Heart Attack Clyde
I just got back from the vet with Clyde, my 10 year old male cat. Over the past two weeks I've noticed he's been drinking a lot of water and urinating more than normal. At first I thought Chris was forgetting to give them water in the mornings and I chewed him out real good about "responsibility" and how two little lives depend on us for everything.
The vet did some blood work and will let me know tomorrow -- he thinks it might be diabetes. But the horrible part was ten minutes after they took the blood, the vet came out and showed me the vial -- the blood had separated, half of it looked like regular blood and the other half was fat -- like warm congealing bacon fat. Apparently Clyde has really high cholesterol which is a sign of a bad metabolism. Looking at it made me woozy.
I'm also perplexed, both of my cats only get Science Diet Lite. No treats, no people food, no tuna or cheese. Unless there's a hidden stash of twinkies I haven't discovered.
On a lighter note, there was a 12 year old helper working in the office and she tried to lift Clyde to put him on the scale, but she could barely do it. He's lost weight though -- he's only 19.11 pounds, not 22 anymore.
posted by RL @ 6:26 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Let me tell you about a cat. My landlady went away to school in Arizona, and then France, and lucky me, I got to take care of her cat Rambo. Rambo is 19 years old, deaf, and a girl cat. She is scrawny as can be. Some kind of thyroid thing which requires me to crush pills and put them in her stinky "wet food." (As opposed to her "dry food") Then I get to change the litter box too. And let me tell you, Rambo is pretty fussy about her litter box. If there are more than 2 or 3 turds in there, she ain't using it. She's shitting and pissing on the carpet under my desk. Of course, by the time I get home, it's all soaked in. I can't really tell where exactly she has pissed unless I get down on all fours and start sniffing around. And you know, that's really how I want to spend my life. On all fours, under my desk, sniffing cat piss. Now the Febreze hose-downs aren't even enough. I am losing the battle to Pet Odor. I wish the damn cat would die already. They don't really live this long, do they? Unfortunately, the stupid thing is thriving under my care. What can I do?
I hope you're at least getting free rent out of the deal.
The average life span of a cat is 12 - 16 years, but there are quite a few that make it to 20 and beyond.
Tips: Go to the pet store and get one of those UV lights so you can detect where the piss is.
Scoop the litter box every morning and evening.
Buy a second litter box. They say each cat needs 1.5 boxes. I would not recommend sawing it in half. For my 2 cats, we have 3.
Febreeze ain't going to do shit for cat piss. You need something that can remove enzymes. I found Nature's Miracle (found at any Petsmart or Petco) to be the best solution. It's not cheap, like $25 a gallon.
You also may want to buy a pheremone spray, like Feliway. You spray in the areas where the cat urniates and hopefully that puts an end to that.
Vanessa, thanks for your comments -- unfortunately Clyde passed away December 2004.
http://cacklingjackal.blogspot.com/2004/12/sad-end-to-2004.html
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