Cat of the Month - July 2023 - Squeak
COTM
We’ve been rather busy these last few months so sorry these are a tad late.
July’s winner of Cat of The Month is..
Squeak!
Squeak is a gorgeous Bengal boy who loves cuddles and chewing on any plastic or rubber items that we foolishly leave unattended.
We first met Squeak to do an ultrasound scan on his abdomen and heart as he had a massive belly full of fluid. He had previously been diagnosed with heart disease, but the fluid was a new development.
It’s unusual for cats with heart disease to develop ascites (fluid in the tummy)- that’s more of a dog-thing, so we wanted to check if there was anything else causing it.
We drained a whopping 600mls of fluid from his tummy to help him feel better and took some bloods to check fir other causes. The conclusion was heart failure, just in a very non-catty way.
Vet Claire prescribed a number of medications to get rid of the fluid by making him pee more, and help his heart function, his owner reported that he was soon eating better and seemed a lot happier.
As an older gentleman, Squeak has a variety of health concerns which can sometimes be tricky to medicate but he has his very own pill box and his owner has said that he’s taking them well like a good boy!
As well as all his tablets, Squeak also receives a Solensia injection, not only for arthritis but to help treat his chronic rhinitis as well. Although the product has not been licensed for this condition, early reports have shown that it can be effective in treating this condition as well and so far, it seems to be working!
Squeak is looking very svelte and dapper these days and the fluid hasn’t built up again which means that the medication is doing the job.
We will have to monitor him closely but we don’t mind as he’s truly a lovely boy.
Cat of the Month - Aug 2023 - Eric
Augusts Cat of the Month Winner is Eric
Eric is a sensitive soul who can be very scared when he sees the purple people so he had some pre-visit medication to help him feel calmer which did the trick nicely!
He was easily won over with treats from the pocket of appeasement and nearly cleaned us out of lickelix!
During his routine examination for his yearly booster, vet, Claire, felt a suspicious lump around his thyroid area on his neck.
As we know, older cats are prone to several silent health issues and hyperthyroidism is on that list.
Hyperthyroidism is a disease that causes the thyroid to push out more of the hormone thyroxine which is responsible for controlling the metabolism. This can cause the cat to become ravenously hungry but lose weight. They can also become more short-tempered but luckily as Eric had some of the calming medication he was just hungry.
We took some bloods to check his overall health and added a test to confirm a diagnosis of hyperthyroidism and started him on medicine to help reduce the amount of thyroxine coming from the thyroid.
There are a few ways to treat hyperthyroidism. One is to use medication daily for the rest of the cat’s life and keep monitoring the thyroxine levels regularly to make sure everything is within normal limits.
Another way is to use radioactive iodine treatment to target the thyroid cells and kill them off, so they stop going mad. This has to be done at a specialist centre, so a referral is the only way to go for this option.
Another option is to surgically remove the thyroid which is what Eric had done.
Thankfully, he only needed one side removed as the risks increase if both side need doing. The thyroid gland sits near another teeny tiny gland called the parathyroid which gets very cross if you tickle it in the wrong way and can cause problems involving calcium levels in the body.
Eric’s operation went very well ,and he went home the same day, hopefully feeling much better now the thyroid isn’t causing any more mischief.
Cat of the Month- Sep 2023 - Knuckles
Septembers Cat of the Month Winner is Knuckles
During a routine visit to vaccinate Knuckles, vet Claire noticed that he had a bit of an over-bite, which, although super adorable, was causing issues to the upper side of his mouth called the hard palate. This was causing severe gingivitis, which is redness and swelling of the gums which is quite painful. As we know, cats are very good at hiding pain and discomfort, so he was still eating as normal which is why it’s really hard to tell without looking in the mouth that there’s anything wrong.
Fortunately, Claire doesn’t mind risking a few fingers to have a good look in his mouth to make sure he’s as healthy as possible.
Knuckles came in for a dental and fortunately, after taking a full set of dental X-Rays, only the canine teeth and a few of the tiny incisor teeth at the front of the mouth were taken out. The rest looked lovely and after a scale and polish, Eric woke up and went home the same day.
