Tag: Cat Scouts
Mommy put da purrezzies unner da twee fur Christmas. But only after we did a little sniffin’ of ‘em first. Weez not know what to say udder than Fank You. Weez weally purreciate all yous dun. Weez hope to weveal da name of this pawsum cat scout on Christmas, we just need to find out da wules first. Tuesday Mewsday
Happy Tuesday to you all. Guess you wealized by now me gave mommy da day off yesfurday. Me didn’t post or visit. As me told you Sunday it turned weally cold here and mommy was alweady feelin’ a bit under da wedder so da jamboree weally zapped mommy. So we took yesfurday and mostly just purred. Mommy had a new case manager come to visit for a couple hours and then we braved the cold to go and get her medicines. And let me tell you it wuz COLD!!! But now dat mommy had a day, weez’ll be back at it. Postin’ and visitin’ and spweadin’ da luv. We got sum supwises in da mail dat weez gunna be shawin’ wiff yous soon, but mommy’s gotta get all da fotos in da puter first.
Me fawt today me wuld show you sum fotos of ow furbulous jamboree at Cat Scouts. We had a cheerleading contest, a knowledge bowl, a tent decowatin’ contest and so much more. We had a wunnewful time. It’s always fun when you get to spend time wiff furiends.
Me and sis lexi and mommy also wanted to ask you all ifin you wuld like to receive a lectwonic Christmas cawd fwum us. Ifin so, purrlease visit ow Contact Us page and send us an email wiff yous addwess.
Till da nex time……………..Be Blest!!!
Luv and Hugs and Kitty Kisses
Dezi and Lexi
Lucky’s Silence Cost…
Meowllo everybody Lexi here and in charge for one more day. Dezi will be coming back from all the fun at the Cat Scout Jamboree today, so I’m going to wrap up our series on UTI’s. I saved Lucky’s story for today because I wanted you all to have a better understanding of this horrid disease, and we needed to prepare ourselves to relive it in writing.
Lucky was born on April 1st in 1999. He was 28 days older than me. And of course from a completely different litter, mother and father. Mommy rescued him and his 2 brothers when they were 2 weeks old. He was a feisty little kitten and took to mommy right away. And when I came into the picture we became inseparable. He was a great helper for mommy, and another rather large boy. He was a flame point Siamese and very chatty. He and mommy would carry on conversations for hours at a time. And he was a huge mommy’s boy. He would follow mommy everywhere. Altho’ I love to sit in mommy’s lap, Lucky wasn’t big on lap laying. But he would always squeeze into the chair or whatever mommy was sitting on so he could be close to her. We moved with mommy quite a few times in our lives till we ended up where we are now. And he was a happy kitty who just enjoyed life.
We both had yearly checkups at the vet and always left with a good report. That’s why his death came as such a shock to us. Let me just say Lucky and me loved to eat. We never wanted to miss a meal. And anytime we didn’t feel good, we wanted mommy to hold us and pray over us which is not typical cat behavior. Normally when a cat is unwell it will hide. Not us tho’, mommy just says it’s because of our unique bonds. So one night 10 years ago December 22 mommy started getting our dinner together and called for us as she always did. Naturally I came running and sat watching mommy prepare our dinner. But Lucky didn’t come to the kitchen. Mommy called and called to him and nothing. Not even a meow. Member I said he wuz really chatty. So mommy told me to wait a minute and she went to look for Lucky.
In the bedroom under mommy’s jewelry box Lucky lay. Mommy asked him if he was hungry, which always elicited a loud deep meow. But not this time. He just looked up at her. So mommy reached down and gave him a pat on his head and picked up all 36 pounds of him and carried him to the kitchen. Once there she sat him down and went back to preparin’ our dinner. There was a box in the floor that we had been playing in. Mommy looked over and Lucky was trying to balance on the edge. He made no sound and had no expression that said something was wrong. So mommy brought us our plates. Lucky ate a couple of bites but continued to go to the box and try to balance on it. After a few times, finally he left a drop of urine in the box. Only it wasn’t urine he left, but blood. Mommy had been a vet tech a very long time ago and when she saw the blood she panicked. She grabbed the phone and Lucky and called the VET who said to bring him in immediately.
Once they arrived at the VETs office Lucky and mommy were rushed to a room and tests began as well as questions. The typical ones, you know, How long has he been straining? How many times a day does he use the litter box. What size were the clumps in the litter box, has he gone outside the box and, has he been yowling?. Unfortunately mommy’s answers were, “this was the first time I noticed anything was wrong. He ate fine this morning and had a great litter box deposit.” Lucky was poked and palpated and x-rayed and finally the VET came back and said he had a complete blockage. It appeared as tho’ he had scar tissue that had developed over the years and it had almost completely closed his urethra. Mommy begged the VET to fix him and was told he really needed surgery but that couldn’t be done until he was stabilized. She wanted to put a catheter in and let him release the toxins in his bladder and hope they hadn’t already traveled throughout his urinary tract which could end up causing liver failure. Our VET at the time new mommy’s financial situation and so she developed a course of action that required mommy to take Lucky home and watch his catheter and force him to drink water. She wouldn’t discuss payment arrangements with mommy. She said she wanted to try the catheter and see what happens. She told mommy that she couldn’t afford the surgery nor could she afford to leave him at the clinic because they were going to be charging holiday rates for any animal in the clinic until after the new year. At that time mommy had never really dealt with this type of thing before and had no idea how serious it was, much less that it could be deadly. And the VET wasn’t actually giving her any other options.
Assuming our VET had Lucky’s best interest at heart and was trying to help mommy out, she didn’t argue. She brought Lucky back home with his catheter and instructions to put newspaper in the litter box and bring him back in the next day. They were going to be closed for Christmas on the 24th and 25th. Lucky seemed miserable but never once cried out. The next day December 23rd mommy and Lucky again went off to the VET. Not much had changed, and the vet sent mommy and Lucky home once more with instructions to force feed and force water into him. Mommy pleaded with the Vet for something else to help him. She just kept saying there had to be something they could do to help him and take away the pain. The vet told mommy she didn’t have the money for those kinds of treatments and that’s why people in her situation shouldn’t have animals. Mommy cried and cried and tried to force Lucky to eat and drink and we prayed and prayed over him so that he wouldn’t be in pain and he would get better. Mommy called around to other VETs but being the Christmas holidays they had all closed and weren’t seeing new patients on an emergency basis. And mommy new she didn’t have the money if one had actually said yes. I know my mommy, and she woulda gone even without the money if one had said yes. But according to “everyone” we were seeing the best VET for cats in town.
And then at 3:22 a.m. on December 25th Lucky crawled from mommy’s lap to the litter box and collapsed and died. Following his death mommy researched like crazy and learned everything she could about this horrible illness. She could never find an explanation for why Lucky had scar tissue in the first place, Nor could she determine when if ever he had been stricken with a UTI in the past. How could every VET we had ever seen not have known this? Lucky’s death left us with no answers, only questions. It also almost destroyed mommy because all she could hear over and over again, was the VETs words that people in her situation (poverty stricken) shouldn’t have animals. It wasn’t the first time mommy had been told this, and most certainly wouldn’t be the last. So mommy blamed herself for Lucky’s demise.
Of course we found a new VET after that and mommy did make it as did I, but we were both lost for a very long time. We still miss Lucky but are so grateful that he is no longer in pain, and awaits us in heaven. And mommy named UTI’s the Silent Killer. They can happen to any animal at any time, for no apparent reason. And they can go from mild to deadly in just a few short hours. So again we say to you, if you suspect your cat or other animal is sick or having trouble eliminating/urinating, DON’T WAIT!!! GO TO THE VETRANARIAN ASAP!!! It could mean the difference between life and death. Lucky’s silence cost mommy a piece of her heart, but it cost him his life.
We had hoped to have tried this by now, but we’ve had a lot of other things going on and haven’t had the chance. We would be remiss if we didn’t tell you about it tho’. There is a new litter on the market that claims to be able to alert you to problems with a cats urinary tract. And if you order right now, you can get a 1 month supply (14 pounds) for free, just pay $4.95 shipping and handling. Mommy says that if you’ve ever gone through this before, there is no price to high to pay for an early warning. If you’re interested in the Perfect Litter, you may order it here and try it for yourself. We truly hope that we have helped someone and their beloved furry to avoid going thru what we had to with Lucky. Thank you all for reading the blog while Dezi was gone. I know she misses all of you and will be glad to be posting again. We are joining Athena’s Caturday Art Blog Hop. You can see lots of other great photos around today. Have a great Caturday.
And we have a favor to ask of you. Our sweet furiend Nylablue has come to a turning point and isn’t doing well at all. We would ask you to purray fur her and her mommy Miss Sherri Ellen. Fank you.
Till the next time……………Be Blest!!!
Luv and Hugs and Kitty Kisses
Lexi and Cat Scout Dezi
The Silent Killer pt. 1
Meow all, Lexi here with ya’ today. If you remember Dezi is off with the cat scouts having fun with a jamboree. But never fear she left the blog in my paws and I won’t steer ya’ wrong. After all, we have the same mommy. Anyways, we wanna address something very serious over the next couple of days, so that’s why the blog is being written in all human speak. We don’t want to take a chance that somebody can’t understand it and then has to go thru what we did when it could have been avoided. As Dezi has told you, I lost my brofur Lucky to a UTI. A lot of you have never dealt with this, and for that we are so grateful. But over the next couple of days we’re going to be dealing with what mommy calls “The Silent Killer”.
- I loved my brofur very much!
UTI’s or Urinary Tract Infections are more common than you might think, and are completely curable. So why then did I lose my brofur Lucky you ask? That’s why mommy calls it the Silent Killer. I will be telling his story, but first I would like to give you more information on this potentially fatal illness. I do want to preface this by saying altho’ we will be referring to this as a feline disease and we will be focusing on cats, this post in it’s entirety applies to all animals; dogs, rabbits, pigs, etc..
I’ll start by giving you all the definition of a UTI. It’s a bacterial, fungal, viral or algal infection developing anywhere along the animals urinary tract. The urinary tract consists of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, urethra and/or prostate gland (applies to males only). The urethra is the tube from the bladder to the outside that urine travels through. They can also be called FLUTD (Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease), FUS (Feline Urologic Syndrome), FIC (Feline Idiopathic Cystitis), and Interstitial Cystitis. Now if those aren’t some big words…And since it covers such a large area and can go by so many names are you starting to see why mommy calls it the Silent Killer? It could be as simple as stress to stones or a complete blockage of the urethra. Altho’ UTI’s are more common in males, females are not immune. If you look at the photos, you will be able to see why males are more prone to a blockage. The urethra is longer and has a rather large bend in it whereas a females urethra is shorter and has an almost direct route to the outside.
- Male Urinary Tract
- Female Urinary Tract
What are the causes of this horrid disease you ask? Let me tell you what 2 different websites have to say, and you’ll really start to understand mommy’s frustration. Pet MD says UTI’s can be caused by Stones, Crystals, a urethral plug, bladder inflammation, injury, incontinence from excessive water drinking, stress, spinal cord problems or congenital abnormalities. And most of these are symptoms, not causes. But the vet section of Web MD says what most VETs say, and that is, a disease that arises spontaneously, or for which the cause is unknown. In other words, nobody is certain, or at least they can’t truly agree exactly what is the cause of this disease. Although for the most part they can at least agree on some of the causes, those being diet, stress, liquid intake, and injuries to the urethra. This horrible disease can affect any animal at any age, altho’ it is most often diagnosed/seen in males between the age of 1 and 5 years old. Now you’re starting to see why Dezi’s recent 5th birthday was such a landmark for mommy. We lost Lucky right before he turned 5 and Ransom also had this horrible disease and we lost him right before he turned 5.
Mommy calls this disease a silent killer. While some cats will show no symptoms until it’s too late or the disease has progressed to it’s final stages, it’s not uncommon for animals with a UTI to cry out while using the litter box. Or eliminate inappropriately; like in your bath tub, or on the floor or in your plants, etc.. It hurts to urinate and they associate the litter box with that pain and don’t want to go back there. Typically there is blood in the urine as well, and as the blockage increases, the cat will strain to urinate. I would like to interject here that a normal urine sample for cats is at least a tablespoon size amount at a minimum of 2 times a day. Now remember that will vary based on your cats size, age, liquid (diet) intake and other health issues.
The symptoms aren’t always immediate, and of course as with everything else, some of them could point to something entirely different. Some of those symptoms are lethargy, loss of appetite, fever, depression, and licking excessively around the penis or vaginal area especially right after urinating as this may be a sign of burning during urination. Often mild cases often go undiagnosed in cats specifically until discovered during a routine annual checkup, and may often clear up on their own.
- Lucky Lucciano
We really want to do this justice, so we will continue tomorrow as we have given you a lot of information to digest today. But before we go, we want to say that if you suspect your cat or animal is having difficulty urinating or may have a UTI please go to the VET immediately!!! Don’t wait, it may mean the difference between life and death.
Till the next time………………………Be Blest!!!
Service Cats U.S. 