Calloway is much better! Food change coming up!

[jennielynn1970]

What a handsome Tuxedo boy Calloway is. I just love tuxedos.......I have 3 tuxies and one who is now at the Rainbow Bridge. Give Calloway and head bump and scritchie from me when he comes home. I hope all turns out alright and he is feeling better. My female tuxie, Shelby, looks to be almost Calloway's size.

I am a total sucker for a tuxie. Cal won my heart when I first met him. He was so scared and timid after being in the kill shelter for so long. I brought him home and just wanted to love on him. I put him in a room with Ally Cat from Bahrain, but she literally attacked him and bit his tail open again where it was abscessed. I just lost all empathy for her that day, I was so upset. She was just evil with other cats, and to pick on the disable and infirm. That's just wrong.

So..Calloway wound his way into my heart (plus I grew up with tuxies all my life on the farm. We had Sneakers and Socks, and Boots and and Jrs. too. I just loved them all. There's a new return at our shelter that I want to get out of there becuase he's at least 30 pounds and is so obese it's painful, it has to be. His name is Dino.... so hope he will come home with me after I can get Calloway well. He's huge, but a sweet sweeet lovebug of a cat. I cannot bear to think of him stuck in the room that is basicaly a closet. breaks my heart.

[jennielynn1970]

Oh my poor boy!! He is so not happy with his COMPLETELY shaved behind and bottom portion of his tail! He's being extremely talkative, very needy, and makes these pitiful cries/meows.

I need to try to keep his butt clean, which is going to be interesting since he doesn't want me to touch him back there. He's on Baytril for the next 10 days and he has a creme to put on it twice a day as well. The biggest problem is going to be keeping him confined and keeping him clean. He hates to be confined in one room, and like I said, he doesn't like his butt touched. I think I'll do cool compresses to make him feel better and then maybe after that he'll let me put the salve on him... hoping the cool makes it feel better and makes him more willing to me touching him.

He seems a bit restless... he's been up on the bed cuddled with me, then on the floor, then back on the bed, then back to the floor... I have a feeling this will repeat most of the day and night, lol. I have the windows open and there is a nice breeze, so he can lounge and watch all that is going on outside as well.

Actually, looking at his butt, I can't see much wrong... I do see scars on his tail from where it was injured before. He's always just been so sensitive in this area, wish it could have happened in another area of his body. I was expecting something really hideous and yucky, but maybe I just haven't been able to see it thoroughly yet??

Keep my boy in your thoughts... he's going to be one unhappy camper for a while!

[Medusa]

Aw Calloway, we'll keep those prayers going up for you and your mom so that you both can rest easy.

[Catty1]

Prayers to you and Calloway, Jenn! Glad he is home.

Did the vet say exactly what they found?

Too bad there isn't a spray you could squirt on his behind to at least numb it before you clean it...but the hissing sound would likely scare him. The cool compresses sound great for the poor sore behind!

I hope he is feeling better soon. Is he starting on the new food too?


Hugs and loves to Cal!

[jennielynn1970]

Did the vet say exactly what they found?

Too bad there isn't a spray you could squirt on his behind to at least numb it before you clean it...but the hissing sound would likely scare him. The cool compresses sound great for the poor sore behind!

I hope he is feeling better soon. Is he starting on the new food too?


Hugs and loves to Cal!

The vet I saw said it was basically a hot spot, but couldn't really say why it developed. When I picked him up the other vet was there, and she said that if it were caused by food, she'd expect to see a lot more of them all over his body, not just one. Makes sense. She said it could have been from one of the other cats biting him (although I don't think that happened), or just from irritation because he is unable to clean himself thoroughly due to his weight and the stiffness from his injuries.

I have a spray Hydrocortisone for cats and dogs that I got when Kirby/Woody was here because he had such a rash on his belly when he got here. I don't know if that is something I can use for him or not, but I will call and ask tomorrow.

So far the only kitty who seems to be happy that Calloway is back, and doesn't seem to mind the vet smell, is Jorgie. He's cuddling with him now and is grooming his head and neck for him. He's such a good boy! Honeybun howled like there was something out to get him and bolted from my bedroom. He's the biggest wimp of a cat!

I think for the time being I'll stick to the California Natural (unless I notice more hair loss) because I don't want to cause more diarrhea for Cal since he will probably get it from the Baytril, and that will just irritate the hot spot (which I see is right in the middle between his butt and what's left of, what did lvpets2000 call them, "fun buttons" ).

[Karen]

Poor Calloway. The hot humid weather doesn't help, But at least being shaved, he'll be cooler back there ... Poor guy!

And no, a hot spot isn't at all related to impacted anal glands. "Hot spots" are surface irritations, and you said the vet checked everything else out back there and he way okay.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm glad to hear that Calloway is home now and I hope he'll recover quickly. Starr still has a problem with cleaning his bottom so I also have to try to clean it and he'll also try to bite me. My solution to this problem was to make a muzzle for him and this has helped out a lot. I also have to use this on Starr, Sky, and Storm when I trim their nails. It's very easy to make and all you need is a plastic cup and either some string or elastic string. Here's a picture of Storm wearing it.

The muzzle:


Storm with muzzle on:

[heidiv]

Yes Jenn out of all of the four cats Mopar (the heaviest) is the only one with this issue. I can't say its food related because I havent really changed her food. But as far as cleaning she can't clean back there so I keep her good and shaved up by her rear....Not a fun job but Meowie has to do it. The reason why they drag their rear is because they are trying to do it themselves (express the glands). But for the most part they just make a mess on your floors and get themselves all irritated. And if they are not done it gets painful to them....Due to all of the dragging. Hope this helps and my prayers are with your poor kitty! Poor Mopar is going in tomarrow for that particular procedure She is usually much better after that is done...... So is he still irritated and smelly on his backside?

[jennielynn1970]

Yes Jenn out of all of the four cats Mopar (the heaviest) is the only one with this issue. I can't say its food related because I havent really changed her food. But as far as cleaning she can't clean back there so I keep her good and shaved up by her rear....Not a fun job but Meowie has to do it. The reason why they drag their rear is because they are trying to do it themselves (express the glands). But for the most part they just make a mess on your floors and get themselves all irritated. And if they are not done it gets painful to them....Due to all of the dragging. Hope this helps and my prayers are with your poor kitty! Poor Mopar is going in tomarrow for that particular procedure She is usually much better after that is done...... So is he still irritated and smelly on his backside?

He doesn't look too irritated... I actually had to inspect to figure out where the heck the hot spot was because I couldn't see it right away. It wasn't anything like poor Keegan has on her head and neck. I guess I'll have to take him in regularly for the anal gland expression. I know he was blocked when I got him. I never dealt with it before, and so wasn't really sure what was going on. Now that I know, I'll be sure to try to keep up with it so he doesn't get that way. I might have to make appts with Jen Luckenbach to have him shaved back there on a regular basis. I'm just amazed that he's messier than my long haired cats.

I've just let him out of my room for the first time today. He was not happy with me. He'll just go downstairs and sleep, so, it's not that much different. I turned on the AC for him down there as well. We don't really need it, but I don't want it to get humid and warm for him. It's about 80* indoors at my place right now with the AC off. They want it up above 90* tomorrow, so the AC will most definitely be on. I'll be paying for it later, but once it's above 80 in the house, and opening windows just makes it worse, the AC goes on.

[kittykatharine]

Oh poor Calloway. Seems like the poor boy has been through quite the ordeal. How difficult it must be to try to take care of him, when the one place you need access to is his "no touch zone". The cold compress sounds like it might be soothing to him, hopefully he wont be too difficult for you. Hopefully, what ever is bothering him will go away real soon, and he will be feeling much better. As for the hair loss, one time my kitty had a similar weird hair loss on her ears and right in front of her ears. When I took her to the vet, he had said that sometimes in kitties you have this strange clumping of cells that can cause hair loss in that area. Typically it is not a problem, and once the cells move on, the hair strangely grows back. He said that vets don't know why this happens and what the purpose is, but that usually it just corrects itself. This is what happened to my kitty. Well, I hope you all have a great weekend and both your kitties are feeling better!

[jennielynn1970]

Well, Finae's ear hair seems to be growing back, so I'm pleased about that.

Calloway is doing very well. His backside looks much better, and he's relaxing and enjoying things again.

I'm also changing over their food to EVO (thanks for the suggestion KAK). I talked to the woman who runs the one store/warehouse that I go to, and she said that since EVO is carb free, it should help Calloway and Zach lose weight, while my thin girls should maintain or gain some weight because of the protein. I didn't start the mix yet, but have a container full of the mix. I did it in batches, with all EVO on the bottom of the container, then 2 parts EVO to 3 parts California Natural, then 1 part EVO to 4 parts California Natural, and at the top it's 1 part EVO to 5 parts California Natural. It's 26 pounds total, so it will take about a month to switch over totally. I'm also glad that they are both Innova brand cat foods. I'm hoping that it will be a good switch. It's pricey, but if it's better for all of them, and Cal and Zach can get to healthy weights, I'll be happy.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm glad to hear that both Finae and Calloway are doing well. I also hope that the Innova Evo will be a good diet for them and that everyone will like it. I know that it's been a hit in my home. Good luck.

[kittykatharine]

Yea for Finae and Calloway!!!