Please keep Mallorn in your thoughts...

I brought him in to my work today to deal with his diarrhea which seems be due to the stress of moving and having to deal with Burdock, the bratty kitten. It doesn't help that he's incredibly nervous/neurotic to begin with. -_-

But while he was there he did something that had been confusing me for the week I've had him home. Namely, he starts wheezing and acting like he's going to have a hairball but he doesn't. He also snorts when ever he gets excited and while playing.

So now I have three wonderful potential issues.

He could have a polyp in his nose or throat... and getting him scoped would cost me $700. >.<
He could have asthma. Oh yay.

Or he could have heartworm. One of the techs had, at another hospital, seen a different tech's cat come in with the same breathing strangeness that Mally has... and he tested positive for heartworm antibodies.

We sent out blood to get that checked on him. Please pray that it doesn't come back positive. The fact that the number one symptom of heartworm in cats is *sudden death* is not exactly comforting right now. It also doesn't help that he was outdoor only in the mountains for two years.

Poor guy...I hope he'll be OK!

Hope he feels better!!!

I hope that the news turns out to be good..I'll send good vibes your way!! {{{{ }}}} please keep us posted.

Mally's bloodwork came back completely normal. Hooray! *dances* But as I was so paranoid about him, I gave Burdock (the kitten) a once over and 'lo! He is not nuetered after all. His testicles only just recently dropped and one's kinda deformed. He's a weird kitten as he already has his adult molars (indicative age of 6 to 7 months) but hasn't lost his canines yet (age indicative of barely 5 months).... And he weighs 7 lbs. >.< He does have incredibly huge feet, though.

Hey, I'm so glad your Mally is okay! My cat Malkin (RIP) used to have an occasional kind of cough that sounds like what you're referring to--a vet once heard it (he didn't do it all THAT often so the vets usually didn't get to hear it for themselves and it was hard to imitate!!) and the vet thought it sounded like a) asthma? b) hairballs, or c) heartworms. Sounds familiar, huh? We never did find out what was causing it, but my sweet boy lived to the ripe old age of 17 and when he did die (and broke my heart!) it was of cardiac arrest following unsuccessful surgery for a particularly virulent kind of cancer. So I don't think the vets felt that Malkin's cough turned out to be anything particularly sinister. He seemed to get it most when he was excited about something. Who knows? One thing though--my kitty that I have now, my beautiful marmalade Amber ALWAYS takes her Feline Heartgard--once a month, 12 months a year! People used to think that heartworms were only truly dangerous in dogs, but vets have learned that they can be even MORE lethal to cats. Not trying to scare you, just a reminder that prevention is better than us worrying ourselves sick over our babies! And you gave me a great laugh about your weird little kitten--with his funny teeth and his-er-scrotal problems (was that delicate enough? ) and his great big feet! I bet he's a doll--and a real handful! Give your babies big hugs from me--you sound like a great cat mama!