A+ Dental Cleaning

Yesterday morning Vante had her annual dental cleaning, blood-work and physical at the vet clinic. 

The blood-work came back with no problems.

She had some tartar and buildup on her teeth that they cleaned up but she didn't need to have any teeth pulled.

The vet assistant who spoke to me told me that she was very vocal and irritable in her cage.  Apparently it wasn't to her liking - neither was the vet clinic's live-in cat.  The good news is that she was all talk; she wasn't mean or aggressive towards the staff (thank-goodness).

So, I breathed a sigh of relief and picked her up from the vet's office before 3 p.m.  She spent the evening napping in her favorite box on top of the bookcase and hanging out with my husband while he played StarCraft. 

This morning I removed the bandage from the spot where she had her IV (she had a hematoma there & the bandage needed to remain in place overnight) and her back foot was TWICE the size it should have been!

Apparently that is  normal and it will go back to normal size shortly, according to my vet.  Thank-goodness!

So Vante is doing great, we've rearranged her room and changed out some of the furniture & she seems to love it.  Especially since she now has more sun spots to lay in, meeting her New Years Resolution to take time to enjoy sunny spots. 

Happy New Year!

Vante and I want to wish everybody a very Happy New Year.

May 2011 be filled with simple pleasures like naps & sun spots.

Meowy Christmas!

 

We are back from Alaska & wish everybody a very merry Christmas!

Glucosomine

Vante is still eating her wet food, which has the glucosomine in it.  She has had another incident, but I don't think that can be avoided completely.  

I'm not sure what stresses her out.  Maybe it's the days that I'm unable to come back to check on her at lunchtime.  I'll just have to pay closer attention and figure it out.  

Tuesday we have another appointment at the vet for her to get her health certificate so we can fly back home to Vegas next weekend.  Yes, I'm worried about the trip, but the good thing is that for Christmas we're staying home.  We'll be able to spend plenty of time with Vante.  Hopefully that will make the transition to being back home (and with her two cat sisters) easier for her.   

Vante does like Tuna!

Great news - Vante seems to like the tuna flavor in her wet food so far.  Keep my fingers crossed that she will continue to like it.

 

She is going back to the vet on Tuesday to get her health exam and paperwork so she can get her airplane ticket.  I'm going in with a list of questions and will report back on what I learn.

Vante has sterile cystitis

Well, the Vante's health saga continues.  She has been urinating on the bed quite a bit.  So I took her to the vet last week and they gave her an antibiotic (thinking she had a UTI) but they did a bacterial culture too.

The culture came back negative -- meaning she didn't have a UTI. 

This means that Vante has Sterile cystitis.  It's a stress/anxiety-related problem where her bladder gets inflamed and she can't control herself and urinates in inappropriate places (like the bed--thank-goodness for piddle pads). 

The antibiotic may have helped with the inflammation but it's not a good long-term fix.  What we decided to try first is glucosomine.  I'm sure there are different types of glucosomine, she mentioned Glucosamine chondroitin.  It's good for the joints and helps with inflammation. 

I'm picking up some capsules for Vante and I'm supposed to open them up and put it in her wet food once a day.  It's tuna flavored... so I hope she likes tuna!

We're still in Alaska and other than her urinary issues she is doing great.  She's happy, playing a lot, enjoys looking out the window and you would never know that she has any health issues.  I'm very thankful for that blessing.  

I will continue to keep you updated as to how the glucosomine chondroitin works out.  

Vante's Alaska in Photos

At least once a day we talk to my husband back in Las Vegas.  

 When he came to visit she was very happy - he has a great lap.

Vante enjoyed the fresh snow we tracked in on Thanksgiving night - we got 6 inches of snowfall.

She helped inspect the ornaments before we put them on the tree.  She removed a few too.

Vante was quite pleased with the whole tree decorating experience.

I'll post more details soon but I wanted to share these photos.