Snickers' Turn

On Monday, it was Snickers' turn to be stuffed into the scary box and hauled off to the vet's. Over the weekend he had been exhibiting some of the same behaviors that had resulted in Pudge's trip to the vet, so we packed him up and headed out.

We, including the vet, are a bit puzzled as to why these problems are now cropping up with him. He is eating low magnesium food. In fact, Snickers will eat only the wet low-magnesium stuff, which comes in 2 flavors - smelly and smellier - and Pudge will eat only the dry stuff. We got the recirculating water fountain, and they both seem to be drinking fairly good amounts of water. As the vet said, "We've shot our best bullets already". There are a couple of things left to try - one is to give him a daily dose of kitty glucosamine/chondroitin (hopefully, it can mixed with his food) and as a "last resort" bring him back in for a sub-cutaneous injection of fluid to "flood" his kidneys and bladder and flush them out.

Snickers was very good on the trip to and from the vet's - that is to say, he didn't throw up. Back when we hauled the cats along with us in the RV, we could count on Snickers throwing up within the first 3-5 miles of the wheels starting to roll. Sometimes he would pee and poop as well, but the throw up was a given. Since the cats were always put in their carriers when we were moving, the throw up was contained. I had a tote loaded with paper towels, spray bottles, surface wipes, plastic bags, etc., and we quickly developed a routine in which Snickers would crouch in the back of the carrier while I cleaned and wiped up the mess.

Anyway, no throw up on the trip to the vet's. He was terrified though - his eyes were extremely huge and he was quivering all over - no drooling, but that was a definite possibility. He put up with the poking and prodding from the vet, burying his face in my stomach during the ordeal. After the poking and prodding were over, he did growl at the doctor, so I put him back in the carrier while we discussed what to do.

The last couple of days, he seems to be a little better. All we can do at this point is keep an eye on him and hope that the measures we have taken will do some good.