poor baby! you will do what is best for her, jenny. my cats love gerber chicken with gravy and turkey with gravy (no veggies). whatever you choose, check the label for benzoic acid or sodium benzoate. cats do not react well to them.

Here is a link that might be useful: wikipedia

Thank you FTM. Will do. I don't want to cause her anymore health problems then she already has.

Jenny

Awww, I'm so sorry for you and your kitty, Jenny! I can only imagine how worried you must be.

I think that's so precious how you can give cats baby food! I never knew that was a possibility. Thanks for the valuable info, ladies.

Brenda

brenda, and it has a lovely high protein value! of course, anytime yo start something new, do so in moderation. gas results! whew!

good luck and you are welcome, jenny.

Good luck with Boa. I am praying for her. I hope the blood results were good.

Lisa

Thanks all for your kind words and thoughts. I thought I posted an update on Friday after the vet called, but guess I didn't. Boa has a urinary tract infection so they started her on antibiotics so we played chase all weekend so I could squirt med down her throat. She also has hypothroidism. As if squirting meds down her through isn't enough, she has to have a pill every twelve hours for the rest of her life. She loves milk so she gets it crushed up in her Whiska's cat milk. So far she hasn't figured it out yet. But it doesn't end there. All blood work for surgery came back negative and they don't think the heart murmur will be a problem (it's a slight one) so I dropped her off this morning to have her tooth (what's left of it) extracted. So now I'll be a nervous wreck till I she is out of surgery. Will keep you posted.

Jenny

We'll be thinking of you both, Jenny!

I remember when I had to drop off my little old pug, Clyde, at the vet so he could have **12** teeth removed. I cried, because I wasn't sure if I'd see him again, even though he'd had all the necessary blood work, too. But he was just fine. I was the one who needed the pain meds. :D

Would love to see a pic of Boa! :)

Brenda

Thanks Brenda:

Will post one this evening. She always lays with her head on the bottom glass shelf of the TV stand. Now I know why. The cold glass must have eased the pain.

Well the vet just called me while they had her under there were three other teeth that needed to be extracted due to decay, so I asked if she would be able to eat with no teeth. The vet reassured me that toothless cats eat all the time.

Then she called me back and told me when they pulled four teeth and the rest just fell out. She said she has a hairline fracture of her jaw and they want to put a wire in it for reinforcement. My poor kitty. She is an indoor cat. I have had her since her mom, Mittens, brought three kittens and we kept them all (posted that story a while back). When Mittens came to me she didn't have a tooth in her mouth. Must be hereditary. Next time the vet calls me she may be trying to sell me kitty dentures. Lol

Jenny

Picked Boa up from the vet tonight. She is still kind of groggy. She wants to eat, but can't. Have to take her back in three weeks for blood work to see if thyroid med is working. Then again in eight weeks to have wire removed. Tried to resize my pics in photobucket so they would be smaller. Hope it works.

This is the pic I took before surgery when she laid with her head on the glass shelf of the TV stand.

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This is an after pic taken about 1/2 hour after I brought her home. She is a little swollen.

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And here is a pic of her sister Bear. The are the two remaining of the family we adopted. Lost both mom and brother a while back.

{{gwi:173030}}

Jenny

Oh, Jenny, what a change of plans! You're probably worried sick, but she sure looks like a fighter to me. They are both beautiful kitties! And Boa is SUCH a brave girl.

Clyde would have to "gum" his food, too, and he was a little chunkmeister, so I'm sure Boa will be just fine with soft food.

I wonder what Bear is thinking of the whole ordeal. :) Keep us updated, too, when you can.

Brenda

I hope you have a very happy birthday, Jenny! Many cuddles and kisses from your kitties are wished for you today. :)

Brenda

Happy birthday Jenny! Sending good thoughts and prayers for Boa and Bear too.

Lisa

Congrats from me too Jen!
How's the patient doing today?

:) Mary

Thanks All:

Well today as soon as she saw me with the medicine dropper in my hand we played the "take off and hide" game, so she must be feeling better. Until today she would just lay wherever she was and let me pry her mouth open and put the drops in. She got wise to the antibiotic in her Catmilk trick. Now she runs whenever I approach her. She isn't up to playing yet, but I see steady improvements. Her jaw looks a little crooked to me, but it could still be the swelling. She makes little clicking noises now with her tongue. Hope it means she is healing. She is eating more than she did before the surgery (when I don't mash her pill in it). She must be catching onto this trick too. Don't know what I'm going to do when all my tricks are exhausted. She is a very vocal cat, so when I finally caught her this morning, Apache thought I was hurting her so he joined in the fun. Think we woke my son up this morning will all the commotion.

Jenny

LOL Oh, I hate it when the vet starts any sentence with, "I'm going to give you medication to take home...." Oy vey! At least when they do it right in the office, they can wrap Pookie up in one of those burrito velco things, so only her head is sticking out (no claws for attacking). She looks like an extra large pea pod. I keep threatening to buy one whenever she's a bad kitty and won't let me put drops in her ears/mouth/other assorted openings. :D

I'm so glad Boa's spirits are up! I'm sorry you have to chase her around, though. LOL

Brenda

I remember what a pain Cinder was. All I could do was get the cat calmed down then be fast with her pill. They don't have a nice long nose like a dog so it's hard to hold until they swallow and by the time they start to the claws are going again....

I can't imagine you can just force feed with a broken jaw though. Glad she's feeling better but you have a handful there..

Jenny,

Yep, those pictures of happy cats looks like you're a bad mom!

My prayers are with you though as you struggle to medicate her, the 'burrito' method works with an old towel too...spread the towel out, set Boa in the middle, coo and cuddle while whipping the ends up and over her, being sure to keep the front feet encased, pop the pill or liquid in her mouth and immediately relase and PRAISE her. The less stressed YOU are, the less stressed she will be...easy for me to say.

Did you say she was HYPO or HYPER thyroid? Hypothyroidism is uncommon in cats. Hyperthyroidism is more common, especially in geriatric cats. Some medications used to treat hyperthyroidism can be administered transdermally. Meaning you can apply a medicated gel to the inside of her ear with your finger.

It is hyper not hypo. She is on tapazole for it. The vet called me on Saturday to give me the results of the bone biopsy. The good news. It's not cancer. The bad news. She has degenerative bone disease that is not going to improve. Even with the wire her jaw is not healing straight. The right side of her mouth is lower than the left side. The vet told me they did the best they could with what they had. They could only take a small piece for the biopsy and still leave enough bone to successfully wire it. She told me as long as she is eating good there is nothing they can do for her crooked jaw. They won't know if the wire can be removed till she goes in for her 8 week checkup. The vet did tell me to be very gentle with her. Keep her off of high places so she doesn't have to jump down. I had to tell my son no more "butt pats" that she loves. Now I am even more nervous when I have to squirt the meds down her throat. She is doing much better. She was running up and down the stairs playing with her toys this weekend. I didn't worry because the steps are carpeted. I figure animals know better than humans what they are capable of doing.

When I told my daughter what the vet said she reminded me that Boa was the kitten that walked on her front elbows till she was about three months old. As far as we were concerned she was a keeper for us because we didn't think we could find her a home. After three months of running around on her elbows she started walking on her paws. She did have two paws at the end of each leg and I had one removed when she was spayed to help her walk better. My son always called her tarantula feet because she had so many toes her front paws looked like a big hairy tarantulas. She was the only kitten that wouldn't let you pick her up. When she wanted to be held she would just leap up 3 to 4 feet to your chest and cling. To this day she has a fit if you pick her up. After 14 1/2 years I think we know why.

Jenny

she's a miracle kitty, jenny! you give her wonderful care.

She sounds amazing for having osteoarthritis! And for being 14 1/2 years old. I'm so glad it's not cancer, too.

I wonder how long she's had the disease. If it's been a while, she's doing very well, considering. You're a good mommy. :)

Brenda

Sounds like a couple of miracles there to me, Jenny... One, that' she's done as well as she has through her life with all her problems; and Two, that she found YOU to take care of her so she could.

Sorry I missed wishing you Happy Birthday on time, but heres a BIG LATE HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISH!

Boa looks pretty good in that picture above, all things considered. Hope she continues to improve for ya.

Take care,
Jeff

Thanks Jeff.

Boa had a major setback this weekend. She started throwing up on Thursday. When I got home Friday didn't see a note from my son. Thought everything was OK. Didn't know she threw up on Friday till I went upstairs to brush my teeth (around 10 p.m.) and saw the Resolve on the landing and the spots on the carpet. I called the emergency vet who told me to stop the antibiotics immediately, and scheduled an appointment for Saturday to be sure she didn't fracture her jaw again from the violent retching. Good news. Her jaw has healed well, and she got a shot for her upset stomach as well as more pills to take. She hadn't eaten since Thursday morning so I was stressing out. She would act like she wanted to eat and would lick her lips, but turned her head to food. She would sit by the water dish for hours like she wanted to drink but couldn't. Then she started pawing at her face again like she did before surgery. On Saturday night she threw up blood. I think the emergency vet is tired of talking to me. He reassured me it wasn't uncommon and I should just relax. He said because I am stressed she can sense it which is stressing her even more.

On Sunday the same thing; she acted like she wanted food and water, but would just sit by the dish and lick her lips. I didn't get any sleep all weekend, and decided rather than see her starve to death, or dehydrate I was going to put her down. My daugher and her fiance drove in from Lorain to see if they could get her to eat anything. I fixed her food dish and my daughter took it in the sunroom where she was sleeping on the love seat and it was the same thing. She turned her head. Then my daughter dunked her finger in the food and held it to Boa's mouth and she started licking the food off her finger. My daughter stayed and finger fed her for about four hours then we tried giving her the dish of food and she turned up her nose to it. I think she associated that specific food dish to throwing up. Once we switched the dishes she started eating on her own. This morning guess who woke me up crying for food?

My daughter is getting married on November 4. Between the wedding and Boa I am a nervous wreck. (She has to have major surgery again to remove the wire from her jaw in five more weeks) I had planned on putting the pond to bed for the winter this past weekend, but between getting fitted again for my dress, shopping for shoes (haven't got a purse yet) and a sick cat I just didn't have the time. I was afraid to leave Boa alone. When she's sick all she wants to do is lay on you. Fortunately my son works second shift so I could run around in the a.m. while he babysat her. (He's going to be in traction before all this is over because she likes to lay on his stomach and he doesn't want to disturb her once she falls asleep, so he doesn't move till she wakes up). We are expecting snow tonight (maybe 3 in. accumulation). I have never let the pond go this long in the past. I still have my tropicals in there. Hope next weekend will be nice and I have time to winterize it, if not, it may just be running all winter.

Jenny

Jenny, I sure wished I lived closer so I could help you out with all of that!

Just remember, when you get stressed out, imagine all of the things you're worried about and list them in order of importance. If you lose any tropicals in your pond, I'm sure many of us would be happy to send you some replacements, so check that one off, at least. And maybe your son can pull some of your favorites out of there and put them where you wish, at least until you can take over.

As for Boa, it sounds like she's back on the road to recovery after a short side trip. :) Your kids sound extremely helpful, and I'm so glad your son is there to provide backup help with Boa.

After Nov. 4th, you should collapse with a bag of Dove bars, Boa purring at your side. :)

Brenda

mmmm..... dove bars!!!

I just wonder how they get all those feathers out!

LOL Vehwy cehfuwwy...and wiff detewmination!

Brenda

you are such a wonderful mom! by chance is the new med an anti-nausea? my old man used to do the swallowing and vomiting. then he had blood tinged vomitting. i was told he had an ulcer.

Yes FTM that is exactly what it is. I can't get it down her though. Between the tapazole for the hyperthyroidism and the anti-nausea med she doesn't want me anywhere near her. I swear cats are psychic. She can be laying on my lap and the minute I even think "time for her meds" she is gone like a flash.

Jenny

Dear Jenny,

Wow you have had a lot going on! Glad Boa is back on the mend, and I would be a nervous wreck too.

Please let me know what I can do to help. Give me a call. And as for shoes and purses- I wear size 7 shoes and have lots of shoes- some very fancy. Purses too. I have some really nice beaded purses for formal occasions. Just let me know about the pond- or if you want to raid my closet.

Lisa

how are things, jenny?

i had a liquid medication. not that it matters. frost used to be gone as soon as i came around the corner with the frontline. we all know that doesn't even go down the gullet.

Thanks again all:

Boa is doing much better. She is eating like a horse, but still doesn't want to be left alone. I can't believe the difference in her since I stopped the antibiotics. She demands food now, and her catmilk. Her and Bear got into their first fisticuffs in a long time when I was taking too long to get the food in the dish. She got a huge dish of whipped cream yesterday (her favorite) and didn't leave a smidgen in the bowl for Apache to finish. She is back on the tapazole now for the hyperthyroidism and doesn't even know it's in her food. I am breathing a sigh of relief. I know nothing can live forever, but I can hope. Think she will be with us for a while longer. Praise God for answering my prayers.

Jenny

hallelujah! wonderful to hear, jenny :)

Cheering for you & Boa over here, too, Jenny! :)

Brenda

My first time back in a few weeks. I see no new posts since Oct. 28. I hope that means no more news is GOOD news... sure looked like it was going good on the last few posts.

Happy for ya, Jenny!
Jeff

Thanks for asking Jeff. No news is good news. Boa is getting fat and sassy. She fights with her sister now when I am feeding them. She gobbles her food, then chases Bear and when Bear runs, she eats her food too. She has to go back at the end of this month to have the wire taken out. I really hate to upset the apple cart, but I am afraid leaving it in may do more harm than good. She went for more blood work two weeks ago and her levels of medication for her hyperthyroidism are exactly where they should be.

Jenny

GREAT news, Jenny! Thanks for making my day! I love fat and sassy kitties. :)))))

Brenda

Great, Jenny! Glad to hear it!! So I guess now she's ready to play with Tater Tot, huh? :-P (I don't think there'd be too much "play" involved, unfortunately). My guess is, he'd chase and corner, she'd retaliate and he'd REGRET IT, lol.

Continued good luck and Happy Holidays to you!
Jeff