AN IMPORTANT WARNING ABOUT TAINTED FOOD!

Before I get into today's blog, I wanted to give everyone an update for Buddy.  He now has two eyes tearing; still no coughing or sneezing.  I'm continuing to apply a thin ribbon of Erythromycin Ophthalmic Ointment to both eyes as needed.  We'll see what happens tomorrow.  Buddy is still giving out plenty of nose-kisses so I guess it's safe to say this isn't a big issue.  I wonder if the doctor can check him to see if he has a people allergy? (Just joking.)

Buddy still feels a bit light but he weighed in at 6 lbs.  I'm not worried since his weight seems to fluctuate between 6 and 7 lbs.  Food has been his All-consuming passion today - as long as he's eating, there's not much need for concern.

I wanted to use today's post to get information out about another pet food recall.  Some brands of dry dog food have had high levels of aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is a mold by-product that occurs in corn.  This is exactly the reason why everyone should consider home cooking for their pet.  Not feeding dry food is the surest way to avoid your four-legged family member becoming ill from tainted commercial food.  Just can't stress this enough!

Please click on the following link to read the article about aflatoxin:

http://z6mag.com/featured/dog-food-recall-spreading-to-multiple-pet-food-brands-164078.html

BUDDY AND CANCER

Yesterday, after I finished my post, I noticed Buddy's right eye was tearing.  It would be a big cause of concern if his breathing was noisy or if he were coughing or sneezing - he wasn't doing any of that.  He's had this problem before.  My guess is that I need to clean (it could be from dust) or possibly he's allergic to me like I'm allergic to him.  Who knows.  We will have to monitor him and put ointment Dr. Young prescribed for him in his eye until it clears up.

Buddy also feels a bit light which might be an indicator of some weight loss.  He needs to be weighed.  For those of you who haven't done this, it's really a very simple procedure.  Weigh yourself, pick up the cat and weigh the both of you, do the math and you have the cat's weight.

Mid-2006, we found what we thought was a pimple on Buddy's tail.  We kept checking it but it never went completely away so off we went to Hope Vet.  Doctor Young examined Buddy's tail and decided to biopsy the pimple.  The results came back - it was cancer!  Thankfully, it was a slow-moving cancer.  Surgery was scheduled.  When we reviewed what would happen the day of the surgery and what to expect post-op, we were told that Buddy's tail would be removed.  I freaked out.  Why?  Couldn't a margin be taken and biopsied to make sure all of the cancer was removed?  I just did not want him to lose his beautiful bushy tail.  Sadly, it couldn't be done.  Apparently the cancer was situated in a spot where big enough margins could not be taken so it was better to remove the tail.

Buddy had his surgery and adapted quite well to life without a tail.  No balance issues as we were warned he might have.  A few days' hospital stay post-op then Buddy was ready to come home.  The Veterinary Technicians were charmed by him.  He's a big talker and just talked and talked to whomever cared for him.  They loved it.  I, on the other hand, did not love the fact that he figured out how to use his Elizabethan Collar as a battering ram to get our attention.  If you did not respond to him quickly enough (which was immediately if not sooner in his estimation) Buddy would hit you behind the knee with the plastic collar.  Definitely not fun.

We managed to care for Buddy without incident except for one time when I accidently tapped his stitches with the back of my hand.  Amazingly all he did was meow a very loud complaint.

Once the bandages were off and the stitches removed, Buddy looked like he was separated from his tail in some terribly horrendous accident.  He had a 3 inch, hairless stump.  We took to calling him Stumpy but that changed to Bugs once the bushy hair grew back in.

All in all, Buddy is a four-year cancer survivor, two months into his fifth year.  He's an amazing little guy.

  

FIRST REGULAR DAY OF THE YEAR

Today is the first regular day of the year for me.  OK, I know that technically it's a holiday for a lot of people since 2012 arrived over the weekend but it's back to normal (whatever that is) in this household.

Buddy's been taken care of and Annie is still sleeping in so I thought it a good time to get some thoughts out there.

In reviewing the previous year, I've learned the following about caring for my babies.  It's not easy and it takes a whole lot of dedication and patience, patience, patience!  Oh, and did I mention that it takes patience?  The bottom line is pets aren't easy to work with, in fact I bet in some ways it's harder than taking care of children.  I'm not an expert on the care of children because the ones I've cared for have all gone home to their parents at the end of the day.

I would say the key to handling pets and their illnesses is to keep to a schedule.  Once Buddy needed IV and various medicines it helped to write it down and check it off as it was done.  Tedious I know but very effective when you have a million things to remember.  Keeping a list puts it in black and white and takes the onus of remembering whether or not you completed the task off your mind.

When I began the home feeding process for Annie it helped immensely to have a list.  Into Word I went to devise a one-page letter-sized spreadsheet containing four grids with the following information:

Title,

Time of day,

Day of the week,

Meal,

Water,

Additional items such as health powder, cranberry juice,

Treats

and a space under each day for me to check off the item once it was completed.

Then I copied the page to a second spreadsheet and adapted it for Buddy by removing the items that did not pertain to his daily routine, adding his medicines and IV instead.

On days where things get out of hand, this system is invaluable.  I highly suggest doing this as either a temporary measure (until your routine is set) or permanently (to eliminate the pressure of having to remember what you've done).  Anyone out there taking care of a pet should give this a try.  Very simple stuff but a very powerful tool.  It definitely will make life easier.

AND THE START OF A NEW ONE...

Happy New Year!

The first day of a new year - obviously it meant nothing to Buddy that his human family was up until some ungodly hour last night.  After all, he got his forty winks and even with sleeping in (for him anyway) he was up at 7 o'clock, standing on my bed and complaining into my face - meow, meow, meoooowwww (feed me, feed me, FEED ME)!  I suppose I should be thankful he wasn't up looking to start his routine at 5:30.

So far today, he had his milk; this really does keep him regular.  We celebrated New Year's Day with a buffet of  NF and puree pumpkin plain then with his capsule of Asodyl added.  Asodyl helps keep the kidneys functioning by preventing a buildup of whatever keeps Buds' kidneys from eliminating waste thus preventing toxin buildup in his blood.

I guess the small buffet was satisfactory because Buddy decided to go back to bed.  So I had a few more hours to laze about, listen to music with both of them by my side.  I'll get even with Buddy as soon as I'm done with my post.  His beauty sleep will be interrupted so I can do his IV and remaining meds.

As I'm posting this, I hear Annie awaking from HER beauty sleep; it seems everyone around here sleeps but me, anyway, Annie decided to forgo the usual morning bid for affection (pushing her head under my hand, against my leg, plopping it in my lap) and headed directly to the backyard to tally up the number of feral cats hanging around.  She's good for awhile, then I'll have to prepare her breakfast.  Sorry to say, Annie will start the new year eating leftovers but I had the foresight to cook a big batch of her favorite Ann Martin meal - Macaroni, Liver and Veggie Dinner.  This is a great mix of elbows, beef liver, vegetables and cottage cheese; Annie just loves it.  Of course, the fact that she never hesitates to eat this particular recipe means mealtime will be executed without my holding my breath for two minutes until she decides to dig in.  Don't misunderstand,  Annie's eating issues have evaporated but I still cannot help holding my breath at mealtimes because she will, on occasion, take a bit of time before she starts eating.  Kind of like she's deciding whether or not the meal meets some sort of canine culinary standard.

The humans in this family will relax this New Year's Day.  I'll prepare our New Year's Day dinner and my brother and I will check out the local programs.  There are several movie and TV show marathons on as well as the Strauss Concert from Vienna PBS always broadcasts.

Tomorrow will be business as usual.  The start of a new week and the start of posts describing how we worked at turning all our feline and canine health/food issues around.

It's a new year so, comments anyone?  Let me know if there are any issues in particular you'd like me to address.  Thanks and again, Happy New Year.