I am convinced that a whole bunch of posts have disappeared from here. Surely I've had stuff to say about the Scruffer since May, wouldn't you think? I thought maybe posts were somehow trapped in the "drafts" folder, but nooooooo. I don't know - it just seems PRETTY odd.
So what did I miss during the last three + months that Scruffy's been doing? Well, not all that much. He's still OTJ, which is amazing. I've been able to assert a little more control over myself and my need to test him - I'm substituting testing myself for poking him. (But only if there's a non-violent/non-needle-involved source of blood. Accidental bleeding, I'm right there with my Ultrasmart meter. If I'm a diabetic, I really don't want to know right now. Or ever.... ) And oh, wait - I MADE A SPREADSHEET! Google Docs - template courtesy of someone named cyncyn on FDMB. It only includes the data from Jan. 1, 2008 to the present, though. Because #1 - it took me hours and hours to get all that stuff typed in as it was, and #2 - I seem to have accidentally thrown away all the Levemir information from 2007, apparently. The numbers are recorded here in his blog, so I'd have to copy and transfer them twice, and also, the information about vet visits and ear infections and herpes attacks are pretty much gone. But, the main reason I wanted the spreadsheet was to demonstrate the amazing improvement in his numbers after Jojo said, "He's rebounding," and I started lowering the dose. That was in mid-February, and by the beginning of April, the difference was stunning. It's not easy to see in spreadsheet form after all, to my disappointment, but on a graph, it looks like falling over a cliff! Which, come to think of it, might be possible to show using Google Docs, maybe. I wish I was more computer literate. Oh, and if you want to admire/criticize my first successful spreadsheet work, there's a place to click over on the lower right-hand column.
Let's see - we've gone to everyone eating about half/half Dian and Wheezer's wonderful raw chicken/Fancy Feast over the last month. Scruffy has been eager to eat it fairly consistently since the beginning. And he's more than willing to polish off his bowl and then move along to the next one. Having seen the improvement that eating the raw chunks has made in Milkshake's teeth, I'm desperately hoping that Scruffy will have similar results, because otherwise, he's gonna need another dental in the very near future. Aside from the unpleasant smell, this afternoon he yawned WIDELY right near my eyes, and what's going on in there does NOT look good. Lots of browns and reds and yellows and other colors I don't want to see again. The most unfortunate aspects of a dental are the fact that he hates the vet, and the risk of screwing up his OTJ status. (I don't know if that really happens or not, it just seems like something worth worrying about.) I don't know what happens to him when I drop him off at the vet's for a dental; I do know that he's highly unlikely to be cooperative. (The last two appointments, he's pooped right on the examining table. And shrieked when they touched him.) He's pretty bulky and strong, and I do worry about whatever's going on with his right rear leg/hip area; I wouldn't want him injured while they're wrassling him out of the carrier.
So CHEW UP, Chunky Boy!
Making an appointment with the ophthalmologist for next week, hopefully. (Well, rats - she's booked up until September 9th.) There has been some change in the shape of his melanosis. And sometimes I think that he's looking out of that eye kind of oddly. Not squinting, exactly, but it just looks different. I took - finally - a fairly decent picture to leave with the doctor; not that she thinks that my pictures are significant, when she's making her little pencil drawing of the growth, but...... The shape of the top of it has changed, and the color seems a little darker. The last picture was so good that this one really suffers by comparison, but I took about a dozen pictures and this was the best of them: (It's clickable.)
This is a link to a very good article/picture collection of iris melanosis/melanomas: http://www.animal-eye-specialists.com/iris.htm . Still quite depressing.
Other than that, he's my same old cranky but sweet ScruffyPumpkin. He's still obsessed with the bathroom. The other day, he actually teetered on the edge of the tub while I was taking a shower; he was absolutely determined not to get down, and there wasn't enough room on the sink for him to sit there and wait for me to finish. He and Milkshake have become my constant companions. Wherever I go, there they are, six inches away. I like to think that they treasure me as much as I treasure them.
On that weepy note, enough's enough, I guess.
So what did I miss during the last three + months that Scruffy's been doing? Well, not all that much. He's still OTJ, which is amazing. I've been able to assert a little more control over myself and my need to test him - I'm substituting testing myself for poking him. (But only if there's a non-violent/non-needle-involved source of blood. Accidental bleeding, I'm right there with my Ultrasmart meter. If I'm a diabetic, I really don't want to know right now. Or ever.... ) And oh, wait - I MADE A SPREADSHEET! Google Docs - template courtesy of someone named cyncyn on FDMB. It only includes the data from Jan. 1, 2008 to the present, though. Because #1 - it took me hours and hours to get all that stuff typed in as it was, and #2 - I seem to have accidentally thrown away all the Levemir information from 2007, apparently. The numbers are recorded here in his blog, so I'd have to copy and transfer them twice, and also, the information about vet visits and ear infections and herpes attacks are pretty much gone. But, the main reason I wanted the spreadsheet was to demonstrate the amazing improvement in his numbers after Jojo said, "He's rebounding," and I started lowering the dose. That was in mid-February, and by the beginning of April, the difference was stunning. It's not easy to see in spreadsheet form after all, to my disappointment, but on a graph, it looks like falling over a cliff! Which, come to think of it, might be possible to show using Google Docs, maybe. I wish I was more computer literate. Oh, and if you want to admire/criticize my first successful spreadsheet work, there's a place to click over on the lower right-hand column.
Let's see - we've gone to everyone eating about half/half Dian and Wheezer's wonderful raw chicken/Fancy Feast over the last month. Scruffy has been eager to eat it fairly consistently since the beginning. And he's more than willing to polish off his bowl and then move along to the next one. Having seen the improvement that eating the raw chunks has made in Milkshake's teeth, I'm desperately hoping that Scruffy will have similar results, because otherwise, he's gonna need another dental in the very near future. Aside from the unpleasant smell, this afternoon he yawned WIDELY right near my eyes, and what's going on in there does NOT look good. Lots of browns and reds and yellows and other colors I don't want to see again. The most unfortunate aspects of a dental are the fact that he hates the vet, and the risk of screwing up his OTJ status. (I don't know if that really happens or not, it just seems like something worth worrying about.) I don't know what happens to him when I drop him off at the vet's for a dental; I do know that he's highly unlikely to be cooperative. (The last two appointments, he's pooped right on the examining table. And shrieked when they touched him.) He's pretty bulky and strong, and I do worry about whatever's going on with his right rear leg/hip area; I wouldn't want him injured while they're wrassling him out of the carrier.
So CHEW UP, Chunky Boy!
Making an appointment with the ophthalmologist for next week, hopefully. (Well, rats - she's booked up until September 9th.) There has been some change in the shape of his melanosis. And sometimes I think that he's looking out of that eye kind of oddly. Not squinting, exactly, but it just looks different. I took - finally - a fairly decent picture to leave with the doctor; not that she thinks that my pictures are significant, when she's making her little pencil drawing of the growth, but...... The shape of the top of it has changed, and the color seems a little darker. The last picture was so good that this one really suffers by comparison, but I took about a dozen pictures and this was the best of them: (It's clickable.)
This is a link to a very good article/picture collection of iris melanosis/melanomas: http://www.animal-eye-specialists.com/iris.htm . Still quite depressing.
Other than that, he's my same old cranky but sweet ScruffyPumpkin. He's still obsessed with the bathroom. The other day, he actually teetered on the edge of the tub while I was taking a shower; he was absolutely determined not to get down, and there wasn't enough room on the sink for him to sit there and wait for me to finish. He and Milkshake have become my constant companions. Wherever I go, there they are, six inches away. I like to think that they treasure me as much as I treasure them.
On that weepy note, enough's enough, I guess.
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