About a week ago Play, our heroic diabetic three-legged cancer survivor, began to exhibit different behaviors: he’d park himself outside my office door, jump up on a bed, camp under a table. Not all that unusual but enough for me to give pause. (paws). This animal is always ravenous: he gobbles his food and that of his mother and brother. He is territorial and demands to be treated as alpha male, approaching his quiet brother, sitting on his back and biting his head. A little unnerving on my part but all in a feline’s day’s work. So, … Continue reading →

The plan was to remove the cone at the beginning of the week and make sure that Ampersand wasn’t rubbing his eye. By Wednesday evening it was time. The eye was as good as it was going to be for a while, not perfect, still healing. It looks strange from some angles and normal from others. The miraculous thing is that he can see and his eye is no longer bizarrely red yet the lens is a little cloudy in the center. At any rate, the eye is the beautiful green again. We couldn’t just take the cat, we had … Continue reading →

  I am mortified; one of my cats survived cancer and lost a leg. His brother developed a bowel problem, went to the vet, returned home after three days and within two weeks got a mysterious eye infection. It initially looked innocuous, just a lot of tearing. It spread from one eye to the other, the eyes became inflamed then ceased producing tears. The membranes turned bright red. One eye looked horrendous. Ampersand has been at the vet for a month since this eye infection began. The vets have a terrible time cleaning him and medicating him. He went berserk … Continue reading →

Dear friends, I can’t even begin to tell you how sad I feel for Ampersand. Here’s a guy who was never ill in all the nine years I’ve had him. He gets a bout of stomach issues, goes to the vet for a few days to get flushed out, returns home and a week later has a runny eye. The runny eye becomes two runny eyes, they begin to dry and the next thing I know they look infected. Back to the vet who tells me to administer drops and L-Lysine. Here is a cat I have never held; try … Continue reading →

  Well, friends, I feel as though I work at the vet’s office. I’ve been there so many days–make that weeks— visiting one pet or another, that part of my routine is to visit the animals that aren’t mine.   Yesterday: Here is poor Ampersand. His left eye’s third membrane is sewn shut as an aid in the healing of his ulcerated cornea. The eye runs like a fountain. The other eye is said to be getting better but when I see this poor animal I feel terrible. He’s looking thin, all he can do is rest his head and … Continue reading →

Ampersand in his cage at the vet   Happy New Year, all. No big New Year’s Eve celebrations here. Sometimes quiet is welcome and observation of the hoopla is the key. Ampersand was brought back to the vet last Thursday and one vet said,” he’s going home on Saturday, he can’t stay here.” That was after the dry-eye diagnosis which seems to have been abandoned and we are back to the original: virus. (??) I just want to say that when Play was recuperating at the vet after his surgery, he came down with what seems to be the same … Continue reading →

Ampersand and his mother, Caramel A year ago I had rescued four kittens and their mother before hurricane Sandy. After a few months I was able to get the babies adopted. I trapped the mother and had her spayed. She was found to have cancer, was surgically treated and stayed at the vet until I could find a sanctuary that would take her–for a fee. My own rescues from 2004 were not a problem but as they aged their systems began changing: Play Up until now, kitty issues have been about Play. He’s the one with the bowel impactions, diabetes … Continue reading →

He’s home, yes, home. Here’s how today’s visit went. The usual late afternoon arrival and visits to the gang in the back room. The kitties come and go, some get adopted, some wait for years for a home. I was amazed that this vet has taken in so many animals over the years. The cat that had the leg amputation yesterday is likely going home tomorrow. That shows how horrendous diabetes is: Play took five times longer to be well enough to go home.   It was decided that Play was well enough to leave yesterday but I wasn’t officially … Continue reading →