There is a lot going on here, cat-wise. I feel like we are running a cat nursing home and it sucks. 🙁
Scar has been on antibiotics twice because he's been shitting diarrhea in the carpet daily for like, probably the last 6 weeks at this point. (Shaun bought a hand-held carpet shampooer because it's basically a necessity right now.) Scar has been to the vet several times and their solution last week was steroids since they found some inflammation in his small intestine via imaging. It hasn't helped yet, but he's still taking his meds. Today we had another appointment and they asked how he was doing. When we told him that there had been no changes, they prescribed an antibiotic to go with the steroid.
Balthazar has been hacking up giant green loogies everywhere. He has not felt well in a while. It started with congestion and we thought he had a cold. After it didn't pass we took him to the vet. He got put on antibiotics and gained some weight back. Then the loogies started and we were like "Maybe he's just coughing the crud out?" Anyway, it continued and he looked like he felt bad so we took him back to the doctor and he was on antibiotics twice. He finished his second round of medication on Friday. Saturday he was back to coughing up loogies. So now he's on his THIRD ROUND of antibiotics.
Toebean has been crying every time he yawns, so of course that is not ok. We took him to the vet and he has a tooth that is fractured and resorbing. I wasn't able to go to that appointment, but the vet gave him antibiotics and pain meds. The treatment for that (according to Google) is to usually pull the tooth, so I don't know why that wasn't offered and now the vet is out (starting tomorrow) for paternity leave for 6 weeks. The other vet in the practice that we'd been using is out of state with an on-going family situation, so we don't know if or when he'll be back.
Sindar is (of course) medicated daily for her high blood pressure. Her sight hasn't returned to what it was so she is still very sight-impaired. She is closing in on at least 16 years old so we're watching her carefully. Some of her little joints have started clicking and she's moving very slowly, so we took her to be seen today and she has arthritis - big shock. So now she's on pain meds and we'll see how that goes.
Today it wasn't great. She took her pill like a good girl, but it wasn't long before she was DRUNK. She circled me in my work chair a few times before I called Shaun up to watch her while I worked because she was running into things (because she can't see) and I didn't want her to hurt herself. Current status is that she is passed out, thank goodness. The vet said we could play with her dosage until it's right for her, so we will try that. But there are monthly injections that might be better and I feel like I might prefer that. But our vet is away after today so we'll have to survive for 6 weeks on the pain pill.
Adrian has been crying every time she goes into the litter box to pee for the last few days, so I'm concerned that she has a UTI. I'm calling another vet tomorrow because she's not waiting 6 weeks until our vet returns to be seen.
And last but not least, Calypso has pretty much run out of options about her breathing / asthma and probably the next step for her will be an inhaler. She has had her crazy loud breathing for years, but no vet has ever been able to stop it. This is the first one who mentioned an inhaler. So anyway, maybe we can address that when the vet returns. It doesn't seem pleasant for her, but also not an emergency. We keep a close eye on her.
So we're medicating a shit-ton of cats daily. I know that none of them are young, but having so many get sick in some way all at once / in a short time span actually sucks pretty bad. We've already lost 2 this year and I'm hoping that we don't lose anyone else, but my heart is scared and I don't see us getting that lucky.
Anyway, I just needed to get that out. It's pretty heavy and both me and Shaun slept like shit and woke up sad today.
