vet

Missy has been with us since she was 8 weeks old.  She came from the local high kill pound with her brother and sister.  Her brother was adopted long ago, and her sister, Toodles, is still with us.  (See Toodles’ webpage on our main site)

Someone went to get the kittens from the pound for me because I had a cat who had had a mastectomy and was having to get her dressing changed at the vet every day.  I still remember the first time we saw each other, Missy and I.  She knew I was her mom, and so did I!

Unfortunately, Missy has a congenital heart defect.  The particular defect she has is a complete endocardial cushion defect, which is rare in cats.  She sees the cardiologist at Texas A&M University, and only a few have been seen there.    Feline cardiology isn’t as advanced as human cardiology, or even canine cardiology, and surgical repair is not possible.  She takes heart meds every day and gets lots and lots and lots of love - we’re trying to pack a lifetime into a few years.

Missy is the queen of the house, and she knows it!  She likes to sit on my shoulder, be held upside down like a baby, and sleep on my head or curled around my neck.  She loves company, because of course they all come to see her.

Missy does not like medicine - she says yuck!  She does love kitty treats.  She is very smart and has a quizzical look that always makes me laugh.

She recently got upper respiratory infection and went to the vet.  She had her nasal passages flushed - the vet said she did really well and I did moderately well:).  She’s on antibiotics and feeling much better.

Every day she’s with us is a good day.  Love her so much.

It makes me understand why many people say “I just want a healthy kitten.”  Missy wasn’t diagnosed until about 6 months, though.  You just never know what might happen.   And I wouldn’t have missed loving Missy for anything.

Our Tuffy, who came to us from a shelter in Ohio, had to go to the vet Saturday. She was having a rather indelicate problem with her intestinal flora.

Tuffy was supposed to be a handicapped kitten. Her eye had never opened before she came to us and the shelter thought the eye had died and would need to be removed. Fortunately, when she got here she was treated and her eye is almost normal. She has a very slight loss of vision in it, perhaps 5%, and runs a slightly increased risk of developing glaucoma as she ages. Tuffy has a pet - a stuffed lion she adores.:)

The vet sold us some Diarsanyl
which we haven’t used before. I will say she doesn’t seem to like it, but we are hoping it works. If it does we will keep it in our medicine chest. We also got Panacur in granules and Fortiflora, which we mix up in canned food for her daily, and she doesn’t mind those at all.