Since Halloween, which is kind of amazing. It's not that there hasn't been anything going on with The Puffer. He's had another good report on the condition of his eyes - both the one that had the laser surgery and the other eye, which has a new melanosis that we're watching. He had bloodwork that was good - I think his cholesterol level was the only thing that was out of range. Despite the much-discussed dental that still needs to be done, he continues to have reasonable blood glucose levels - I just tested him a few minutes ago and got a 68! (Which is significantly lower than usual, I have to admit.)
This has been a bad winter for the state of Scruffy's fur. It was so awful that a few days ago, I bought a wonderful cordless clipper, and started shaving him. It's amazing to see him without his fur, because he looks so chunky with it. Without it, he's really quite svelte. (I'm cutting back on the pictures because my computer died a few weeks ago and I don't want to fill up this laptop with stuff until I get a new desktop. I am going to take a picture of his new "do" to post here, even though it's not quite "done.") It also appears that the lumpy lipoma on his right side has either diminished in size (do they DO that?) or gone away.
Back in January, when we went to Dr. B, the ophthalmologist, I mentioned that our regular vet had suggested trying famciclovir for Scruffy's herpes, which has been awful for months. The sneezing, the snorting, the nose-running - the poor cat. Dr. B. - who uses famciclovir because he has patients with herpes eye problems, agreed that it was well worth a try. He wrote a prescription for twelve 125mg pills, to be given 1/4 pill twice a day for no more than 2 weeks. Verrrrry expensive stuff, that famciclovir - almost $6 a pill. Fortunately, it was a round pill, which made cutting it into quarters somewhat easier, but .... I've been giving Scruffy (along with his prozac for "inappropriate urination" ) a nightly 1/4 chlortrimeton to try to help with the nasal/sinus problems. During the duration of the time he got famciclovir, I stopped the chlortrimeton to see if I could determine whether there was any significant effect of either of the drugs. As it turned out, I couldn't give him the morning famciclovir pill - every morning for four days, after I gave it to him, he'd eat and eat and eat in a really driven fashion until he threw up. So, I just gave it to him in the evenings with his 2AM snack, and it stayed down. There really wasn't any huge improvement, sadly. After the two weeks was up, I went back to the 1/4 chlortrimeton nighly. A month or so later, I again refilled the famciclovir prescription, and tried it again. There seems to be an initial positive response, but it doesn't last, and it never did seem to be completely effective. I think - although Dr. G, our regular vet, didn't seem to agree - that by now, it's possible/likely that he's got sinus inflammation/infection going on. I found an unexpired packet of a week's worth of clavamox, and gave it to him, and in my opinion, it was effective. I think I'm going to ask Dr. G for a prescription for something antibiotic, and schedule the dental in the very near future.
So the essence of Scruffy's life is, we're still plodding along. He needs the prozac still, I guess - I found a puddle in my craft room three times that I'm pretty sure were Scruffy Productions. I never see him in the litter box anymore, but I also never see him spraying or digging at the carpet or furniture, so I'm assuming things have been better with the addition of another cement-mixing litter box in the laundry room downstairs. (The EIGHTH!) He's about ten years old now, in the estimation of the ophthalmologist, so he and Busy are Senior Citizens of our household. (Well, aside from my husband and I, oddly.)
The Countdown Clock to keep track of how many days (and hours and minutes!) Scruffy's been off insulin has given up the ghost. I can't figure out what could have happened to it; it just disappeared, even though the html code is still there. I tried repeatedly to replace/fix it, without success. I really miss having it up there, because we're coming up very rapidly on the TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY of his OTJ! April 8, 2008 - still an amazing thing that makes me shake my head every time I think of it. I wrote to the Pyzam people (whose website contains all sorts of interesting things like countdown clocks) to see if they have a solution or a suggestion. I have one on Milkshake's blog, put up at the exact same time as Scruffy's, and that one's still perfectly functional.
I need to go and hunt up the blood work report, and the ophthalmology report, and a new picture of The Puffer with his crew cut.
This has been a bad winter for the state of Scruffy's fur. It was so awful that a few days ago, I bought a wonderful cordless clipper, and started shaving him. It's amazing to see him without his fur, because he looks so chunky with it. Without it, he's really quite svelte. (I'm cutting back on the pictures because my computer died a few weeks ago and I don't want to fill up this laptop with stuff until I get a new desktop. I am going to take a picture of his new "do" to post here, even though it's not quite "done.") It also appears that the lumpy lipoma on his right side has either diminished in size (do they DO that?) or gone away.
Back in January, when we went to Dr. B, the ophthalmologist, I mentioned that our regular vet had suggested trying famciclovir for Scruffy's herpes, which has been awful for months. The sneezing, the snorting, the nose-running - the poor cat. Dr. B. - who uses famciclovir because he has patients with herpes eye problems, agreed that it was well worth a try. He wrote a prescription for twelve 125mg pills, to be given 1/4 pill twice a day for no more than 2 weeks. Verrrrry expensive stuff, that famciclovir - almost $6 a pill. Fortunately, it was a round pill, which made cutting it into quarters somewhat easier, but .... I've been giving Scruffy (along with his prozac for "inappropriate urination" ) a nightly 1/4 chlortrimeton to try to help with the nasal/sinus problems. During the duration of the time he got famciclovir, I stopped the chlortrimeton to see if I could determine whether there was any significant effect of either of the drugs. As it turned out, I couldn't give him the morning famciclovir pill - every morning for four days, after I gave it to him, he'd eat and eat and eat in a really driven fashion until he threw up. So, I just gave it to him in the evenings with his 2AM snack, and it stayed down. There really wasn't any huge improvement, sadly. After the two weeks was up, I went back to the 1/4 chlortrimeton nighly. A month or so later, I again refilled the famciclovir prescription, and tried it again. There seems to be an initial positive response, but it doesn't last, and it never did seem to be completely effective. I think - although Dr. G, our regular vet, didn't seem to agree - that by now, it's possible/likely that he's got sinus inflammation/infection going on. I found an unexpired packet of a week's worth of clavamox, and gave it to him, and in my opinion, it was effective. I think I'm going to ask Dr. G for a prescription for something antibiotic, and schedule the dental in the very near future.
So the essence of Scruffy's life is, we're still plodding along. He needs the prozac still, I guess - I found a puddle in my craft room three times that I'm pretty sure were Scruffy Productions. I never see him in the litter box anymore, but I also never see him spraying or digging at the carpet or furniture, so I'm assuming things have been better with the addition of another cement-mixing litter box in the laundry room downstairs. (The EIGHTH!) He's about ten years old now, in the estimation of the ophthalmologist, so he and Busy are Senior Citizens of our household. (Well, aside from my husband and I, oddly.)
The Countdown Clock to keep track of how many days (and hours and minutes!) Scruffy's been off insulin has given up the ghost. I can't figure out what could have happened to it; it just disappeared, even though the html code is still there. I tried repeatedly to replace/fix it, without success. I really miss having it up there, because we're coming up very rapidly on the TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY of his OTJ! April 8, 2008 - still an amazing thing that makes me shake my head every time I think of it. I wrote to the Pyzam people (whose website contains all sorts of interesting things like countdown clocks) to see if they have a solution or a suggestion. I have one on Milkshake's blog, put up at the exact same time as Scruffy's, and that one's still perfectly functional.
I need to go and hunt up the blood work report, and the ophthalmology report, and a new picture of The Puffer with his crew cut.
