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Post by dutchkitties on Aug 2, 2014 7:45:41 GMT
Hope you can stop with the medicine after the first portion. I don't envy you. When Misty needs medication, I don't even buy it anymore. Even when the vet gives her stronghold (spot on) she needs two assistants to hold her on the table. One of the assistants has a long scar on an arm that will never disappear.
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Post by june on Aug 2, 2014 14:26:55 GMT
Hope his meds sort him out and he is soon back to normal. June.x.
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Post by tonib on Aug 2, 2014 21:00:22 GMT
So far so good the rippling hasn't come back & we got the metacam into him in his food with the little help of some ham, slight mistake I had to give him a bit more ham than he should have as I gave him it in one of the small (50g) Sheba Fresh Choice pouches. Of course he ate half but didn't know whether he'd got the metacam or not so had to wrap the rest in ham to guarantee he got it all. I think he enjoyed it . Next time I must only give him a little with the meds in first then he can have the rest!
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Post by tonib on Aug 3, 2014 21:35:40 GMT
Sadly that last post was too optimistic. Osiris came in very late last night & he was twitching & very unsettled, & promptly charged back out again. In the middle of the night/very early morning - he charged on to our bed & then off again - I thought he'd gone out again but found him in the living room, he came back up but only settled for 5 minutes at the most & was off out - back twitching.
this morning he was on our windowsill sleeping, came down for his breakfast & went back up again after a brief visit out.
Told a friend (Ajax) & she pointed out that it seems to be happening when he is out & suggested he might be getting irritated by something. Hadn't thought of that. We had the lawns treated on Wednesday but this started Tuesday so not that. Then realised we'd had the conifers etc. pruned on Monday.
He had been out afterwards on Monday & this started Tuesday night (as far as we are aware) but it will be worth asking the vet about it as he has a bed/hidey-hole under the trees. Normally on old dried fir foliage but there will be some fresh ones as I'd asked for the dead ones to be left for him & they wouldn't pick it all over just remove the big bits! It might not be the foliage but as these were pruned & would have sap as well. He was fine the last time it was done but has started spending more time out since then.
So we're keeping him in (& of course that means the others as well) to see how it goes tonight - still gave him the Metacam. Going to contact the vet tomorrow.
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Post by smilesbetter on Aug 4, 2014 6:39:51 GMT
Hey there tonib sorry to hear that it's not been relived, but hope it turns out it is the conifers as that would be much easier to try and sort than giving him medication for life. It does sound a lot like Carlotta's problem (feline Hyperesthesia), had the vet heard of it before? One of the best reliefs for that I've found is exercise at various points through the day, but I've found that it does get worse in warmer weather (perhaps because Carlotta is lazier then, but perhaps there is a link to warm weather). If it turns out to be that (as far as I know there's no test for it, just usually the vet sees a video of the behaviour and rules out any other medical causes) then I'll be here for support of course! Hopefully it's the conifer thing though as that should be much easier to fix, although he might not be so happy if it meant you had to clear out his hide out haha! Hope he's doing better today! Keep us updated
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Post by dutchkitties on Aug 4, 2014 8:53:03 GMT
Sorry to hear that. Let us know what the vet thinks.
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Post by tonib on Aug 4, 2014 13:01:44 GMT
Well no twitching overnight! Mind you he was quite frustrated at being kept in!
Spoke to to the vet this morning. He carefully pointed out that the idea doesn't negate what was found in the x-rays which I quite agree with. However he did think that the idea of something outside being the trigger was worth considering even though it is rare. We decided to experiment with letting Osiris out again & see if he twitches tonight as Saturday night could be a case of the injection given on Friday at the hospital wearing off & the Metacam not kicking in. Its worth the possible stress to Osiris for one more night to prove/eliminate the cause. If he twitches tonight then tomorrow I'll be doing a very careful clear out of all the prunings.
Of course its possible its not the prunings themselves but that he's decided the dens are more open now & he's found somewhere else to hide & that has something irritating him. The vet wants to know what happens & also if he is twitching which species are involved (if we know!)
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Post by lotsofcats on Aug 4, 2014 13:12:10 GMT
Very strange. If only cats could talk and poor Osiris could let you know. Hopefully you will find an answer soon.
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Post by tonib on Aug 4, 2014 14:51:49 GMT
Well he came in frantic & twitching a bit earlier & promptly went out again - so forget going to the gym - going to get some exercise trying to get all the prunings up (already covered myself in bits as I started by shaking all the trees to get any loose bits down!) & see where he's gone in case it's somewhere else that's causing the problems.
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Post by june on Aug 4, 2014 17:02:14 GMT
I hope you soon find out what is causing him problems. Like Jenny said, if only they could talk. Mind you if they could I dread to think what Izzy would come out with. June.x.
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Post by tonib on Aug 4, 2014 20:31:20 GMT
We spent the evening clearing out under the firs & associated plants where he normally likes to hide/snooze - I did a fair bit in the afternoon but Mark has longer arms & is slimmer than me so was able to get at the awkward places. We basically filled the green wheelie bin - luckily it collected on Thursday. The tree surgeons had cleared up well but I'd asked them to leave all the old foliage & of course new bits have mixed in ao it all had to go - plus some caught in the trees. Wait for it, that won't be the answer as he's not been there this afternoon & he's still twitching. There could be something elsewhere that's irritating him in his new hidey hole wherever that is! Or it could be a complete red herring & it's his back as he'll probably use it more outside - in which case the Metacam isn't working. Like you've all said - if only he could communicate the problem to us.
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Post by smilesbetter on Aug 6, 2014 10:17:59 GMT
Did you say you have a video of his back twitching tonib ? Had your vet heard of Hyperesthesia before? I don't know if it can develop later in life though. Also could he possibly have a slightly trapped or gammy nerve in his back which would cause that? How is he when you touch his back when he's not having the twitching? Carlotta is a super sensitive back and I hardly have to touch it for it to start twitching, she'll often actually give a warning light "bite" if anyone touches her back, although she doesn't have any obvious problem with her back. I hope it's not hyperesthesia, and that it's something easier to fix, but it's worth checking out. You'd need to contact a vet who actually has experience with the condition though, it's very rare but if you send the video to different vets (You can email them it I'm sure, shouldn't even cost you anything) you should be able to get a few opinions. Taking him to the vet for something like that wouldn't help unless he had an attack at the vets as there is no way of testing for it, just the lack of any other medical problem, so a video is the best tool for confirming it.
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Post by dutchkitties on Aug 6, 2014 11:04:19 GMT
A video is a good idea. Years ago I went to the vets' with Misty because she was gasping for air every night for at least 25 minutes. They couldn't find the source. I described what I saw as best as I could. Head back, staring at nothing, mouth opening and closing..... Then I put it on video and took a usb stick to the vets. All four of them looked at it and came to the same conclusion: a habit/trick. Nothing physical. She still does it but I'm no longer worried.
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Post by smilesbetter on Aug 6, 2014 11:14:39 GMT
Haha dutchkitties can we see the video? Sounds like a very unusual trick or habit to have formed haha! i always wonder what makes cats start doing weird things like that in the first place. Glad shes okay anyway!
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Post by dutchkitties on Aug 6, 2014 12:11:09 GMT
I hope I still have it somewhere. It was on my old XP and it's not on my 7 or 8.1 so maybe on a disk. Have to look hard.
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