Nathan T Cat

Nathan el diablokitty.

I haven't been on good terms with Nathan lately, I didn't really understand him. I began to wonder if Natalie was dominating him. We can trust her a lot more, and so she's the cat that gets to sleep on our bed in the mornings, sit on our laps as much as she likes and generally be as near us as she pleases. This is because she hasn't done piss/spray droplets on us or our floors. As far as we know.

Poor Nathan. It can't be much fun being an undersized male cat (although he's not even one year old yet) and having your smaller sibling own you whenever she pleases. His rodent ulcers/eosinophilic granuloma has got a lot worse over the last 48 hours too. I'll try to get a picture. I read in Cat vs Cat by Pam Johnson-Bennett that when a cat is ill, it instantly loses any dominance. Poor poor Nathan. No wonder he's been feeling a bit sorry for himself.

I decided to buy him a new scratching post, for the room he prefers when they're in the house. I've done this and hope he gets to enjoy it. Natalie definitely scratches more than him, and does so at the foot of the stairs at least twice a day. I'm not sure what that means in terms of territory and boundaries, but she's a very scent-marky cat with her face and the whole house, and us, must just stink of her to Nathan.

I was really pleased with a spot purchase though. It's a dog blanket for cars for wet dogs to sit on so that they don't ruin the upholstery. But what else would it be perfect for? Allowing a cat to sit on one's lap without the fear that piss/spray will end up on your clothing. I've already had him on my lap twice today and he got so excited he dribbled! I love it when cats dribble, you know they're really happy then. So, we'll persevere with that, and the great thing about it, that as we'll only use it with Nathan, it'll smell of him and hopefully reduce his desire to "mark" us with urine (well, that should be ME really) when he's on our laps. Win win all round.

Not such a diablokitty after all.

Continuing Rodent Ulcer/Eosinophilic Granuloma

Well, it's sort of getting bigger, but completely not bothering him at all:



Don't worrry that it looks like we're strangling him, it's fine, and only for a few seconds. Not a great picture due to the flash, but the left side of his face, just above the lip, has swelled up a bit. It's a little "crusty" under the fur, and some has come out. It's been a bit weepy but is quite dry today. It doesn't seem to bother him at all.

So, I'm wondering what's going on with it really, and thinking that the food is actually helping the situation, instead of being random advice.

As I've said before, when the previous rodent ulcer came up, his lip was a bit swollen on the Monday and by the time I took him to the vet on the next Wednesday, less than three days later, it had become red, crusty and oozy. Disgusting.

This one has been going on for about three weeks. It is a bit crusty and oozy from time to time, but not red and not in a place that's going to cause him any bother. It does look like an eosinphilic granuloma, but nothing like as bad as some of the pictures I've seen on the internet. I'm making the assumption that the hypoallergenic food is doing some good and reducing the amount of time the reaction is taking to develop. Or perhaps there is far less of whatever he is allergic to. Or perhaps it's something completely different.

The best result for me, would be if it went back down and we could try him on some other food to see how that goes. It would be useful to take him for a biopsy, but I'm not keen at all on the idea of a general anaesthetic and the cost is rather high. Poor little cat's had a lifetime of being messed with so it would be nice if this would just resolve itself.

The beginning of a rodent ulcer

I just pinned Nathan to the floor with one hand and took a picture of the burgeoning ulcer with the other. Quite proud of myself, and him. He did attempt a scratch with a back leg, but I moved too quickly for him. Dopey cat. Today he managed to get himself lost in a fitted sheet that he was lying on (we are not keen housekeepers) and he's currently having a fight with a curtain. Bless his lack of brain cells.

Anyway, it's rather blurry but I want to document the progression of the ulcer. It's not coming up too quickly, really. With the last one, all of three weeks ago, his lip was swollen on the Monday, and sore, red and weeping by the Wednesday. This has been trying to rise since before the weekend. Of course, he still has some steroid in his system, but perhaps the special diet is helping in some way. I'm sure it'll still come up, and then it's off to the vet for a general anaesthetic and a biopsy, leaving us a little lighter in pocket. All the biopsy will tell us is whether the problem really is eosinophilic granulomae, but doesn't tell us what is causing it.

The vet said 90% of the cause of the condition is an allergy to flea bites. I've read on the internet that just one or two flea bites can cause the ulcer to start. We do treat him with Frontline regularly, and the vet checked him all over again for flea dirt, finding none. But I'm sure a treated cat can be bitten and thus cause a reaction. Apart from keeping him inside, and possibly his sister too, which they'd hate, what else can be done? Then, there's the 10% of cause which may be food allergy.

In order to find out what the food allergy could be, we'd have to cook him food ourselves and a food he's never had before. I read somewhere that cats like variety in their diet, this means that the only meat he's never had is....venison. Yeah, as if I'm going to buy venison for a bloody cat! Not going to happen. Well, I say that now. I also said that I'd never allow a cat on the bed, in case it pissed on it. Guess what happened yesterday morning...This cat is pure trouble, I'm telling you.

Face Herps

Just back from the vet with Nathan. We've just finished a course of steroids for his rodent ulcers/eosinophilic granuloma and it's starting to come up again.

The vet, however, had slightly different ideas. We'd had in mind asking for a long supply of steroids to try to keep it at bay. The vet said that wasn't a good idea and he'd only be willing to treat if the granuloma/ulcer comes up badly as it has done previously. That'll be in about three days then.

I think we're going to stop treating him with the steroids, in spite of being given a few, and then go in for a biopsy when the burgeoning ulcer inevitably makes an appearance. This will make sure the condition is actually eosinophilic granuloma. And then, perhaps we'll have to see what happens with the medication at that point.

I'll try to get some photos of it as it progresses, as it will be useful for records. I'll have to figure out how to do a "jump" or "cut" as us LJ types put it. Watch this space. Or not, if you're squeamish.

Stupid Cat Owner

Nathan's rodent ulcers can be an allergic reaction to food and flea bites. I read on the internet that just one or two flea bites can cause an ulcer to flare up. So, I decided, to be a good cat parent, I'd treat the areas in the house they frequent with flea powder. You simply sprinkle it on to the carpet, leave it a while, then vacuum clean it back up. What could be simpler?

Two hours of vacuuming later, I'm sure we'll be finding those little white granules in our shoes and probably our bed, and it's still not done. I've become the grumpiest person ever known to exist on a bank holiday and the fact remains that we didn't even have fleas.

This is what is called going way too far for your cats.

Nathan

This is Nathan, the boy cat. He is the more friendly of the two, but also more insecure. He has a condition called rodent ulcers, or esinophilic granuloma. It's an allergic reaction, usually to fleas or food. His upper lip swells up and I call him Zoidberg. Rob thinks this is mean, but it's funny. He's less than a year old and spent most of his life having a pill or two rammed down his throat twice a day. Poor kitty. So now, during this latest flare up, we've decided that we're going to try an exclusion diet so he's just eating James Wellbeloved fish dry food night and day. Just this morning, he found a piece of half chewed bread my dad dropped and gobbled it up. He loves food and it's a bit sad that he can't have any ham or chocolate treats which he LOVES. But vet's bills are expensive!

He doesn't like having water sprayed in his face, which happens sometimes when we are pilling him. He also doesn't like being pilled, being grabbed before being pilled, and the bit after the pill has been ingested.

He does like pretending to be a badass by chasing his sister round the house, climbing our fugly faux velvet curtains, lying on windowsills and being brushed. He also likes me a bit too much and has been known to do little urine scent mark on me. He doesn't sit on my lap anymore, dirty bugger.