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farewell, Baldur
Jul. 6th, 2012 08:05 pmBaldur, February 28 1993 - July 6 2012. Feisty and friendly, cranky and comforting, and always a true friend. I will miss you.
Baldur's heart
May. 17th, 2012 10:44 pmSince last I wrote about Baldur a few things have happened. A week after that post we went to Toronto for Pesach and I boarded him at the vet's so they could monitor him. (This is a new service.) While he was there they did another X-ray and reported that the fluid he'd been retaining was nearly gone, so they had me reduce the dosage of the Furosemide (diuretic) and told me to bring him back in a month.
Last week was that visit, and he had a lot of fluid in his abdomen. (Not in his lungs -- just running around in there, um, somewhere.) The vet tried to get a sample with a needle but reached the "feisty" threshold before succeeding, so didn't. She recommended another ultrasound to see if there's been a change in his heart. That was today. She also had me raise the drug dosage (splitting the difference) a few days ago; they recommend checking bloodwork 3-4 days after doing that so we timed it for the ultrasound day. (This drug can rapidly cause kidney damage; that's what they're looking for.)
The ultrasound confirmed that he has congestive heart failure; at the previous ultrasound they used words like "possible" but not this time. His heart hasn't changed much since the last one, which is good; I guess they got a closer look this time. There is also still a fair bit of fluid, though it's down some, so I am to increase the dosage again (back to that original level) and bring him in for a quick blood test Monday morning. We will probably also increase the dosage on the Enalapril (the heart medicine), but my vet understands the value of isolating variables during testing so we'll do that after confirming that the other drug's dose is fine.
She also strongly recommended that I board him with them when I go to Israel this summer. I said my cat-sitter is excellent and diligent, thinking she was worried about him not getting all his meds or something, but she pointed out that if he's there I can authorize them to use their best judgement about any on-the-fly treatments. Good point. Being in a cage, even a nice large one, for a week and a half won't be much fun, but on the other hand he spends most of his time sleeping so maybe he doesn't care?
My vet is unsure about prognosis. We're pretty sure that he won't be going out to celebrate reaching drinking age in two years, but beyond that... At this point we need to get his heart problems under control, which risks kidney problems, which -- if they show up -- we'll need to do something to compensate for, and the dance goes on. I don't know what end-stage heart failure looks like, but I do know what kidney failure looks like and that's not fun, so let's hope he continues to tolerate the heart meds. (Today his BUN was 40, last week 37, normal is up to 36. Erik and Embla stayed around 60 for a year or two before going downhill. So I'm cautiously optimistic about the kidneys.)
His pulse, on the other hand, was 100 both this week and last. Normal for him is 160-200. That's kind of freaky.
On the bright side, a friend gave me some home-grown catnip today for him and I can report that he found his first sample quite satisfactory. :-)
Last week was that visit, and he had a lot of fluid in his abdomen. (Not in his lungs -- just running around in there, um, somewhere.) The vet tried to get a sample with a needle but reached the "feisty" threshold before succeeding, so didn't. She recommended another ultrasound to see if there's been a change in his heart. That was today. She also had me raise the drug dosage (splitting the difference) a few days ago; they recommend checking bloodwork 3-4 days after doing that so we timed it for the ultrasound day. (This drug can rapidly cause kidney damage; that's what they're looking for.)
The ultrasound confirmed that he has congestive heart failure; at the previous ultrasound they used words like "possible" but not this time. His heart hasn't changed much since the last one, which is good; I guess they got a closer look this time. There is also still a fair bit of fluid, though it's down some, so I am to increase the dosage again (back to that original level) and bring him in for a quick blood test Monday morning. We will probably also increase the dosage on the Enalapril (the heart medicine), but my vet understands the value of isolating variables during testing so we'll do that after confirming that the other drug's dose is fine.
She also strongly recommended that I board him with them when I go to Israel this summer. I said my cat-sitter is excellent and diligent, thinking she was worried about him not getting all his meds or something, but she pointed out that if he's there I can authorize them to use their best judgement about any on-the-fly treatments. Good point. Being in a cage, even a nice large one, for a week and a half won't be much fun, but on the other hand he spends most of his time sleeping so maybe he doesn't care?
My vet is unsure about prognosis. We're pretty sure that he won't be going out to celebrate reaching drinking age in two years, but beyond that... At this point we need to get his heart problems under control, which risks kidney problems, which -- if they show up -- we'll need to do something to compensate for, and the dance goes on. I don't know what end-stage heart failure looks like, but I do know what kidney failure looks like and that's not fun, so let's hope he continues to tolerate the heart meds. (Today his BUN was 40, last week 37, normal is up to 36. Erik and Embla stayed around 60 for a year or two before going downhill. So I'm cautiously optimistic about the kidneys.)
His pulse, on the other hand, was 100 both this week and last. Normal for him is 160-200. That's kind of freaky.
On the bright side, a friend gave me some home-grown catnip today for him and I can report that he found his first sample quite satisfactory. :-)
Baldur update
Mar. 30th, 2012 06:13 pmBaldur got another X-ray and an ultrasound today. (We were hoping the traveling ultrasound docs would be available and they were. I had to drop him off for the X-ray in any case.) The pleural effusion is much reduced and they told me to cut the dose of the medicine he's taking for that. The ultrasound told them that his mitral valve is leaking; this is caused by old age but the hyperthyroidism isn't helping. So they said to boost the thyroid medicine to a rate that I understand to be somewhat astonishing (20mg/day of Methimazole, up from a high 15). I asked if I should spread that out (giving it to him three times a day instead of twice); they said no, increase each dose.
Last night and this morning he lapped up tuna juice but didn't eat any solids. They reported that he ate "a couple bites" of canned food while there today. When I got home I gave him some gravy-laden food and he showed actual interest for the first time this week, so I take that as a good sign.
Last night and this morning he lapped up tuna juice but didn't eat any solids. They reported that he ate "a couple bites" of canned food while there today. When I got home I gave him some gravy-laden food and he showed actual interest for the first time this week, so I take that as a good sign.
Baldur update
Mar. 27th, 2012 10:51 pmBaldur is still lethargic -- a lot of lying around, barely moving, not eating -- but last night he came upstairs and jumped up on the bed. So, mixed signals there.
The blood tests came back today. The CBC is all normal -- no anemia (yay! the fluid isn't internal bleeding!), no elevated white-cell counts (infection). His BUN (kidney number) is slightly up (45, vs. 38 a few months ago); for comparison, Embla and Erik were both into three digits at the end. Kriatinine (the other kidney number) is normal. T4, the hyperthyroid number, is high at 5.4 (his highest reading so far), despite the fact that he's getting 15mg of Methimazole a day (this is abnormally high). That's transdermal, though, because something in the pill makes him throw up, and transdermal doesn't have perfect absorption. But still...
The drugs he's on are Enalapril (the heart medicine) and Furosemide (the diuretic).
I talked with both vets tonight -- the one who saw him yesterday and my regular one. My vet is going to find out whether imaging his heart would tell us anything we could use. Other than that, we keep doing what we're doing and give the drugs time to work.
Thanks for all the replies to yesterday's post.
The blood tests came back today. The CBC is all normal -- no anemia (yay! the fluid isn't internal bleeding!), no elevated white-cell counts (infection). His BUN (kidney number) is slightly up (45, vs. 38 a few months ago); for comparison, Embla and Erik were both into three digits at the end. Kriatinine (the other kidney number) is normal. T4, the hyperthyroid number, is high at 5.4 (his highest reading so far), despite the fact that he's getting 15mg of Methimazole a day (this is abnormally high). That's transdermal, though, because something in the pill makes him throw up, and transdermal doesn't have perfect absorption. But still...
The drugs he's on are Enalapril (the heart medicine) and Furosemide (the diuretic).
I talked with both vets tonight -- the one who saw him yesterday and my regular one. My vet is going to find out whether imaging his heart would tell us anything we could use. Other than that, we keep doing what we're doing and give the drugs time to work.
Thanks for all the replies to yesterday's post.
poor Baldur
Mar. 26th, 2012 11:00 pmYesterday Baldur suddenly became lethargic and uninterested in food (but was and is
drinking water). He'd been fine Saturday, jumping into my lap and gobbling
up food. Then, Sunday, nothing, and when I picked him up to put him in my
lap he jumped right back down. I wondered if he'd had a stroke or heart
attack; Dr. Google didn't seem to think so so I didn't go to an emergency
vet last night, but today I took him to my vet's office. My vet
wasn't in, but I saw another one in the practice who has seen Baldur before.
They took his blood pressure and the readings were astonishing; this high-blood-pressure kitty had below-average readings today. A chest X-ray showed pulmonary edema and pleural effusion -- fluid in the tissue of his lungs and in the chest cavity. (There was actually enough fluid that we couldn't see his heart.) The good news is that there are no tumors; the bad news is that, well, he's got fluid where it shouldn't be. Heart disease is a possible effect of hyperthyroidism (and old age). The tentative diagnosis is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Blood tests should tell us more tomorrow, including how his kidneys are doing.
So he's on some new medicines now, a heart medicine and a diuretic to try to draw out some of that fluid, and I'm pushing vitamins and watered-down food into him via syringe so he gets some nutrients. This vet didn't talk with me about prognosis; I assume my vet will.
I did ask the vet about the sudden onset, since it sounded like he was describing progressive diseases (and the net agreed when I got home and looked). He said that cats are really good at hiding problems until they become so overwhelming that they can't any more. So Baldur has probably been feeling unwell for some time (days? weeks? dunno), and I couldn't tell. Poor guy! I hope the meds help.
I wish we could just talk about it
Jan. 9th, 2012 11:39 pmBaldur has become more vocal of late. It's not just since Erik died; it's been building for a while longer. But it has gotten worse, maybe because of that or maybe coincidentally. The vet can find nothing wrong with him (other than that he's almost 19 years old); she suspects senility. Near as I can tell his vision and hearing are still ok -- at least, he chases the laser dot and hears a can of food being opened from a floor away. But he'll stand in the middle of the hall, yowling piteously and failing to respond to being called. If I go get him he stops for a while, usually. It's weird.
Alas, he has been doing a fair bit of this in the middle of the night of late, which is wearing. Tonight I shut him in the basement -- with plenty of warm soft stuff to sleep on, food, water, litter, and a light, of course, but still... He cried for a while but seems to have settled down. We'll see if it lasts.
I don't want to have to do this every night. I want my cat to be able to curl up on my feet (or, of late, my arm) while I sleep. This feels like I'm failing both of us.
Sigh.
Alas, he has been doing a fair bit of this in the middle of the night of late, which is wearing. Tonight I shut him in the basement -- with plenty of warm soft stuff to sleep on, food, water, litter, and a light, of course, but still... He cried for a while but seems to have settled down. We'll see if it lasts.
I don't want to have to do this every night. I want my cat to be able to curl up on my feet (or, of late, my arm) while I sleep. This feels like I'm failing both of us.
Sigh.
note to cat
Nov. 30th, 2011 11:09 pmDear Baldur,
Standing in the middle of the hall or a nearby room crying loudly because you don't see me is Not Cute. Especially when you just left me and I haven't moved. I know you have object permanence; you never fail to find the food dish. So please remember, when you walk out of the office while I'm at the computer or especially when you jump off the bed at 3AM, that you know how to find me again without asking. Can you take care of that for me? Thanks.
* * *
He's been doing this for a year or so, so this is not just the effect of losing Erik and Embla. Google tells me that this behavior can mean:
1. Hyperthyroid. Yes, but it's being treated and his last blood test was at the end of October. So that's not it.
2. Going blind and/or deaf. I don't really know how to tell, given that I can't tell him to just read the eye chart for me. No visible clouding in his eyes and his pupils respond to light changes. He followed a laser pointer for me a couple days ago, but maybe light is different. He doesn't miss when jumping up on things or people and I haven't seen him stumbling or walking into walls. And he seems to notice activity in the kitchen. So I don't think it's this.
3. Depression. Don't know how to tell or what to do about it, though.
4. Dementia. Yes, apparently cats can get something like Alzheimer's. Whee. Rumor (ok, one web page) says there exists medicine for this; I've asked my vet for advice and she will get back to me.
Standing in the middle of the hall or a nearby room crying loudly because you don't see me is Not Cute. Especially when you just left me and I haven't moved. I know you have object permanence; you never fail to find the food dish. So please remember, when you walk out of the office while I'm at the computer or especially when you jump off the bed at 3AM, that you know how to find me again without asking. Can you take care of that for me? Thanks.
* * *
He's been doing this for a year or so, so this is not just the effect of losing Erik and Embla. Google tells me that this behavior can mean:
1. Hyperthyroid. Yes, but it's being treated and his last blood test was at the end of October. So that's not it.
2. Going blind and/or deaf. I don't really know how to tell, given that I can't tell him to just read the eye chart for me. No visible clouding in his eyes and his pupils respond to light changes. He followed a laser pointer for me a couple days ago, but maybe light is different. He doesn't miss when jumping up on things or people and I haven't seen him stumbling or walking into walls. And he seems to notice activity in the kitchen. So I don't think it's this.
3. Depression. Don't know how to tell or what to do about it, though.
4. Dementia. Yes, apparently cats can get something like Alzheimer's. Whee. Rumor (ok, one web page) says there exists medicine for this; I've asked my vet for advice and she will get back to me.
triskaidekaphilia
May. 13th, 2011 06:43 pmVia ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tangerinpenguin:
List thirteen things that are going well for you this Friday the 13th:
tangerinpenguin:
List thirteen things that are going well for you this Friday the 13th:
1. The customer who sounded like he wanted Big Complicated Things (In A Hurry) thought my first draft was about 80% while I was assuming 25%.
2. Two significant projects (and some lesser ones) at work want me and my manager will support whatever I want to do. Cool!
3. I read a letter on the eye chart this week that I don't usually get.
4. Some more e-books that I want to read are available as free downloads.
5. Good conversation with my rabbi last night.
6. Bought gas for $3.09/gallon (loyalty card) and it should hold me for a month.
7. Cirque du Soleil is coming to Pittsburgh and this time their web site allowed us to buy tickets. (Totem -- not interested in the Michael Jackson thingy.)
8. Waking up to a cat on my feet every morning still, even though the weather has gotten warm.
9. Baldur is eating better.
10. Mesura et Arte del Danzare -- lovely recording!
11. Neighbors taking care of things along the property line that they might have been able to get away with not doing.
12. The rain seems to have ended before I have to leave for Shabbat.
13. Dani makes me happy. (Why yes, that is redacted. :-) )
What party affiliation do cats old enough to vote claim? Independent, of course. (But since neither can produce proof of citizenship, and anyway they are not allowed out of the house on their own, we don't need to worry about feline domination coming through that particular path.)
Baldur has spent most of his life being gravity-challenged. He'll stand (or sit) on the floor in front of the couch and contemplate jumping up to join you but conclude it's too much work. In the last month or so he has, pretty consistently, jumped up on the desk to be with me when I'm using the computer. (He goes by way of my lap; he can't do floor to desk directly.) I am at a loss to explain this sudden change in outlook. Yes he's lost weight (and that's actually a concern), but I had always assumed this was governed by attitude, not mass.
Erik, meanwhile, can be relied upon to crawl under the bed-covers at night, at least until spring. He has never considered gravity to be an impediment to this.
Baldur has spent most of his life being gravity-challenged. He'll stand (or sit) on the floor in front of the couch and contemplate jumping up to join you but conclude it's too much work. In the last month or so he has, pretty consistently, jumped up on the desk to be with me when I'm using the computer. (He goes by way of my lap; he can't do floor to desk directly.) I am at a loss to explain this sudden change in outlook. Yes he's lost weight (and that's actually a concern), but I had always assumed this was governed by attitude, not mass.
Erik, meanwhile, can be relied upon to crawl under the bed-covers at night, at least until spring. He has never considered gravity to be an impediment to this.
clueful packaging
Dec. 29th, 2010 09:36 pmBaldur has been on Methimazole (for hyperthyroidism) for about a year. We started him on the pills (which were good enough for the other cats), but he reacted poorly to them -- not the drug itself, apparently, but something else in the pill. So my vet switched him to the topical form and that's been fine.
The way this works is that there's a dispenser with a cream in it; you turn the dial the correct amount to dispense a small blob of cream and then smear it in the cat's ear. (Using the applicator; you don't get any of it on your hands.) This actually works fine; I distract him with food. Initially he was getting 2.5mg at a time, so we got dispensers that dispense that amount. More recently my vet increased some of the doses to 5mg -- you can do that with a 2.5mg dispenser, of course, but it's a little more hassle (and expense) that way. I was due for a refill, so I asked if she could get me a mix of 2.5mg and 5mg dispensers.
She asked if there was risk that I'd get confused and use the wrong one. I said I would mark the dispensers and she said ok.
The package came today, and in addition to the dosage text printed on the dispensers, they have helpfully made them different colors. That was, in fact, how I was planning to mark them. :-) (Colored tape or a bit of paint.) The boxes are also different colors; I keep the active dispenser in its box for easier storage. So thank you, Veterinary Pharmacies of America, for getting the packaging right so I don't have to. I have two active dispensers, obviously different from each other, and all is fine.
The way this works is that there's a dispenser with a cream in it; you turn the dial the correct amount to dispense a small blob of cream and then smear it in the cat's ear. (Using the applicator; you don't get any of it on your hands.) This actually works fine; I distract him with food. Initially he was getting 2.5mg at a time, so we got dispensers that dispense that amount. More recently my vet increased some of the doses to 5mg -- you can do that with a 2.5mg dispenser, of course, but it's a little more hassle (and expense) that way. I was due for a refill, so I asked if she could get me a mix of 2.5mg and 5mg dispensers.
She asked if there was risk that I'd get confused and use the wrong one. I said I would mark the dispensers and she said ok.
The package came today, and in addition to the dosage text printed on the dispensers, they have helpfully made them different colors. That was, in fact, how I was planning to mark them. :-) (Colored tape or a bit of paint.) The boxes are also different colors; I keep the active dispenser in its box for easier storage. So thank you, Veterinary Pharmacies of America, for getting the packaging right so I don't have to. I have two active dispensers, obviously different from each other, and all is fine.
random bits
Mar. 2nd, 2010 11:23 pmPurim was this past weekend. We continued the tradition started
last year of having "Esther's banquet" after the evening megillah reading
and Purimspiel -- adults-only, food, alcohol, study/discussion. This
year we had about 50 people, I think, up from last year, which is good
to see. Last year I had brought some homebrew along. I hadn't planned
to repeat that this year because there hadn't been a lot of takers -- but
then one of the rabbis, in announcing the event to the morning minyan,
said "and Monica's going to bring her homebrew, right?", so I shrugged and
did. I brought 12-year-old horilka (made with spiced brandy) and some
mead, and both were very popular. (They polished off most of a liter of
horilka! Last year they drank maybe a cup.) I haven't actually been
making stuff for the last decade or so; I guess I should queue up some
more horilka in the fall when cider is in season again. (The ingredients
in horilka are unprocessed cider, honey, brandy or vodka, spices, and time.
Thanks, hlinspjalda!)
hlinspjalda!)
I talked with the vet today. The test of Baldur's liver function came back normal. As we were discussing next steps (the ones that could produce answers are dangerous), she asked me just what he eats. There's dry food out all the time and its rate of consumption hasn't markedly changed in recent months, but of course I don't know who eats how much. Baldur has ready access, though. He gets tiny amounts of tuna and canned food; basically he gets to lick the spoon when I feed such to Erik. Baldur wolfed down half a can of food in about 15 minutes at the vet's on Thursday, so my vet suggested giving him real amounts of canned food. I've generally avoided that because it's unhealthy, but y'know, he's 17 years old now -- am I really worried about him picking up bad dietary habits at this point? So I'll give that a try; he enthusiastically ate most of a can of food today (between morning and evening), so we're off and running.
I see that the post office wants to cut a day of mail delivery to save costs. I don't mind the cut, but I think it would be much better for us customers/taxpayers if they chose a day in the middle of the week, say, Thursday, instead of choosing a schedule that sometimes means four days between mail deliveries. I assume that giving up all their Monday holidays isn't on the table. (There actually is a segue from the previous item to this one: this morning I refilled a mail-order prescription for Baldur.)
Dani recently ordered some Israeli CDs, and the MP3 tagging has been strange. Two or three different two-disc sets tagged one disc in English (transliteration) and one in Hebrew, for instance. Sometimes song titles will be one way and performers the other. In one case we got gibberish, presumably a unicode failure or something, and Dani typed stuff in by hand. Any one of those cases wouldn't have surprised me, but mixing it up on the same recording is bizarre.
Baldur and the vet
Feb. 26th, 2010 05:48 pmBaldur is a cranky patient, so when he spent yesterday at the vet's for
an ultrasound and chest X-ray (looking for cause of weight loss) it came
as no surprise that they reported a lot of growling and hissing. The
folks doing the ultrasound suggested a blood test that requires taking
blood before and after eating, so they called to see if I'd authorize
that. We also had roughly the following conversation:
Them: Do you think he would eat if --
Me: Yes.
Them: He seems awfully upset.
Me: Don't put any body parts you care about between him and the food.
Them: Does he have any food preferences?
Me: Already dead is best; he's not a mighty hunter.
When I picked him up they confirmed that they had slid a bowl of canned food into his kennel, covered the kennel (to try to calm him down; didn't know that wasn't just a bird thing), and immediately heard much slurping and chomping. That's my little vacuum cleaner!
family night at the vet's
Mar. 3rd, 2008 09:56 pmTonight I took the gang in for scheduled maintenance.
( Read more... )
My vet thought that Baldur looks much younger than he is, so when one of the techs came in to help with vaccines and blood draws, the vet asked her to estimate his age. The tech used to work at an animal shelter, so she said she's done this a lot. She then said "6 or 7", and was boggled when we said 15. These are my first cats so I don't really have expectations about what an old cat looks like; Erik does look older than Baldur to me, but I think that's due to being underweight and moving a little slowly.
cat checkup
Oct. 22nd, 2007 09:34 pm( stats )
Note to self: Baldur is no longer permitted to use one of the smaller carriers; tonight we had to take it apart to get him out. Mind, there was enough room in there that he turned himself around in transit; he wasn't stuck if he didn't want to be. He was being stubborn. I have one carrier that I think is intended for small dogs; it'll be nearly impossible for him to spread out enough that we can't pull him out of that.
vet visit (2 of 2)
Mar. 6th, 2007 08:25 pmBaldur and Embla had their checkups tonight. Ok, all of my cats have lost weight this year. How weird! They eat as much as they want. Yeah, older cats tend to lose weight, but still... (My vet had no specific advice on diet changes.)
Baldur: 13 pounds 3 ounces (15+ last year, 17+ the year before)
Embla: 6 pounds 13 ounces (missed last year, 9+ the year before)
Baldur has recently (last couple weeks) been throwing up (small amounts), and Embla's heart rate tonight was 240 (normal is 180-200), so both are getting blood tests. In both cases, the vet suspects hyper-thyroid. I asked if I can get a bulk discount on treatment. :-) I also asked if it's really plausible that all three of my cats are suffering from that ailment, and he said he didn't know but it is common in older cats.
(So,lorimelton, you were right the other night -- Baldur actually has lost weight. Granted, it's hard to really tell by looking.)
Baldur: 13 pounds 3 ounces (15+ last year, 17+ the year before)
Embla: 6 pounds 13 ounces (missed last year, 9+ the year before)
Baldur has recently (last couple weeks) been throwing up (small amounts), and Embla's heart rate tonight was 240 (normal is 180-200), so both are getting blood tests. In both cases, the vet suspects hyper-thyroid. I asked if I can get a bulk discount on treatment. :-) I also asked if it's really plausible that all three of my cats are suffering from that ailment, and he said he didn't know but it is common in older cats.
(So,
lorimelton, you were right the other night -- Baldur actually has lost weight. Granted, it's hard to really tell by looking.)Tonight's was not one of the better trips to the vet, despite
the best efforts of my vet and her assistant to make things
go smoothly. (My vet and the assistant rock, and when I go back
in a few weeks I should take them cookies or something.)
I'm not sure what got into Erik and Baldur tonight.
( in which we talk about biology and behavior )
I couldn't get three adjacent appointments, so I'll have to go back another time with Embla. I made this appointment as "Erik plus one" and that was ok with them. (The vet specifically wanted to see Erik tonight.) I'm not surprised that I was unable to capture Embla tonight.
But in interesting news, it seems the Atkins craze has cat-food analogues. I had commented that I expected Erik to have gained some weight (he didn't) because he's been getting canned cat food (to bury medicine in); the vet told me that actually, anecdotal evidence suggests that cats are more likely to lose weight on canned food. The dry stuff, by contrast, is full of carbs. Mind, this isn't scientifically-validated research; it's just what some vets have started to talk casually with each other about. Curious.
