Hematoma!!

Much has transpired since my last post in October 2012.  Let's start with the hematoma. One Sunday AM late in November I noticed a huge blister on JP's right ear.  I thought it was an abscess.  I was freaking out, of course.  After consulting some friends in the cat biz...I managed to hold my horses until the next AM and brought him in to see Dr. Yao.  Yao diagnosed JP with a hematoma - basically a blood filled blister.  Generally caused by trauma.  Uhhhh...yeah, JP and INKY in particular play BiteEachothersEars on a daily basis.  Also, Yao thought that perhaps JP had scratched it himself.  He didn't have ear mites, but a tooth on that side of his face looked a little infected.  Maybe he was scratching at the tooth pain...Anyhoo...Yao said the hematoma would resorb on its own and didn't want to do any surgery to lance and drain it etc.  Whew!  But he put JP on an anti-biotic.  Of course.  Vet's always seem to do that.  But I was OK with the anti-biotic this time because we decided JP should come back soon for his first dental cleaning and he would need to be on anti-biotics for that regardless.
Well...when he went back for his tooth cleaning the vet tech called me and said Dr. Yao wanted to do surgery on the ear while he was under for his teeth.  I knew that would happen!  I asked her to describe the surgery: they lance and drain the hematoma then sew up the entire ear flap like a quilt so it cannot fill with blood again.  WTF!??  And Yao had told me before that a hematoma might pop up in the other ear too.  UUUUUUuuugggghhhh!  What to do??!!??
So I called Dr. Bernstein who I had just happened to meet that weekend after hearing about him for years.  He is an AMAZING holistic vet who lives and works right in North Miami Beach.  Long story short (I will write more about him in my next post)...I decided to refuse the ear surgery and let Dr. B work his magic on JP in a non-invasive way.  Good choice. 
Stay tuned.

JPee Update

Our house has been pee and spray free (except in the litterboxes) since April 17, 2012.  Until this week!  I am pretty upset.  JP is up to his old habit.  He was crying in the kitchen after dinner, which means he's still hungry.  So...I did what Dr. Radosta suggested and let him sit in there and cry.  So, do you know what he did?  He marched into the living room where my husband and I were watching the debate on TV, climbed up the spiral staircase and sat himself down in the bed on top and just peed away!  He showed us to ignore his cries!  He's done this before.  He eats, then goes back in the kitchen and cries until I feed him again and if I don't he sprays or pees - usually in the living room.
So why did I let him do it again?  I knew Dr. Radostas advice to ignore his cries wasn't working for us, but I had a momentary lapse of reason.  I thought to myself, maybe Dr. Radosta was right.  Also...and here's some important news...he's HUGE!  Lately I've been feeding him as much as he wants so that he doesn't fight with INKY or pee outside the box.  This routine, combined with the prozac (groan) he has been on since January has caused weight gain.  He gained 2 lbs since the beginning of August bringing him up just over 16 lbs.  Inky also weighs about 16 lbs, but he holds it better.  So, a week or 2 ago I started limiting JP's food intake a little bit.  I guess he is not happy about that.
The other development on the JP behavior front is that he and INKY scuffle on a daily basis.  They wrestle before every meal and the worst is early in the AM.  I am seriously sleep deprived.  Recently JP has started chewing on aluminum foil that I keep in the closet (a hold over from the peeing in the closet days that I really hope are ancient history because I have now removed all of the foil).  After JP is done with his meals he returns to the scene and bites INKY (occasionally Spike too) and mounts him.  He used to do this to Scooter!  This is disturbing me a bit.
So last night I contacted one of my heroes Pam Johnson-Bennett.  I asked her if this is a dominance issue or what and how to deal with it.
Pam is THE BEST!  If you have feline behavior issues you need to hire Pam!  Just do it.  Worth the money and saves a lot of time and heartache!
Pam mentioned a few interesting things:
1) it could be dominance but it could also be frustration
2) I shouldn't cut down on his food too drastically!
3) I should feed JP more often so his belly feels more full (Spike would LOVE that too!!!)
4) I should use puzzle feeders to slow him down and get him focused on working for his food - and feed him away from INKY
5) I should be sure to engage in interactive play with JP every day
Well, some of this stuff isn't new to us.  But, as always, Pam has brilliant suggestions based on her extensive knowledge and experience.
So...here's what happened at dinner tonight.
JP and INKY started wrestling so I knew it must be feeding time.  I dug up an old wand toy.  INKY never seemed to like it.  JP actually started going for it!!  A miracle.  Every day I try to engage JP with a toy and he is either not interested or INKY comes over and ruins everything.  After a while I grabbed the other toy that INKY likes and tried to engage him at the same time.  This little bit of playing with each of them seemed to work because they didn't try to beat each other up while I was preparing their meal.
Yes, I'm writing a lot.  Is anyone still reading?
The next thing that happened is rather unfortunate.  While feeding the boys, I pulled out the muffin tin to put JP's food in (closest thing I have to a puzzle feeder for wet food at the moment - yes I ordered 2 online this afternoon.  I do what Pam says!) the sound of pans knocking scared the bajeezus out of JP and he ran, kicking his prozac bowl across the kitchen.  Then he went in the other room to start eating INKY's prozac!  Nooooo!  I was quite frazzled.
By the time I got his food in the pan, he was suspicious and didn't eat much.  I ended up putting his food back in his regular bowl.  Now as I sit and write this, JP has reemerged for a second helping.  I must heed his cries immediately.  You understand?

Living in harmony

No bad behavior to report at this time!! JP and Inky are on Prozac. Inky has a calming pheromone collar on (though it is time for a replacement) and we use lavender scented litter. I've been trying to play with the kitties (mostly Inky and JP gets in on it a little bit) before meals at least once a day.
CC is living like a queen in her private suite. We go outside for walkies occasionally but mostly she just wants to eat grass and sit down.
Stay tuned...

Sunday NFA. No cats today

Budding beat boxers. Went to Greg Patillos beatboxing 101 class this AM
Quick favourite quote of the day:

And if you feel weird about that...put on sunglasses

What flute convention.

This afternoon a whole bunch of us fluters (yes I'm skipping cat tales again today) met at the Trevi fountain and paraded around the forum shops before starting our flute flash mob outside (115 degrees maybe?) with Viviana Guzman. I think it was a real success!
Then I showered and went off campus with a friend who lives downtown. We had a fab time eating Indian food and catching up.
Now I'm back at Caesars. I'm enjoying a prickly pear margarita and the moron sittin next to me. He's chowing down and texting while his tarted up girlfriend watches lamely. I don't think he realizes I see him stealing glances at me and actually reaching for my fuzzy headband. Wtf?

Vegas. No cats today

Yes I know I'm not supposed to do this but I snapped this pic of Greg Patillo setting up for his presentation on flutes and computers. Shhhhhh. They say only the official NFA photogs are allowed to take pix. Well so far I've only seen that happen at one presentation. I shot a couple friends performing. Those pix MAY be on Facebook later.
It is nice to see so many familiar and friendly faces. Some decent new ones too.
I'm now dragging around my heavy artillery again because i just remembered I DO have another "performance" or 2.

Freezing

It's freezing in the convention center so I stepped out in the balcony to thaw (see pic). Glad I'm not performing again cuz my digits are ice!
Started the day with Morning mobility with Angela McCuiston. Yay. Then a great chamber concert including my buddies P. Brent Register and Paula Amrod. Fab!
Jim Walker and free flight were amazon last night and they had some surprise guests like Miamis own Nestor Torres.
Later there will be a flute flash mob or 2. And dinner with a buddy who is thankfully not a flute player.
More Updates later.