to bed. I decided to pick him up and bring him into the bedroom. I didn’t want to leave him there by himself. I want to keep a close eye on him and I know if he wasn’t hurting he would have jumped off the couch and followed me immediately, meowing to remind me to put some dry food in his bowl in case he gets hungry while he’s sleeping. (That always reminded me of a line by Mrs. Garrett to Arnold Drummond in Diff’rent Strokes: “I packed an extra lunch for you, in case you get hungry while you’re eating.”)

Once again, Buddy didn’t object to being picked up, which is unusual for him.

He hasn’t made a peep since the yowling in the car, which is jarring because normally he doesn’t stop trilling, meowing and chirping.

“Brrrrrrrt! Look! Birds! Birdies!!! Brrrrr! Brrrrr! Snack! I want a snack! Gimme a snack now! Brrrrrrruuuupppp! Watch me! Watch me run, Big Bud! YEOW!!!”

Bud remains lethargic, he’s not purring even when I rub his head and he’s quiet, but on the positive side he’s not throwing up or yowling in pain.

As Julie B wrote in the comments of the last post: “You worry so much when they age.”

At one point the vet said Bud, at nine years old, was “getting up there” to an age when some problems can begin to manifest.

I was about to interject, to say “No, he’s just a baby!” when I realized she’s right. Nine years old is the equivalent of 50 for cats. That seems impossible, but it’s true.

The other frustrating thing, as Carmen B noted in the comments, is the lack of specificity in diagnosis. All those examinations and bloodwork, and the only thing I know for sure is that a handful of common ailments have been eliminated as the cause. Is this a virus? Did he eat something he shouldn’t have? Are the symptoms indicative of an underlying health problem?

Frustratingly I don’t have answers. Bud’s an inside-only cat, and the closest he gets to the outdoors is laying on the balcony. Could he have eaten an insect that caused this? Could a foreign substance have been dropped from one of the balconies above? There are five floors above me, and it’s not unheard-of that sometimes things drop.

Now we’ll see if I can fool Buddy into taking his meds. He ate about 3/4 of a treat I gave him earlier but spat the 1/2 pill back out twice. (I had embedded the pill in the treat.) Does anyone have any experience with Greenies pill pockets? What about pillers, those plastic needle-looking things that allow you to essentially “shoot” the pill into a cat’s mouth?

P.S. Thanks to everyone who offered to help and suggested a GoFundMe. I know people use GoFundMe for good causes, but I would feel very strange saying “Hey, give me money!” If Bud requires more treatment and it’s expensive, I would consider some sort of Patreon setup where people can tip for extra content. Extra blog posts, analysis of cat-related news, things like that. Or maybe a 2024 Buddy Calendar featuring sizzling snaps of the handsome little guy lounging in a sizzling manner, sleeping and lounging some more. I would never gate the content, so it would remain available to everyone, but it would provide a way for people to tip an amount they choose. It’s too early to really think about that anyway. Right now the most important concern is Bud. I’ll update, hopefully with good news soon.

Little Dude Is Hurting

We are at the emergency vet. Buddy got sick early this morning and threw up, then threw up some more, and some more, most of it yellow bile.

He was vocalizing in obvious pain and distress and while I was able to soothe his stomach a bit with some catnip — enough that he eventually climbed on top of me and slept for a while — I got really worried when we woke up a few hours later, I got out of bed and he didn’t budge. He stayed there for almost two hours.

He never does that. He follows me to the bathroom first thing, always, and then starts meowing for food.

When he finally left the bed he was extremely lethargic, not at all like himself. He wouldn’t eat. His eyes were half closed, he didn’t respond when I rubbed his head, and I couldn’t feel him purring. The local vet couldn’t see him, so I took him to an emergency vet.

Buddy at the emergency vet

The good news is that it doesn’t look like he has anything obstructing his digestive track, a UTI or any of the usual culprits.

He doesn’t have a fever, which is also good, but he’s significantly dehydrated and there were some concerning signs in his blood work.

I knew he really wasn’t doing well when the nurses took blood and gave him the anti-nausea injection and he didn’t even bother to object. Normally he’d try to tear their faces off but this time he didn’t raise a paw. I’m not even sure it registered with him that there were large dogs and other cats in the open floor plan space, where staff hurried between stations with equipment and animals cradled in blankets.

This is not how it ends, not here and now. For that I am grateful. I’m taking him home after the vet gives Bud some sort of subdermal hydration treatment and meds to hopefully get him eating and drinking again.

The bad news is that the visit cost an eye-watering amount, more than three times what I expected in the worst case scenario, and that was without x-rays. Absolute madness.

what-do-we-say-game-of-thrones

On the other hand I realize I have a lot to be grateful for. I just watched a young girl crying and holding onto her mother as a veterinarian worked on her cat, who was severely injured and looked like she’d been hit by a car. In one of the private rooms, a family was saying goodbye to their dog.

All this is a reminder to be grateful for the time we have. I will update soon, hopefully with good news.

Austin Man Reunited With His Cat After Lyft Driver Took Off With Her

Tux the cat was found frightened, dehydrated and “covered in fleas.” It’s still not clear precisely what happened to her.

For a nightmarish 34-hour stretch, Palash Pandey thought he’d never see his cat again.

On Saturday afternoon the Austin man took a Lyft to an animal hospital in his city, got out of the car and was walking around to get his cat, Tux, out from under the passenger seat on the other side when the driver pulled away. Pandey ran after the car, yelling for the driver to stop.

“I like ran behind him, screaming like ‘wait, wait, wait,’ I banged on his windows hoping that he would notice me and just stop. But instead of that he just like, peeled off, he drove away,” Pandey told Austin NBC affiliate KXAN. “I don’t know how else you would perceive somebody who you just dropped off running behind you and banging on your windows and doors. I don’t know if there’s a charitable explanation for that.”

He sent a series of frantic messages to the driver through the Lyft app, offering to pay him to return Tux and begging for information, but didn’t hear back until several hours later when the driver texted: “she isn’t there, sorry”.

The driver said he didn’t see the carrier or the cat in the car, and said several riders he’d picked up later didn’t mention a cat either.

After Lyft’s live customer service wasn’t helpful, Pandey turned to Twitter and Reddit, explaining the situation in detail, providing information and asking people in Austin to share a missing cat flyer with Tux’s photo and information.

In the meantime Lyft’s CEO got involved, apologized for the poor initial response and devoted significant resources to the incident. The company sent alerts to all of its drivers and riders in the Austin area, notified police and dispatched its own staff to help find Tux.

Canvassing the area around the animal hospital and following tips from the public, Lyft’s team eventually tracked her down at about 1:30 a.m. Monday morning, spotting her in the rear of an office building a little more than a mile from the animal hospital. Tux was frightened and climbed a flight of stairs when the Lyft staffers approached, but they were able to wrap her in a t-shirt and get her into a carrier they’d brought with them.

Pandey was overjoyed to be reunited with Tux and thanked everyone who helped looked for her, but in an update said she was scared, “covered in fleas and dehydrated.” He said she was eating, which was a good sign, and he planned to bring her to the veterinarian on Monday.

However, the fact that Tux was found alone without her carrier, dirty and wandering near a busy road indicates someone intentionally took her, then dumped her like a hot potato after realizing thousands of people, the police and a corporate response team were looking for her.

The Lyft driver isn’t suspected of anything but perhaps poor customer service. He told his employers that he didn’t stop when Pandey began banging on his windows because he didn’t realize there was a cat in the car and thought Pandey had become belligerent for some reason.

Pandey believes the person who took Tux will be caught.

“F—ing coward saw what was coming for him and left her on the side of the road,” Pandey wrote on Reddit in an update. “There’s plenty of cameras around, he’s not going to get away with this.”

Photos of Tux/Credit: Palash Pandey

Did A Japanese Scientist Really Double Feline Lifespans?

A new story claims a Japanese immunologist has “created a miracle” with his treatment for cats.

The cat world is abuzz with a new report that hails the efforts of a Japanese scientist, claiming he’s “created a miracle” that can extend cat lifespans to 30 years.

The story on Bored Panda claims the drug has “astounding potential,” boasting “a level of efficacy that has exceeded all expectations and has the potential to revolutionize feline healthcare.” According to Bored Panda, we’re headed toward a gleaming future and “soon we will be able to grow old with our beloved pets and be grey together.”

“Cat Lovers Rejoice As New Medicine Will Extend Cat Lifespan To 30 Years,” the headline declares.

Okay, let’s dial it back a bit and break down what’s true and what’s not.

First and most obvious, the story oversells the treatment and if you’re counting on your cat living to 30, you’ll need to readjust your expectations.

That’s unfortunate because there’s a good story at the heart of this, and there may be real benefits to cats eventually.

Toru Miyazaki is an immunologist who discovered a protein that helps the kidneys flush out toxins. Eight years ago, he realized the protein — apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage, or AIM — doesn’t always work properly in felines, which is why so many cats are susceptible to kidney failure, especially when they reach age 10 or so.

The AIM protein, Miyazaki explained, launches from immunoglobin antibodies “like a jet fighter from an aircraft carrier,” removing waste and debris from the kidneys.

But in cats, sometimes the AIM protein — the fighter jet — is “too tightly bound” to the antibodies, meaning it doesn’t “launch” in the first place and can’t do its job of flushing out toxins.

Free cute european shorthair cat

Miyazaki was continuing his research into feline kidney failure while he was a professor at the University of Tokyo, but funding dried up in 2020 as the lion’s share of research money in immunology was directed toward addressing SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes, COVID-19.

When a Japanese newspaper published a story about Miyazaki having to abandon his research, donations came pouring in. Cat lovers across Japan donated an astounding $2.3 million, prompting Miyazaki to leave his post at the University of Tokyo and found a non-profit dedicated to tackling kidney disease in cats.

As of September 2023, Miyazaki’s organization is running clinical trials on his AIM therapy, and it has partnered with a Japanese pet food company on new food that is supposed to reduce the possibility of kidney disease.

There’s not enough data yet to make any definitive statement, and even if the data existed, the AIM therapy is not a cure: Miyazaki says if all goes well, kittens who are given AIM therapy injections from an early age, and eat a diet with the AIM-enhancing formula, could have their risk of developing kidney problems reduced and potentially live longer lives.

That’s a far cry from Bored Panda’s image of cat lovers dancing in the streets, joyous with news of a miracle pill that will allow Socks and Oreo to run around like kittens for three decades.

While it’s natural to be excited about the potential of AIM therapy, calling it a “miracle” that will “revolutionize feline healthcare” and allow us to grow old with our cats can give people false hope.

Even if the trials go perfectly and AIM therapy breezes through the approval process, the soonest the injection therapy could be available in Japan is 2025. The US, UK and Europe have their own regulatory agencies and clinical data requirements. That means it might help kittens born years from now, but it won’t double the lifespans of the cats we love now.

It’s also worth mentioning that not everyone is thrilled to hear Miyazaki has partnered with a pet food company that sells ultra-processed kibble. Over at bark&whiskers, Karen Shaw Becker — a veterinarian who specializes in preventative care — points out that ultra-processed dry food is thought to be a major contributor to the feline kidney problems, with the ingredients, rendering methods and lack of moisture (water) all posing health hazards to cats. Cats have low thirst drives and get most of their hydration from meat.

While Becker writes she’s watching the trials closely, like other veterinarians, she recommends cat lovers continue to feed their furry friends wet and/or fresh food with high quality ingredients, no fillers and lots of protein.

Do You ‘Pspsps’ To Your Furry Friend? Plus: An Obit For Miles The Cat

Do you use “pspsps” to get your cat’s attention?

Apparently a lot of people use the “pspsps” thing to get their cats’ attention, and Mental Floss has a new story proposing some theories about why people use it and why cats respond.

The first and most obvious is that felines hear higher frequencies than humans, and they’re especially tuned into those frequencies because their usual prey — including rodents and birds — not only make noises in the higher ranges, they make noise us humans can’t hear, but felid ears are primed to pick up.

Mental Floss’s Ellen Gutoskey also points out that it could be “a truncation of ‘Here, pussy, pussy, pussy’—popularized in part by ‘Pussy, Pussy, Pussy,’ a 1930s song by the Light Crust Doughboys. In fact, the tempo is fast enough that it almost sounds like they’re singing ‘Pspsps.”

I think she could be onto something there unless the “pspsps” sound is universal, but truthfully I have no clue whether people in other countries, or outside the English-speaking world, use it to call their cats. I don’t and never really needed to. Bud comes when called a good 85 percent of the time, and if he doesn’t I usually assume it’s for good reason, like he’s having a nice nap or he has no current use for his servant.

Miles the cat

The Guardian’s Hannah James Parkinson writes about adopting Miles, the shelter’s most skittish cat who had been passed over time and again until she came along.

Earning Miles’ trust wasn’t easy, but Parkinson did it with time, patience and love, and eventually Miles became her little buddy and even came out of his shell enough to make friends with another neighborhood cat.

milesthecat
Credit: Hannah Jane Parkinson

Unfortunately Miles got hurt, infected and died while he was outside overnight. Parkinson doesn’t say if the little guy got hit by a car, but the description of his initial injury is consistent with it.

The indoor vs outdoor thing is a thorny issue. I saw it as a more black-and-white problem until hearing from several readers who live in places like farmland or very quiet neighborhoods where the chance of a cat getting hit is small.

I don’t begrudge anyone making what they think is the best choice for their cat(s), except maybe for Australians and New Zealanders. Seriously, guys, bring those cats in before sadistic “hunters” get them in their crosshairs or they nibble on the poisoned meat that both governments like to use to “manage” the cat population. Neither country seems overly concerned with pet cats getting caught up in their zealous extirpation campaigns, and when birders are this riled up it’s best not to take chances anyway. If your cat isn’t spending time outdoors, it can’t be blamed for killing local wildlife.

I love dogs, but…

The Daily Mail has a horrific story about a pair of unleashed rottweilers that followed a woman into her home as she was carrying groceries and mauled her two pet cats to death in front of her traumatized children.

The attack happened around noon on Aug. 30 in a small town in the UK’s Western Midlands. The dogs came bounding in and snatched one of the cats off the kitchen counter, then mauled the other. The ginger tabby died immediately, either from shock or his severe injuries, while the other lived long enough to make it to the vet, who said the little tuxedo couldn’t be saved.

The woman told the newspaper her kids are having nightmares about the attack, while the police response was underwhelming to say the least, especially because the cats weren’t the only animals attacked by the roaming rottweilers.

“We were called to Raglan Way, Chelmsley Wood (on August 30) to reports of two dogs attacking another dog. The injured dog was taken to the vets to be treated,” a police spokesman told the paper. “The owners of the two dogs were spoken to and were taken back home to be secured by the owners. We have asked neighbourhood officers to speak to the dog’s owners regarding securing the animal, and will consider any further steps that need to be taken to ensure public safety.”

The owners of the dogs “were spoken to.” Wow. Let no one say the West Midlands Police don’t have a sense of scale. Perhaps if it happens again they’ll send a stern letter.

I hope the resulting media stories, and the beginning of the attack caught on a home security camera, lead to enough pressure that the police take the incident seriously and the owners of the dogs have to face consequences. There’s nothing prohibitive about talking to them. The only way irresponsible people are going to leash their dogs, especially dogs capable of this kind of thing, is if the consequences for not doing so are sufficiently prohibitive to make them think twice.

Finally, here’s a video of a cute baby kookaburra to balance out all that horribleness: