Feline Friday

Well, on Monday of this week, we found ourselves back at the vet. I got home at around 4pm and shortly after heard Lily make that familiar "something is not right" meow, followed by some tell-tale (tell-tail?) scooting. Mind you, it had only been a couple of weeks since we were last at the vet with an anal gland problem.

I picked her up and checked her rear end, only to find a lima bean-sized squishy lump. It was definitely not hard like the lump she had last time.

BIG SIGH.

Lily was clearly uncomfortable. While I got on the phone to the vet, she climbed onto a shelf in the closet. 

Poor sweet baby. This is the face of a kitty who doesn't feel well.

When I call the vet, I no longer even have to identify myself. We are now frequent fliers, but not in a good way! Amazingly, I got lucky again this time and her vet had a 5pm cancellation, so off we went.

Lily has to be sedated for the procedure. This time, the vet brought her back into the exam room while she was still out so that I could see the area in question. I was able to actually see the anal glands (they're very small and not easily visible). When the sac fills with fluid, the swelling forms to the side, as I had observed.

The vet has now expressed her glands so many times that he believes she has a physical malformation on one side which keeps the gland from emptying normally. This explains why it keeps clogging. If material dries up inside the sac, it blocks the opening. So it's best to keep on top of this situation. If she comes in next time when the lump is still squishy, he may even try to express her glands without sedation. Although she tolerates sedation well, it would be best if we could minimize it.

Our sweet Lily is now FELINE much better. You can see how relaxed she is when sleeping now -- not hunched up and looking sad.

 

 

So Lily's week ended much better than it started. We just hope to keep it going for a bit longer this time!

 

Happy Feline Friday!

Feline Friday: Boogie Fever

Alas, another week has gone by with not a single blog post by the Meowmy. This makes me sad. I need to do a better job of time management so that I can get back to blogging because -- believe me! -- I have a lot to say! 😄

But of course, I would never miss a Feline Friday! For today's post, we shall take a brief trip down meow-mory lane.

When Lily was in her younger years, we somehow got the misguided idea that she could compete in cat shows. Lily is such a sweet and adorable kitty, and we fervently believed that those qualities would surely enable her to stand out in competition. 

Alas, Lily turns into some kind of hissing, snarling MONSTER at cat shows. (Truthfully, it's the same naughty behavior she exhibits at the vet, so we shouldn't have been that surprised.)

Still, we held onto the belief that with a little practice, she'd somehow get better. 

She didn't.

But we DID learn that cat shows sometimes have a cage decorating contest. Without even knowing there was such a thing, we won that category at our very first show. From then on, I knew how we could have a good cat show run -- we'd go just for the cage decorating contest! Lily could be as naughty as she wanted and we might still go home with a prize. LOL

At that same show (which was held in the pig barn at the Iowa State Fair...), Lily somehow came how with a ginormous ribbon for 10th Best Household Pet Cat. I still think that's rather remarkable considering how absolutely dreadfully she behaved. It was WAY more ribbon than she deserved, as sweet as we think she is!

For our efforts, we won quite a few goodies.

 One of Lily's prizes was this "Boogie Board" mat which she absolutely loved. It unzips on the size to allow insertion of dry catnip. Kitty smells the catnip through the fabric and proceeds to BOOGIE!

So now -- if you're still reading 😀 -- comes the point of today's post. This week, Lily re-discovered her beloved Boogie Board. It has been sitting out since the day it came home with us, but I haven't been diligent about replacing the catnip. This week when I saw her show some interest in it, I refreshed it and BOY DID SHE BOOGIE!

 

 

Now she's sleeping on her Boogie Board and playing on it during the night. It's just like old times from her failed cat show circuit days! Time has washed away any unpleasant memories Lily may have had about the three cat shows she attended, leaving her with only happy thoughts.

Of course, the catnip may have had something to do with it... 😉

Feline Friday

Sometime late last Friday afternoon, Lily went down to the basement and let out a loud MEOW. Spouse would tell you it was just an ordinary meow, but he's not a cat person. Anyone who loves a cat knows the very distinct differences between the "feed me" meow, the "thank goodness you're home" meow, and the "something's not right" meow. 

This was a definite "something's not right" meow. For Lily, this means that there's a problem in her southern end. 😾

The last time Lily went to have her anal glands expressed (November!), the vet showed me that I could tell if they're impacted just by touching her back end. 

Here's how he explained it to me: Think of her rear end as a clock face. The anal glands are located at the 4 and 8 positions. If they're normal, you won't feel any kind of bump there but if they're clogged, they can become as large as grapes.

 

I'd never tried to find her anal glands before but this time, I decided to give it a go. As soon as I touched her bottom, I noticed a hard, larger-than-pea-sized lump. Lily growled and tried to bite me so I knew it must be very painful.

So I called right away for an appointment and, by some stroke of luck, our vet had an opening in the last time slot of the day.  I immediately loaded her up and off we went. She did very well with the procedure and even got a complementary nail trim!

Unfortunately, that pesky anal gland was impacted and on the verge of becoming infected. It took a lot of irrigation to clear the gland. Had the vet not been able to see her that day, I have no doubt that we would have ended up in the ER again over the weekend.

The lesson for me is this: As SOON as I see her scooting, I need check her bottom and get her in for an appointment. This time, I had caught her scooting just a couple of days before but I put off making the call. In retrospect, there is no point in waiting to see if it clears up. It won't. It can take just a day or two for the situation to escalate, and that can result in additional problems for her. 

Meowmy learned her lesson! Now that I know how to inspect the back end, I'll keep a closer eye on things! 

Feline Friday

Last Sunday, Lily was briefly captivated by the Puppy Bowl. I pulled up a chair so she could get a closer view.

She especially enjoyed the presentation of the MVP Award, honoring the Most Valuable Puppy of the game.

Perhaps she was imagining herself as MVK, Most Valuable Kitty.

She would win that award any day, at least around here!