Holly is in the hospital

Holly has been in the vet clinic for the past five days. She had a
fantastic report from her blood test just three months ago–the vet said it
was “almost unheard-of� for a cat of her age to have such good values.
However, that was the result of the CBC. I had taken her in for an
evaluation because she was not eating right, was drinking a lot of water and
was losing weight. I was concerned about possible hyperthyroidism, but I
also knew that many cats lose weight as they get older. The test (T4) for
hyperthyroidism had to be sent to Texas A&M. Sure enough, the results
concerned my vet when they came back, and he asked me to bring her in for a
second test in January.

That was in October. She has continued to lose weight since then, and her
beautiful fur has started to look “scruffy� and much thinner. She has not
been eating well but has been drinking a lot of water. Then, just a couple
of weeks ago, I noticed that she would make strange motions with her mouth
after eating (and sometimes after drinking), and she would paw and “scrub�
at her mouth after eating. She also started to jump up on the counter every
time I turned on the water and would turn her head sideways to get water
from the faucet.

I took her in for follow-up tests and described this change of behavior.
Ironically, the hyperthyroidism test is now normal, but her CBC shows kidney
values that are far out of normal range. When TED examined her mouth, he
found a tooth that he thought was rotten, and he commented that she had
become too “boney.� He felt that she should have several days of fluids, so
she has been in the clinic getting fluids and trying to get some of the
values back into better range so she could withstand anaesthesia (gas) to
examine and possibly pull that tooth. Her latest test was considerably
better, so we had the tooth surgery Thursday afternoon.

The result was that TED had to pull *three* teeth. Moreover, her heart
stopped several times during the procedure–it would stop, then start, then
stop again, then start, etc., so they had to get through the procedure as
fast as possible. She was on a heart monitor for the next day, but there
have been no further problems. I feel so bad about this. I know now that
little Holly has probably been in a lot of pain for some time, and I did not
realize it. Cats are well-known to hide pain as long as possible, and I did
not pick up on any tooth or mouth problems. The vet also did not see any
problems when he examined her mouth in October. She had been acting
normally in all other ways.

I have visited her for about an hour each day. She is completely calm when
I am with her, but she “hisses� at anyone else who comes into the room. She
probably blames them for the way she is tethered to the IV and all the other
“indignities� she has been suffering. She was scheduled to come home today,
but I noticed that same mouth movement and pawing at the mouth after she ate
a couple of bites yesterday. I hope that is only due to the surgery and not
an indication of still more problems. I will learn more today.

This has been very long, but I wanted to provide a good update.
Incidentally, Holly is now 17 years old (will be 18 on June 1). Her vet
says she is at an age where “all her classmates are gone,� and her health
has been exceptional until the last few months.
Holly has a very good vet, and he is a very caring person. He is very busy,
but he has spent more than an hour talking to me on a couple of occasions
during the past five days. When I thanked him for all the extra time, he
said he knows Holly is family, and it’s important to educate the owner as
well as care for the patient.

M.L.

On 1/12/2013 7:07 AM, MaryL wrote:
Holly has been in the vet clinic for the past five days. She had a
fantastic report from her blood test just three months ago–the vet said
it was “almost unheard-of� for a cat of her age to have such good
values. However, that was the result of the CBC. I had taken her in for
an evaluation because she was not eating right, was drinking a lot of
water and was losing weight. I was concerned about possible
hyperthyroidism, but I also knew that many cats lose weight as they get
older. The test (T4) for hyperthyroidism had to be sent to Texas A&M.
Sure enough, the results concerned my vet when they came back, and he
asked me to bring her in for a second test in January.

That was in October. She has continued to lose weight since then, and
her beautiful fur has started to look “scruffy� and much thinner. She
has not been eating well but has been drinking a lot of water. Then,
just a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that she would make strange
motions with her mouth after eating (and sometimes after drinking), and
she would paw and “scrub� at her mouth after eating. She also started
to jump up on the counter every time I turned on the water and would
turn her head sideways to get water from the faucet.

I took her in for follow-up tests and described this change of behavior.
Ironically, the hyperthyroidism test is now normal, but her CBC shows
kidney values that are far out of normal range. When TED examined her
mouth, he found a tooth that he thought was rotten, and he commented
that she had become too “boney.� He felt that she should have several
days of fluids, so she has been in the clinic getting fluids and trying
to get some of the values back into better range so she could withstand
anaesthesia (gas) to examine and possibly pull that tooth. Her latest
test was considerably better, so we had the tooth surgery Thursday
afternoon.

The result was that TED had to pull *three* teeth. Moreover, her heart
stopped several times during the procedure–it would stop, then start,
then stop again, then start, etc., so they had to get through the
procedure as fast as possible. She was on a heart monitor for the next
day, but there have been no further problems. I feel so bad about
this. I know now that little Holly has probably been in a lot of pain
for some time, and I did not realize it. Cats are well-known to hide
pain as long as possible, and I did not pick up on any tooth or mouth
problems. The vet also did not see any problems when he examined her
mouth in October. She had been acting normally in all other ways.

I have visited her for about an hour each day. She is completely calm
when I am with her, but she “hisses� at anyone else who comes into the
room. She probably blames them for the way she is tethered to the IV
and all the other “indignities� she has been suffering. She was
scheduled to come home today, but I noticed that same mouth movement and
pawing at the mouth after she ate a couple of bites yesterday. I hope
that is only due to the surgery and not an indication of still more
problems. I will learn more today.

This has been very long, but I wanted to provide a good update.
Incidentally, Holly is now 17 years old (will be 18 on June 1). Her vet
says she is at an age where “all her classmates are gone,� and her
health has been exceptional until the last few months.
Holly has a very good vet, and he is a very caring person. He is very
busy, but he has spent more than an hour talking to me on a couple of
occasions during the past five days. When I thanked him for all the
extra time, he said he knows Holly is family, and it’s important to
educate the owner as well as care for the patient.

M.L.



Many purrs for Holly to get better ASAP. I know you must be worried
sick. How is Duffy taking her absence?

Jill

On 1/12/2013 7:07 AM, MaryL wrote:
Holly has been in the vet clinic for the past five days. She had a
fantastic report from her blood test just three months ago–the vet said
it was “almost unheard-of� for a cat of her age to have such good
values. However, that was the result of the CBC. I had taken her in for
an evaluation because she was not eating right, was drinking a lot of
water and was losing weight. I was concerned about possible
hyperthyroidism, but I also knew that many cats lose weight as they get
older. The test (T4) for hyperthyroidism had to be sent to Texas A&M.
Sure enough, the results concerned my vet when they came back, and he
asked me to bring her in for a second test in January.

That was in October. She has continued to lose weight since then, and
her beautiful fur has started to look “scruffy� and much thinner. She
has not been eating well but has been drinking a lot of water. Then,
just a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that she would make strange
motions with her mouth after eating (and sometimes after drinking), and
she would paw and “scrub� at her mouth after eating. She also started
to jump up on the counter every time I turned on the water and would
turn her head sideways to get water from the faucet.

I took her in for follow-up tests and described this change of behavior.
Ironically, the hyperthyroidism test is now normal, but her CBC shows
kidney values that are far out of normal range. When TED examined her
mouth, he found a tooth that he thought was rotten, and he commented
that she had become too “boney.� He felt that she should have several
days of fluids, so she has been in the clinic getting fluids and trying
to get some of the values back into better range so she could withstand
anaesthesia (gas) to examine and possibly pull that tooth. Her latest
test was considerably better, so we had the tooth surgery Thursday
afternoon.

The result was that TED had to pull *three* teeth. Moreover, her heart
stopped several times during the procedure–it would stop, then start,
then stop again, then start, etc., so they had to get through the
procedure as fast as possible. She was on a heart monitor for the next
day, but there have been no further problems. I feel so bad about
this. I know now that little Holly has probably been in a lot of pain
for some time, and I did not realize it. Cats are well-known to hide
pain as long as possible, and I did not pick up on any tooth or mouth
problems. The vet also did not see any problems when he examined her
mouth in October. She had been acting normally in all other ways.

I have visited her for about an hour each day. She is completely calm
when I am with her, but she “hisses� at anyone else who comes into the
room. She probably blames them for the way she is tethered to the IV
and all the other “indignities� she has been suffering. She was
scheduled to come home today, but I noticed that same mouth movement and
pawing at the mouth after she ate a couple of bites yesterday. I hope
that is only due to the surgery and not an indication of still more
problems. I will learn more today.

This has been very long, but I wanted to provide a good update.
Incidentally, Holly is now 17 years old (will be 18 on June 1). Her vet
says she is at an age where “all her classmates are gone,� and her
health has been exceptional until the last few months.
Holly has a very good vet, and he is a very caring person. He is very
busy, but he has spent more than an hour talking to me on a couple of
occasions during the past five days. When I thanked him for all the
extra time, he said he knows Holly is family, and it’s important to
educate the owner as well as care for the patient.

M.L.



Purrs on the way.

Ann

"MaryL" wrote:
Holly has been in the vet clinic for the past five days. She had a
fantastic report from her blood test just three months ago–the vet said
it was “almost unheard-of� for a cat of her age to have such good values.
However, that was the result of the CBC. I had taken her in for an
evaluation because she was not eating right, was drinking a lot of water
and was losing weight. I was concerned about possible hyperthyroidism,
but I also knew that many cats lose weight as they get older. The test
(T4) for hyperthyroidism had to be sent to Texas A&M. Sure enough, the
results concerned my vet when they came back, and he asked me to bring
her in for a second test in January.

That was in October. She has continued to lose weight since then, and
her beautiful fur has started to look “scruffy� and much thinner. She
has not been eating well but has been drinking a lot of water. Then,
just a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that she would make strange motions
with her mouth after eating (and sometimes after drinking), and she would
paw and “scrub� at her mouth after eating. She also started to jump up
on the counter every time I turned on the water and would turn her head
sideways to get water from the faucet.

I took her in for follow-up tests and described this change of behavior.
Ironically, the hyperthyroidism test is now normal, but her CBC shows
kidney values that are far out of normal range. When TED examined her
mouth, he found a tooth that he thought was rotten, and he commented that
she had become too “boney.� He felt that she should have several days of
fluids, so she has been in the clinic getting fluids and trying to get
some of the values back into better range so she could withstand
anaesthesia (gas) to examine and possibly pull that tooth. Her latest
test was considerably better, so we had the tooth surgery Thursday afternoon.

The result was that TED had to pull *three* teeth. Moreover, her heart
stopped several times during the procedure–it would stop, then start,
then stop again, then start, etc., so they had to get through the
procedure as fast as possible. She was on a heart monitor for the next
day, but there have been no further problems. I feel so bad about this.
I know now that little Holly has probably been in a lot of pain for some
time, and I did not realize it. Cats are well-known to hide pain as long
as possible, and I did not pick up on any tooth or mouth problems. The
vet also did not see any problems when he examined her mouth in October.
She had been acting normally in all other ways.

I have visited her for about an hour each day. She is completely calm
when I am with her, but she “hisses� at anyone else who comes into the
room. She probably blames them for the way she is tethered to the IV and
all the other “indignities� she has been suffering. She was scheduled to
come home today, but I noticed that same mouth movement and pawing at the
mouth after she ate a couple of bites yesterday. I hope that is only due
to the surgery and not an indication of still more problems. I will learn more today.

This has been very long, but I wanted to provide a good update.
Incidentally, Holly is now 17 years old (will be 18 on June 1). Her vet
says she is at an age where “all her classmates are gone,� and her health
has been exceptional until the last few months.
Holly has a very good vet, and he is a very caring person. He is very
busy, but he has spent more than an hour talking to me on a couple of
occasions during the past five days. When I thanked him for all the
extra time, he said he knows Holly is family, and it’s important to
educate the owner as well as care for the patient.

M.L.

Sending lots of purrs for, Holly.
--
Adrian

"jmcquown" wrote in message ...

On 1/12/2013 7:07 AM, MaryL wrote:
Holly has been in the vet clinic for the past five days.


Many purrs for Holly to get better ASAP. I know you must be worried
sick. How is Duffy taking her absence?

Jill

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks. And that's a good question...Duffy has been lonely. He spent the
first two days just curled up on the foot of my bed, sleeping or at least
lying there with his eyes closed. He would go to the litter box and also
would eat a little, then go back to the foot of my bed. Likewise, I could
pick him up and carry him into the living to sit in the chair where he
usually hops onto my lap. He would purr and rub his little head against my
face, but that would last only a couple of minutes. Then he would hop down
and head for my bedroom. Fortunately, he came out of that "deep funk." He
is now eating normally, and jumped up onto my lap and relaxed there for
about 20 minutes today. He followed me to the computer room and is sitting
beside me now. I can see that he's still lonely, and I still haven't seen
him play with any of his toys, but it's getting better. The thing that
*really* got his attention was when I got out the Liv-a-Littles. He *loves*
those and came running for them, as usual. I hope Holly will be coming home
today. That would be the best therapy, for both Duffy and me.

MaryL

On 1/12/2013 10:02 AM, MaryL wrote:


"jmcquown" wrote in message ...

On 1/12/2013 7:07 AM, MaryL wrote:
Holly has been in the vet clinic for the past five days.


Many purrs for Holly to get better ASAP. I know you must be worried
sick. How is Duffy taking her absence?

Jill

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks. And that's a good question...Duffy has been lonely. He spent
the first two days just curled up on the foot of my bed, sleeping or at
least lying there with his eyes closed. He would go to the litter box
and also would eat a little, then go back to the foot of my bed.
Likewise, I could pick him up and carry him into the living to sit in
the chair where he usually hops onto my lap. He would purr and rub his
little head against my face, but that would last only a couple of
minutes. Then he would hop down and head for my bedroom. Fortunately,
he came out of that "deep funk." He is now eating normally, and jumped
up onto my lap and relaxed there for about 20 minutes today. He
followed me to the computer room and is sitting beside me now. I can
see that he's still lonely, and I still haven't seen him play with any
of his toys, but it's getting better. The thing that *really* got his
attention was when I got out the Liv-a-Littles. He *loves* those and
came running for them, as usual. I hope Holly will be coming home
today. That would be the best therapy, for both Duffy and me.

MaryL

I sure hope Holly can come home today. It's nice to know Duffy sort of
settled in. But I know you're both missing her terribly. Purrs
continue for all of you.

Jill

"MaryL" wrote in message
...
Holly has been in the vet clinic for the past five days. She had a
fantastic report from her blood test just three months ago-the vet said it
was "almost unheard-of" for a cat of her age to have such good values.
However, that was the result of the CBC. I had taken her in for an
evaluation because she was not eating right, was drinking a lot of water
and was losing weight. I was concerned about possible hyperthyroidism,
but I also knew that many cats lose weight as they get older. The test
(T4) for hyperthyroidism had to be sent to Texas A&M. Sure enough, the
results concerned my vet when they came back, and he asked me to bring her
in for a second test in January.

That was in October. She has continued to lose weight since then, and her
beautiful fur has started to look "scruffy" and much thinner. She has not
been eating well but has been drinking a lot of water. Then, just a
couple of weeks ago, I noticed that she would make strange motions with
her mouth after eating (and sometimes after drinking), and she would paw
and "scrub" at her mouth after eating. She also started to jump up on the
counter every time I turned on the water and would turn her head sideways
to get water from the faucet.

I took her in for follow-up tests and described this change of behavior.
Ironically, the hyperthyroidism test is now normal, but her CBC shows
kidney values that are far out of normal range. When TED examined her
mouth, he found a tooth that he thought was rotten, and he commented that
she had become too "boney." He felt that she should have several days of
fluids, so she has been in the clinic getting fluids and trying to get
some of the values back into better range so she could withstand
anaesthesia (gas) to examine and possibly pull that tooth. Her latest
test was considerably better, so we had the tooth surgery Thursday
afternoon.

The result was that TED had to pull *three* teeth. Moreover, her heart
stopped several times during the procedure-it would stop, then start, then
stop again, then start, etc., so they had to get through the procedure as
fast as possible. She was on a heart monitor for the next day, but there
have been no further problems. I feel so bad about this. I know now that
little Holly has probably been in a lot of pain for some time, and I did
not realize it. Cats are well-known to hide pain as long as possible, and
I did not pick up on any tooth or mouth problems. The vet also did not
see any problems when he examined her mouth in October. She had been
acting normally in all other ways.

I have visited her for about an hour each day. She is completely calm
when I am with her, but she "hisses" at anyone else who comes into the
room. She probably blames them for the way she is tethered to the IV and
all the other "indignities" she has been suffering. She was scheduled to
come home today, but I noticed that same mouth movement and pawing at the
mouth after she ate a couple of bites yesterday. I hope that is only due
to the surgery and not an indication of still more problems. I will learn
more today.

This has been very long, but I wanted to provide a good update.
Incidentally, Holly is now 17 years old (will be 18 on June 1). Her vet
says she is at an age where "all her classmates are gone," and her health
has been exceptional until the last few months.
Holly has a very good vet, and he is a very caring person. He is very
busy, but he has spent more than an hour talking to me on a couple of
occasions during the past five days. When I thanked him for all the extra
time, he said he knows Holly is family, and it's important to educate the
owner as well as care for the patient.

M.L.


Purrs in route

Purrs for Holly on the way

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

"MaryL" wrote in message
...
Holly has been in the vet clinic for the past five days. She had a
fantastic report from her blood test just three months ago-the vet said it
was "almost unheard-of" for a cat of her age to have such good values.
However, that was the result of the CBC. I had taken her in for an
evaluation because she was not eating right, was drinking a lot of water
and was losing weight. I was concerned about possible hyperthyroidism,
but I also knew that many cats lose weight as they get older. The test
(T4) for hyperthyroidism had to be sent to Texas A&M. Sure enough, the
results concerned my vet when they came back, and he asked me to bring her
in for a second test in January.

That was in October. She has continued to lose weight since then, and her
beautiful fur has started to look "scruffy" and much thinner. She has not
been eating well but has been drinking a lot of water. Then, just a
couple of weeks ago, I noticed that she would make strange motions with
her mouth after eating (and sometimes after drinking), and she would paw
and "scrub" at her mouth after eating. She also started to jump up on the
counter every time I turned on the water and would turn her head sideways
to get water from the faucet.

I took her in for follow-up tests and described this change of behavior.
Ironically, the hyperthyroidism test is now normal, but her CBC shows
kidney values that are far out of normal range. When TED examined her
mouth, he found a tooth that he thought was rotten, and he commented that
she had become too "boney." He felt that she should have several days of
fluids, so she has been in the clinic getting fluids and trying to get
some of the values back into better range so she could withstand
anaesthesia (gas) to examine and possibly pull that tooth. Her latest
test was considerably better, so we had the tooth surgery Thursday
afternoon.

The result was that TED had to pull *three* teeth. Moreover, her heart
stopped several times during the procedure-it would stop, then start, then
stop again, then start, etc., so they had to get through the procedure as
fast as possible. She was on a heart monitor for the next day, but there
have been no further problems. I feel so bad about this. I know now that
little Holly has probably been in a lot of pain for some time, and I did
not realize it. Cats are well-known to hide pain as long as possible, and
I did not pick up on any tooth or mouth problems. The vet also did not
see any problems when he examined her mouth in October. She had been
acting normally in all other ways.

I have visited her for about an hour each day. She is completely calm
when I am with her, but she "hisses" at anyone else who comes into the
room. She probably blames them for the way she is tethered to the IV and
all the other "indignities" she has been suffering. She was scheduled to
come home today, but I noticed that same mouth movement and pawing at the
mouth after she ate a couple of bites yesterday. I hope that is only due
to the surgery and not an indication of still more problems. I will learn
more today.

This has been very long, but I wanted to provide a good update.
Incidentally, Holly is now 17 years old (will be 18 on June 1). Her vet
says she is at an age where "all her classmates are gone," and her health
has been exceptional until the last few months.
Holly has a very good vet, and he is a very caring person. He is very
busy, but he has spent more than an hour talking to me on a couple of
occasions during the past five days. When I thanked him for all the extra
time, he said he knows Holly is family, and it's important to educate the
owner as well as care for the patient.

M.L.

Purrs for Holly, and for you. Try not to beat yourself up. As you say,
cats are good at hiding pain.

Joy

On Sat, 12 Jan 2013 06:07:39 -0600, MaryL wrote:

Holly has been in the vet clinic for the past five days. She had a
fantastic report from her blood test just three months ago–the vet said it
was “almost unheard-of� for a cat of her age to have such good values.
However, that was the result of the CBC. I had taken her in for an
evaluation because she was not eating right, was drinking a lot of water and
was losing weight. I was concerned about possible hyperthyroidism, but I
also knew that many cats lose weight as they get older. The test (T4) for
hyperthyroidism had to be sent to Texas A&M. Sure enough, the results
concerned my vet when they came back, and he asked me to bring her in for a
second test in January.

That was in October. She has continued to lose weight since then, and her
beautiful fur has started to look “scruffy� and much thinner. She has not
been eating well but has been drinking a lot of water. Then, just a couple
of weeks ago, I noticed that she would make strange motions with her mouth
after eating (and sometimes after drinking), and she would paw and “scrub�
at her mouth after eating. She also started to jump up on the counter every
time I turned on the water and would turn her head sideways to get water
from the faucet.

I took her in for follow-up tests and described this change of behavior.
Ironically, the hyperthyroidism test is now normal, but her CBC shows kidney
values that are far out of normal range. When TED examined her mouth, he
found a tooth that he thought was rotten, and he commented that she had
become too “boney.� He felt that she should have several days of fluids, so
she has been in the clinic getting fluids and trying to get some of the
values back into better range so she could withstand anaesthesia (gas) to
examine and possibly pull that tooth. Her latest test was considerably
better, so we had the tooth surgery Thursday afternoon.

The result was that TED had to pull *three* teeth. Moreover, her heart
stopped several times during the procedure–it would stop, then start, then
stop again, then start, etc., so they had to get through the procedure as
fast as possible. She was on a heart monitor for the next day, but there
have been no further problems. I feel so bad about this. I know now that
little Holly has probably been in a lot of pain for some time, and I did not
realize it. Cats are well-known to hide pain as long as possible, and I did
not pick up on any tooth or mouth problems. The vet also did not see any
problems when he examined her mouth in October. She had been acting
normally in all other ways.

I have visited her for about an hour each day. She is completely calm when
I am with her, but she “hisses� at anyone else who comes into the room. She
probably blames them for the way she is tethered to the IV and all the other
“indignities� she has been suffering. She was scheduled to come home today,
but I noticed that same mouth movement and pawing at the mouth after she ate
a couple of bites yesterday. I hope that is only due to the surgery and not
an indication of still more problems. I will learn more today.

This has been very long, but I wanted to provide a good update.
Incidentally, Holly is now 17 years old (will be 18 on June 1). Her vet
says she is at an age where “all her classmates are gone,� and her health
has been exceptional until the last few months.
Holly has a very good vet, and he is a very caring person. He is very busy,
but he has spent more than an hour talking to me on a couple of occasions
during the past five days. When I thanked him for all the extra time, he
said he knows Holly is family, and it’s important to educate the owner as
well as care for the patient.

M.L.


I am so sorry that dear Holly is having old age problems. We are sending our best
prayers and purrs for her. Please keep us inform ed how she iis. TuTu will be (we think) 16 this spring -- might be more but not less. I worry about this happening too.
MLB