ELSEWHERE

We are back from the vet! We probably should have tried harder to find a vet closer to the house but I am very happy with the service I got there. All of my concerns have been addressed, I was listened to, the vet did an actual full exam, and the cost was honestly pretty comparable to what the VCA charges anyway.

He is leaning toward her hyperthyroid not being fully managed, yet (which, the VCA vet told me she was happy with Oz's numbers, so.) He was also immediately willing to prescribe an appetite stimulant, so I have that in my pocket for if and when her appetite gets bad again. He also prescribed what is basically pepcid in case her nausea is being caused by an ulcer, and a probiotic in case her loose stool is being caused by her gut biome being off.

They did an x-ray and like ten minutes after I got home they had results for me, which was somewhat inconclusive so they want to move on to doing an ultrasound as well, which we'll need to schedule. And they did a blood panel that I should get results from tomorrow. Benefits of doing it on a holiday weekend, apparently, is most other clinics are closed and not sending anything out for testing

Oh and he's recommending I give her some pedialite. He was originally recommending the hydra-whatever but we've tried that before and she wouldn't eat it. Worried about the probiotic actually because it's also purina and also liver flavoured but hopefully she'll eat it

Also also apparently her claw thing, which the VCA told me is just something that happens to older cats, is a thyroid thing, so that's great to know.

I think that's about everything! Very no-nonsense vet, came in and immediately started giving Oz a thorough checkup, and then afterwards talked to me about his concerns and my concerns. He was very clear and I didn't feel like I was getting brushed off at all.

So findings were: heart murmur, a cataract in her right eye, symmetrical muscle wasting, mild bronchitis, gas and fluid in her abdomen, something hard in her colon, a skin bump on her neck, a little dehydrated, and her stance is wide when she walks. I think that's everything from the checkup

Oh, and something in her lungs

Why am I suddenly seeing people saying the joke is dads going out to buy "milk". It's always been cigarettes

I'm not even seeing people making the joke about dads going out to buy milk, I'm just seeing people saying that that's the joke

One of Oz's medications is a gel I have to rub into her ears half an hour before she eats. Tonight went okay, but now that she knows what's going to happen when I grab her I'm worried she'll get more feisty about it

Had to mix A Lot of baby food in with the probiotic powder but she did eventually eat it all! Hopefully now that she's eaten it once she'll be more willing to eat the whole thing, and I'm going to ask the vet if it's okay to split it into two doses.

Vet got back to me about her bloodwork -- from a different number than I was expecting so I didn't answer, but that turned out to be alright because it meant I could listen to his voicemail multiple times to make sure I got everything. Her bloodwork is showing regenerative anemia, stage 2 chronic kidney disease, and uncontrolled hyperthyroidism. He thinks that getting the thyroid under control will get everything else to 'fall in line', so he wants to increase her current dose by .5 both morning and night and get her checked again in three weeks.

In humans, stage 2 kidney disease treatment involves healthier lifestyle changes and treating symptoms if there are any, which there often aren't. I would like to get her onto a healthier food than the temptations dry food that she's decided is the only thing she'll eat, if I can, but otherwise I don't think there is much to do. At stage 2 -- again, in humans -- the kidneys are still operating within normal parameters, so while it would have been very nice to have caught this at stage 1 which we might have been able to if the VCA was actually monitoring her like the blood panel recommended, this is not terrible news.

Since I did not answer the phone, though, I wasn't able to ask about the probiotic or the pedialyte, so I called him back and also got his voicemail, and have left those questions there. He will maybe realise that that can be a text but probably will call me back to answer those questions later. Honestly I assume he went to lunch shortly after calling me

(I wonder if the anemia points toward the ulcer he was worried about)

So she will need an ultrasound scheduled, and we can hopefully drop off a fecal sample then as well. And in three weeks she needs another appointment for another blood panel. The ultrasound will be around $600, is what I'm getting told, and the blood panel will probably be another $300

Hopefully (touch wood, fingers crossed) at that point we'll have everything under control and she won't need any vet attention for a while

Also we did another dose of her ear cream this morning and it also went fine

Here is the question is am I awake or do I get more sleep