Kitty Update!

A couple of the boys have ongoing medical issues that we're hoping are either resolved or will be soon. Here's a run-down on who we're watching ~

Scooter - this afternoon his purse-string suture was removed, and hopefully his rectal prolapse episodes are over. His medication (Lactulose) has been increased, he's back on a low residue diet (which produces low stool volume), and he's spending a good part of his day in the main house so we can keep a close eye on him.

Leonard - has been slowly dropping some weight. He had lab work done last week and an abdominal ultrasound looking for cancer, hyperthyroidism, or a heart-related cause. His heart looks great, the Atenolol dose he's on is working well. That leaves us with the potential diagnoses of intestinal lymphosarcoma (yuck, don't want that one!) or tapeworms that we haven't seen yet (much easier to fix).
As he's the primary groomer of all cats, we're first eliminating the parasite possibility with a dose of Droncit. Reweighing him in a couple of weeks will determine whether we need to proceed with an endoscopy to look for cancer.

Swope - (still working on his name!) had completely quit eating over the weekend, in spite of the antibiotics and pain meds he was taking for his mouth. We began subcutaneous fluids daily as well as force feeding. After much research, and talking with Dr. Booman, we opted to try a steroid injection, treating him as a stomatitis kitty. This is more of a "shotgun" approach to dealing with the problem, but we felt he just wouldn't do well at this point with anesthesia and the subsequent healing from a biopsy.
He got the injection Tuesday afternoon, and now he's feeling great! He's eating, drinking and feeling much more comfortable. There are potential side effects we have to watch for, but the benefits far outweigh them. If he continues to improve, he'll receive a second injection in a few weeks, then start on oral meds which will taper over the next month. He will also stay on antibiotics to combat infection too.