Hey! I've still been so busy that I've been finding a hard time to post. I'm still reading my friend's list and making comments when I get the time.
So...here's some of what's up with me.
Cosette's appetite has been a bit off for months now, and she's losing some weight here and there. She hasn't been throwing up like she used to, and she's still showing an interest in food because she comes up to me and starts begging when it's dinner time. She just doesn't hoggie doggie it down like she used to. While we were in San Francisco for a wedding,
emygination, who had been baby-sitting our cats, remarked that she didn't think Cosette was eating enough on Friday. Fortunately, her appetite picked up on Saturday and Sunday.
emygination thought that it might have been because she missed us, but
doomsey and I talked about things while we were in San Francisco and we decided that it wouldn't hurt to bring her into the vet again and have things checked out anyway.
So...I stuffed Cosette into her crate Thursday morning and trotted off to the vet's office. She decided to take another X-ray because she hadn't had one done in awhile. She pointed out that one of Cosette's kidneys are shriveled, which is not a surprise because she does have kidney issues after all, and that her intestines looked big. She doesn't know if it's a gastro-intestinal problem set off by the kidney issues or something more ominous such as cancer. She told me that she'd do an ultrasound, but it only detects advanced cases. She also doesn't want to do an intestinal biopsy because of all of her health issues. So...we don't really know which of the two things it is. Honestly, I'm not too worried about it right now. I doubt that it's cancer because the vet has been saying for several years now that her intestines are big or feel full, which back then we used to chalk up to her eating too much. And, as I said before, she has the kidney issues and that could be causing the thickening of the intestinal walls. If, by any chance it does turn out to be a slow growing cancer, well, she's just turned fourteen years old this month. She's had a good life. I'd hate to see her go, but, you know. I don't want to put her through any treatments that will make her miserable.
The vet also noticed that Cosette has bad arthritis in her spine and that she has about two areas where the disc space between vertebrae is thin. She thinks part of Cosette's change in appetite might be caused by pain and that's what we should treat first. I'd also like to point out that occasionally during the day, I pick up Cosette's food dish and put it in front of her wherever she's sitting...even if it's on the couch much to
doomsey's chagrin. She doesn't refuse to eat. Instead, she goes "oh hai! there's food here," and will start eating some of it. It's quite possible that her not eating could be caused by the fact that she doesn't want to physically get up and go to the food dish because her back is bothering her.
To treat her back trouble, the vet prescribed her 24mg of Adequan once a week. She did take this drug in the past for arthritis in her back and knees, but had to go off of it because it made her stomach problems worse. She doing much much better now that she's getting 10mg of Pepcid a day so I don't think it's going to be a problem. I gave her her first shot on Thursday morning, and I noticed that she was eating more Friday during the day so I think things are looking somewhat hopeful with that.
Also, and don't laugh at me, I have to take Cosette to an animal chiropractor to have her back adjusted. My sister-in-law has done this with her animals, and she says that it works beautifully. The only problem is that I just have to find the time to bring her in. The chiropractor is only available 8 to 5 on Mondays at the vet's office I go to, and unfortunately, I work most of that day. I could probably make it if I went early, but I won't be able to do it at all during the fall though because of my work schedule.
doomsey offered to take her in on Mondays. I suppose it would work, but she's much better behaved when I take her for her appointments. Alternatively, I could see what the chiropractor's schedule is for Tuesday, Thursdays, and Fridays. The only down side is that I would have to drive out to whatever animal hospital he is at that day. I left a message on the chiropractor's answering machine explaining everything, but haven't heard back from him yet and probably won't hear back from him until Monday.