Post 325: Andy’s doing fine, thank you!

He and Dougy both are slaves to their stomachs. Poor Andy! Even though he pretty much knows I’m going to give him medicine before I feed the two of them, he still falls into the trap of following me around so he’s always where I am when I prepare the cat food. Works out just fine: I can easily catch him for his daily dose of Benazepril!

I mentioned the “cat enchilada” method of swaddling a cat in a bath towel to make it easier to give the cat medicine. I meant “cat burrito”, though, honestly, there is not a great deal of difference. “Cat burritos”, I guess, differ in that they don’t need chile verde ladled over them. 🙁

Andy took his medicine like a big boy this morning, though he almost slipped out of the towel and got away at one point. Stuffing a “cat burrito” seems simple, but does require a bit of practice for consistent results.

andy on stand 1 27 feb 2014

After breakfast, the boys follow me over to the television where I watch morning news. Always. I’m as boringly predictable as they when it comes to routines. If they spoke English, we’d probably finish each other’s sentences.

andy on stand 3 27 feb 2014

Or talk about how Andy maintains his magnificent tail.

andy on stand 4 27 feb 2014

But more likely, he’d tell me to shut up so he could grab some winks on his light stand. Yeah, this is part of his territory, and it is deep inside the Dougy Republic.

The main thing is Andy’s doing fine, thank you!

Post 321: Andy’s home!

Andy spent most of the day at the veterinarian’s. I went to pick him up at 4:00.

His veterinarian called me into an examination room to review the findings, showing me this two page document of test results that mostly were in the normal range, except for blood pressure (high) and platelets (low).

He explained the significance of these results, but I couldn’t focus…. The presentation looked like medieval plainchant notation, and the explanation largely passed over my head as I tried to grasp the significance of the aberrant test results.

Test results or Medieval plainchant?

Test results or Medieval plainchant?

There was no ultrasound test today, but there may need to be one down the road. I take Andy back March 17th for another blood pressure test and examination, perhaps to learn if the ultrasound’ll be needed to establish why his heart appears enlarged. At least that test is pleasant, though he’ll have to have a patch shaved in his fur to allow the test.

Andy was very ready to come home, and he was especially ready to eat like a starved kitten!

Andy was very ready to come home, and he was especially ready to eat like a starved kitten!

Best news of the day was that most of his test results were in the normal range. He is a young adult cat – two years and seven months old – so should be in relatively good shape. Still, I will need to give him a daily dose of Benazepril, a heart medication. I’ll have to look it up on the Internet to learn more about the drug.

Andy's medication can be flavored many different ways, and I decided to have it flavored like tuna fish since he likes that. Best of all, it is in liquid form.

Andy’s medication can be flavored many different ways, and I decided to have it flavored like tuna fish since he likes that. Best of all, it is in liquid form.

Even though I have full confidence in Andy’s veterinarian and faith that all things will work out, this has been a stressed out day for me. Yeah, but not so much as for Andy and Dougy, who moped around the house, looking for his brother all day.

(I suspect Dougy felt a little less happy to see Andy when Andy hogged the wet cat food when I put it out, blocking Dougy’s access to his portion!)

Best of all, though, Andy’s home! We missed the little guy.