NOW I NEED A PENSIEVE PART II

I knew solving Orphée's aggression issues would not be easy even if I had a Pensieve.

There has been definite progress but we are by no means there (there being a point in time where neither Artie nor I have to keep an eye on Orphée when he is around Annie). Trying to sort out the why, where and when of Orphée's unacceptable behavior requires quite a bit of effort on our part but we're doing it.

There's been some success but Annie is still wary of Orphée, hesitating to walk past him, run in his presence and detouring through another doorway into a different room depending on where he's lying. So where's the progress you wonder? They are sharing my bed, the couch even the recliner with Annie sleeping on the seat and Orphée resting on the back.

The area of contention has been narrowed down to Annie's bursts of unexpected running about the house which seem to really anger Orphée. Curiously, her barking sometimes scares him but the result generally is a deer-in-the-headlights look to his face never any aggression.

Besides Annie's bursts of running, Orphée goes on alert at mealtimes, keeping a sharp eye on Annie almost trying to herd her away from the area where his dishes are.  This is very odd to me since he showed no signs of aggression towards the other cats when he was outside.  Food is definitely the issue since we've moved his eating location from the floor to the top of a 2-draw cabinet. Now I'm trying to locate a much higher out-of-the-way place for his food in an attempt to change this behavior.

In the meantime, how do I get a 42 lb. dog to stop running away from a 15 lb. cat? Damned if I know. My guess is this is going to take some work. Dumbledore where are you when I need you? If only I could borrow your Pensieve...

A BAD TURN

Four-legged relationships in our home have taken a bad turn. Orphée is trying to exert his clout over Annie. He apparently feels the time is right to move up in his new colony's hierarchy.

That's not gonna happen! Artie and I have noticed Annie making wide detours around him.  The situation has now gotten to the point where she does an about face if he's in a doorway or a room taking a different route entirely in order not to walk past him. She has given up running and playing in her own home.  Her exuberance is gone. I've caught him chasing her away if he perceives she's too close to him. 

Artie was walking through the living room when Orphée overtook him, heading straight for the furniture.  All of a sudden, he jumped on the recliner, pushed between Annie and the recliner arm then laid down crowding her for more space.  It didn't take long for Annie to relinquish her spot on the recliner.  Apparently this scenario is intensifying because a few weeks ago they would both lay on the bed or couch at opposite ends but now whenever Orphée comes along Annie vacates the bed or couch going into another room entirely. 

This is a real problem. We do not leave them alone together for any length of time. I've been intervening by reprimanding Orphée when I catch him bullying Annie. I don't know how effective this will be. I'll need to surf the web, to read up on this problem. And I sure could use some suggestions.

In the meantime, I feel so sorry for my little girl. Since Buddy died, she's been so lonely. All she wants is another four-legged companion but it doesn't look like Orphée will fill that need. Hopefully we can change this dynamic.

IT'S TIME TO TAKE A BREAK AND PARTY!

And with that thought in mind, I decided to join the 2013 Ultimate Blog Party hosted for the seventh year in a row by 5 Minutes for Mom.com blog. A great idea for bloggers and readers-of-blogs to find other sites in the blogosphere to visit, I came across UBP 2013 while reading a post at DogTipper.com a blog I follow faithfully.

Let me introduce myself. I'm Barbara - Brooklyn Pet Mom. There are plenty of Moms in the world only some of us have kids with paws and tails. That's what my blog 8 Paws and 2 Tails is all about - my experiences as a pet mom and all the trials, tribulations and unconditional love that come with having pets for kids.

Let me tell you about my kids. When I started blogging it was with the intention to share my experiences caring for my Maine Coon Tabby mix, Buddy, a cat with a chronic disease (renal failure). Since that time the blog has expanded to include my dog Annie's recurring urinary tract infections and her recent cancer surgeries.

Along the way, I've added any news article or information I've found interesting, useful or just plain fun - all animal related of course.  With the loss of Buddy, the blog expanded again to include my experiences with managing Buddy's illness during his terminal stage, dealing with euthanasia, cremation and the stages of grief. 

Currently 8 Paws and 2 Tails chronicles my brother Artie's and my decision to join Neighborhood Cats, become TNR certified, our experiences managing a feral colony of 6 and our decision to rescue one of the colony by making him the newest member of our indoor family. Christened Orphée, this 15-pound Main Coon mix upstart has been diagnosed as FIV+ and we are slowly getting him house, people and Annie-acclimated.

So welcome to my site! If you like what you read, visit with us awhile or better yet follow us! Leave a comment - let me know what you like, what you don't like and what you'd like to read about. And check out the UBP for other great blogs.

Buddy & Annie, definitely not the partying type.

Orphée, happy to join the party!

BLOODWORK

As I mentioned in my takeaway blog, Annie's medical issues were by no means over. After much battling, we finished her course of antibiotics and a mere 2 and 1/2 days later there was blood in her urine.

Artie and I were very concerned that a recurrence of her urinary tract infection happened so quickly. Then again, I was concerned the recurrence was an indication of cancer elsewhere in her body. To think Annie went through all she did only to find she wasn't cancer-free was too much to bear.

We called emergency to tell them we were bringing Annie in for a recurrence and to find out  if we could also meet with the Oncologist a week early. If we could get to emergency by 4 PM, the Oncologist would see her for her 3-month visit and another doctor would see her for the blood in the urine recurrence.

Off the 3 of us went. A few hours later, we were home after meeting with 3 doctors, 2 examinations, 3 x-rays, a sonogram, drawing of urine and a 14-day round of a new antibiotic. Now we were very apprehensive - the x-rays turned up several calcifications on Annie's lungs, a sometimes marker of metastatic cancer. Now we had to wait not only for the results of a urine culture but for results from a Radiologist reading of the x-rays.

Easter was about a week away - another holiday spent wondering what was going to happen. In the meantime, life with Orphée was definitely developing in new, interesting directions. The trick was to get through to the diagnosis without undue stress for Annie (or ourselves) and continue to integrate Orphée into the routine of family life.

ANNIE'S CANCER POST SURGERY

After all the sweating, worrying, waiting and praying we received a call January 13th from the surgeon letting us know they'd obtained clean margins. Annie's office appointment 3 days later brought more good news - no radiation needed. Her stitches were removed but from now on Annie needed to see the Oncologist every 3 months for a checkup starting from the date of her 2nd surgery.

The surgery site was healing nicely. I checked her incision every few days gratified to see and feel the hard ridge of the incision receding nicely. It seemed a bit odd but both ends of the incision were still hard and lumpy. I surmised the reason to be extra dissolving stitches at the ends but didn't know for sure since I'm not a doctor or surgeon.

Meanwhile, Annie seemed to continue to be a bit uncomfortable when lying down on the surgery site although it happened less and less as time passed. My January 30th examination of her incision turned up a stitch protruding from the end of the surgery. We made a special trip to emergency to have it removed and were told if any more came up we could cut them ourselves.

So Annie continued on the path to a full recovery. For the first time Artie and I felt she had a good shot at a full recovery and we had an opportunity to have Annie in our lives for a few more years at least. Dare I hope I could consider my sweet Annie a cancer survivor? I toyed with the idea of doing a monthly count of her progress but decided to put that idea on hold until after Buddy's one-year anniversary. Little did we know Annie would face more medical issues.

And my list of takeaways from this experience? The lessons learned will be outlined in my next post.

THE CANCER SAGA CONTINUES

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day were as depressing as Christmas. I was nervous over the different possible outcomes of the surgery; I hoped for the best but I was expecting the worst. Artie, on the other hand, was extremely angry about how this played out; the possibility of losing Annie so soon after losing Buddy was very distressing. Both of us were upset that by trying to avoid any surgery Annie now had to go through not one but two operations.

Friday, January 4, 2013, the day of the follow-up surgery arrived. Annie's appointment was for 7:30 AM. Her surgery was scheduled for morning. I received a call during the afternoon from Dr. Cherrone, the surgeon who performed the operation. She sounded very upbeat as she reported Annie went through the surgery successfully and was recovering nicely, however, we would have to wait for the biopsy results to determine if the margins were clean and whether or not we had to go forward with radiation therapy.

Both Artie and I were emotionally totaled, counting the hours until Annie could come home. 6 PM Saturday we were at VERG waiting to collect Annie, get post-op instructions and leave for what we hoped would be an uneventful evening at home. When Annie entered the exam room, we were stunned to see her acting completely normal. The only evidence of surgery was the big bandage wrapping her entire midsection. She was alert, thrilled to see us and busily exploring the room, smelling the floor and furniture and, as always, begging for attention from the Veterinary Technician and us.

Annie was on medicine and we needed to keep the bandages on for awhile until we were sure any residual bleeding or oozing from the wound stopped. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to pick up Frankenweenie but that is exactly what Annie looked like with her long scar closed by staples! The pictures below were taken about two weeks after the surgery. A significant amount of swelling at the surgical site had already gone down and her hair was starting to grow back.

My next post will continue with our post-surgery experiences.

Annie resting prior to our daily exam of her sutures.

The second surgery incision was twice the length of the first surgery.

Close-up of staples; you can see swelling especially at both ends of the incision.

Another close-up of Annie's surgery.

NEUTER DATE SET

I've been in touch with The Toby Project and we've set the date for Orphee's neuter surgery - March 4th.

In the meantime, we are still trying to get him to join the family but he's sticking to the hallway as his home. With all the stairs, his food and water bowls, the litter box and his scratching post out there I guess it really is home to him.

Late one night and very early the next morning Artie heard scratching at the door. He opened it to find Orphee looking up at him. Orphee began a conversation and Artie asked him to come in, opening the door wide. Orphee just stuck his head in the apartment, looked this way and that but did not venture any farther.

Hopefully his curiosity will get the better of him soon. For now, we are spending time sitting with him, talking soothingly to him, trying to get him more comfortable with being petted and handled. This is going to be a long process.

And how does Annie feel about all this? She looks at Orphee but doesn't get excited or cry anymore. Annie just gives him a sorrowful look. I guess she's wondering when he will join the family. For now, we all wait.

ORPHEE AND ME

The relationship between Orphee and me is at a standstill. I can't figure him. He seems to become tense when I pet or take care of him; he definitely is more comfortable with Artie.

This concerns me - I do so want to establish a rapport with him outside of being the person who feeds him and cleans his litter box. The other day I was petting him, rubbing his forehead, his face and neck. When I finished I patted him on the head then rubbed under his chin. I've done all of this before but this time Orphee lashed out with lightening speed hitting me on the wrist very hard and leaving me with 3 puncture wounds.

I was surprised; I totally did not see it coming. He didn't meow, hiss or scratch. This was a slap and a hard one with no raking of claws. He didn't even change his expression or move an inch outside of wielding his front paw.

My guess is Orphee is probably more alpha than Buddy. For all his bossy ways Buddy was a gentle soul. Orphee is still living in the front hall. He won't come into my apartment and he generally heads for the stairs whenever he thinks Annie is coming to see him.

Will he ever warm up to me and Annie? Was the meowing, purring, rubbing up against me an Artie a good routine to secure a daily meal? These are questions we need to answer, and only time will tell.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This year is closing with a lot of drama - the cat is on the mend but we now know we face an incurable chronic condition with his FIV+ diagnosis.

Annie's battle is not over yet. Her surgery failed to produce clean margins; she will need a second surgery. So Annie, Artie and I go into 2013 with her health crisis unresolved.

I will not be posting New Year's Day - the first day of the new year will be for spending with my sweet Annie, the new cat (we need to come up with an appropriate name for him) and my brother.

In closing, I will say if you're reading my post and you have furry family members of your own, review my Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas posts for tips on keeping them safe this New Year's Eve (and Day).  Since everyone will be celebrating the end of the old year and the start of the new, watch out for balloons, confetti, noise makers and alcohol in addition to everything else mentioned in my other holiday posts.

Wishing all my readers a Happy, Healthy New Year filled with peace and all manner of goodness. We'll meet back here for 2013.