Miss Kitty is showing her age

[cats4ever]

Lately, I noticed that Miss Kitty wouldn't see my hand right away whenever I offered her some treats. Her eyes also looked different to me. And she started coughing again.
I took her to work today. After a thorough exam, we found that her vision is greatly reduced. The vet recommended to take her blood pressure.
It is sky high! Hypertension can cause the retinas to detach and therefore cause blindness. Luckily, that hasn't happened yet.
We also took x-rays to check on the mass in one of her lungfields. It has not grown, and is most likely not the cause of the cough.
The plan is to start her on amlodipine to decrease her blood pressure, and then recheck in one week.
She also received an antibiotic injection for the cough.
I feel horrible that I haven't noticed her vision changes sooner, but the vet assured me that changes like that can happen quite fast in old cats.
And boy, is Miss Kitty old! She turned 18 in May. I love her so much, and I am not ready for her to leave me.

[phesina]

Dear Miss Kitty, you are beautiful! Your Meowmie loves you very, very much. We're sending our best wishes that the amlodipine helps decrease your blood pressure (I take that myself for blood pressure!) and the shot fixes the cough and you get promising results from your exam next week.

{{{{{HUGS}}}}} and ~~~~PURRRS~~~~ and from Pat and Sparkler and Galaxy

[Felicia's Mom]

Sending prayers and positives thoughts!

[cats4ever]

Thank you, Pat and Nancy!

[Randi]

Sweet Miss Kitty, I hope the amlodipine will help decrease your blood pressure and the antibiotic will stop you coughing. I'm sorry your vision is so bad.

I send you lots of good wishes for next weeks results, and hope you will be with your mom for quite a while, yet!

Love and comfort to you both.

[cats4ever]

Thank you, Randi!
One good thing is that all of this has not affected her appetite. As a matter of fact, at feeding time, she still slaps the other kitties around, so she will get her food first, and, of course, she does. The squeaky wheel...

[Catty1]

If Miss Kitty is slapping the others around at feeding time it's a sure sign that she will recover. Feistiness wins!

[cats4ever]

That would be great!

[mbsmum]

Sending you pawsitive thouhts, get well soon Miss Kitty. Take it easy at feeding time so that your blood pressure does not increase again.

[cats4ever]

So far, so good. She seems to be tolerating the amlodipine. She'll go back on Friday to have her blood pressure rechecked.

[cats4ever]

Today, Miss Kitty had her blood pressure rechecked. It had not changed at all.
So the vet increased the amlodipine dose, and we're going to do another check in one week.

[phesina]

We're sending loving good wishes that the increased dose will do the job.

[cassiesmom]

Sweet Miss Kitty! I agree with the good wishes everyone else has sent!

[cats4ever]

Miss Kitty is due for her recheck tomorrow. Lately, she has been shedding enormously, especially for a shorthair cat.
I brush her occasionally, so a little while ago, I got the brush and a comb out, and I started grooming her.
What I found shocked me deeply.
The hair on her back was completely matted, in sticky clumps and tons of dander. I never had any mats on any of my cats.
Once I started brushing, the hair came out by the fistful. I did this for 15 minutes, and it just kept coming.
For some reason, Miss Kitty has stopped grooming herself, and her body is ridding itself of hair.
Something else to worry about!

[cats4ever]

Miss Kitty's blood pressure is regulated for now.
The vet says that she stopped grooming herself because of her arthritis. So we will have daily brushing sessions from now on. Miss Kitty is very tolerant of it, maybe she realizes that it is keeping her beautiful.
Miss Kitty has been on a glucosamine supplement for years, and today, I got her an additional supplement with fish oil and pro-biotics to keep her skin healthy and support her immune system.