Tramp

Tramp is going to be 21 sometime this spring, not sure of the month. She was 4 when we got her in the summer of 1995. She rules the roost here. She still hisses at Simon if he gets too close to her. She will give him a smack just to remind him who is the boss lady..
She loves her perch on the chair looking out the window and loves a sunny location. She sleeps a lot of the time now but still enjoys a snuggle with Mom.

Caley wearing her collar

Caley doesn't look unhappy with the collar, it is certainly much better than the cone of shame we got from the Vet clinic even if it did have red paw prints on it.. Only 12 more days before her sutures come out.. Hopefully not that long until we find out what the "nasty" lump was..

Caley

Caley had a rough day yesterday. She had a fractured canine tooth which was removed, she had 3 lumps removed, two were lipomas and the third to quote my Vet was "nasty" (that was the one in the picture in the previous post). That incision is the lowest one in this picture. Dr. Paula got wide margins just in case.. Paws crossed this turns out ok for my girl. The tissue was sent away so we will find out just what it is.

Poor girl was pretty painful last night after the hydromorphone wore off and then the metacam I gave her did not seem to help at all. So I got the tramadol out and that helped to settle her down about 1am. One more this morning and she is doing well.

On Friday I picked up the Nutri-vet Protective Collar  to use instead of the Cone of shame. I had Chauncy test it out.. I put peanut butter on various places of his body, side, belly and back and he could not get any of it and he sure tried. This is a GREAT tool to use to prevent access to those areas. Caley can still get at her paws so you would need something else if that was the spot you were tying to prevent access to.. All round good product! Here is a picture of it. Caley is not up to modeling it yet... read she did not want to co-operate with the photographer, but who can blame her she just had surgery.

It is Caley's turn.

Caley had a lump (she has several actually) that was Vet checked as they all are about 6 months ago. Last weekend I noticed the boys snuffing her side and when I looked the lump was all ulcerated and oozing.. So Dr. Paula checked out and it needs to come off. So since we are taking this one off there are two more that are fatty tumors that are going to be removed at the same time.

Here is a pic of the nasty one.  Tomorrow morning they will all be gone..

The latest news on Simon is that he is still not peeing the way he should be. His meds have been changed around a bit. He will pee small amounts and he never empties his bladder. Hoping the med change will help but no difference yet.

Simon Peed, a healthy pee once...

Supper time last night Simon had a big pee... But that was it, he then went back to peeing small amounts.. He is putting out more urine than he was though so that is progress, but he goes to the litter box now 2 or 3 times in 5 mins, sometimes producing very little, sometimes crying.. Still giving him SQ fluids and his meds.. It is better, just slower than I would like..

Simon

You never realize how important peeing is until you cannot do it.. My poor boy still is not really peeing. He stopped peeing after the lasix wore off last Sunday.
We have been through several different meds and have changed the plan a couple of times. My Vet did some research and he is now on Alprazolam and Prazin and we are keeping his bladder empty. The Alprazolam had the opposite effect last night and I woke up to him sitting on my head licking my face.. Then he attacked the dogs tail and would not stop. I tried to get hold of him and he face planted on the floor.. It took more than 2 hrs for him to settle down and then Caley had me up with diarrhea starting at 4am.. We reduced the alprazolam to half to see if that helps..

So now we are expressing him morning and evening. He is very difficult to express. We are giving fluids as well when needed and I am am getting a decent amount of fluids in him by adding water to canned salmon and letting it soak up the flavor.  He seems to do better the more fluids we can get in him.
Dr. Paula is on all weekend so we will keep pushing the fluids, keep his bladder from filling up and see how the weekend goes. The next step is another catheterization and keeping his bladder completely empty. There is also some concern that since we do not know what caused the blockage ( no crystals ) that maybe he has some neurological issue. Paws crossed for my boy.

Simon Update

What a week.. I lost count of the number of times I have been back to the Veterinary Clinic with Simon. He has not be able to pee on his own. He has an Atonic bladder which basically means it does not want to work. There is no obstruction and his bladder can be expressed. Once he gets really full he can pee a small marble sized amount but when you feel the size of his bladder that little marble sized amount doesn't add up to much. 

I spent most of the day at the Clinic yesterday with him. Dr. Paula Cunningham gave him meds to try and relax the smooth muscles in the body which hopefully would let him pee.

Note the litter box.. It had lots of traffic but no pee. 

Simon resting on my seat while we waited for him to pee..

Dr. Paula Cunningham stayed several hours after her shift ended to try and get a plan together for Simon. Can't tell you how much I appreciated that!  She did an ultrasound to make absolutely sure there were no stones causing a blockage, that was cool to watch.. So the plan last night was, learn to express him, pain meds, amitriptyline, continue antibiotics, then tomorrow start kitty metacam and try to express him if needed. If I could not express him then I would take him to the clinic again.

The plan all went well until I tried to express him.. I could find the bladder but nothing would come out.. Bill suggested I might not be doing it right, EXCUSE ME... 

So plan B take him to the clinic where the Vet on could not express him either.. Plan C now was admit him and give him a diuretic and go to the drug store and pick up the bethanochol that was finally in. There is a cat in the cage beside him with exactly the same thing..

Simon started peeing after the diuretic was given so he was given fluids to prevent dehydration. Now we just have to hope he does not stop peeing after the diuretic wears off. Keep peeing my boy..