Loki had his annual vet visit this morning.  Things are not looking so good around here at the moment, so you’ll pardon me if I don’t do much posting today.  In fact, after this one, I will probably post a photo of Loki and then take the rest of the day off as incommunicado.

Loki has been suffering from a persistent dry cough for the last several weeks.  I have generally believed it to be the result of shedding despite my brushing them each day.  If enough hair were swallowed to cause irritation without causing a hairball, coughing would be the result.  Until this last week, I was confident that was it.

Over the last week, the coughing has continued, but Loki has become less energetic than normal.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say he’s been lethargic, but he’s not been the Satan I’ve come to know and love.  The vet, unfortunately, confirmed my increasing suspicion that something is amiss.

They could not give him his vaccinations — and I would not allow it.  At present, they pose too much of a risk to him.  With what we discovered, vaccinations may well have killed him.

The persistent dry cough he’s had for the last several weeks appears to be an indication of the very same daunting medical bifurcation Grendel faced in late 1997.  With an enlarged heart and swollen bronchioles in his lungs, not to mention the sudden loss of weight, all findings we came across after many tests this morning, there are two likely and viable options: asthma and heart disease.

Grendel has asthma, as you know, and Loki is his biological brother, so that at least lends credence to asthma being Loki’s problem.  However, Loki is over nine (9) years old and it is highly unusual for asthma to present this late in life.  Grendel began showing signs near the end of his first year.  Loki will be 10 years old in early 2007.

Given age and indications, it is far more likely he has heart disease.  If it is heart disease, it is acute.  If it is asthma, it is probably late-age chronic-acute.  Grendel’s asthma is seasonal acute.  Loki’s version would be significantly worse than his brother’s.

For the next seven days, Loki will be given the same asthma medication Grendel takes, except he’ll receive it four times as often as his brother does.  If he has asthma, this may help improve his condition, but it’s also possible we’ll have to extend the test another week since inhaled steroids do not act as quickly as systemic ones.

Systemic steroid treatment is utterly out of the question.  If he has heart disease, steroidal treatment of that nature would increase the burden on both his heart and lungs, both of which already show tremendous signs of strain.  In fact, his heart rate and breathing were so dramatically above where they were last year that the vet originally considered admitting him.  The situation became worse when he was taken back for x-rays and began heavy mouth breathing.  That is, for cats, not a good sign.

On the other hand, if it is asthma and we treat him for heart disease, the treatment will greatly increase the burden on his lungs, which, as I mentioned, are now under great strain.

It’s a lose-lose situation regardless of which one we treat him for.  That leaves us only one option: inhaled steroids.  While they take longer to get asthma under control, they are better for his overall health as they only affect his lungs and will not exacerbate a heart condition.  This is the only choice available.  I hope that in a week we’ll see improvement.  If they are minor, we will continue the medication for another week.  Additional improvement will verify he has asthma.  No improvement will indicate heart disease, and then he will need a cardiac ultrasound to identify specifically how bad it is and how best to treat it.

Aside from something very uncommon not yet considered, there is one additional option that is far worse than either asthma or heart disease alone: that he has both.  If that is the case, I’ve already mentioned why treatment for one will only irritate and worsen the other.  The only hope would be to get the asthma under control with inhaled steroids before beginning treatment for heart disease.  Even then, treatment for the latter would only make the former worse and harder to treat.

His age in this case would point toward heart disease.  He is at that perfect stage in life where cats would normally begin demonstrating the ailment.  Much to my dismay, it is very rare for a cat to begin demonstrating asthma at this age.  The redeeming quality is that Grendel has asthma and the two are biological brothers.  Still, the odds are very much against that diagnosis.  Let’s hope betting against the odds in this case is a winning proposition.

Unlike Grendel, Loki does not do well with the inhaler.  In fact, he’s never been good at taking any medication.  The only experience with that either of us has is from after his being neutered.  Aside from that, he’s never been sick.  Ever.  If he must take medication regularly, I hope it’s the inhaler since pills are far more difficult.  And dangerous — for me.

This week started out looking so promising.  It has since rapidly spiraled downhill.  There are significant financial concerns that were unplanned with regards to the cats.  The stress of Loki’s trip to see the vet obviously poked a stick into the eyes of a sleeping dragon; that beast awoke right there before us and showed precisely how much danger it posed to He Who Steals Souls.  That means there is the increased stress on Loki with Vazra in the house that only in hindsight seems like a really bad idea.  There is my significant lack of restful sleep due to Vazra’s schedule both before and after his capture.  There is stress from the job search and sudden realization of dramatically increased money outflow without compensating inflow.  There is adult feline integration to be managed that is never easy for anyone involved.  There is, in light of Loki’s sudden health crisis, the increasing concern over Kako‘s health given stress can easily activate her deadly UTI problem, and all of them can feel my stress, and that subsequently increases their stress.  And, stress is bad for Grendel’s asthma as well, not to mention whatever ailment Loki is suffering with.  There is the loss of another pet at the family farm: one of Mom’s cats.  A dog was lost there not to long ago, and a cat shortly before that and another cat shortly before that and another cat shortly before that.  The list goes on, but I already tire of this exploration of my life’s vicissitudes.

The more’s the pity…

So, now I’m signing off for the day.  Be good to each other, poppets, and be good to those you love regardless of how many legs upon which they walk.  Time is a predator and has no qualms with exercising malicious intent at the drop of a hat.

Oh, I still have one more cat to take to the vet.

Vazra‘s first night at home was basically uneventful.  He was not allowed to eat or drink until this morning, so he spent most of the night in the bathroom with a litter box, scratching post, a pallet of blankets and sheets, and some toys.  Thankfully, he spent most of that time sleeping off his post-surgery malaise.

Being in an unfamiliar environment with all manner of sensory overload, he often spent his awake time calling out.  I could immediately elicit much happy purring and talking when I would visit him.  Of course, true to form, he awoke me with forlorn crying around 2:30 in the morning, and then again around 5:00.  I spent some time resting on the bathroom floor with him to make sure he knew I was there and had not abandoned him.  It was then I learned he’s much like Kazon in that he likes to give head butts, including in the face.  He’s a very affectionate cat.

This morning was my first attempt to give him his antibiotics.  That is going to be problematic.  He’s just not interested and gets rather pugnacious.  I look forward to the wounds of war in that regard.  Fortunately, it’s only for ten days.  Hopefully, I’ll survive.

I tried feeding him wet food as recommended since it would irritate his mouth less, but he wanted very little of it and instead enjoyed some dry food once out of the bathroom.  I’d already noticed long ago that he swallows it whole, so maybe that’s not a bad thing.  At least he ate and drank.  I’ll be giving all of them a treat of wet food later and will try again with a different flavor to see if that’s more to his liking (not to mention I’ll cover it with treats that may be more acceptable).

As I suspected, he’s very interested in going back outside.  He sits in the windows or at the doors and cries out — wails, actually — in what is a textbook example of plaintiveness.  This can not be helped, of course, and I have tremendous hope it will diminish over time as he realizes this is his new home and becomes accustomed to it.  Still, one can not help but be touched by the sounds of aloneness that echo throughout the house as he roams from room to room trying to find a way back out to the world which he knows all too well.  I wonder how long he lived there.  Equally, I wonder how long it will take for him to find comfort in his new home.

Kazon generally does not react harshly to Vazra.  It seems more curiosity than anything else, although, as the baby of the house, I must be very careful not to alienate him while trying to make the new fella comfortable.  I think Kazon really just wants to know what the new kid’s all about, whether he’ll be a fun addition to the home, and if he poses a threat.  So far, all the indications from that perspective are good on all counts.

Kako has made it abundantly clear she will not tolerate the interloper.  Little does she know he’s a permanent fixture.  In time, her mood and reaction will both change.  Until then, however, they will require monitoring, more her than him.  She has already lashed out at Vazra, but she has also lashed out at everyone else.  That includes Grendel, her man.  That’s a sure sign she’s very unhappy.  Much of this, no doubt, is in response to her being the only female and the smallest cat in the house.  Luckily, Vazra is not much bigger than she is and is smaller than the other three.  Then there’s the fact that she’s so full of piss and vinegar anyway…

Grendel, on the other hand, has done a bit of investigating, but otherwise he’s relatively the same ol’ cat: taking it all in stride.  He’ll assert his dominance eventually, but, for now anyway, I’ll try to keep that in check so as not to make this more difficult on Vazra than it already is.

Loki has thoroughly surprised me.  While he’s hissed a few times when Vazra got too close, he’s really been unexpectedly blasé about the whole thing.  In fact, his disinterest took me by surprise and made me concerned, something that ended up being quite warranted (more on that in a subsequent post).  For now, let me just say that Loki requires as much monitoring as Vazra does.

Overall, it has not been terribly bad, but it also has not been entirely smooth.  I never expected it would be.  This will take plenty of time and will undoubtedly include violence (some of which will probably be targeted at me, but them’s the breaks).

All of this has taught me a great deal about Vazra.

First, he is not violent in nature.  He’s curious about the rest of The Kids, but he’s neither pushy nor intolerant.  Generally, they are not threats to him thus far.  He walks by them without hissing or swinging, and he has only hissed when one of them has hissed at him first.  This is promising, although it’s not indicative.  The overwhelming change in his status, his surgery and general veterinarian violations, and all the new stimuli he’s subjected to may well be diverting his attention.  Nevertheless, under those circumstances most cats would be increasingly self-protective and violent, so his lack of aggression in this regard is at least promising.

Second, he knows how to work doors.  While in the bathroom, one of the first things he did was open the cupboard doors under the sink in order to investigate.  That’s terribly entertaining and not problematic since the rest of The Kids also have this trait (thanks in no small part to Kazon, I might add).

Third, he is terribly affectionate as I have already stated.  He loves attention.  He purrs with a very satisfying rumble.  He makes bread (kneads his front paws) at the drop of a hat, let alone the moment he’s petted.

Fourth, something I’ve already stated as well as experienced, is his talkativeness.  He loves to talk, and he talks with you.  While he talks from time to time without anyone else involved in the conversation, he thus far has always responded to me vocally when I’ve spoken to him.  He also initiates conversations.  Again, this is something all of The Kids share, so he should fit right in.

Fifth, he is neutered.  Although that’s not really something I learned after bringing him home, I did want to mention it.  That also helps to significantly reduce the cost of registration in Dallas (a waste of money and a violation of civil rights, by the way, not to mention forcing rabies vaccinations being animal cruelty, but I’ll save that tirade for another time).

Sixth, he is litter box trained.  It took only a minute or two after setting him up in the bathroom for him to climb into the box and take care of his business.  Like Kazon, though, he tends to be disinterested in covering up some of his mess.  Unlike Kazon, however, Vazra doesn’t flee from the box after doing a number 2.  At least that he covers.  Kazon just runs from the box as though what he just did is as offensive as it is embarrassing.

Seventh, his desire to return to the outside world often brings him to the door if I am exiting or entering.  I’ll have to watch that closely to ensure he doesn’t sneak out while I’m busy.  Again, I hope this urge will pass with time as he learns his new home inside is much better than the one outside that he left behind.

At present, Vazra has finally gone quiet after finding a comfortable spot on the bed to take a nap.

I will keep you posted on our progress.

[by the time I’d finished editing this post, he’d moved out of the bedroom and is now lying at my feet]