Sky & Ziggy's Annual Exams & Starr's Urinalysis: Ziggy's Latest Update 7-3-07

[krazyaboutkatz]

Hi, I thought I'd let you all know how things went today. Sky is a very healthy boy and weighs 13lbs. 2oz. My vet loves him and while we were in the waiting room he even let two very small children pet him. Everyone loves Sky.

Starr's urinalysis was normal so I'm very glad that he doesn't have another UTI. He now weighs 10lbs. 5oz. My vet was estatic about this and wants him to try to maintain this weight. I personaly think that he's a little bit too chubby because he's such a small cat to begin with but I'd rather see him like this than being skin and bones like he was before.

Ziggy Stardust was a very scared little girl but all in all she did very well. Her exam went well except that there may be something wrong with her blue eye. I noticed back in April that the pupil in her blue eye was slightly larger than her brown/bronze eye. My vet didn't think that it looked too bad but she wanted to do an occular pressure test on it. She numbed her eye and put this intstrument against her eye which measures the pressure. She did it several times and her pressure is slightly above normal.

She also looked at her retina with another instrument and she saw something that didn't look right. I forgot exactly what she called it. Starting tonight I have to give her one eye drop in this eye. The medicine is called xalatan and it's very expensive. It's a very small bottle and it cost $100. My vet wants to see her back in a week for a recheck to see if this medicine is helping her or not. If it isn't then she'll refund me some of the money for this expensive medicine. Then she'll also have to refer me to an eye specialist. I'm assuming that if it's working then she'll be on this medicine for a while. I read that one of the side effects is that it causes the iris to turn brown in pigmentation. The eyelashes and eyelid can also change color but it'll usually return to normal after stopping the medicine but the iris won't change.

I really like my new vet and she gave me a disount today of $63.15. She only charged me for 2 recheck office visits at $37 and she saw 3 cats. The first office visit is supposed to be $58. Since I still have a cat that likes to pee in my entry way near my front door, my vet suggested that I buy some cat attract and also put a litterbox there for now. Then I'll gradually move it to where I want it to remain or remove it later if I want to. I'll be moving it down the hallway until it's in front of my hall closet which is at the end of the hallway. Then I'll probably just leave it there.

I decided to buy 3 more medium sized litterboxes that have the clip on frames so that the litter will hopefully stay in the litterbox. I put one as close to my front door as I could while still being able to open it. I put one in my living room between my 2 bar stools and this is also very close to another area that's been peed on. I put the 3rd new litterbox in the hall bathroom which is my roommates bathroom. It's hidden away and one of the cats has been peeing on the rugs in there so I'm sure my roommate would rather have them pee in the box than on her rugs. She's out of town but I left her message on her voice mail about everything that I've done. She's a very tolerant roommate.

One of my other litterboxes was also hardly being used and it had a lid on it so I removed the lid and I put some cat attract on top of the old litter. I did this for all of the new litterboxes too. I sure hope that this will finally help to calm things down around here. Now I have 8 litterboxes for 6 cats. I sure hope that this will be enough for them.

Please keep Ziggy in your thoughts and prayers. I sure hope that her eye pressure can be corrected easily and permanently. Thanks for reading this.

[jennielynn1970]

Poor Ziggy!! Did the vet say Glaucoma?? That's usually what people/cats/dogs get when they have increased pressure in the eye. Some get it very young. I hope that the eye drops will help her (at $100. they should!). Poor scared girl! Please give her some pets and calming rubs for me. Was the other condition mentioned Progressive Retinal Atrophy? I see that is mentioned under eye conditions for cats.

Glad to hear that Sky and Starr are doing well! YAY for Starr!! Keep that weight up there buddy!!

[jenluckenbach]

Good news for Starr and Sky! But scary news for Ziggy. $100 eye drops?!?! I hope Ziggy doesn't wiggle so you end up missing the eye! (I am sure that is what my cats would do )

[smokey the elder]

For that price, you get get a good amount of *ahem* "glaucoma medicine" (of the contraband variety... ) I hope Ziggy responds to the meds.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Thanks everyone. Yes, my vet did mention glaucoma and she may have also mentioned retinal atrophy as well. She was so hard to catch last night and I knew that she wouldn't sit still so I grabbed my claw control bag and I put the velcro neck hold around her neck and I put her inside of it the best that I could. She's gotten so big that she's outgrown it. While giving her the eye drop she still wiggled and I don't even know how much of the eye drop I was able to get into her if any at all. I didn't want to give her another one. I just hope that tonight will go smoother. I wish that it was a thicker solution because then it would be a lot easier. I've already ordered the extra large claw control bag and hopefully all of my cats will be able to fit into it. So far so good with the new litterboxes. The one by the door was used the most. I haven't noticed any new pee accidents either.

[Laura's Babies]

Xalatan is what I am using for my glaucoma and be warned.... it stings when you first start using it so she will not like it. It is suppose to be kept refrigerated until it is opened and then can be left at room temps.

Glad to hear Star don't have UTI!

I will try some of that cat attract stuff since Amy has started peeing at the front door too and I had thought of putting a litter box there so I will try that also. If I catch her fixing to do it and scold her, she won't do it again for several days but then always goes back. I am sure that Boo's being her just has her upset and that is the reason she is doing it. I plan someday to take the carpet out of the living room but just not right away, if this keeps up, I will have to do it a lot sooner than planned.

[shais_mom]

I hope Ziggy's eye is ok!
I'm glad you have such a great vet!
Good luck to you!

[jazzcat]

Oh Tracey, it seems like it's always something for your little ones. I'm so sorry. I really hope that it is nothing with Ziggy's eye and you don't have to continue to use the drops - wow, what a price! You and your furbabies deserve a long healthy spell for a change.

Great news about Starr not having a UTI and the weight gain. I'm sure you were very happy to hear no infection but it would have answered your pee problem better. Hope the litterbox plan works, fingers crossed. Did your vet have any comment on Storm and Clomicalm?

By the way, I love Sky too.

[AmberLee]

Hey there!

I'm yet another fan of Sky. So glad he's still laid back.

So glad Starr's doing so much better per the test results.

Wow. That's scarey re. Ziggy's eye. Sending ~~~ healing vibes ~~~ to the pretty girl. How very odd that the medicine could change her iris' pigmentation, or did I read your post too quickly? Gads, the price of that medicine's a shocker. {{{gentle hugs to you}}}, I can't imagine the stress you must be feeling right now.

It sounds like progress is being made on the litter box front.

Things are well here in general, although a rogue shower curtain got frisky and needed to be disciplined here yesterday. Cassy kindly relieved me of the nasty duty. It's such a relief to have such a thoughtful cat around.

[K & L]

Oh no Tracey I sure hope things will turn out OK with Ziggy. I'm glad to read the others are doing so well. Please keep me posted on the updates on Ziggy.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Hi, things are going well with the new litterboxes except that they didn't seem to want to use the one in the hall bathroom so I moved it to the end of the hall in front of the hall closet. I'll just need to find a different place for the one by the front door later on.

I was able to get a drop into Ziggy's eye last night and it seems to be working. This morning I noticed that the pupil in her blue eye was very small while the pupil in her brown/bronze eye was much larger but then a while later they were both the same size. I haven't seen them the same size since sometime in March. I hope that she'll continue to be a good girl and let me medicate her. She didn't seem to react to the drop so I don't know if she felt any stinging from it or not.

Thanks again for all of the replies.


AmberLee, yes that's what it said.

Lori, we didn't talk about the clomicalm because we were talking about my peeing issues. I know that she wanted to try this doseage on Storm for at least 4-6 weeks though. Last night Pearl and Storm were both licking each others heads which is great sign that he's much calmer.

Laura, you can buy cat attract at Petsmart. I think that they're the only retail pet store that carries this.

[K & L]

I'll keep my fingers crossed this will work! I'll keep watching for updates.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Tonight Ziggy's eyes were back to how they've been for several months. The pupil in her blue eye is larger than the pupil in her brown/bronze eye. I guess I'm just hoping for a miracle cure. I'm going to e-mail my vet to see what she thinks about all of this.

[jennielynn1970]

Just thought of something when you mentioned pupil size.... My pupils are both noticeably different in size. My left eye, which is my "bad" eye is much larger than the right eye. All my eye docs have mentioned it. I also have a hard time adjusting from light to dark in rooms (I hate movie theatres). Usually the pupil expands to let in more light, so maybe that's part of the problem??

My eye color is also very light blue, and I have very little pigment in them, so they take on a lot of reflection and sometimes seem blue, green or gray/silver, and in very bright light, almost no color at all. I've had the pictures taken of my retinas or whatever it is that they call it, where they can see the insides of your eyes, and the girls at the front desk (at Lens Crafters) also remark how mine are so clear to see, while most "normal" pics are opaque. Like they can see all the blood vessels/veins or whatever and all that perfectly clear. Blue eyed people are also more light sensitive.

Do you think maybe that is part of the issue with Ziggy??

[krazyaboutkatz]

Jenn, that's very interesting. I know that my vet said that blue eyed cats where more prone to eye problems but I don't know why. Sky, Starr, and Pearl all have blue eyes so I hope that they won't have any problems. I know that Starr's and Sky's eyes are very sensitive to light because if I use the flash on my camera they always close their eyes or squint. I still haven't heard any thing from my vet yet but I'll be seeing her again this Sunday and I'll hopefully get some answers.