MORE MEWS NEWS

Wednesday, Aug. 27th....Just a little update: Punky had to have a blood transfusion yesterday. Her hemoglobin was 18 on Monday and down to 11 on Tuesday, after a hemorrhage from her rubbing her tumor on the corner of her litterbox the night before. Normal is 35, so she was in bad shape yesterday. The worry was that she did not have enough red cells to carry oxygen. Today it was up to 22, so she may have to have another transfusion Friday. She stayed overnight at the specialists' hospital. The emergency staff there look out for the animals spending the night there, so she made out okay. I could not get there to pick her up due to tornado warnings here with the sirens sounding just as I was ready to head out the door to Greenville. There were funnel clouds spotted...thus, the sirens sounded. TV reports were telling people to abandon their cars and mobile homes and seek stronger structures to ride out the storm. It was quite scary!

Buster is doing well after his chemo 2 days ago. I went to his house this afternoon and released him from his quarantine today. He has to be isolated from Sweet Pea for 48 hours following each chemo treatment, so he lives in the bonus room for those 48 hours. Yesterday he was kind of dumpy and didn't feel too well, but today he was just fine! He is eating verrrrrry well!!! So things are back to normal with him for the time being until his next round in 3 weeks.

I am behind with my blogging and reading, but I do hope to visit you all over the weekend. This is "crunch-time" week with my job so no time to blog right now. The job and caring for these poor little sick kitties is keeping me quite busy! But I do love you all and will visit as soon as I can!

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Please read to the end, as I have something for all of you there!!!!

Upstate Veterinary Specialists, Greenville, SC

We are heading back to Upstate Veterinary Specialists today! This place is state-of-the-art!!! The doctors there are all specialists in various fields. I haven't written lately about the cats and their ongoing saga with cancer. Well, Buster, my daughter's male cat, will be receiving Round 3 of his chemo treatments this morning. He gets one every 3 weeks for a total of 5 treatments. He seems to be responding to the drug, thus far. He's back to his usual old self, playing and eating anything that is put in front of him. He's on a medication for appetite as the chemo would make him stop eating. Actually, cats do much better on chemo than humans do. They really don't get the horrible nausea that people do. Their chemo "patients" are given an injection of Zofran and are sent home with an anti-nausea med plus an appetite stimulant. It was just 2 months ago today, to be exact, that he had his cancer surgery, which I did a post or two on at that time. Below is a pic of Buster (he's the black cat) and Sweet Pea, his live-in girlfriend, who also underwent cancer surgery for a fibrosarcoma twice and received 19 radiation treatments back in April. She is doing well at the present time. Her latest chest x-ray showed her lungs to be clear! That is where her type of cancer will most likely return, if or when it does.

"Sweet Pea" and "Buster"

And I'm sure all you regular readers will recall Punky, my son's cat. Punky had received 5 radiation treatments for osteosarcoma, cancer of the jaw, at the same time Sweet Pea was undegoing her treatments in April. They only do 5 treatments for her type of cancer as it makes the site so terribly sore. I am sad to say, Punky's cancer has returned. We were told it would in 3-6 months, and this is month 4 now. So she is starting radiation treatments again today, too. She was the sweetest little kitty when she was young. She loved to play more than any cat I've ever seen. But I think her playing days are coming to an end. She's one tough little cookie, though, as the radation makes her mouth ever so sore for about a week, but she keeps on eating. The tumor actually shrunk entirely away and was completely gone until just a few weeks ago. She was back to her old self and enjoying life in Florida. She is now spending some time with me as she did before, until her treatments are completed again. Her Pops had to return to Florida today. She was such a cute little kitten but now is 17 years old and looking her age, as you will notice in the second pic below. We will part with her when this cancer returns the next time.

"Punky" a few days after he got her from our local shelter

"Punky" taken when she was receiving her first round of radiation treatments

It doesn't end there! The drama continues! My son's other cat, Scooter, who is 15 years old, is having some very serious heart problems. Her heart is enlarged and is working too hard. She is so frail and has a blood clot in her left rear leg. She had an ultrasound of her heart and also an EKG just this past week. She is on 4 different medications, and the vet informed my son that her condition is considered guarded. So she is also here staying with me. Her Pops will return over Labor Day weekend to get them.

Scooter was a rescue from Augusta, Georgia. Tim was coming back from a wedding late one evening, and they stopped off to eat, and there was this tiny little kitten behind a bush by the restaurant. He inquired within and was told that she had been there 5 or 6 days, and the one waitress said she'd been bringing cat food from home to feed the kitten every day. She said her husband was considering taking it for snake food for his snake! The next morning at 6am, with a pet carrier and a little litter pan and some food and water for her, he headed back to Augusta, a 90-mile trip, one way, from where he lived at that time. He named her "Scooter" as she was just so fast! We always take the ones no one else wants, and they've all made great pets! This little gal is pitiful right now as she's lost so much weight. She is weak and her one rear leg slips out from under her at times when she walks. The vet explained it is much like how one of our limbs feels when it has gone to sleep. She's her Pops' girl...has to be right in the middle of things!

"Scooter"

Then I have my Butch and Bootsie on Buspar, as they are overgrooming to the point of licking their bellies raw! They are wearing the large Eco-collars to keep them from getting to their bellies, but they still do! Plus, I have two 15-year old diabetic cats (littermates and sisters to Buster) who I give insulin shots to twice a day. I have another one with allergies who I give half a children's Benadryl tablet to every 12 hours. I also have 3 other cats on Cosaquins for bladder irritations, and then about 6 weeks ago Oliver had a serious bout with kidney stones, and he is supposed to be on urinary acidifiers twice a day, but I can't get them down his throat. He will not cooperate at all! I have to give him 30cc of extra water every day! Seems everyone is on different special foods and different meds, etc. , all at different times! So I had to make myself a chart to follow in order to keep it all straight! Right now I am caring for 35 cats, so you can see that my life is hectic, to say the least.

And now, this week starts my really busy time with my jobs, too! For the past week or so, I've been planning a different post but haven't had time to get my pics taken yet. So, I am hoping to squeeze a little time out for me so I can get it posted one day this week. I thought it was kind of cute and interesting. I've got this new hangup in my life.......BUT.......I'll say no more! You'll have to return later in the week to find out what it is! Going through all those old pictures has done something to me!!! LOL

OH, BY THE WAY.......LAST, BUT NOT LEAST!!!

I have received several new awards which are posted on my sidebar. I would like to say "THANK YOU" to Lisa, Pea, Train Wreck, Grams, Mary, Donna, Stephanie, and Heidi for the latest ones! I do appreciate each so much! Drop by their blogs for some great reading and fun posts!!!

Now....I would like to invite ALL of my regular readers to please take these awards to your own blogs! You all are so deserving of them! Blogging takes a lot of time, and I want to pass them on to each and every one of you because I love you all!!!