Friday, March 20, 2009

Update on Deuce...

(For some of you, you'll already know this...it was posted elsewhere - I'm too lazy to re-write it.)

Good news: We went to pick him up today at 3:00. He has to be confined in his room for quite a few days (perhaps a week or longer - who knows right now). He's been fairly quiet, that is, until you touch his hind leg and he hisses again. The vet believes it's a strained muscle.

Bad news: The blood tests came back and they discovered that he has stage one kidney disease. One of the tests came back and they also discovered that he has enlarged blood vessels. They don't know for sure, but they are thinking that they *may* need to do an ultrasound on his heart if he's not better in a few days. When he had dental cleaning a few years ago, they discovered a heart murmur. At the time, they believed it was brought on by the anaesthetic. What they think *may* have happened now, with the possible problem with his heart and the enlarged blood vessels is that he "threw a blood clot". We have to keep a relatively close eye on him for the time being. He's not allowed to walk around the house, he can't do the stairs. He's on oral pain pills that he needs twice a day for ten days.

She suggested that we get him a water fountain so he gets more liquid into him. Do any of you have one for your pets? If so, can you tell me if your pet actually uses them and if it's beneficial. We're probably going to get it anyways. I figure, even if he plays with it (which he'll more than likely do), he'll still lick the water off his paws and get some water into him that way.

I gave him water through a syringe a couple times already today, which I have to continue to do until he's off his medication.

He took his pain meds this evening without much trouble, though he did try to spit it out once. He loves taking the water through the syringe, which I'm happy about. He's upstairs right now, resting on some blankets I laid out for him.

Thanks for asking about my Deuceybaby...

7 comments:

a Tonggu Momma said...

Rusty the Vortex of Vomit has the water fountain - he uses it and yes, we find it VERY helpful.

Middle-Aged Moi said...

This may seem a little crazy, but we have actually made "cat popsicles" and let the cat lick them. She seems to really like them. They're just ice cubes with a stick frozen in them, but she loves for us to hold them and she purrs and licks them. Maybe Deuce will like catcicles too?

Donna said...

We had the fountain and our kitty wouldn't use it. She prefers to drink very fresh water and the recycled water in the fountain was unappealing to her. The water is filtered but the filter gets pretty disgusting and the water must be changed constantly.

I hope your sweet Deuce is feeling better soon!


Donna
Our blog: Double Happiness!

HuluMama said...

My cat loves his water fountain which surprised me.

It was a real pain cleaning it though.

Hope Deuce feels better!

Anonymous said...

We have a Petmate water fountain, our cats love it. They really seem to prefer moving water to water in a bowl. In fact, if we give them water in a bowl they knock it around with their paws until it moves (and sloshes around everywhere).

Anonymous said...

So sorry to hear about the Deuce! Our Deuce will only drink out of his bowl. He's pretty picky though.

crazylady said...

Have him lick your sweating toilet bowl. That's what our dog does.

sorry to read about your kitty kapers. Just.say.yes.to.drugs.