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

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.:eek: 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.:eek: 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.:)

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!!

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

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

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. :)

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.

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

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. ;)

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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. :eek: 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?? :confused:

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.

Hi, I just got home a little while ago and I thought that I'd better update you about Ziggy. The good news is that her eye pressure is now within the normal range and her pupils actually looked like they were the same size again.:D My vet wants to call an eye specialist tomorrow to ask his/her opinion about her eye. She doesn't want me to continue with the eye drops right now unless the eye specialist tells her otherwise. She'll let me know by e-mail or by calling me as soon as she knows anything tomorrow. I sure hope that Ziggy won't have to go see an eye specialist. She gets so nervous in the car that she pants all the way home.:( She's also gained even more weight. She's now 13lbs.:eek: I guess she's trying to catch up to her big brother Sky. Now they really do look like twins.

I also talked to my vet about Storm and his medication. He's been more like his normal self lately so his body is used to his current doseage. He's also been peeing in the litterboxes but he's been a bit aggressive towards the other cats. My vet doesn't want to increase his doseage but she wants me to wean him off of the clomicalm. For the next 2 weeks I'm only going to give it to him every other day and then he'll be off of it. Then we'll see what to do next. I hope that he'll be okay without the medicine and that I won't need to put him on any other kind of meds.

I had to buy larger and deeper litterboxes because the cats were peeing over the sides and making a big mess. I also scrubbed the old litterboxes last night and I bought more cat attract litter and put it on top of the old litter in all of the litterboxes. I also moved the litterbox that was near the front door down the hall a little bit and so far so good.:) I think that my cats like the new larger and deeper litterboxes better and so do I. Please wish me luck.:)

Bigger boxes sound like a good plan. I know I ended up at Target and Walmart and bought those large under the bed storage boxes to use as litter boxes. They were cheaper than anything at the petstore, and even came with lids, which I had no use for, lol, but just put a few of the lids under the boxes to catch excess litter etc...

Glad to hear Ziggy's eye is getting better!! Keep us updated!

Thanks for updating us, Tracey. I'm glad to hear that Ziggy's eye pressure is within the normal range now, and I hope it won't be neccesary to give her any more eye drops.

It's good to hear that Storm is almost back to normal, hopefully he'll do fine without medication.

The new litter boxes sounds like a complete succes. :D

Good news about Ziggy; sorry that you had to spend $100 for eye drops that you hardly used, though. But here's hoping she'll continue to improve. Good luck w/the litterbox escapade. We never know with the furkids, do we? :p

Such good news. I'm so glad things are improving on the furkid front.

{{{gentle hugs}}}

Sounds like good news for Ziggy. Hope the eye specialist agrees and she won't need anything more.

Good luck with the litterboxes and with weaning Storm off the clomicalm. Hope it goes well. I'm hoping to get Rocky off it completely soon.

I received an e-mail from my vet today and this is what she had to say:

I spoke with the ophthalmologist.
She feels that an elevated intraocular pressure such as Ziggy had is significant. She stated that Xalatan often does not work in cats very well, but I know that her intraocular pressure dropped from it. So, I would like you to continue the drop once daily, and make an appointment at Veterinary Vision in San Mateo. All of the doctors are very skilled and you can trust them. I will forward a copy of her records to the eye specialists. Please do not give Ziggy any drops the day of your appointment.

I go back to work on July 10th so hopefully I'll be able to make an appointment before I have to go back to work. I'll call them tomorrow. I just hope that there isn't anything seriously wrong with her eye and that whatever it is that it can be easily treated. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

There is some better news. My feliway plugins were getting very low so I changed them this morning. They only lasted a little over 3 weeks instead of 4 weeks like they're supposed to. Since I've put the new ones in, my cats have seemed to be much calmer and Storm's been a fairly good boy today.:)

Oh rats. I, too, was hoping for better news for you and Ziggy.

~~~ vibes ~~~ for you AND all the fur-kids.

I have been keeping dear Ziggy in my prayers.

Tracey you got me worried now! Give her a big hug and kiss from us and her brother Chowder. Get better little girl, we love you!

Thanks everyone.:)

I called Veterinary Vision and they're already booked this week but they said that if my vet feels that it's an emergency that they can see her today. I called my vet and she wants Ziggy to be seen asap. Now I'm thinking that it must be very serious and I'm getting very worried and upset.:(

I called the place back and they can see her today at 4:45pm. It will take me at least 40 mintues to get there so I'll allow myself at least 1 hour because traffic can be very bad. The only good thing is that they've moved to San Carlos so it's a bit closer to me than San Mateo would be.

I just hope that Ziggy dosen't get too stressed out. The last 2 vet visits she's gotten so stressed out that she pants all the way home.:( Please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers. I'll update you as soon as I can.

AmberLee, I sure do wish that you still lived close by so you could go with me and help me get through this.

I'll be sending little Ziggy (and you) good thoughts and prayers today.

Poor Zigs!

Would covering the wire 'window' of her carrier help her to relax more? I guess a tranquilizer is out of the question, as that will affect her eyes...

Hopefully the 'urgency' is to catch anything while it's in the early stage...she has youth on her side!

HUGS and good luck to you and the little girl!

Here's wishing Ziggy a good vet visit and hopefully, if it's anything serious, they'll have caught it early.

Thanks again everyone.:) I'll be leaving very soon. I'm bringing a towel to cover Ziggy's carrier so hopefully this will help her to feel less stressed. I'm not as nervous as I was before and I'm feeling better about this visit so I'm hoping to hear some good news or that it's nothing serious. I'll give you an update later tonight.

Hi, well Ziggy is going to be fine!!!:D I was so happy to hear this news!!!!:D Both of her eyes tested normal for occular pressure and her tear ducts are fine too.:) The doctor looked at her blue eye and couldn't see any thing abnormal going on either.:)

She said that sometimes odd eyed cats or dogs will have one pupil slightly larger than the other one and it's normal.:) Her blue eye may be slightly larger than her brown/bronze eye so this is why it appears to be bulging out slightly. If I should happen to notice any change though I can just bring her in without an appointment and they can check the occular pressure in her eye.

Everyone was so nice and they really care about all of their clients and their animals. I overheard one of the ladies calling clients to see how their animals were doing. They also use cat bags to help restrain the animals and they're much better quality than the klaw kontrol bags that I've been buying at Drs. Foster & Smith. I'm going to be buying an ex-large cat bag from them but they need to order it for me. It's also less expensive than my other bags.:)

So Ziggy doesn't need to take any more eye drops and she should be just fine.:) They never received the fax that my vet sent them so they called and then someone faxed over Starr's urinalysis results. They must've gotten confused with the names Ziggy Stardust and Starr. Then one of the ladies called back and said that I have 2 cats and that they needed the other cats records. Well I had to let her know that I have 6 cats not just 2.LOL:) Once again PT prayers have worked. Thanks again everyone.:)

Yay! That is great news and such a relief to you I know. I'm so happy for you and Ziggy!!!
:D :D

YAY! SO glad to hear this about Ziggy! :)

Whew, what wonderful news! :D :D :D

great to hear! :D

Big, HUGE SIGH of relief :D :D

Whew! Such a relief! Yay for Ziggy and you, too. You can exhale now. :p

YIPPPEEEEEE our girl is going to be just fine! I'm am SO happy to read this!!

Tracey, I have been away and so I had to read through all this thread. I love so much how you make the reading easier by your smilies! You know immediately where to look to get the beef :D And the best thing- in your last post all smilies were yellow and really smiling!
Congratulations Ziggy :)