What have we done? Cats, 6; Tsu and Ivan, 2

[OAQfirst]

Tongue out while sleeping. My dad does that once in a while. That's when I get out my stick and poke him.

 

[lisab]

Tongue out while sleeping. My dad does that once in a while. That's when I get out my stick and poke him.

On the tongue?

 

[junglebeast]

When I was young boy my dad and I were going on a long car trip to the cabin in the night, and we spotted something alongside the road...out in the middle of nowhere (nothing but forest). My dad was curious so he pulled over. It turned out to be a cute little gray kitten. For some reason we decided to take it in.

The first thing it did was squirt diarrhea all over the blanket in the car. This became more of an annoyance later on because we tried using the blanket to lay under the stars later that evening but kept finding smelly little wet spots on it.

Later that week, I went to the fair and caught a greased pig in my bare hands. Of course this meant I got to keep it, too. You can imagine my mother's surprise when my dad returned me to my mom's residence with a pig and a stray cat, haha.

We ended up finding a nice home for the cat, a friend of my mother's who had a big dog that used to be friends with her old cat that recently died. Incidentally, while we were there, I happened to be digging around in the dirt behind her house and found a pretty cool blue bottle. They also thought it was neat, and she wanted to keep it -- "but you can keep the next thing you find!", she jested.

I did not think it was funny, so I went back to digging. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later I found a silver pocket watch, nicely engraved with fine etchings all over it's surface, and what appeared to be a tiny ruby inset on the interior (although that part, I'm not sure of). Well, she grudgingly obliged to keep her promise :)

The cat turned out to become great friends with her dog, and everyone lived happily ever after, except that I grew up to abhor the responsibility of pets, and I lost the pocket watch...although I think it was actually stolen by a friend of mine.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Wow, I've never heard of that...why did he have to get all his teeth out?

When he showed up at our house he had a terrible infection in his mouth and most of his teeth were partly black. Apparently he is allergic to his own teeth. This happens to both cats and dogs, and surprisingly they do fine with no teeth. They can even eat the hard kibble.

Btw Moonbear, he is actually the dominant cat around here. But he never gets nasty, he just chases everyone wanting them to play. If they don't want to play, they can't get rid of him and they are apparently intimidated by his size. I think he may have run off the last of the skunks as well. I haven't seen any for a couple of weeks.

 

[lisab]

When I was young boy my dad and I were going on a long car trip to the cabin in the night, and we spotted something alongside the road...out in the middle of nowhere (nothing but forest). My dad was curious so he pulled over. It turned out to be a cute little gray kitten. For some reason we decided to take it in.

The first thing it did was squirt diarrhea all over the blanket in the car. This became more of an annoyance later on because we tried using the blanket to lay under the stars later that evening but kept finding smelly little wet spots on it.

Later that week, I went to the fair and caught a greased pig in my bare hands. Of course this meant I got to keep it, too. You can imagine my mother's surprise when my dad returned me to my mom's residence with a pig and a stray cat, haha.

We ended up finding a nice home for the cat, a friend of my mother's who had a big dog that used to be friends with her old cat that recently died. Incidentally, while we were there, I happened to be digging around in the dirt behind her house and found a pretty cool blue bottle. They also thought it was neat, and she wanted to keep it -- "but you can keep the next thing you find!", she jested.

I did not think it was funny, so I went back to digging. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later I found a silver pocket watch, nicely engraved with fine etchings all over it's surface, and what appeared to be a tiny ruby inset on the interior (although that part, I'm not sure of). Well, she grudgingly obliged to keep her promise :)

The cat turned out to become great friends with her dog, and everyone lived happily ever after, except that I grew up to abhor the responsibility of pets, and I lost the pocket watch...although I think it was actually stolen by a friend of mine.

Wow.

Wait a minute...what happened to the pig?

 

[hypatia]

Great kitty photo, he is really a great looking cat.

 

[junglebeast]

Wow.

Wait a minute...what happened to the pig?

What do you think happened to the pig?

 

[lisab]

What do you think happened to the pig?

Pork chops?

 

[junglebeast]

Pork chops?

Hehehe... not really though. I honestly can't remember, but we didn't eat him. Someone else probably did, though.

 

[physics girl phd]

... cats and dogs... surprisingly they do fine with no teeth. They can even eat the hard kibble.

I'm not surprised... when I try to give Cha-Cha hard "tartar-control" treats, she mostly scarfs them down without chewing unless I feed them one by one (in which case I'm still lucky if I hear one crunch).

And Isaac certainly is cute with that tongue hanging out!

 

[Moonbear]

Allergic to his own teeth? Hmm...I've learned something new. I've never heard of that one before. I would have just assumed it was cavities that eventually led to abcesses from neglect and then rotted out the rest of the teeth from the roots up.

And, yeah, physics girl, I have my same doubts about those tartar control treats doing anything (Ember has decided she doesn't really like them anyway, and only bats them around the floor rather than eating them now). The one dry food I feed her is large enough pieces that she has to do a bit of crunching to swallow it (and when my parents visited with their dog a couple of years ago, she loved crunching the big dog food pieces...maybe I should give her a little dog food once in a while just for her teeth), but the smaller Science Diet food that is her primary food, I'm pretty sure she swallows whole. She might give it one crunch before swallowing, but that's it. I've gotten verification that she swallows it whole when she vomited soon enough after eating and all the individual pieces of food were still identifiable, just swollen larger with the stomach juices.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Allergic to his own teeth?

I had never heard of it before either, but apparently it is fairly common. Sometimes cortisone shots will control the problem, but in his case it was too severe. Tsu's cousin has a dog that had the same problem.

They said that we still may have to get him an occasional cortisone shot, which we just did due to some minor inflamation in his gums. But he doesn't seem to mind the shot and should only need a few a year.

 

[Tsu]

It's called stomatitis. This explains it well.

http://www.petplace.com/cats/stomatitis-in-cats/page1.aspx

 

[Moonbear]

It's called stomatitis. This explains it well.

http://www.petplace.com/cats/stomatitis-in-cats/page1.aspx

I'm glad the healthcare professional in the family finally joined the discussion. A chronic bacterial infection is a long way off from an allergy to one's own teeth!

Now I'm going to have to find out if stomatitis is different from gingivitis. Bottom line, brush the cats' and dogs' teethies! (Ember absolutely hates getting her teeth brushed, and I don't do it as often as I should...it's always a lot of work, because I have to clip her nails first, which she also hates because it involves being held still, and then brushing her teeth...the nail clipping is to avoid injury to myself when she decides she's had enough of a toothbrush in her mouth.)

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Eh, the vet specifically referred to it as an allergy. Tsu, where did you get that?

 

[GeorginaS]

My big cat, Frank, came with gingivitis and needed his teeth brushed. He's a pretty easy-going guy if you play things his way. He had a few back teeth that were especially bad that needed a gum scrub daily. He sat patiently on the kitchen counter while I got out the little toothbrush and the fish-flavoured toothpaste. Wow did he love that toothpaste. He wouldn't tolerate teeth brushing until I'd let him lick most of the toothpaste off of the brush. There was generally enough left behind to help lubricate the brushing, but he wouldn't tolerate it unless I did it his way.

And, years ago my vet pointed out to me that it was nonsense that hard food helped clean cats' teeth for precisely the reason that's been mentioned here. They'll either crunch it once or swallow it whole. Cat's don't chew a whole bunch. And they aren't like dogs who can get a good tooth scrubbing by gnawing on a bone.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

This seems to shed a bit of light on things.

... Feline Stomatitis is a very serious form of dental disease in cats. This is usually seen as an autoimmune disease and is most commonly found in cats that already suffer from more serious health issues. Stomatitis is caused when the body rejects and becomes allergic to the plaque on the teeth. Sometimes it can spread into the throat causing painful red lesions. When a cat has stomatitis, it will become very uncomfortable and may stop eating. You should seek the advice of your veterinarian right away...

http://www.fullpetential.com/cat-edu/dental-care.htm

 

[Ivan Seeking]

My big cat, Frank, came with gingivitis and needed his teeth brushed. He's a pretty easy-going guy if you play things his way. He had a few back teeth that were especially bad that needed a gum scrub daily. He sat patiently on the kitchen counter while I got out the little toothbrush and the fish-flavoured toothpaste. Wow did he love that toothpaste. He wouldn't tolerate teeth brushing until I'd let him lick most of the toothpaste off of the brush. There was generally enough left behind to help lubricate the brushing, but he wouldn't tolerate it unless I did it his way.

We've especially had difficulty in getting ours to gargle. They really don't like Listerine.

 

[Moonbear]

...but he wouldn't tolerate it unless I did it his way.

And I wonder why my boyfriend keeps comparing me to cats.

 

[Tsu]

Eh, the vet specifically referred to it as an allergy. Tsu, where did you get that?

Um... I got it from here?

http://www.petplace.com/cats/stomatitis-in-cats/page1.aspx

But, you're right, dear (of course). This statement of Moonbear's does describe it better...

"Stomatitis is caused when the body rejects and becomes allergic to the plaque on the teeth."

 

[Ivan Seeking]

But, you're right, dear (of course). This statement of Moonbear's does describe it better...

"Stomatitis is caused when the body rejects and becomes allergic to the plaque on the teeth."

You mean my quote.

I was asking where you got the name. I didn't know what it was properly called.

 

[Tsu]

You mean my quote.

I was asking where you got the name. I didn't know what it was properly called.

Ah. Google is my friend. So is our Vet.

 

[Moonbear]

But, you're right, dear (of course). This statement of Moonbear's does describe it better...

You mean my quote.

You don't even get credit when you do find the right thing.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

You don't even get credit when you do find the right thing.

Yeah, no matter what it is, I just assume I'm guilty unless told otherwise.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Made me think of baby Bun:

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/funny-pictures-kitten-is-evil.jpg

 

[Ivan Seeking]

>90% confidence that Isaac is going into renal failure. We had hoped that he may live longer, but we knew his kidneys had been seriously compromised. It seems now that he hasn't many days left. I have gone into my spoil-him-rotten mode, as I do with all of our pets in their last days.

He had a good year+ though - lots of kitty play and love. He has been a very affectionate cat. However, once he got past the "save me" phase, he became a complete mama's boy and stuck to Tsu like glue. He always comes over to say hello to me, but within a few minutes he heads for Tsu's lap for an hour or two of squinting and purring. Apparently I just can't compete.

I really hate that last trip to the vet though. We've only had him a year but it will be a sad day.

 

[lisab]

So sorry to hear the news...my condolences to you and Tsu .

 

[GeorginaS]

I'm so sorry to hear about Isaac, Ivan and Tsu. Those last steps are truly some of the most difficult in this lifetime. I'm sure that his year of unconditional love with you two is second to no others.

 

[turbo]

I really hate that last trip to the vet though. We've only had him a year but it will be a sad day.

Very hard times, Ivan. Due to our rather remote location and work schedules, I was always the one that had to take the final trip to the vet with each of our ferrets (many of them rescues). It was never easy. Even when they were in pain or crippled up, they always wanted to be held and cuddled and talked to.

 

[rootX]

We had another stray show up who was in pretty rough shape. We have learned the hard way that once they latch on, we have three choices:

1). Take to shelter [almost certainly doomed to either life in prison, or death]
2). Watch them slowly starve to death. Possible disease threat to our other cats
3). Be complete idiots and take them in.

So, we opt to be complete idiots. This one is an orange neutered male, approx 7 year old, with medium length hair [breed?], now named Isaac [I don't know why Isaac... it just popped out]. He had mats on his back that formed a clump as large as a fist. He has an infection in his mouth, he is thin, he stunk to high heaven, and he was filthy. But a day with the Vet did wonders and he turns out to be an extremely affectionate kitty. Not a wild cat by any means, he was certainly someone's pet. Either he got lost, or someone moved and left him behind, or he was dumped in the hills behind us. The vet said that they have seen a lot of abandoned pets since the economy tanked.

I would guess that he has been on his own for at least several months; no more than half a year I would think. But there was no mistaking the fact that at one time he was a pet. It only took a few minutes to gain his confidence to the point where he would lie right on top of me to sleep. In fact he is so affectionate that I have to wonder what did happen. This clearly was a cat that someone loved and gave a great deal of attention. In any event, as some here know, he hit the jackpot when he hit our place. Tsu and I are both complete suckers for animals.

So we now have Zoobie, Bun III, Little Tyke, Jack, Mr. Spock [another stray who has been around for three years now], and Isaac.

Btw, we have some acreage that acts like a stray cat net. They follow the creek down out of the hills. Our place is one of the first places to land.

...

>90% confidence that Isaac is going into renal failure. We had hoped that he may live longer, but we knew his kidneys had been seriously compromised. It seems now that he hasn't many days left. I have gone into my spoil-him-rotten mode, as I do with all of our pets in their last days.

He had a good year+ though - lots of kitty play and love. He has been a very affectionate cat. However, once he got past the "save me" phase, he became a complete mama's boy and stuck to Tsu like glue. He always comes over to say hello to me, but within a few minutes he heads for Tsu's lap for an hour or two of squinting and purring. Apparently I just can't compete.

I really hate that last trip to the vet though. We've only had him a year but it will be a sad day.

I went back and read the first post.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Thanks. Hard to say how long he might last; maybe days, maybe weeks, but when the quality of life of goes down the drain, it will be time to make THE trip. Unfortunately, we have gotten pretty good at this.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Thanks. Hard to say how long he might last; maybe days, maybe weeks, but when the quality of life of goes down the drain, it will be time to make THE trip. Unfortunately, we have gotten pretty good at this.

I'm sorry, Ivan.

I saw lots of homeless kitties at the pet store yesterday. They would probably trade all their 9 lives just to have a month of cozy comfort at Ivan and Tsu's.

 

[Evo]

I'm so sorry Ivan, Dr foofer died of renal failure it seems. So sad. My condolences to Tsu.

 

[Moonbear]

Sorry to hear that Isaac is doing so poorly.

All of my pets we had when I was growing up died at home, so I've never before had to make that final trip to the vet. We were fortunate that they always went quickly once it became apparent that they were declining, so never had to make that decision of taking them to the vet to end suffering.

 

[turbo]

Not happy, Ivan. Due to circumstances, I was always the one to make the final trip with our pets. It was crushing every single time. My best wishes.