A Day in the Life of a Zookeeper

A Day in the Life of a Zookeeper
Ever wonder what its like to share your world with a bunch of crazy critters? Tune in to find out!

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

3 Kitty Trip to the Vet

I finally got the kitties in for their annual check ups:

All in all - they are pretty healthy kitties - but - we did have some areas we could work on.

Phoebe - she actually had the best results this go around.  Her thyroid levels were perfect so there is no need to change her medication dosage.  Her blood work was perfect and her chemistry levels were perfect.  She - however - is a bit on the pudgy side.  Not horribly overweight but enough that we should make some changes in the old diet.  Glad to see that life in the cat world mirrors life in the human world... sigh. She could also use a teeth cleaning - will be scheduling that likely after the first of the year.   She is in great shape barring any changes or issues.

Aggie - my old girl is in pretty darn good shape.  There were three numbers on her blood panel related to her kidneys that were a tiny bit elevated.  They were just over the normal line - so not crazy high.  It could be a couple of things.  First - it could be that she just didn't drink enough this morning and was a touch dehydrated.  Or - it could be that she has the start of kidney disease.  I have a haunch that its the first for a couple of reasons.  I have had 2 kitties with kidney disease and I know the signs. She has no symptoms.  There are also other indicators on the blood panel that get outta whack with kidney disease.  All of her other blood panel results were normal as were her chemistry numbers.  We are going back in 6 weeks to do a recheck and see if her numbers go back down.  If not we will figure out the best course of action for treatment.  The other thing is that little miss - well - how shall we say it - is a bit big boned  (okay - she is a fat kitty - don't tell her I said that).  We have some work to do to get her back down to a healthy weight.

Oliver - oh my skinny mini boy.  I have been commenting on how skinny he is.  It is because his thyroid numbers are off the charts - poor little dude.  We have changed the dosage for his thyroid medication which should fix his weight issues.  He also has teeth issues.  He needs a dental cleaning but until his thyroid numbers are in line and he gains back some of the weight he can't go under anesthesia.  We will start him on a course of antibiotics to kill any infection/bacteria in his mouth. Then we will beef him up a bit, likely give him another round of antibiotics and then do the dental work.  Guessing that will be after the holidays for the dental stuff.  In the meantime - he goes back in 6 weeks with Aggie and gets his thyroid level check to see if the increased dosage is doing the trick.

My morning was crazy - kitty drop off at the vet at 8, conference calls until 9:30, dentist appointment and then kitty pick up and home - then work and meetings and such.  And now a breather before I make a few updates to a presentation I have tomorrow.  Needless to say - there are no kitty snaps from the vet visit since I wasn't present.  They are very happy to be back home and hanging out in critter land.

One last side note for anyone with multiple kitties - I used to put them in separate carriers and it was miserable - howling and panting and other icky things when we got in the car.  I found a few years ago that if I put them all in one large carrier they do great.  We had a total of 5 our 6 little mews on the way - they were perfect angels.

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