Vibes for my Tolly please  

My poor Tolly boy has a tooth ache! I noticed the past couple days he is hiding when I am ready to give him medication, and now he doesn't want his canned food.

I took a bit of paper towel and gently rubbed his gum and it came away bloody.

So he will be getting kibble (he swallows it whole so it doesn't hurt his mouth) and I will be calling the vet in the morning to make an appointment for him to see the vet next week. I wish he didn't have to wait even that long, but they only see emergencies on Saturday, and while I know his mouth hurts, I don't think it's an emergency.

The worst part is the medicating. I hate doing things to him that hurt him. Sigh.....

.. ..

Thanks you guys. Tolly has a long history of resorptive lesions (FORL) and doesn't have many teeth left. His last dental was only in February, and his last vet visit was in mid October, and he wasn't having any trouble then, so this has only just cropped up.

I do have some buprenex I can give him if I think he's really bad off.

Tolly is 12 + years old, has a seizure disorder and takes phenobarbital. He also has liver damage from the phenobarbital. I know we all worry when they go under anesthesia, but...ugh...I can't believe he has to go through it again so soon.

Thank you everyone, as usual the TCS vibes are helping.

Tolly is doing better. The bleeding has stopped, I think it may have been caused by the dose of laxatone he'd had, that stuff so sticky. The problem there is, he HAS to have the hair ball medicine or he becomes extremely ill. So I am going to have to continue to hurt him, he is currently on a every two day rotation with laxatone.

I've discovered he can eat his canned food if I leave it in the big chunks it comes in. Normally he wants me to chop it fine. But when it's chopped fine, to almost pate consistency, he scoops it up with his tongue and it seems the tiny pieces land in the sore spots. This causes him to jump away from his dish as if he's been bitten. I have seen it before, in earlier times, I mean.

This is why, when his mouth hurts, he likes the dry food. It can be picked up by the mouth in one whole piece and swallowed. However I am not thrilled with the idea of Tolly eating so much dry food.

So yesterday morning I decided to try giving him his canned, but in the full sized chunks. My thinking was, he can pick those chunks up the same way he picks up the kibble. It's working!

There is a difference from what he does with the kibble. With kibble he picks up the piece, uses his tongue to roll it to the back of his mouth and swallows it.

With the large canned chunks he picks up the piece, uses his tongue to push it to the left side of his mouth (the non-sore side) and masticates it. So the chunks enable him to move the food to where he wants it, as opposed to having to lick it into his mouth in small pieces, where it can go all over the mouth.

I called the vet yesterday morning. My vet was not on call, so I wasn't able to get antibiotics, unless I wanted to bring him in to see the on-call vet. I did not think this was necessary. I spoke to the receptionist, she is familiar with me and with Tolly's issues, and with my vet's feelings about her 'specials' (Tolly being one of those)

After hearing me out she told me that my vet is in only two days next week, Monday (her surgery day) and Tuesday, then she will be out the remainder of the week. There were no scheduled appointments with my vet available, but of course I already know that she leaves spaces for emergencies. So I left a voice mail for my vet, telling her what's going on. This way when she comes in on Monday, she can be made aware of things. Hopefully we will be able to talk, and she can let me know when I can bring Tolly in to see her.

In the meantime the recpetionist suggested I go ahead and get Tolly on my vet's dental schedule for the following Monday, Nov 21, just in case he is going to need it (which I am pretty sure will be the case). So, knowing Tolly is on the schedule gives me a feeling of security, and most likely he will get on antibiotics tomorrow, though my vet will probably not be able to see him until Tuesday morning.

Since Tolly is able to eat, and is his normal cheerful self otherwise, this is not an emergency. But even though he is cheerful and eating, I know he is hurting and I won't leave it any longer than it has to be left.

I just took this

"More Please"

Edited by otto - 11/13/11 at 7:23am

Tolly is doing well, still eating, still cheerful, even saw him playing with his Pink Fur Mice, carrying them around and yeowpling.

But I got a glimpse of his gum when I gave him his pill, it is very red and sore looking. I hope the vet can see him before she leaves for the week, and get him started on antibiotics. She will probably want to do blood work again too, if he needs the dental since it's been two months since his last blood work. That's not soon enough, when it comes to anesthesia. He's drinking a lot, too, which is unusual for him. He also sounds a bit sniffly every now and then. Almost URI-ish, though no discharges or excessive sneezing.

Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll need the antibiotics to clear up the infection but NOT need the dental. Wow, that would be wonderful. I wish I didn't have to give him the laxatone. But there is just no avoiding it.

Thanks for the support. I need it!

Tolly spent some time in his Cat Nip Fort today, though it is much reduced, this time of year.

Awww, thanks Laurie! He's my precious boy.

Tolly has an appointment to see his vet tomorrow morning at 11:20. The past two days, even though he is eating his canned food now, he is drinking copious amounts of water, and this is highly unusual. Being on a canned diet, he rarely drinks at all. So he will have to fast, and have blood work. It's all very strange, as he is the picture of health otherwise.

Tolly had a relapse of his liver disease in late August, but after three weeks on ursodiol and baytril his numbers went back to normal. I hope everything is okay, and he just needs antibiotics for his sore mouth. Sigh.

Tolly is in the hospital. While he does indeed have more resorptive lesions causing him mouth pain, he is in much more serious trouble..possible liver failure. That round stomach I noticed that started a couple days ago is fluid, his entire middle is full of fluid. He had an x-ray. His heart and lungs are not in danger at this point, but what has caused the fluid?

Liver failure is the first assumption, naturally, because of his history. Lymphoma is a possibility. We don't know. For now, I have left him there to have an ultrasound. It may not be good enough, their equipment is not state of the art. I may be taking him to a specialist. Hopefully tomorrow, if needed. Vet wanted permission to run a FeLV test. I said of course.

Because he didn't have any breakfast, I stupidly forgot to give him his phenobarbital. He had it at ten last night, so wasn't seriously overdue, but when I learned I would have to leave him there, I nearly had hysterics about the phenobarbital. Fortunately they had some liquid there. I refused to release him to them, until they brought the liquid medicine to me and let me give it to him.

Depending on any findings (or not) this afternoon, he is facing a trip to the specialist for a more thorough ultrasound, anesthesia to do a liver biopsy, and to drain the fluid...and I don't know what else. My vet asked me to think about would I do chemotherapy with him.

It's all too much, when to look at him you see a thriving glowing with health cat.

I am out of my mind. Pray for him, please.

Thank you everyone. No word yet. I miss my Tolly boy! I was supposed to go visit a friend's cat who is alone while she's on vacation. I'm not taking care of him, her neighbor is, but she asked me to go spend time with him if I could, to keep him from getting lonely. I had planned to spend the entire afternoon with him today, after Tolly's vet visit.

Instead I've had to stay home and wait for my vet to call. Even knowing it would probably be a couple hours, I could have spent some time there (it's a 25 minute drive each way though) but I felt the need to be home. Besides, it probably wouldn't have been good for Mittens to be around me when I am so upset anyway. But I feel bad, I know he (Mittens) must be lonely.

It makes me sick to think of Tolly being at the vet not knowing what's happening. Send him so vibes, okay? Maybe he'll get them and feel more relaxed, even without knowing why.