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Surgery Schedule Tuesday May 12th

Hey Guys! Mom took me to the vet the other day after she discovered a small marble sized lump on my back left leg where the human's calf muscle would be. The vet did a biopsy of it and found it was a lipoma. The simple version of that is it's a fatty benign tumor, which is common in dogs but somewhat rare in cats. The vet said it's the first time he's encountered this in his practice. The humans agreed, as a precaution they would have the tumor removed so that it doesn't develop into something worse. It's also in a location that would cause mobility issues for me if it continued to grow. So, my surgery is scheduled for this Tuesday, May 12th to have it removed.

purrs & headbonks,
Cally

PS: Mom had to reschedule the surgery from Friday May 8th to Tuesday May 12th.

Meow Meow Update!

Hey Everykitty!

I'm doing so much better now. I've been on a low dose anti-inflammatory and it's working wonders. Mom keeps telling me to take it easy, don't be jumping off stuff - but I feel great. I've got full range of motion in my tail and I just feel like a brand new kitten! Mom is trying to encourage me to use the little stairs and ottoman, so I don't further injury myself. Thanks for all the purrs and get well wishes.

headbonks & whiskerlicks,
Cally

Update on Cally

Yesterday, I called the vet because she's almost 100% except for the little weirdness in her tail. The vet agreed that an xray would be a good idea and see what's going on.

We had an xray done on her today. We found out she had an old vertebra injury (like many, many years ago) in the middle of her back. With her recently falling off the window sill back in January, that could have triggered what we *thought* were seizures. As a side note, that's the day when she didn't land gracefully from the kitchen window, ran through the living room with her tail in an inverted U, and did the weird shaky/sway motion. What we didn't know is that it destabilized her two vertebras under the old vertebra injury (total of 3 vertebras affected now), and it's causing some nerve problems for her. The vet put her on a low dose anti-inflammatory for a little bit, so that'll help the recent injury and make her feel better.

He did mentioned something about *something* shift syndrome. I'll have to research that. It's where cats don't realize where their feet are after an injury like this, and will fall off window sills, beds, couches, etc. That explains why Cally, over the last many many years, hasn't had good balance.

So this weekend, we'll be working on getting our house "handi-cat" accessible and ready. I don't want her to hurt or injure herself more - so here comes the cat stairs & ramps! =^..^= My girl is going to get pampered even more, she's already spoiled but I don't think she'll mind the extra love.

If anyone knows of a protective bubble that is available for cats, please let me know. :)

- Cally's Mom

Cally's Episodes

A note from Cally's Mom:

Cally has been having something similar to a seizure over the last two months. The first episode on 1/16/09 scared us. She had all four paws straight out, with her back arched, body still as a board and mild shaking. She repeatedly tried to roll to her right side, with her tail in an inverted U. We took her to the vet ran a lot of diagnostic tests - which all came back as negative. The only thing that showed on the blood is that her body did experience a stress event. He suspected she might have a mild form of seizures, but it was too early to tell if that was the case. Last Sunday 2/15/09, Cally had
another episode, this one milder than the first. She meowed, walked a little funny, then flopped down on her right side, with her tail in an odd shape. She laid there for a minute while I attempted to locate my camera to videotape it. We were able to get her up and moving around, and saw that she walked normally, except for her tail. It was in a vertical "U" shape again, however this time it was bending to the left. Despite our efforts, her tail would not uncoil. After about 30 minutes, her tail went back to normal and it was like it never happened.

We've been watching her pretty closely. On Thursday night 2/19/09 around 12:00am, she had another episode. I just came out of the bathroom, and she was standing there waiting for me and meowed. She ran through the hall and darted under the chair. I attempted to lure her out, and made her walk a little. She kept her tail completely straight and pointing to the ground. The tail looked lifeless. We tried to move it around, check it for any broken bones, everything - the tail would not go back to normal (she normally walks with it straight out behind her, or up in the air to greet people). At around 1am, the tail continued to remain in the same pointing down position, however she was able to use the base of her tail to slightly lift it. I checked on her on Thursday morning around 7am,
she's regained some vertical movement with the tail - it looks like a horizontal arc. Around 11 am, I noticed that she was able to slightly curl the tip of her tail to the left and lift the tail higher, she's also "wagging" her tail while running.

Cally had an appt with the vet yesterday. The doctor thinks it's Idiopathic epilepsy with Petit Mal seizures, but it could also be a tumor, spinal cord lesion or FIP. He doubts it's FIP, but epilepsy, a tumor or lesion could be a greater possibility. The next 15 hours are going to tell a lot. The doctor want to wait and see how she progresses. She may need a Xray, but if there is soft tissue damage it may not show. Hence, we're looking into the possibility of a CT Scan or MRI, and perhaps a neurologist. The procedures are very expensive and she would have to be sedated during those events. She doesn't handle sedation very well, and has a really hard time waking up from them.

Now on to good news. She's drinking, eating, playing and going to the bathroom normally. She has improved her tail mobility - she was at 0% Thursday morning around 12:30 am, and yesterday afternoon she was at 50%. Right now she's able to use about 75% of her tail, only about 2-4 inches from the tip are kind of flopping around and she's not sure what to do with it. I have tried some "tail therapy" with her, massaging the tail and using a little resistance to get her to use the muscles. It seems to be helping, she was able to move the tip of her tail to the left and right after the session, in that "unsure about what's going on here" tail signal. So far, that's the highlight of my day. I'm praying it's just seizures and there isn't an underlying cause like a tumor. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, and she does let you know she can feel her tail. So I know there are nerve endings there, and it's working, she's just having a problem with getting the tail muscles on the same page. She had 2 prior seizure like episodes within the last month or so, this is the only one to have any residual effects.

I'm hopeful, that this is just a temporarily paralysis and it'll go away over time. I'm not sure if this is related to the seizures or if it's something else. Please keep her in your prayers.

Thank you for all the get well wishes and Power-of-the-Paws.
Love,
Cally's Mom

Poem for Cats

Here's a little poem that my beloved Spencer and his Mom passed along. I just wanted to share with you.

POEM FOR CATS

And Creator asked the feline spirit
"Are you ready to come home?"
"Oh, yes, quite so," replied the precious soul
"And, as a cat, you know I am most able
To decide anything for myself."
"Are you coming then?" asked Creator.
"Soon," replied the whiskered angel,
"But I must come slowly
For my human friends are troubled.
For you see, they need me, quite certainly."
"But don't they understand?" asked Creator
"That you will never leave them?
That your souls are intertwined? For all eternity?
That nothing is created or destroyed?
It just is ... forever and ever and ever?"
"Eventually they will understand,"
Replied the glorious cat,
"For I will whisper into their hearts
That I am always with them
I just am ... forever and ever and ever."
- Author Unknown

Tidbits of Tabby Wisdom

As I get older, I feel inclined to share my tabby wisdom with the younger whippersnappers out there...
Here are some quotes on knowledge that I love.. Just sit there and meow about it.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create." - Albert Einstein

"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." - Carl Jung

Captive Audience

As some of you cats know, you can create a captive audience out of your humans. It's all about timing.

This is what you do. When your humans decide to visit their "litterbox", you have to sneak in behind them before they close the door. While they are busy in their litterbox, they don't usually have access to such gadgets like a phone, tv, computer or a magazine. This is when you can gain their undivided attention without distractions or potential escape.

Start first by staring at them and meowing loudly. This action will usually make the human pet you on the head or the back. Insist on further attention by placing your front paws on their legs. This usually gets more petting or potential pick-up & snuggle session. If the human doesn't seem interested in a snuggle session, try the headbunting tactic where you headbunt the human's hand while having the front two paws off the ground and then landing, creating a "hop" effect. This usually gets a positive response out of the human. Finally, you can use your tail to get a petting response by brushing it under their legs. However, this tactic should be use with caution because some humans are highly ticklish.

If all these attempts fail to capture your humans attention, try sticking your nose in their litterbox while they're using it. That is sure to get a reaction from your captive audience. *giggle*

Happy Headbunting!
-Cally

Vote for me!

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http://www.catster.com/show07/vote_pet.php?i=102804

or you can click on the badge on my website.

purrs & headbonks
Cally

Kitties on the MOVE!

Mom called us Lewis & Clark (aka Cally & Pixel) because we spent the entire night "exploring" and getting into boxes, windows, behind the TV, tearing up rugs and just exacting overall mischiefness.

Boy.. was exploring our new place PAWSOME! We're really excited about our new home and we have already established territories. We had two hissing fights on Mom's nightstand at 3am & 5am to determine who gets what cat bed and who gets to sleep where on the human bed.

Mom was such a party pooper last night. She got up six times to tell us to knock it off and go to bed. She knows that confining us in a bathroom would only lead to move havoc.. so she didn't do that... you know, Cally tearing up doors and crying to the top of her lungs. Mom's a bit cranky this morning.. whining about only getting 2.5 hours of sleep last night.

She really should take more catnaps like us! *brief cat nap then wakes up* Okay.. Let's go explore some more!