Columbus OH

Still pet-sitting in Columbus.  Smokey's surgical wounds have healed slowly, but finally enough that the vet has cleared him for  travel.  So far, so good on that front.

The black cat is another story.  Since the last update, he has made two trips to the emergency room, at emergency room prices.  Followed by a trip to the veterinary internist, at specialists' prices.  Of course the internist had to order extensive lab work, at those prices.  The good news is that the chemistries all were within normal limits, the bad news that the abdominal ultrasound was not -- diffusely thickened intestinal walls.  Next stop = endoscopy.  Grossly negative, except again diffusely thickened walls.  Next stop = biopsy (pathologists' prices).  So more wait.  Since pathologists are used to patients that do not go anywhere, this wait will be another 1-2 week .  Then the next step will depend upon: benign or malignant (inflammatory bowel disease vs lymphoma).  Since the nearest vet to Copper Harbor is 60 miles away, one must be prudent.

Meanwhile, we are not in Copper Harbor, Toto.  It is way too hot and humid in Ohio -- Texas and Florida are unthinkable.  So we fritter away the time indoors, writing blogs.

Columbus OH

Only 4 days into the month -- I'm doing better (pat, pat).

But part of the reason I'm successful in producing an entry this quickly is that I'm stuck in the house, dogsitting.  It's Smokey again.  On the 24th the vet surgically removed several tumors and cysts.  So now he looks like a patchwork, with zippers made of staples in the middle of each shaved area.  Most were on his back, but a large one was on the dorsum of his right rear paw, and it was a technically difficult procedure -- stretched the skin very tight and put a lot of strain on the incision.  And while he can't reach the incisions on his back, this one is a piece of cake.  In fact, he is so flexible that he is able to stretch that limb even around an extra-large, built up collar.  So we cannot trust him even for a second, and someone must eyebell him continually.  But Bobbi and Lew do need their sleep -- so at night Smokey not only must wear the extra large collar, but Lew has to sleep with Smokey's leash in his hand so any attempt to reach that foot will wake Lew.  This is the way it has to be until at least this weekend.

As if that were not enough, yesterday the black cat we inherited from Audrey developed intractable vomiting, so he too was trundled off to the emergency room.  As of this morning the vet has excluded the most serious possibilities, in fact has been unable to find a cause for his  problem, so is treating it symptomatically.  We expect to pick him up this evening, and hope there will be nothing more to this.