Ellie-Mae off to the whitecoats...

[carole]

Thanks everyone for your support and encouraging and kind words,means so much.
Ellie seems happier today, the injection will have reduced her inflammation somewhat, to be honest when i saw how bad her poor mouth was, i almost cried then and there, i knew it was not good, but she is not keen on me looking, and i don't like to too often as i know it hurts her, i just see it when i pill her three times daily.
She ate reasonably well today, so that is good.

Mrspunkysmom, i was told by a lady at the cat shelter that ginger cats are more prone to this, my ellie has ginger in her, but she is a calico as you can see,so i am not certain how much truth there is to that, but maybe there is something in their gene pool, who knows.

Thanks Mary, yes i do try and keep that in mind, my husband keeps reminding me of that, ellie would have died a slow and painful death from starvation through her illness if that horrible woman had still owned her, she did nothing for them, even to the point of only feeding them now and then.

Ellie had a rough life for six years, i am sure it has taken its toll, however i know that the chronic mouth condition can happen to any cat, so it has nothing to do with her initial bad care, but other things certainly could crop up in the meantime due to the neglect she suffered.

Well onwards and upwards as the saying goes, we are keeping positive.

My courtyard is not finished yet, it has the cobblestones to go down, but we have our outdoor set up and the cats just love to join us out there, they also love rollling in the gravel, and having dust baths in it, much to my dismay,they almost need a bath to come inside, lil monkeys, but still it is lovely on a summers days to be out there enjoying it with my cats, especially seeing my Ellie stretched out enjoying the nice weather.

[mrspunkysmom]

Mrspunkysmom, i was told by a lady at the cat shelter that ginger cats are more prone to this, my ellie has ginger in her, but she is a calico as you can see,so i am not certain how much truth there is to that, but maybe there is something in their gene pool, who knows.

Glad she's feeling better. If Ginger is also Orange, then that applies to Sam as well. My Calico female, RB Maggie, had teeth problems, too. The filtered water doesn't prevent the problems, but it does greatly reduce the recurrence.

This vet is trying other preventive measures so he can keep his teeth, but I am not opposed to pulling teeth if it means a better quality of life. A previous vet told me to feed dry food since that helps with tartar, but she didn't know what to say when I told her that Sam is the dry food eater in the house.

I do hope she can improve.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Prayers on the way from me for you both too.

[dehlers43]

Would removing all of her teeth help at all? Growing up, the family kitty lost all of her teeth (we didn't have a clue about cat dental care) and lived quite happily for at least 4 years until she died at the respectable age of 16 1/2. She even caught a huge gopher and brought it home to us....

[carole]

Taking all Ellie's teeth out is not an option because the success rate is only like 30 per cent, you could put her through all that and she will still have the condition ,there are no guarantees, and it is too high risk for Ellie.,and way to traumatic for her, she would be so stressed, that she would probably get the cat flu again, and she could potentially die from that, anyhow i did look in to everything possible and i have made my decision to keep her comfortable for as long as i possibly can, i will not be putting her through any surgery,or any further pain.

Yes when i say ginger i mean orange, it sounds like Sam's condition is slightly different, ellie has trouble eating all her food, i have to mash up all her cat food, trouble is if it is too moist it sticks to her mouth, and if too hard , she cannot eat it, we have to try and find one just right, at the moment i have found one that is quite good and she likes, she can eat dry biscuits, but she only swallows them whole, and she prefers wet food.

I am happy just to get her to eat to be frank, so whatever she can manage she will have.

[katladyd]

Know that I am sending up good thoughts are prayers for you both. Feel better precious Ellie-Mae!

[dehlers43]

Taking all Ellie's teeth out is not an option because the success rate is only like 30 per cent, .

Well, you have been so diligent in treating Ellie-Mae that I figured you had already explored this option but I thought I would mention it just in case.....sending you both positive, healing thoughts.....

[carole]

Yes and thank you for your advice, believe me any option is worth mentioning, you just never know, i had even looked into alternative treatment, i would like to explore this more, but the expense is probably more than i could afford, i had read to put on an aloe vera gel which is safe for cats and can help with pain relief, do you think i could get one in our health food shops, not on your life, had the drinks etc, but no gel, however that was a while back, so maybe i will try again.

Again all comments are appreciated, as is all the kind words of support and caring that i know i can always rely on here from my PT friends, and fellow animal lovers.

Ellie is quite a bit brighter today, so i think the injection has helped, it only really helps for two weeks though, not much longer, but still it could be just what she needs right now, and hopefully her steroids will help her the rest of the time until she crashes again.

Ellie sends you big soft miaows of appreciation for your concern.

[Laura's Babies]

Prayers for her are on their way again. May whatever time she has left with you be quality time for her and for you! Give her soft kisses for me...

[carole]

She has tried so hard to eat today, bless her,whatever encouragement i can give her i will, she has not eaten that much, but enough to get her by. She is a very brave wee girl,one who has survived much and will continue to strive to survive i think.

Candace that is not such a bad idea you know, probably at the moment it would only hurt her too much, but when things subside a little maybe, it is a devil of a situation , as now is when she needs any intervention possible, but by the same token her mouth is too sore to be doing anything ,i really am a little scared to do anything, i mean what if it really hurts her, i have no way of knowing for sure whether alternative medicine will work or make it worse.

Well we got through today, and i can only hope for more improvement tomorrow, i gave her an extra steroid today, that is why i keep that extra dose just incase we have episodes like we have now, not sure it will do much, but one can only hope and pray it will.

I am not comfortable seeing her so miserable, she is not my girl, i brought her inside before the evening, she loves to sit on the outdoor verandah in the cat shelter, usually she struggles like mad and i end up with some nice scratches, she did not even put up much of a fight, and i plonked her on the cat bed and she stayed there, not my Ellie's usual behaviour, however she did get down shortly afterwards and headed towards the kitchen, looking for some food.

She also sits and stares at you constantly until you get up and make some food,but not tonight, so all her common behaviours are just not there, not a good sign.

However she is still alert enough, and that is a good sign,.

She is all snuggled now in the cat bed asleep now,hoping she gets some nice cat sleep,and wakes up feeling better.

Today she should have been given her flea treatment, i have put it off for one day, as she has had so much chemicals through her poor little system, i just cannot give her another on top of everything else, it is a new one too, so hopefully she will tolerate it ok,changing from advantage to revolution, as we noticed nikki seems to have a reaction to advantage, so vet suggested this, so thought we might as well put them all on it, works out better for us and we get rewards with this one,and it does more, so fingers and paws crossed.

[phesina]

More prayers for dear little Ellie-Mae.

[pomtzu]

Carole - my outdoor resident stray has a mouth issue and has difficulty eating also. He loves his dry food, but he wouldn't/couldn't chew it and was swallowing it whole and then barfing it up, so he was getting no nourishment at all. He would eat a little wet food, but not enough to keep him going.

So I started soaking his dry food in hot water till the water was all absorbed, and then mashing the little pieces of soggy kibble into a mushy mixture with a fork. I mash it to the consistency of pudding, and then add even more warm water to get it to the consistency of a very soft pudding, and he laps that up and begs for more. I just keep a bowl full of his "pudding" in the fridge so there is always some ready, then all I have to do is take some out and warm it up in the microwave. I also add a little wet food to the mixture for variety since I don't want him getting bored with just the one flavor.

You might want to give this a try - you never know - she might take to it. Prayers that Ellie-Mae gets to feeling better real soon.

[Medusa]

More prayers for Ellie-Mae and you, Carole. Give Pomtzu's method a whirl. Betcha she'll lap it up. Fingers and paws crossed.