Cat Chat Feline Forum

Well Tiggy is home but is very wobbly and isn't happy with us. Her back legs still aren't working properly, but when we approach her to try and help she tries to run off and then falls over trying to corner. The best option is just to leave her be and let her recover at her own pace, but it is so hard to do, I just want to help her settle somewhere comfy.

I always knew in my head that there was little chance of anything going wrong, but my heart insisted on worrying until I had heard from the vet that it had all be done and she was awake if wobbly. I did ask for the long term antibiotic injection rather than tablets, it's bad enough putting tablets down a cat at the best of times, but when they have a sore mouth and you are having to pull them about and force it open I really hate it, they also gave her a metacam injection so I don't need to even give her that until tomorrow.

Only 3 teeth out and the rest scaled and polished. I've no doubt she will feel better soon and be back to her normal grumpy self.

Aww bless her, glad everything went well, the anaesthetic can leave them groggy for a while. Glad to hear she's back - calloo callay oh frabjous day!

Good luck to Tilly too, Alan, hope her appetite picks up and here's some music for her -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMXF4FU7MCE

Well, it's the third reel that's relevant ... hope the warm weather lasts while her fur grows back. You've heard of the cat's pyjamas - all power to Tilly's drawers!

Aww, bless her - I've never had any success with the injection for dental issues

Glad Tiggy is back, even if a bit groggy.
Very apt, Lilith, but do you have one for "The lady has food in her fur". Tilly seems to have spread her second tin of dinner all over the place.

Ohh dear ...

Well I suppose there's the song about the Spanish (or Maine Coonish) lady washing her feet by candlelight ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdGJbsro3tI

Silly lass, what did she go and do that for?

booktigger wrote:Aww, bless her - I've never had any success with the injection for dental issues

Which injection haven't you had success with? Tiggy had a Metacam injection for the pain and then liquid to give her from tomorrow and an Antibiotic one that should last 2 weeks. I'm not sure what antibiotic is in the injection but I know there are different oral ones and none of them treat all bacteria, so even if I had tablet it may not be effective. The only way you can really target antibiotics is to wait for the infection to take hold, get a sample of the bacteria and send it off to the lab for identification, that way you know which antibiotic to use, most tablets are fairly broad spectrum and i would assume the injection was similar.

My Father was a dentist in the days when antibiotics were handed out far more readily than they are today, and for some reason oral infections are more likely to be caused by one of the rarer groups of bacteria, so he would regularly prescribe both the normal antibiotic and the one that targeted that group of bacteria at the same time. If the patient was an emergency that turned up on a Friday night having had tooth ache all week he would happily do this as a precaution and then gleefully tell them that they couldn't have any alcohol for the next 5 days and if they were female, that any oral contraceptive wouldn't work. He would then wish them a good weekend as they left.

Tiggy is still having problems with her back legs and has a real 'leave me alone and don't come near me' attitude at the moment, so much as I would like to cuddle her and tell she will feel better soon, I'm just leaving her be.

Poor Tiggy. I expect she is feeling somewhat confused if her back legs don't do what she want's them to.
Lilith - I think Tilly just got bored with her second helping and decided to play with her food - pulling lumps out with her paw in best fishing action, followed by licking the food still stuck to her paw and incidentally flinging bits all over the food mat where she sat in them or plonked her tail on them!

I think Tiggy is feeling better, she just jumped onto my desk to let me know it was supper time and is now sat looking out the window.

I'd best go and sort some food out for the four of them.

Well!

I know he was your father but ...

I've never been fond of dentists but one with a sadistic sense of humour ... well ... did he entertain you all at the dinner table with jolly tales of his working day - 'Change and decay in all around I see'? Was his favourite TV programme 'Roots'?

Ha ha though, on occasion I've been prescribed abs but in fact there are only two that you can't take alcohol with ... I react to both and happily obtain an alternative ... and go on boozing, he he he (No, at almost 66 I won't comment re contraception ... )

Commiserations to poor Tiggy, hope she has a good night's sleep and feels better tomorrow - apparently the tissues of the mouth heal incredibly fast and with any luck she'll soon forget the dental, poor lass, she'll be a lot better now it's over, healing vibes from us all ah just read your latest post, that's good x

Alan sorry almost missed your post, oh, faddy lass, playing with her food ... she WILL be washing her feet, and her tail, tonight ... I suppose if they're bald the job will be easier ... cats!

Sorry, the antibiotic- it was designed to treat urinary and skin issues, don't need to explain that further to you it's used so frequently because of the convenience factor. Worst time with it was when my old vet gave it to Molly saying if it didn't clear her abscess, we may be looking at a tumour! Did nothing, so i was really scared, a penicillin injection however sorted it in 24 hours!
Sorry she is still wobbly, only ever had that once this long after a dental

Tiggy is certainly back to her normal self this morning, straight into the bedroom and onto the bed the moment the door was open, rolling round and demanding fuss, then downstairs with me and looking pointedly at the empty food bowls while i got my OH lunch ready.

As far as dentists go, I'm terrified of going. My problem stems from the fact that when I first needed fillings years ago the anesthetic used use to take 5 - 10 minutes to take effect, I don't react well to it and it would take 10 -20 minutes to work, by that time the drilling had started and I was screaming in pain. I learnt to associate the drill with pain and it got to the stage that no matter how much anesthetic i was given and how long they waited it hurt because I expected it to hurt. In the end my Dad decided to try me at a different dentist that did gas, the first time I went there for a filling I was on Valium before hand, gas from the moment I sat down to the moment I stood up and about 3 or 4 injections. It was the first time it didn't hurt. I got that I could have the work done under gas with out the injections, right up to the point when the government changed the regulations and the dentists had to stop doing gas. I'm lucky now that I have found another dentist that I trust (my previous one retired) and with the modern anesthetics i can manage to let him work on my teeth, when he sees me starting to get too wound up he will stop and let me get myself back together before he continues. When i had to have an extraction i had to go elsewhere to have IV sedation, which, while it should be better, didn't seem to be as good as old fashioned gas used to be. Unfortunately my teeth are a mess so it is a matter of trying to mitigate the damage.

The rest of my family are all medically inclined, my Mum was a nurse and my sister is doing research into drug interactions, (that sounds far worse than it is, she's a biomedic), people in the medical profession all seem to develop a slight dark sense of humour and I think it has rubbed of on me a bit even if I haven't gone into a medical profession.

As far as the AB injection goes, Tiggy is booked in Saturday morning for a check up and I'll be keeping an eye on her until then. Her injection is meant to be good for two weeks, I remember Blue having one for his second lot of extractions as we had only managed to get half the course of tablets into him first time round, and his only lasted a few days and he had to go back for a second injection.

As for telling you the abscess is probably a tumor if the antibiotic injection doesn't work that is dreadful. Abscesses are awful things to clear up and even a couple of courses of AB might not manage it, some dental ones even have to have the tooth removed so they can drain out before they will clear up.

Glad she is fine today. That vet was the main reason i changed practices! Molly did end up having a cut on her cheek to help it drain that way. It wasn't just my cats he did silly things to, I had to go with a friend as he was trying to insist her 16 year old needed an ultrasound to determine why she had kidney issues!

Glad Tiggy is back to normal and expecting the usual service. Having faith in ones vet is essential. Glad to say that the practice I take Tilly to have always given my cats first rate service and I have been going to them for nearly 38 years now, ever since tiny Sally ended up in my care after being dumped.

Aww glad Tiggy and Tilly are feeling better!

Ha yes Ruth I can understand people with distressing jobs have to have a sense of humour - I've heard it said that laughter is a psychic antiseptic, and so it is.

Well Tiggy is definitely feeling better and back to her normal self. After trying, and failing, to get hold of her to give her the Metacam at tea time she now won't let me within arm's reach. If I put it on food I have a feeling that either it will be still down in the morning, or one of the others will have wolfed it down. She might just have to have a sore mouth overnight and I'll have to see what I can rummage out of the cupboard for tomorrow to try her on, and hope that Saturn doesn't do his normal trick and teleport in to pinch it.

Tosker had 8 teeth out all at once, and had Metacam and a slow release anti-inflammatory at the vets, but I was given no further meds and he was just fine so I suspect Tiggy doesn't need any more meds either - I'd be inclined to put something white down where she normally sleeps so you will spot any bleeding from the mouth - a white towel or pillowcase perhaps - but if no sign of blood I would consider her over it

We managed to get a little in her yesterday at suppertime, they say after or with food, she had just before, but I doubt there will be a problem. If i can get her to take some with out stressing her out too much then I will, but I'm not going to fret about it if she misses a dose. It's why I wanted the long term AB jab, missing ABs doses if far more serious and is the type of thing that encourages the development of resistant bacteria. Stressing her out trying to catch her to give her them doesn't help the healing process either.

At the moment she is asleep on a pale gray fur throw we have over the bed in the day, so any blood will show up wonderfully on that. She was also rubbing up against me yesterday, and while she was drooling a bit there was no sign of blood in it, so i'm happy it's healing up well. She has managed some Gourmet pate and some cooked chicken, a bit slower than normal, but it didn't seem to give her any problems, she seems to be ignoring the dried food, but that is her choice. She always has and always will eat what she wants.

Sorry for hijacking the thread with the tale of Tiggy's teeth, but it was what was on my mind the last few days and i just seemed to keep typing.

Hey Ruth and Alan, how are Tiggy, Tilly (and Tay too) now? Back to normal I'm hoping ... if the average cat is ever normal lol

Lilith, Tilly is off to the vets in the morning for a check up. Tay is much more like his old self, but still has to eat renal food, poor chap.

Tiggy is definitely back to her normal self, demanding fusses at the most inconvenient times. She has an appointment tomorrow morning for a check up but I doubt there will be any problems there.

We've managed to get a couple of doses of the Metacam into her, i'm not overly worried if we don't, i'd rather she missed a dose than get too stressed out, but after the first one she seems to have accepted that it isn't too bad.

I'm sure the vet mentioned it is meant to taste of honey! which seems rather odd to me, cat's can't taste sweet things, but I can't think what she might have said that I would have misheard it as honey, surely something like tuna or chicken would be better flavourings.

No, I once tasted it and it tastes very bitter and metallic but the cat who was having it was very greedy and since I gave him it in tuna, he'd remind ME it was time for his John West lol.

Aww that's good to hear Tiggy, Tilly and Tay are on a more even keel, good luck with the checkups

It does have a very sweet smell and taste to it, which I find odd as cats don't have sweet taste buds, don't know why they didn't make it meaty flavour.

Hey have they changed it then? My Finny was prescribed it in 2011/12 and I'm not kidding it tasted awful. Sounds much more palatable now.

I'm sure I ended up inadvertently licking some last year, but the smell has never changed, although my vet wells meloxicam

Pippin doesn’t seem worried by the taste of meloxicom, although I always give it to him on biscuits which he considers a huge treat. The idea is that if he comes to associate a small bowl of dried food with a reduction in pain then I can occasionally give him an extra dose of biscuits without the Loxicom and still get some effect. That is the theory, anyway. He comes and reminds me if I am late with his medicine, so the taste cannot be that ba!

Just back from the vets and Tiggy has passed her follow up with flying colours, they didn't even bother to get her out of the carrier, just had a quick look and the gums are healing well, so that is all sorted for the time being.

Tilly is just home from her check up and all's well. She gave me a run around to get her in the carrier and then yowled all the way - she must be feeling better! She may not be eating as much as formerly but she is putting a bit of weight on - 5.7kg. While she is still a bit thin (she ought to weigh about 5.8 to 6kg), it is a great improvement on last week.
Bad news about Tay, though. He became anemic yesterday and had to go to the vets. Condition appears to be stable, but await the results of tests on Monday.

Aww, great news about Tiggy and Tilly but sorry to hear about Tay - good luck to him and hope he stabilises soon, poor lad.

Poor Tay, hope they can sort out what's wrong and he's better soon.

Glad Tiggy and Tilly are fine, fingers crossed for Tay