The Ripley Saga

 My little family has been keeping me on my toes. 

I bought this rug for the room where I fell and broke my hand.
Used to be just bare wood.
Ripley, who normally doesn't like "new" things in the house,
has claimed it as his own.

 Late in October, Ripley walked across the room and something caught my eye. His back legs (which are white) looked, ah, brown? I caught up with him and indeed, both his legs were stained with something -- poop? or...? I first tried to wash it off with a wet cloth, didn't work, so wasn't poop. Upon further examination I started to worry it was dried blood. Whatever it was, he needed to be cleaned up.

So into the kitchen sink went Ripley for a warm sitz bath. Now if you have every tried to bathe a cat, you know what a feat that can be. He struggled and cried as I gently scrubbed him with Mane and Tail shampoo and soft natural sponge. We both were soaked. Still I didn't see anywhere he was bleeding.

As I started to pull him out of the water to towel him off, he grabbed onto my head. With his claws. Into my scalp. 

So there I am, wet cat stuck on my head. Bleeding. Pulling out one paw, only to have the other grip on tighter. Pulling the other out, only to have his "free" paw latch into my scalp again. Finally, bleeding, in pain and exhausted I just let him go without drying him off. He fled.

I made an emergency appointment with his doctor. He had one scheduled for Nov. 12, but I didn't want to wait that long worried something was seriously wrong with him. (Internal bleeding?)

He is a totally different cat in the doctor's mobile clinic. They pull him out of his crate, plop him on the stainless steel table and he just goes limp. Sort of melts into the table, tail and feet tucked under him, flat as a 17 lb. furry pancake. They poke and prod and he just lets them go at it. The doctor always remarks what "an easy relaxed kitty" he is -- yeah right. She finds a wound on his back thigh, hidden under all that fluffy fur, where he has been licking which caused the bleeding.

After a thorough exam and x-rays, turns out he has severe arthritis in his back legs and hips. Doctor said a cat will lick where it hurts. She gives him an injection of a new drug called Solensia for arthritis pain in cats. She draws blood which was due. Gives me a wound cleaning kit which I have to do twice a day for a week. And $900+ later we are done. (That was my birthday.) 

Blood tests come back and his T4's are too high. (He has hyperthyroidism.) She tells me to double the dose, which means a larger pill. Now he was taking his pills nicely, hidden in cheese, but these are bigger and now he's refusing. Every morning is a struggle of shoving a pill down his throat. He starts hiding from me in the mornings. Waiting for me to leave the kitchen before he'll come out for breakfast. For some reason, he will eat the evening pill in the cheese but not the morning pill. I tell you, I was thinking I need a cat whisperer to figure him out.

Finally, I tried giving his morning pill on the couch instead of in the kitchen. Now, every morning I cover the pill in cheese, bring out his special cheese plate, set in on the couch and he will eat it there, but not in kitchen. I, of course, have to watch him like a hawk so he actually eats the pill and also so Kona doesn't steal the cheese.

He had a recheck last week. Good news, his T4 is back in normal range. Good news, the Solensia seems to be working, he's actually playful again! Bad news, that Solensia shot needs to be given monthly by a doctor. It's not cheap. But then, he is worth it.

The Kona Saga will be next..... stay tuned.