Author |
Message |
Bookworm
Member
12-18-2001
| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 4:45 pm
Love hearing the good news ~RG~!!
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 5:06 pm
Hi Resort Girl. I wasn't going to join the discussion about Smudge, but after seeing how good he looks in his pictures I am, if you don't mind. Blood tests are only half the story in a disease condition. The other half is how the pet feels. When you get the next blood tests, if they are higher but Smudge is feeling better then he is getting better. It they are lower that is great.
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Resortgirl
Member
09-23-2000
| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 5:29 pm
Oh Dogdoc! You made my night!! I do believe that he is fighting hard, and he seems to be winning. I was just telling my daughter on the phone that if I hadn't known he was sick, and saw him for the first time today I probably wouldn't know that there was anything wrong with him. He's pretty close to normal. Other then the fact that he's a bit more tentative when getting up or down from furniture, he looks good. Skinnier, but good. He was even on his scratching post this evening, and tried like crazy to bite the butterfly part of the IV needle out of his leg while I was holding him... Thank you for the reasurrance and I'm so glad we didn't give up now!! 
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Skootz
Member
07-23-2003
| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 5:33 pm
I would hold out some hope too..you never know. Remember one of my posts above with my cat..he came within hours of being put to sleep, he seemed to come back to himself a bit and we decided to hold off and I had him for many more years to come.
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Regee
Member
10-09-2005
| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 6:10 pm
Go Smudge Go, you can do it. I have read every post and will be saying prayer's for the baby forever. And Dogdoc you made my heart soar also for Smudge.
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Cndeariso
Member
06-28-2004
| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 6:19 pm
sending hugs to {{{{{smudge and family}}}}}.
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Cndeariso
Member
06-28-2004
| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 6:21 pm
caught miss izzy before she could dart back up the hall tonight with the cell phone camera. she is a very loving cat on her terms. just can't get the colors to come out right. she is a ginger/orange and white cat. but, the oranges are coming out brown.
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Happymom
Member
01-20-2003
| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 6:38 pm
RG, Cashmere lived for about 3 years with kidney failure. (And the kidney failure is not why she died, something was wrong neurologically for awhile now.) I don't remember her kidney lab numbers though. She was much older than Smudge, 19. There really wasn't a reason why she should have lived so long in kidney faiulre without it making her sick. The only sign she ever had was thirst. I was very careful to watch she didn't get dehydrated. (At the least sign of mild dehydration, I'd give her sub Q and also for awhile she got them regularly anyway.) She was still active talking and walking and eating for years with those bad kidney labs. Oreo is also in kidney failure only not as bad as Cashmere because now that Cashmere is not here, I can see how much Cashmere used to drink. Anyway, Oreo also has thyroid problems and has for years. Our vet said by looking at them, if she didn't have their labwork, she'd never know they were 19 except for their teeth. We thought Oreo would die last fall and she pulled through. We thought Cashmere would die last summer and she pulled through then. We all thought it, including the vet. Anyway, I'm no expert at all, but when I read Dogdoc's post, I wanted to share how good Cashmere always looked and how good Oreo still looks even from the vet's point of view. I so hope for you that Smudge has many many more years ahead of him!
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Regee
Member
10-09-2005
| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 6:49 pm
Miss Izzy is so pretty and such a lady.
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Cndeariso
Member
06-28-2004
| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 7:19 pm
why, thank you, regee. she really is. very petite compared to her brother and quite graceful.
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Citruscitygal
Member
08-07-2003
| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 9:05 pm
Miss Izzy is a beauty. ~RG~ Sorry I missed you after work today, but I was hoping I could come here and get the latest report on Smudge. I'm so happy to hear that he had a good day. My prayers are with Smudge and your whole family. Love you!
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Chaplin
Member
01-08-2006
| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 9:35 pm
All your cats are gorgeous. I love cats. I am sorry about all the ill kitties in here....Smudge and Oreo......Hugs! Phoenix gives a hearty meow to all and hope they get well soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Sunrvrose
Member
08-13-2001
| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 11:07 pm
Resortgirl, I've been reading your posts for the last 2 days and wanted to say something, but feared it might not be relevant, but here goes. I had a cat named ET who we dug out from under a house we had just bought. We knew there were kittens under the house because we could see an obviously nursing but sick mom going under the house and we could hear kitten cries. He was the only kitten who had survived from his litter. He was so starved, about 6 weeks old, that his head was way too big for his tiny little body. (Which is why he got the name, ET.) After my son crawled under every inch of our house, he finally found the tiny kitten. He looked just awful. Had some kind of skin disease (which he ended up having for a lot of his life) he was so starved it made me cry. We nursed him and treated him until he was a beautiful (tho somewhat scabby) black cat. But because of the damage that had occurred to him, he went into kidney failure at about the same age as your baby, about 6 years. What we saw was that he seemed to be getting really fat, then we realized it was some kind of bloating and took him to the vet. It turned out that his bladder was so full of urine that he easily could have died. The vet inserted a catheter and removed all of the urine, but the lab tests showed that ET was in kidney failure. We took him home and somewhere, and I really don't remember where, I heard of Innova cat food. I began feeding him that food and not only did the kidney failure completely reverse, but all of his scabs also went away, and for the first time in his life, he had normal skin. We learned that he had an allergy to corn, which is the base for nearly every cat food. Innova didn't have any corn. We also learned that there are ingredients in most commercial cat food that cause stones/crystals to form in the bladder and kidney of cats. Innova didn't have those ingredients. ET lived for 4 more years. Not long enough, only a lifespan of 10 years, but more than the vet ever thought he would have. And in the end, it was total kidney shut down that took him. It was simply impossible to undo the damage that he had suffered to his organs when he was a baby. But, by gosh, we gave it one hell of a run. I have no interest whatsoever in promoting Innova products, so please don't think that is my goal. I was blown away by the difference it made. And for everyone else, one of the really nice side benefits of Innova is that the poo-poo, doesn't smell like kitty poo at all, it kinda smells like alfalfa. I presently have 8 cats and they don't get Innova, the cost is simply prohibitive. But if I had a one or two cat home, I’d never feed them anything else. I don’t know if this info will be helpful to you, but my vet thought he was sending ET home to die and we changed that prognosis.
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Watching2
Member
07-07-2001
| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 11:57 pm
Wow, I'm so glad to read all of the positive posts here! Go Smudge!!!!! He's so beautiful, too!! Loved all the other kitty pictures, too! They're all just sooooo pretty!! You just never know with animals. I thought for sure it was the end for our dog Kellie last Sept. but she's doing almost as good as she was except you can see she sometimes wobbles a bit like she's losing her balance, but heck, I do that all the time! LOL RG - Was the problem with the IV that you hadn't flushed it out enough before trying to give him the fluids? Those can be tricky. Keep up the great work, all of you!!!!!!!!!!
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Resortgirl
Member
09-23-2000
| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 4:09 am
Thank you so much Sunvrose. I will definitely look for that food next time I am in a larger city. I know that we don't have it here. Or is it at the vets? That is such a touching story about ET. You are a wonderful furmommy! Our other kitty, Bernice, was an orphan and although we aren't the ones who nursed her through her early days we adopted her at about 7 weeks. And as I said, someone just tossed Smudge in a ditch with his siblings... grrrrr... that makes me so mad! But it was our wonderful treasure to find! Watching, the problem with the catheter was that I was letting Smudge lay down in a kind of curled up position on my lap, or on Michaels lap, and his leg position stopped the flow of fluid. We just have to make sure that leg is straight and it flows fine. Duh! I should have been able to figure that out. This morning he is sitting by the front door singing a very demanding song to go outside!! That is his morning routine... wake us up, go out and smell the air and eat breakfast. Of course we aren't going to let him out, so he's pissed off right now.. I'm so happy to see him a little pissed off!!! LOL!! My daughter called last night for an update and pleaded that we keep him going until she gets here Friday. I am pretty sure he'll be around to give her kisses, and that makes me so happy. They were buds! She wanted to take him to college with her, but Michael wouldn't let her. Smudge is one loved kitty!! I'll take a new picture this morning so you can see his progress. First I need coffee so I can focus. See you in a bit! 
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 5:08 am
Checking in on Lil' Smudge. I'm so glad to hear of his improvements, RG. Glad to hear he's pissed off, too LOL. He may have a long way to go, but he's come a long way too. Tough little kitty.
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Cndeariso
Member
06-28-2004
| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 5:24 am
great news about smudge! he sounds like a wonderful cat. i'm so glad he is doing better. i had a cat, cinderella, who was diagnosed with kidney failure at 15. she was never sick as far as we could tell. she lived until she was 20 years and 4 months.
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Resortgirl
Member
09-23-2000
| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 5:33 am
Here he is, Mr. Grumpy Pants, cause he can't go outside and his mom is making him take a picture. Funny thing this morning, Sophie our Pom has been very gentle with him since he got sick but this morning for some reason she has been riding his butt. There daily routine was for him to smell her and then she would chase him and bark. Maybe she is more intuitive then we are and knows he is much better and ready for the good ol' days!

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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 5:36 am
Hey RG. Has your vet suggested a different food for Smudge? There are a couple of different brands that make food specifically for kidney problems. Costa used to get Hill's K/D, as the kidney formulation is very close to the H/D. (Hill's only makes H/D in canned and I didn't want to feed him canned food.) Since it looks like Smudge-button may be around for a few more years, it's worth checking out. You can get it from your vet (it's a prescription diet). Something around $10-12 for a 4lb bag.
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Resortgirl
Member
09-23-2000
| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 5:42 am
Costa, at this point the vet has told us to feed him whatever he'll eat... he doesn't care for canned at all and probably moreso now since that's what I had on my finger when I forced it in his mouth. He usually eats Iam's or One, but I'm open to all suggestions. As soon as he's on the road to full recovery I'll get our docs recommendations and also mention the foods that are suggested here. Wow~! I said "as soon" not "if"!!
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Vacanick
Member
07-12-2004
| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 5:49 am
Ahhh RG what a great picture of Smudge! He looks so pissed ... that is a good sign. He's ready to get outside and do his thing again! My cat was also on Hills K/D and he loved it. But you listen to your vet and you can make your decision about his food then. Hugs to Smudge and family! 
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Native_texan
Member
08-24-2004
| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 7:38 am
Way to go, Smudge! RG, the only suggestion I will add is to try not to change his food very much right now as his tummy might not tolerate it very well. My girls eat Iam's for indoor cats. It is a little more expensive but it is also more filling and therefore goes further. Sun, high magnesium is the major culprit in a lot of cat foods that cause crystals to form.
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Regee
Member
10-09-2005
| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 7:44 am
Oh giggle if looks could kill, heheeeeee. I love that he is getting better. Go Smudge Go. When do you take him back for a check up RG?
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Mayajnn
Member
01-27-2006
| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 7:59 am
So glad that Smudge is doing better. Fingers are crossed that the lab work comes out better.
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 8:56 am
Hehhehe... I just LOVE that look on Smudge's face! Priceless! (And the shunt on his leg? Poor little man!) It certainly sounds like he's doing really well. If he's got his fur panties in a knot cause he can't go outside, and he's playing with his doggie sister... what a good sign! (Costa and Kassie don't eat wet food except for dinner. They get a spoonful so that Costa can get his meds mixed in. It's why we went to the Hills K/D diet. Of course, the fact that the canned H/D diet was just gross was only part of the fact.)
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