Saturday, December 31, 2011

I Need Jackson Galaxy




I stole this pic from Jackson Galaxy's facebook page.  Sorry Jackson.  Or...You're welcome, Jackson. 
I'm having so many issues with the kitties now! 
They are stealing eachothers food, forfeiting their own dinner, spraying and peeing around the house and chasing and fighting.
   I'm going out of my mind here!  I need feline behaviorist Jackson Galaxy to come here and help me.  I don't really want to be on his show, My Cat From Hell, even though it is an AWESOME show.  I fear a camera crew would scare the bajeeeeezis out of my babies plus I don't like inviting strangers (the general TV viewing public etc) into my home.  BUT I really want this amazing man to help me.
   I contacted him and he said to email his assistant and that if enough people in South Florida request a visit he will come!!!  So, I did contact Heather.  And my friend Jodi Ziskin wrote this article (click here to see article) about the sitch.
  If you live in the Miami area and would like Jacksons help (or think you can say or do anything to convince him to come help me with MY kitties) please email his assistant heather at  heather@jacksongalaxy.com 

  PLEASE JACKSON COME HELP ME WITH MY KITTIES!!!  Thanks.http://jacksongalaxy.com/

Friday, December 23, 2011

OUTTA MY MIND!

JP's healing up from his surgery (bladder stone removal).  You can see in this pic that his belly fur is growing back.  He started peeing outside the box again so I brought him back to Dr. Yao who checked his urine and felt around his tummy etc., said he's healing fine and the peeing is behavioral.  Great.  We have no feline behaviorists in Dade County. 
It has been a living hell in my house ever since. 
I'm going to spare you most of the details this time.
I need HELP!!  I need Jackson Galaxy or Pam Johnson-Bennett or some feline genious/psychic to get over here and tell me what is going on and how I can help these poor gorgeous creatures.  I do everything I can think of to keep them all healthy and happy.













Monday, October 17, 2011

JP has been wanting to get out of the bathroom!  Between him and INKY scratching under the door we seem to be missing a few chips of concrete from the floor!
We have managed to let INKY see JP when the 2 of them are eating (JP stays in the bathroom and we remove his collar and open the door).  Baby steps.  I don't want to rush the re-integration!
Also, Spike came into the bathroom last night for a shared midnight snack with JP.
Still using the Spirit Essences.  Hoping that's going to help a lot when we actually let JP out of quarantine. 
Stay tuned for my next post...it's gonna be cool!  We have new technology at Casa Marro you wont want to miss!


Saturday, October 15, 2011

10/15/2011 update

No pic today.  So much has been going on and I haven't been posting about it all.  Just want to get the info out today.  Some of it, anyway.
On Tuesday, JP had surgery to remove a stone from his bladder.  Poor widdle kitty! Naturally, he is wearing the cone of shame to prevent him from messing with the stitches and staples in his belly (ouch!!!  I've seen them mess with this kind of thing before and it aint pretty!).  Unfortunately, he must be quarantined in the bathroom for 10-14 days until the sutures can be removed.  This presents a HUGE problem at Casa Marro because upon re-entry into the clowder I can guarantee that INKY is going to flip out!  BIG TIME!!  He has issues!  This is the reason that CC is now living permanently in the guest suite.  Inky never learned to accept her despite months of trying under the supervision of one of the worlds leading feline behaviorists. 
Now we are basically up to date (sparing you days of details).
Today's good news: JP finally pooped.  I had to give him pumpkin for breakfast yesterday to help it along, but this AM there was poop-city in the small non-ventilated bathroom.  Eeeewwww!  But, yaaaaaay!
After scooping that mess I administered the 2nd round of Spirit Essences (by Jackson Galaxy - they call him Cat Daddy.  Cat-God might be more appropriate!).  I rubbed Peacemaker over each cat.  Then I put Safe Space For Cats into all their food bowls.  This time, I let JP eat right outside the bathroom door - in the same room with INKY.
No, of course that didn't go well.  Inky saw the intruder with the bright blue e-collar and got scared and went to hide in the hallway.  As I moved he food bowl towards him he recoiled.  I hadn't realized that JP was coming with me.  JP walked towards INKY!!!!  Oh the horror!!  That was pretty much it.  JP got tossed back in the bathroom (by my husband) and I had to crouch on the floor petting Inky and reassuring him JP loves him and he should not be afraid and he SHOULD eat his breakfast!
sigh
and PS yes, I almost passed out when standing up cuz I have apparently close to no blood pressure.  In case anyone was concerned about ME!  Hahahaha!  Like anyone's even concerned about my CATS in the first place.  hahaha is anyone reading this even?




Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Feline Dysautonomia?

One week ago my sweet boy Spike started puking. He would eat part of his meal then puke it up right away. After 3 meals in a row of this strange behavior I noticed he was lethargic, his belly was distended and making strange sounds and he was having trouble walking. So, we rushed him up to Hollywood Animal Hospital to see the night vet Dr. Carlos. I'll spare you the details of the hell I was going through for the hour I sat in the room without my cat (they had taken him for xrays and didn't bring him back). When they finally returned, Dr. Carlos told me the horrific news that Spike has dysautonomia and the prognosis was grave. I nearly passed out. This was totally surreal. They sent us home with Reglan pills to stimulate his GI tract which they say was not getting the messages from his brain to FUNCTION and cyproheptadine to stimulate his appetite, but they told us not to feed him that night.
My husband and I stayed up most of the night researching, emailing experts and caring for the cat. In the morning we called all the vets we knew for their advice. We ended up taking Spike down to Kendal to see a neurologist name Dr. Wong. He was amazing. He really observed the cat and interacted with him. Asked a lot of questions, looked at the xrays etc. Finally he said, "I'm intrigued...but I'm not convinced it's dysautonomia". Hooray! Hope! He tried to consult with a colleague in Missouri who has treated about 30 out of 40 cases of feline dysautonomia that broke out in Missouri years ago. It's so rare to find the disease in cats outside of Missouri and the UK that Dr. Wong himself had never seen a case of it! Nor have most of the vets I spoke with. More hope.
Later Friday Dr. Jim Herrington of HAH called and calmed me down a bit saying he really didn't think the cat has this horrible disease. He ordered more blood work, then went on vacation.
We spent the entire weekend keeping vigil with poor Spike. Meds every few hours, syringe feedings, holding him upright to aid digestion etc. Needless to say, I AM EXHAUSTED!
Monday we brought him back to HAH where Dr. Shapiro did more xrays and said everything seems the same keep doing what you're doing yada yada. BOOOOO!
Thank God my friend Holistic Jodi showed up Tues with some mild homemade food and Tummy Relief goop for my kitty. He had started eating over the weekend and was fine until Monday night when he puked 2ce, so, Jodi thought her food might be more calming/easily digested. I think she was right. Today is Wednesday and he's kept everything down so far.
so...I don't know what the hell is really wrong with my cat. He has megaesophogus (why? Who knows? How is that treated? Not pretty) and is very gassy. He's definitely walking a little better and seems to feel a little better but I'm very worried about him. I'm going to put a call in now to Dr. Jim Herrington (from HAH) who is amazing...but he's on vacation. Wish us luck please!!
PS the pic is of Spike taken just a day or 2 ago. He's looking a little better but has food on his nose because he stopped grooming himself when this ordeal started. Not a good sign. And special thanks to Jodi and few other friends (you know who you are) who have been with me through all of this. I love you guys and so does Spikey! Time for some soup!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Skin Problems


Sorry, this is kinda graphic/gross. I found this splotch on Spike a couple weeks ago. Put some Resicort on it, but he kept fussing with it and it got bigger and bigger! After the weekend I brought him in to the Vet. Dr. Yao was out of town so, his supertall colleague examined my kitty who by then had even more splotches and was obsessively licking himself! That Doc decided right away that Spike is allergic to fleas. Even though we have not seen fleas in ages he explained to me that flea pupae can live for over a year and can, theoretically, hatch, bite my allergic kitty and get immediately eaten by said cat so that I never see the flea. I guess it's possible! He gave Spike a shot of DEXAMETHASONE to stop the itching and sent us home with Clavamox.
Well, it has been almost a week and Spike is still itchy and raw. His demeanor seems better (he's not as mopey) but he has more and bigger sores and still licks them a lot.
So, we went to Dr. Yao today. Long story short: Yao doesn't think it's a flea allergy. He tested for mites and didn't find any, but didn't rule that out 100%. I'm worried that it's mites because I have been itchy too! They gave him a shot of DEPO-MEDROL and switched his anti-biotic to Orbax. He's home sleeping now. Poor little guy. he's so sweet too.
I'm now looking into "alternative" options like, coconut oil (which I tried a few times and he immediately licked off) and REIKI! Anyone have advice? Anyone attuned in REIKI?