Happy Cat Family

Hi Furriends, Meowmy here!
At last I have some good news... all around! sounds like this is the beginning of a much deserved break for all of us here, finally!
Let's start with miss Gracie: She made a full recovery from her tooth surgery, and we were since she got here working on getting her on the right level of thyroid medication - she was for a long time off meds, then was way over-medicated. Finally her test last week showed she stabilized right where she needs to be: she is now taking 1/3 of the dosage she was taking when she first got here!
We were doing blood tests every 2-3 weeks, and I am sure glad she doesn't need to go through that anymore, as she had to be put under every time and that is always risky for an old gal like her. Let alone the stress of constant vet visits! But now she is doing great, and that is behind her - ahhhh relief!
Now Lucky: After her blockage she was put on a hairball formula, and is eating like a champ. She is still constipated from time to time, but I am managing it with hairball treats as needed. She is doing very well and happy! I am glad she turned that corner - those were some scary days of not eating and being completely blocked... I am watching her like a hawk!
Now our prince boy Bugsy!
I am sure you all remember the months and months of diarrhea ordeal Bugsy went through. All the meds he was given took a toll on his little body and affected his liver - his ALT level went way up and kept escalating so he had to be completely off drugs, even of his stomatitis treatment. Yesterday we went to the vet for his liver panel, and he checked all clear! All his numbers are good - ALT and enzymes -all good!
He is now back on his stomatitis meds and has a dental scheduled for Monday, as being off meds made his gums suffer and now we need to bring him up to date on that. But he will be a-ok.
He still has soft poop, but not diarrhea, and certainly not explosive liquid diarrhea like he was having before.
His vet examined his belly and said he could feel no gas and he showed no signs of pain - he was not jumpy like he was before during examination. Also, during his diarrhea he was rapidly losing weight, and he has gained some weight back - even though he is overweight, that is a very good sign given the circumstances - a sign that he is absorbing the nutrients better.
So, the vet said for now, no meds - just continue with the probiotics and change his fiber to pumpkin - he read some studies that pumpkin works better than psyllium.
Hope went for her annual/vaccinations and checked in with flying colors. The vet said he could not hear the murmur she was once diagnosed with. He even tried to listen with a pediatric stethoscope. His protocol is to do only the rabies annually and the distemper vaccine once every 3 years - I like that.
So furriends, there you have it - for once I have great news all around! whew! All I want is a healthy 2011!
Now if you can spare a few purrs for Bugsy's dental on Monday, that would be great - I am sure in my heart he is going to be just fine though.... He is my boy,the love of my life!
Thanks for reading and for being there for us!

Hello Friends, meowmy here!
We are very excited to announce The Happy Cat Family Fun-Raising Valentine's Day Photo Contest, coming up February 14th!!! The contest launches our fund raising event to help with the vet bills for Gracie and Bugsy. We hope you participate, we are super excited about it!
To participate you can either click here, on the picture above, or on the badge in the sidebar. You can also click on the "Photo Contest" Tab on our header :) Details of all we have been going through is below.
Mark your Calendars, and Good Luck!!
Pee Ess: It would be super fantastic if you could share this with your friends by simply clicking the "Like" Facebook button underneath this post, or the Tweeter

Bugsy's problems started on October 10th, 2010, when he had a bad UTI and was given a 7-day course of Clavamox. At the moment he started on Clavamox, he started having Diarrhea... We have been fighting it now for 120 days. In these four months we had numerous vet visits, tests, specialized blood tests, several different medicine courses and an emergency visit. Bugsy is now on the last attempt with medications before being referred to a specialist. As you saw on the last post, DiaGel seems to work, but we don't know for certain - after 4 months, being off of it for one day is just too soon to tell. His liver has suffered from all the meds, and now this might be another battle we have to fight. He was also taken off of his stomatitis treatment, and if that affects his liver we might face surgery, complete teethe removal in the future.
Gracie is 12 yrs old and has Hyperthyroid. On Dec. 31, she stopped eating, showing signs of pain in her mouth.  She was taken to the dentist immediately where they found out the problem: the tooth was cracked and so diseased that had created a fistula - a hole in between the mouth and the nose. It was also infected. She had a surgery to have the tooth removed, the bone shaved and a small bone implant put in. The hole was left open to drain. She was expected to have a second surgery to close the fistula, but she beat all odds with amazing results from the first surgery and that will no longer be necessary. For a little while, monthly T-4 tests will be needed to adjust her medication.

Hello Furriends, Gracie here!
Meowmy had an awful migraine today and spent the day on bed, so I offered to cover for her at the office... It was a busy day! It makes it harder not having opposite thumbs, but I was able to answer the phone with the help of the speaker key and my beautiful meow-meows, and most importantly, I kept the seat warm and comfy for her tomorrow.
It's been fun, in fact, I am not really sure I want to give her seat back... I look pretty good in it, don't you think?

Yawnnnn.... Hello furriends, Bugsy here!
Thank you for all the gotcha day wishes guys, really appurreciate it! I had a very nice day, meowmy made sure of that! She gave me sooo many extra hugs, squeeeezes and kisses that by the end of the day Lucky and Hope were jealous already! Luckily Gracie didn't see it as she stays in her office, otherwise I would get triple hisses from then on!
Furriends, it is so cold outside! So so cold that meowmy hasn't even opened the windows lately! I know some of you live in the white land where that fluffy wet stuff falls from the sky, but here in Texas this cold is not that normal... It is 27F right now, and tomorrow it is going to warm up to 45 or so... We miss having the windows open, but at the same time it is quite cozy laying on bed too... Yawnnnn....
I was all excited to tell you some good news furriends, but it backfired on me, quite literally actually! Well, the good news is, I had 2 days of good poop! Yey! After 98 days of diarrhea, that is really good news, and meowmy thinks the new medicine is really working!
The bad news is the diarrhea is back, and worst than before, much worst, but there is a reason for that - Let me explain:
A few weeks ago meowmy noticed that we started getting finicky with our dry food - all of us, me, Hope and Lucky... We all eat Hills Z/D, as it is All Hope and I can eat... So meowmy noticed we were eating less and less. She thought it was a bad bag, so she bought a new one, from another place... Same thing happened - no good, we still didn't like our food... So, meowmy bought another one from another vet clinic, and sure enough the same thing happened. Then meowmy weighed all of us, and all of us had lost weight - I am down to 16.4lbs (from 18.3 on 11/08 and 16.8 just a month ago), Lucky is down to 11.4 (from 12.5 a month ago)... So meowmy got on the phone with the V-E-T and asked him if it would be ok to change food to Royal Canin.
Meowmy is changing the food very very slowly, but as you can imagine, any change will affect my system... But for meowmy, her biggest worry is to have me eating well, as she always says, "I can deal with diarrhea, but I can not deal with Fatty liver disease" whatever that means, I agree with her!
The new food tastes SO yummy!!! I can't wait to be eating ONLY that one! It is the Royal Canin Hypo Allergenic HP 23. Strange, we are all vegetarians now, but it sure tastes good! We love-it!
Anyway, meowmy hopes that once we are done with the food transition I am going to be fine since this new medication proved to be actually working... We are all hoping this was just a bump on the road. We are going to call the V-E-T tomorrow to see if we need to refill the medicine. He will need to steal my blood for a liver test though as this medicine can affect the liver and needs to be closely monitored (Sulfasalazine).
As far as Gracie goes, she is going to the dentist Saturday for a follow up and for a T-4 test to check her thyroid levels. Then we will schedule her second surgery... Should be in the beginning of February or so... We have high hopes for her, since she had a wonderful recover from the first one!
Thank you for reading furriends, and sorry for the loooong post! Have a wonderful Friday!

Hi furriends, Lucky here!
After 10 days in the bathroom, meowmy thought Gracie was ready to explore the house and meet us face to face.... WRONG! It was a hiss fest!
We are all doing better with her here, but furriends, we got to admit, we like her better in the bathroom, thank you very much!
Meowmy even put some stinky stuff under our chins to make things easier - some cake baking stuff called vanilla or something like that... She sprayed the house with Feliway.......... and out Gracie comes... to OUR house!
The whole thing lasted about 5-10 minutes or so and luckily Gracie seems to have some common sense (apparently unlike meowmy); she went back to the bathroom on her own...
Meowmy says she is going to take it slowly... let her out a little everyday.... Thank goodness!
You know, Gracie can be a sweet thing, but gee, her hiss is reeeeaaaalllyy scary!
The video of her first explorations is below -
Happy Friday furriends!