Halloween

Of course, I have to annoy the boy cats (not the girls, because they're way too vicious, and the kittens are too uncooperative) - with Halloween costumes. It's been a couple of years since we dressed up for the occasion, and no one is any happier now than they were the last time. I don't care if they're annoyed; they're so darn cute.

On to the important things:

1) Started prozac on Tuesday, October 20, 2009. After a highly unsuccessful two and a half months on paxil. And Wonder of Wonders - it seems to be working! I have to admit to still having the occasional twinge when Scruffy heads off for unknown parts in the middle of his breakfast. But, I've seen him actually USING the litter box (or ONE of the 8 litter boxes I've got all over the stupid house!) every single day but two since we started. Okay, so now that I do the math, that's only 11 days, but it seems SO much longer. Sadly, I don't notice any particular improvement in the Fearsome Tootle's behavior, but maybe it will just take a little longer for the prozac to affect her.

2) Postcard to set up Scruffy's next ophthalmologist's appointment arrived in today's mail. If you look closely at his right eye in the Pumpkin Picture, you can see the distinct brown circle at its lower inside edge - that's the next iris melanosis. Which has darkened, become more distinctly circular, and gotten bigger since the last time I was able to get a picture of his eyes. (Missed having a picture to take to an appointment with Dr. B for the first time in three years!) He's to be scheduled for a January or February appointment. I guess we'll aim for January. I hate the thought of all this potentially starting again.

3) Still no dental. And he's had some pretty horrifying numbers occasionally - the worst was a 188, out of the blue and presumably some hours after he'd eaten. (Although I think that he may have gotten trapped downstairs by/with Tootie, which would be a good reason for increased glucose levels. We had a brief, very brief period of about a week when the herpes seemed to have taken a vacation. I should have hiked him down to the vet's immediately and had the dental done. But, I didn't, partly because of inertia and other stuff that had to be done, and partly because I am thinking that he's going to need complete blood work, as well as xrays of his hips and lungs. The thought of dragging him down there twice was just more than I could bear. But, given the potential of needing a dental's likelihood of screwing up his OTJ status, I know it HAS to be done. Soon....

Anyway, it was a very quiet, damp, chilly Halloween here in The Land of Kitty Delight.

No. (and TMI alert, too)

To answer the question from the previous post. Paxil does not seem to be doing much of anything to address the peeing/spraying problem. In the last two weeks, I've watched Scruffy like a hawk every morning. I follow him all over the house. I sit on the steps while he's downstairs, watching the little stinker pretend that he doesn't have the intention of peeing down there someplace the minute he sees me go back up the steps. I have actually seen him poop in a litter box twice in that time span, and pee three times. Unfortunately, in the same three weeks, I've watched him back up to the china closet (3 times) and the bookcase (2 times) and spray. Right in FRONT of me. The first couple of times, I just watched helplessly. I have no basic information about spraying - what exactly the process is, or anything. I assume that it's an expression of severe displeasure on the cat's part, obviously, but other than that.... I have always heard/believed that once a cat starts to pee, they can't stop. (I do apologize to anyone who might be reading this, but I have to get it off my chest. I only WISH I could get it off the rug!) The last two times I came around the corner of the kitchen to discover Scruffy making a puddle in front of the china closet, I yelled, "HEY, what are you DOING?" and he scrambled off in mid-stream. So, if this is spraying, rather than peeing, he does appear to have a modicum of control over it. Not that that fact - correct or not- has any relevance to the problem at hand. Or at foot. I think at least a dozen times a week that I am SO glad that I didn't get that new carpeting.

In addition, Scruffy seems to be hot all the time now, too. Well, yes, he's got that really long, fluffy fur, but he seems to sleep restlessly lately, and he gets up frequently and moves to what appear to be cooler places - from my lap to the table top, from the kitty pi on the window ledge to the wooden shelf beside the ledge; he gives me the definite impression that he's uncomfortably warm now. Anyway, I'm not satisfied with paxil, (which is doing NOTHING for Tootie as well - it doesn't even make HER sleepy!) - and as soon as this last so-called refill of 10 pills (shared between Puffy and Tootle) is gone, I'm asking the vet for Prozac. Plus, he prescribed this tiny amount of itsy-bitsy pills - only 10! - and they charged $1.70 PER PILL. I am willing to sign all sorts of pledges or whatever that no one will use this medication but the two cats - if only he will please give me a prescription for a decent number of pills so that they are a reasonable price.

Scruffy's eye looks pretty good. I am still trying to get a decent picture - the last ophthalmologist appointment was the first time I didn't have a picture to leave with him, and at the time ( a month or so ago) I really thought that the eye that had had the laser surgery looked greatly improved. The small, faint melanosis in the right eye looks slightly darker to me, which could be my imagination. I really want to get a picture to compare it to. His next appointment is, well, at some unspecified date, because I thought I hung the appointment card on the fridge, but apparently not. I think it was six months this time, which might put it in January or so of 2010.

I just read a paper from Cornell regarding feline iris melanosis/oma that I came across by accident. (Checking the Site Meter listings, it was on the same Google page as Scruffy's blog.) 18 pages of information that made me feel kind of uncertain about whether or not I should have just had his eye removed, instead of doing the laser surgery. (And that also made me think that that first ophthalmologist, Dr. K - who I did not care for in the first place! - should have never allowed the growth of the melanosis to have gotten as far as it did. The statistics quoted in the Cornell paper - for a study of 34 cats with iris melanoma - were pretty bleak in terms of the number of cats who had metastasizes of the cancer. But the data was only gathered from the eyes that were removed, since there doesn't seem to be a way to really detect malignant/benign iris growths in cats, for some reason. So, hopefully, the laser treatment will be effective and protect the Puffer. Particularly if we may be faced with the necessity of making the decision a second time....

The photo below, while blurry, of course - I am the Queen of Blurry Photography! - shows at least an idea of the improvement in the left eye that has occurred in the last couple months. The brown goblet-shaped remnant of the surgery has become smaller. The pupil is still pulled out of shape, and will undoubtedly not show much improvement, since the adhesion will probably alway be there.

Is the Paxil successful?

Got me. I haven't seen this cat - whose litter box habits I monitored twice a day for FOUR YEARS - use the litter box one single time in almost two weeks. I have NO idea where he's going now. He apparently must be, or he would have exploded by now. (Although, he does look significantly more "rounded" than he did...) I have added two more cement-mixing trays, one in the living room and one in the dining room, in what seem to be two of his favorite target spots.

I am pretty sure that he was, at some point, peeing on my beloved heart-shaped braided rug in the laundry room. So, I threw it out. He does stroll in a leisurely fashion down the steps in the middle of every meal, which I would assume is a very bad sign, but I have no proof.

He started the Paxil on Saturday, August 1. The culture and sensitivity urine test was negative, which meant that there was no bladder infection to contribute to the problem. (I had been told that Prozac would be more effective, but my vet was insistent that we try Paxil first, and since I had already filled the prescription for Tootle, I agreed.) The dosage is 2.5mg. The pill is 10mg, so that's 1/4 of a pill. A teeny-tiny, minute little dose. And, for the last week, that tiny little pill has turned poor Scruffy into a zombie. He sleeps virtually non-stop. Well, yes, I know he's a cat, and that's what they do, but this is EXCESSIVE. Nothing like his usual pattern. As additional evidence, there's a huge difference between what Scruffy seems to be doing with Paxil and what Toot's doing with it. She's minimally calmer and less aggressive, unless there is food involved, and she's awake; she's patrolling the food dishes, she's guarding the bathtub, she's watching the kittens through the screen - in essence, she's still got a life. Poor Scruffy - I'm not so sure.

So, here's my dilemma: 1) I don't know if it's working. 2) It's turning him into a fur-covered log. While it is absolutely necessary for the peeing and spraying to stop, I feel a need for Scruffy to have some of his normal life going on - looking out the screen door, trailing around behind me in case I might sit down and he could sit on my lap, playing with the occasional toy, knowing when it's time to eat without having to be poked....

What to do, what to do? Well, for today, and possibly for much longer, until I gather some evidence that the litter box avoidance problem has returned/never left, I didn't give him any Paxil. And he still slept deeply virtually the entire day, but I figure that's because he's got some quantity of the drug left in his body.

I don't want to ruin the quality of his life because I haven't found homes for the kittens. He deserves much better than that. He's been a patient, loving, placid cat through all of the disturbance of feline diabetes, and herpes, and laser surgery for what was probably a melanoma in his eye - I owe him something for all that, don't I?

(That said, the annoyance - nay, possibly "rage" is a better word! - I felt the day he backed up to my bookcase in the dining room and sprayed right in front of me makes me more than a little concerned if there's some long-term fallout from stopping the drug so early.)

"Inappropriate Elimination...."

or, a less emotionally-charged way of saying, Scruffy's peeing all over the house. I've added two more large cement-mixer litter boxes, and variety of cardboard boxes - love those priority mail packages! - as hopeful obstacles to his use of any of the six or seven target sites I know for sure he's used. (I hate to even contemplate how many other places he may have "visited." )

I am inclined to think that this is a behavioral thing, rather than an infection of some sort, mostly because 1) he's NEVER had a UTI, despite three blockages that required surgery years ago, and 2) I know he hates the kittens in the bedroom. And, if a good and loving and safe home for all five of the little sweeties would turn up tomorrow, I would let them go in a heartbeat, although it would kill me. But, for now, they're here and he's here and we can't have this "inappropriate elimination" thing going on. Period.

I made an appointment for him to have a cystocentesis tomorrow afternoon. I asked the technician if she knew if the vet DID them, and it became apparent that she didn't know what I was talking about. Scruffy is NOT fond of Dr. G. Scruffy is the proud possessor of The Massive Fluffy Tail That Must NEVER Be Touched. I don't know how this procedure is done, but I'm sort of hoping that it involves the use of anesthetic gas of some sort, for the sake of the well-being of all of those involved.....

One last sad thing - I think I will have to stop and buy another carrier this afternoon on my way to my mother's house. The only one I have that's big enough for Scruffy's tubby little body is the carrier that my sweet MommyKitty died in last week. I don't think I can use it, ever again. Even with Scruffy's own kitty pi inside. It's too painful a reminder of her loss, and I can't deal with it now. Or ever, probably.

This is my sweet MommyKitty, who will stay in my heart always. She should have lived a long and happy life, being cherished and loved.




I would sincerely appreciate three or four days without any sort of crisis, if anyone Up There is listening.

Good news eye appointment!

This was the fourth post-laser surgery appointment with the ophthalmologist. (And the only one that I didn't have a picture of the eye to give him! Despite my best efforts - I am the queen of blurry photography.) Scruffy's left eye has changed fairly significantly over the past few weeks - the shape and color of the small, martini-glass shaped "attachment" between the pupil and the edge of his eye are both improved; the size and shape of the attachment are smaller, and it's a lighter shade of brown than it has been. His pupil is still pulled out of shape by the adhesion that formed after the surgery, but his eye still looks better.

Other good news - normal eye pressure is between 10-20/under 25; Scruffy's measured 10 in the right eye and 12 in the left, so glaucoma is not a current concern. The retina and other eye structures were all normal, and his vision is apparently unimpaired. I had noticed some squinting - including an alarming experience where he hopped up on the table beside my chair and his left eye was completely closed! But, there didn't appear to be any particular problem going on. Because of the adhesion's effect on his pupil's ability to change shape, he's more sensitive to light in that eye, but daylight/low lamplight doesn't seem to cause discomfort. Although at the last visit, both of his eyes were somewhat dry, they were both acceptable this time. He is still to get the Flurbiprofen drops every two or three days.

Further good news is that the size of the newly developed melanosis in the right eye appears to have remained the same. Dr. B. did not feel that there were any changes to its appearance.

We were late for the appointment. Scruffy feels that he needs to supervise any showers I take, and while I was getting ready for the trip to the vet, I made the in credibly stupid mistake of including in my general conversation with him (well, he's there - I'm not gonna ignore him!) a comment about "going for a ride in the car." He didn't react immediately, but the minute I opened the bathroom door, he was gone like a flash. And no amount of bribery - even a piece of the dreaded dry kitten food wasn't effective! - could entice him to show his furry little face. I finally found him - after I'd already had to call and explain that we were not going to be on time - hiding behind the massive big screen tv downstairs. I can't move it, and there was no way to get behind it from either side. So, I tossed a magazine over the top of the tv - I don't know where exactly it landed, but I definitely heard Scruffy shuffle to the opposite end of the television. Two more magazines, and he showed up in grabbing-range at the side of the couch. He was more than normally "spitty" during the appointment. He hissed and spit at the technician and her newbie, at Dr. B., and at me, after I'd returned him and his favorite kitty pi to the carrier. And even after the door was closed, I could still hear the hissing. It must be hard to be small enough to be smooshed and carried around against your will. Anyway, he was happy to be home, and within minutes, was cheerfully sitting on the window ledge beside my computer, slurping at his paws and watching the birds.

The next appointment is not until November, barring changes in either eye. This was really good news.

Poor Scruffy....

Just finished making an appointment for the long-put-off dental. I did make a stab at cleaning his teeth last week. It didn't go nearly as poorly as I expected (and yes, I did watch the Cornell video that says you should take a month to get them used to the idea of teeth-brushing).

The sinus stuff is still present, but so much improved that I think it'll be okay to finally get the dental done. His glucose levels have been back to normal, it seems - there have been some pretty awful numbers in the 100's over the last month or so. I am still giving him both the chlortrimeton and zeniquin once a day. He is breathing more easily and less noisily, and the obnoxious sneezing-in-your-face hasn't occurred for a good week or so. Small steps, major gratitude to the Powers that Be.

Cinnaminnie is in heat again. For the 322,456,798,543rd time. Scruffy has suddenly decided that it is his civic duty to try to assist her in her quest for a boyfriend; he didn't seem to notice her previous attempts to entice him by her wiles. He apparently doesn't realize that he's no longer equipped for the job. (And he's the only one of the four male cats who's ever presumably actually had experience - the others were neutered as kittens.) As I said in another context, poor Scruffy....

MAY I help you?

I have a "site meter" here. It's an interesting way of keeping track of how many people look at Scruffy's and Milk's blogs - I was amazed to see the number of places all over the world where people had seen the names of my cats! Every country you can think of. (Google is an amazing thing!) Many were just here by accident, and a bunch seem to be attracted by that horrible "cheezburger" picture that I don't know what to do about. But, unless someone leaves a comment, I really don't have any way to communicate with anyone specificly.

That said, a person that Site Meter says is from Buffalo, New York - but who seems to be reading Scruffy's blog in what I think might be Dutch (?) - has been here a LOT. Frequently, several times a day. Everytime I see on the record that there was another visit, I wish desperately that he or she would leave a comment about what they're looking for - if there's any way at all to help, I would be very happy to do so. I would guess that this might be a person with a cat that has iris melanosis, judging from the pictures here that he or she is looking at. Anyway, it's a disease with a limited amount of time to have treated, and if there's any information I might have, or some other way to help, please leave me a comment. It doesn't need to be posted publicly. I'd love to hear what you're looking for and to try to be of assistance.

Another visit to the ophthalmologist

Well, rats. I can't find the papers from Scruffy's appointment on April 8. I don't remember the numbers, but his eye pressure was good in both eyes, and unlike the last appointment, his eye didn't appear to be irritated or to be too dry. The eye test with these strips is done prior to each examination, and measures the amount of moisture in his eyes. It doesn't seem to bother him at all....







This is the most current picture of Scruffy's left eye, which Dr. B. says is doing satisfactorily. The vision is still good in it, there is no indication of glaucoma, and it continues to be his belief that the brown goblet-shaped "attachment" at the lower edge of his eye is not the tumor that was previously there. There is no thickening of that brown tissue. As is easily visible, the shape of his pupil has changed, however. Dr. B. feels that that is the result of an adhesion that has developed that is pulling the pupil out of shape, and limiting the ability of his eye to react as effectively to light. I have noticed that he squints now in bright light.

I am still to give him a drop of flurbiprofen every other day, to combat the tendency toward inflammation. The drops seems to bother him more now than they did previously - he flinches and fusses after every drop; Dr. B. said that we can change him to another kind of eyedrop if it becomes too much of a problem. I think it's tolerable for now, but when this bottle is empty (which should be fairly soon), we'll change to the other drop.

There was NO change in the size or shape of the melanosis in the right eye. Thank God.

One final issue was the ever-present sinus problem. (Which has been different from his customary herpes episodes ever since it began last summer.) It occurred to me to worry that maybe some of the melanoma cells from his eye might have drained into his sinuses and could be the source of the sniffing/sneezing/dripping stuff. Dr. B. said that it was possible, although unlikely, and that at some point, if it continues to be intractible, Scruffy could/should have another chest xray, and possibly xrays of his sinuses or an examination of them. He wrote a prescription for Baytril, which The Puffer has only actually gotten one dose of into his system. He throws up within minutes of getting the pill, no matter what time of day I give them to him. I give him 1/4 of a cholortrimeton tablet a couple of times a week, which does help to dry up some of the dripping. It was "sinus" infection that gave him diabetes, way back in the fall of 2004; the vet we were going to then gave him a shot of depomedrol for it, and three days later, he was grabbing food off our plates and started losing weight. He hasn't exactly led a charmed life, has he?

One Year! No Insulin!

Celebrate, celebrate,
Dance to the muuuusic!




It's an older picture, but one of my favorites. (His eyes are still normal....) It really doesn't seem like it's been a year. I remember how nervous I was, and how at the last minute - just the very end of the two-week OTJ period to make it official - he had some higher than usual numbers. But, we persevered. And here we are.

Congratulations, my sweet Puffer. You did good!

Brother, am I sorry I did THAT.......

Today was our 3-month visit with the ophthalmologist. The morning went well, I got hold of Puffer and crammed him in the carrier with no problem, and then, I got lost on the way. Ended up - with only 5 minutes left before the scheduled appointment - making a huge loop and right back to where I'd started out, almost. Every road seemed to be full of potholes and sharp S-curves and right angles. We finally get to the Speciality Hospital, and there is a couple waiting to pick up two yipping white Scottish terriers. And waiting and waiting, yipping all the while because only one dog was brought out to go home; the other one apparently had an unfortunate accident and had to have a last minute bath, according to the technician I was eavesdropping upon. But the waiting room is cavernous, full of hard stone surfaces and nothing at all to absorb sounds, and the dog barking made my ears hurt. Scruffy kept scrooching further and further back into the carrier, trying to escape. It was not felicitous. Then the appointment, where, aside from the paper tapes in the eyes, they really don't do anything unpleasant to him. But he seems to feel obliged to hiss and spit anyway. ScruffyPumpkinPattyFractiousPaws. Eventually we checked out, went home by way of the route I should have taken this morning, and once he was home, he seemed more relaxed. He nibbled at the breakfast that was left.

Purely out of curiousity, because Scruffy was not a cat who ever seemed to exhibit much in the way of vet stress, I thought I'd test his glucose level. Bearing in mind the messy, unpleasant sinus stuff and the difficult two+ hours he'd just been through. And got a 170. One Hundred Seventy. Suffice it to say, my heart fell. My heart plummeted. My heart fell off a cliff into the ocean. Tomorrow's his first anniversary as a diet-controlled, non-insulin dependent cat. And he's got a 170. Is it stress? Is it the cancer in his eye? Is it those awful teeth? Is it illness? Is it falling out of remission? Is it too close to having eaten a little? I have no idea. All I know is, it was very upsetting. SO, now he's been napping on the window ledge in the big fuzzy black pi for the last couple hours, and he's eaten three more times, a little here and there - and he was just 117. Better, I guess. BUT - good enough? Dear God, I HOPE so.

ETA: 83 at 2:30 AM! And we're officially at The Puffer's One Year Anniversary. I still can't quite believe it.

Scruffy's snuffly....

This has been going on since last August - and possibly even earlier. I just remember August because the ophthalmologist wanted whatever's going on in The Puffer's sinuses cleared up before the laser surgery. He gave me a prescription for - rats, can't remember what antibiotic it was (Zithromax - the ophthalmologist looked it up at the next appointment), but it cost like $5 a pill because they prescribed the brand name - and increased the amount of lysine. That seemed to work for a couple of weeks, and then everything started over again. Scruffy's been on clavamox twice since the beginning of December, 08, and he's still really miserable. I know at least a portion of it is herpes, since he's having these really extended periods of reverse sneezing. But he's also got a drippy nose. No watery right eye, though. Which may have something to do with the laser surgery; who knows?

Dr. G (regular vet) suggested giving Scruffy 1/4 chlortrimeton pill, which does seem to dry him up somewhat. I don't know if there's a warning about using it for the long term, though. We have an ophthalmologist appointment next week, so I can at least ask Dr. B what he thinks. What worries me is the possibility that there's something more going on in his sinuses. I wonder if an xray would show anything? He's still getting double lysine twice a day; it hasn't seemed to help.

I realized the other day that it's my fault that Scruffy has all those orange "Fractious" warnings on his folders at various vets' offices now - I don't think I ever thought to tell any of the vets that he has NEVER allowed anyone to touch his big thick tail, and now he's clearly having pain/discomfort in his hips. They're probably trying to drag him out of his carrier and he's reacting uncooperatively because it hurts him. I feel really bad. He used to be the most mellow cat ever born. Nothing bothered him. I did ask Dr. G. to xray his hips, but he didn't want to anesthetize Scruffy just for the xray. (Or maybe he just doesn't want to risk being ripped to shreds?) If his head clears enough to have a dental, I guess we can combine all the various xrays with it and do everything at once.

Unintended result.......

There has been a sudden surge of people looking here at that horrible picture of the cat with the incredible eye disease from "icanhazcheezburgers.com". It just seemed kind of odd. I was never able to find out if the complaint I made at the cheezburger site about the picture got any follow up, and if it was removed.

The other day, in an idle moment, I googled "cat eye" or words to that effect, and sure enough, there was that stomach-turning picture. ONLY - Scruffy's blog address was underneath it! Like I was the person who posted that obscenity. Now I don't know WHAT to do about it. It's presumably up there on Google for eternity, so it wouldn't do any good to remove it from the blog, would it? This is obviously a PRIME example why you shouldn't post naked pictures in your blog, or pictures of crimes being committed, or whatever.

The recent ophthalmologist visit

I forgot to record the results of the appointment with Dr. B on 1/13/09.

It started with unloading The Puffer from his carrier - for some reason, his kitty pi wouldn't slide out, and he wasn't about to leave the carrier without it, so it took two of us to tilt the carrier almost straight up and down and convince him to come out. One of the things I like about this ophthalmology practice is that they always put a nice soft towel on the stainless steel table. Then the technician gathered up her equipment, and with a kind of odd tone, asked me if I'd hold Scruffy's head so she could put the strips in his eyes. I said yes, but was a little surprised, because normally, the tech does everything. Anyway, I held his little chin, she stuck the strips in his eyes (and WHY didn't I have my camera turned on for THAT spectacle?), and Scruffy never moved a muscle. When she had read the strips, she said, in a surprised tone, "Well, he wasn't nasty." I said, "No, did you expect him to be?" And she showed me his folder, which had a big orange sticker on the front of it which said "FRACTIOUS"...... He's been treated in this clinic for more than two years, and has NEVER been "fractious" in the office. But then, I remembered Dr. B. saying that my poor kitty was extremely uncooperative when they were trying to get him ready for the surgery. And then I realized that he's generally gotten pretty crabby lately. I wonder what's causing that? Old age? Arthritis? The misery in his sinuses? Transference from his negative experiences at the regular vet's office?

On to the examination. Despite my concern about the larger amount of dark brown tissue in Scruffy's left eye, Dr. G felt that it is not related to the melanosis/oma. He thinks that the large dark area is possibly an indication of: 1) some burned tissue left from the laser treatment; 2) dark brown pigment underneath the iris, which has been thinned by the laser to the point where the pigment is visible; and 3) there may still be more post-surgical healing. There was no "re-elevation of the brown iris laser site since the last exam." (Elevation is considered to be an indication of malignancy, apparently.) There appeared to be no change in the vision in that eye, although there was increased dryness and inflammation. (Which I felt bad about - I had noticed a few days before the appointment that Scruffy was squinting, which is a sign of discomfort and inflammation - who knew? I had plenty of the Flurbiprofen eye drops left - I just didn't know that they should be used.) Pressure in the eyes was good - 13 in the right eye, and 14 in the left. The treatment was to begin giving him the Flurbiprofen eye drops and the atropine ointment again.

The bad news is that the melanosis in the right eye is "slightly wider (but not elevated." In about 9 months, the growth in the right eye has gone from being a pinpoint to being a noticeably larger brownish area that sort of resembles Saturn. Dr. B's intent is to watch it closely. It took only a year and a half for the first melanosis to go from virtually invisible to having tentacles and requiring surgery.

The next appointment is April 8, 2009.

A few more pictures:

Scruffy weighs 12 pounds, 11 ounces.

Which would be just fine, if his little legs were two or three inches longer... Knowing how rotund he is now, I have a hard time picturing what he must have been like when he weighed 14 pounds, the week before he got the Depomedrol shot that gave him diabetes.....

And he's had the most miserable sinus stuff going on for weeks now. Clavamox (pills, this time, instead of the messy liquid) hasn't touched it. Wherever he sleeps, there's a little puddle when he moves his head, because his nose runs and he sneezes and sprays all over the place. He looks just miserable.

Picture 3 months post laser surgery

January 13, 2009. About three months from the surgery to deal with Scruffy's iris melanosis/noma. (Dr. B., the ophthalmologist, is still convinced that it was the latter.) Here is this visit's eye picture - well, I spent two days taking pictures trying to get a really good one, but this was the best of a bad bunch:




It shows, in the lower outside section of Scruffy's left eye, the brown tissue that had me worried that it might be the return of the tumor. It has changed shape since the surgery, and size. But Dr. B. is convinced that what is showing is not a remaining tumor, but that the iris is significantly thinned now, and there is colored tissue under it that is now visible, and brown. He saw no elevation of the brown tissue, and no sign that there was anything unusual about it. He also said again that some of the discoloration might be detritis from the laser's burning of the tissue during the surgery. He did not feel that three months was necessarily the limit for any sort of further changes that might happen with the left eye. He felt that the eye was healing satisfactorily at this point. The pupil is somewhat distorted in shape now, and if you look at the eye from the right angle, you can see that there is a slight irregularity of the surface of the eye, I suppose caused by the removal of tissue that the laser demolished.

I picked this picture specifically, however, because it had a good view (relatively speaking) of the iris melanosis in Scruffy's RIGHT EYE. Which is growing, at least as rapidly as the left one did. I compare the left eye pictures from May 5, 2006 to September, 2008 - just over two years, and the incredible growth and branching out - those awful tentacles - that occurred in it in such a short time. And I stew about what the progression of this melanosis in the other eye means - if it continues at the speed it seems to be demonstrating, I suppose the likelihood is more laser surgery on the other eye, at the least.

We will be continuing the every-six-months appointments, to monitor the left eye's situation, and to hopefully prevent the right eye from getting into the same shape because it was allowed to grow so much before the surgery was done. The plus of the situation is that we are now Dr. B.'s patient, which I am much happier about.

This is sickening.

Just came across an I Can Haz Cheezburger lolcat that has me really upset:



It says that it was submitted on September 27, 2008 - and I wonder if that poor cat is still alive. (Judging from the wasted appearance of his jaws, possibly not.) I looked all over the place for some indication of a way to contact the owner, but didn't find it. I did submit a complaint to the cheezburger website.

I can't believe that ANYONE would allow a cat's eye to be in this condition, much less that they'd submit it as a joke.