Tag Archives: infection

Back to the Vet for Chris

My wife noticed around the middle of last week that Chris’s eye looked a little pink. She had some eye medication from another time that Chris or one of our other cats had an eye infection so we put that in Chris’s eye for a couple of days but it didn’t seem to help. I made an appointment for him on Thursday and on Friday afternoon I brought him to the vet.

Our concern was that it was pink eye or something like that and he would spread it to the other cats but the vet didn’t seem to think it was contagious. He asked me if he was scratching his eye, which I hadn’t noticed. It didn’t occur to me until later that maybe the problem was caused by a scratch.

Whatever the issue, he gave us a tube of medicine and we have been putting it in his eye. He hates it when we do that and he also hates it when I put medicine in his ears and now we have to do both. In two days I have not noticed much of an improvement. Hopefully it will get better before we have to leave for West Virginia.

If all goes well, and so far it hasn’t, we will be closing on Wednesday and leaving on Thursday morning.

Also, my computer has been acting up lately and today it won’t start. I tried using my rescue disk but that doesn’t work either so I posted this using my phone. I am not a big fan of working from my phone so I may not be as active for a while but I will try to keep you posted about our move.

Puck’s Problem Gets Worse

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Our cat Puck has been peeing on the floor for the past several weeks now in addition to the pooping on the floor that has been going on for a couple of years. Regular readers know that he developed a bladder infection that started the problem but after getting better, the peeing continued.

Our living room is now a sea of pee pads.

The vet put Puck on Prozac a couple of weeks ago but getting him to take it has been hard. I don’t want to add to his stress by shoving it down his throat so I put it in his food. Unfortunately, he eats only half of his food, or less, when there is a crushed up pill in it. It is actually only a half of a very small pill so it surprises me that he even notices it. Putting it in tuna helps but giving cats tuna every day is not healthy.

Tuesday evening I noticed a couple of half-dollar size spots of pee on the floor and knew Puck’s bladder issue had returned. We made an appointment for the vet this morning but I have to be at work so my wife will be taking him in. Hopefully, if we get his bladder problem resolved he will start using the box again.

What Are We Going To Do About Puck?

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Thursday evening I got home from work just before my wife and I helped her bring some of her stuff in the house. I had her bag with her laptop and other stuff as well as her lunch bag. I set the laptop bag on our bed and as I was walking out of our bedroom I noticed water on the floor. The water looked clear so I thought I spilled her Yeti cup but it was empty. Of course, it could have been empty because I spilled it.

The water looked clear so I thought I spilled her Yeti cup but it was empty. Of course, it could have been empty because I spilled it. I wiped up the water and smelled it but didn’t smell anything so it remained a mystery.

Early the next morning, around 3:30 or so, Rose got up to use the bathroom and let Puck in the bedroom on her return trip. Puck is fine in the bedroom, unlike Chris. He usually just sleeps at my feet. This particular morning he was a bit restless, moving from my feet to my head and eventually lying down somewhere in the middle, on top of my arm. Suddenly my had felt very hot and, in my half-awake state, I thought there was something wrong with Puck, like he was running a fever or something.

Then it hit me and I was fully awake instantaneously. I announced very loudly, “Puck is peeing on the bed!’ and then got up so fast I scared him away.

Now we had to get up and pull the sheets off the bed and wash them and put new sheets on. I also found more pee on our laminate floor. I wiped it up and this time I could smell it was pee.

Friday I came home to more pee on the floor and I even found poop on the living room floor, though I don’t remember when I found that. Puck’s problem has always been pooping outside the box, which we have not been able to stop, except briefly, for a couple of years. I was always grateful that he didn’t pee on the floor and the poop was always on the tile floor next to the box (except when he pooped on the couch).

Saturday morning I found pee on the floor in the living room. It was next to a table with a glass to that holds a large lamp. It was quite the pain to take it apart so I could clean the bottom of it.

I left a message on the Vet’s answering machine Friday evening to ask for a Saturday appointment. I called them just before they opened that morning and she said I could have an 8 a.m. appointment if I could get there in seven minutes. We walked through their doors at 8:00 exactly. Puck was not happy to be there and wouldn’t come out of his carrier.

The vet tech examined Puck in their secret back room lab and brought him back with the top off his carrier.

I picked him up and let him lie on my lap for a while but he was nervous and go off my lap so he could hide behind me.

The vet said they found some bacteria and crystals in his urine and gave him – you guessed it – steroids and antibiotics.

Some of you probably know that every time I bring a cat to the vet I make some kind of a joke about how I could be a vet if I only had steroids and antibiotics because all feline ailments are caused by a steroid and antibiotic deficiency. I joke about it but it is really kind of sad. We also got some Hills urinary canned for to try to help break up the crystals. Hopefully, that will help but nobody likes it much so perhaps not.

I cleaned one of the litter boxes later that day and put in fresh litter and put it in a different location. My thought was that he may be associating pain while peeing with the litter boxes and new litter and a new location might help. I also bought a refill for our Feliway plug in and plugged that in between the patio and living room.

It did help, at first. Puck peed in the box as soon as I poured the litter into it . . . then he peed on the floor two hours later.

I had a half-bottle of Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract that I bought for Pucks pooping problem. It didn’t work for that but I put it in the boxes with hopes it would work for pee. It didn’t.

Now we are going to have to lock all our cats on the patio while we are at work. I hate to do that but if pee stays on our laminate floor all day it will ruin it. Also, maybe close proximity to the litter boxes will help.

Update: This morning, shortly after this post published, I woke up to find pee on the floor in the living room. I then found something worse. Despite the obstacles we keep in his way, Puck pooped and peed on our sofa. We keep a cover on it for the poop but the pee soaks through.

Another Vet Visit For Frankie

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When we adopted our kitten, Floki, on the fourth of July, he had a slight problem with his eye. Along with the kitten, we received a tube of ointment that we had to put in his eye several times a day. Not exactly a good start in the bonding process.

Meanwhile, Frankie had a sneezing problem. It’s not a new problem. We brought him to the vet in February and the said it was a respiratory infection and gave him the standard steroids and antibiotics that all vets give for all problems (read about it here). Not long after we brought the kitten home we noticed that he would sneeze once in a while. We weren’t sure if he caught the problem from Frankie or if he already had it.

On Wednesday, maybe Thursday morning, we noticed Frankie seemed to have the same problem with his eye as Flokie did, although by then Flokie was almost better. I called vet that Frankie went to for his Urinary Track Infection but they could not get him in until late Monday. Since I was at work, I texted Rose the information and their phone number but did not hear back from her about it.

By Thursday evening, Frankie’s eye was worse and his sneezing attacks were also more frequent so I left a message with his other vet, the one that didn’t cure his sneezing problem, and was able to get him an appointment at 8:40 on Friday morning.

Since I had to go to work, Rose followed me to the vet, which is very close to our house. We got there around 8:30 and they ushered us into an exam room. Once inside I opened Frankie’s carrier but he was hesitant to come out. I think the sound at the end of the video below is the door opening, which is why the video is so short.

Frankie refused to come out for the vet tech so we had to take the top of the carrier off.

She carried him into the back room to get his weight and conduct super-secret experiments on him before bring him back. He quickly settled back into his carrier where, I suppose, he felt most comfortable.

A few minutes later the vet walked in and Frankie immediately hissed at her. I’m not sure why but maybe he remembered her from his last visit, or it could be she did something to him minutes before behind closed doors.

She mentioned something about his eye infection possibly being from herpes or a few other things I don’t remember. I also heard the word “ulcer.” She put some kind of dye in his eye to better see any scratches, which she did find one.

At that point it was 9:00 and I had to leave for work. When I got home it seemed that Rose didn’t have a clear idea what was wrong with him. Some kind of infection, which we already knew. She said he got a shot of antibiotics (shocking) and antibiotic eye drops as well as pain relieving ointment that we have to put in his eye several times a day.

This morning his eye seemed the same and his sneezing was worse because now there was drops of blood everywhere. Of course, I didn’t expect him to get better overnight.

Here is Frankie after 3 p.m. this afternoon.

I just don’t like that our cats get antibiotics, steroids and who knows what else every time they go to the vet. Those antibiotics have got to wreck havoc on their digestive systems. That is probably why Frankie is so susceptible to illness. They solve a problem in the short term but create long term health issues.

Chris is our oldest and fattest cat and has never been to the vet for a health related issue (knock on wood). He has been vaccinated a couple of times because it was mandatory for residence in a couple of places that we moved in to, but he never received an antibiotic, steroid, or anything else for that matter. Hmmm… I wonder why Chris is not sneezing?

I like and respect veterinarians and I think sometimes their services are invaluable, but other times I wonder why I keep going. What do you think? Am I being unfair to vets?

Frankie Visits the Vet

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Frankie has been having sneezing attacks for a couple of weeks now and I avoided taking him to the vet because I didn’t think there was much they could do about a cold. After about a week he was sneezing less but a few days ago he started sneezing again. This time there was a lot of Phlegm that went with it. It wasn’t long before we had cat snot all over the house.

Sometime late Friday or early Saturday we noticed a little blood mixed with the mucus on a closet door near where Frankie just sneezed. We decided then that a vet visit was required but Saturday was the only day we could bring him so I called Puck’s latest vet as soon as they opened to see if they could squeeze him in. Unfortunately, they were already overbooked and they closed at noon so I had to try another vet.

I called Puck’s first vet and they were able to squeeze him in that morning. I liked that vet but I prefer vets that only use drugs as a last resort.

Chris was fighting with Frankie most of the morning and we even had to lock Frankie in our bedroom while we went out to bring Rose’s car to the shop. When we got home and let Frankie out, Chris started picking on him again so we decided to leave with Frankie a bit early. Rose was able to go with me to the vet this time and she picked up Frankie and put him in the carrier. When she picked him up, he let out a noise that made me think she was hurting him.

After the short drive to the vet we waited about five minutes in the waiting room. Someone brought in a cat in a bunny cage and that got Frankie’s attention.

They then moved us to an exam room and I opened up Frankie’s door but he was hesitant to come out.

When the vet tech came in to look at him she decided to take the top off the carrier and leave him in it.

She had to remove him to get his weight.

Then it was back into the carrier.

They did have to take him out again to take his temperature, (which was 104.4 instead of the normal 102.5) and then back into the carrier again.

I don’t remember her telling us exactly what was wrong with him but I think it is a respiratory infection. She gave him a steroid and an antibiotic and sent us on our way.

I am starting to see a pattern here. Almost every vet I have been to solves almost every condition with steroids and antibiotics. I’m not sure what the point of going to veterinary school is if all problems are caused by a steroid and/or antibiotic deficiency. After they learn that, what do they do with the rest of their time?