So, I call the vet’s office yesterday morning. I asked for an appointment for today or Monday. “Let me check the book.” She comes back on the line. “You can bring him in at three this afternoon.” Today? I hadn’t planned on taking him in today, I thought. There’s a Woot-off, for heaven’s sake, you don’t leave the house during a Woot-off.
She told me the vet was pretty booked for today. So, I said “okay”.
Around 2:45 (after I missed the legendary BOC on the Woot-off), I started getting him ready, but he wasn’t on the bed. I found him in the litterbox, peeing. I left him there, went out the garage and wiped off the litterbox (it was dusty) and brought it inside and by then, he was done. I put him in and off we went.
click for a larger picBart was put on the scale and he’s lost a little weight since his September 2008 exam. Still has the slight heart murmur. The vet turned Bart over on his back and stretched out his back legs, one at a time. He palpated the knees and ankles. He did the same to Bart’s forelegs. He set Bart upright and started gently squeezing down Bart’s back. He said Bart looked pretty good for his age (Bart turned 18 on Wednesday). Then they took him in the back for his blood draw. One of the reasons I took him was for a blood panel. The vet said that was a smart thing to do. At Bart’s advanced age, best to catch things early. I told him about the scare I had last weekend with Bart and wanted to know if it was kidney disease or just an aberration.
We discussed pain management for the arthritis and if Bart does have kidney disease, there will be no more metacam. He told me something that he’s had good luck with, a compound of glucosamine, chondroitin and bioflavonoids that’s added to food. And the longer Bart gets it, the better he should do on it. We did discuss the shot. I wasn’t sure what it was called. He said “Ativan?” He said if that was it, he wasn’t overly impressed with it. He said it was expensive. He said Bart would get a shot once a week for four weeks, then a maintenance shot once a month. He said that I’d be able to give the shot, but he’d rather we tried the powder first. As for his bad episodes, there’s a med that he gives to animals after surgery, you put it in their cheek and that would help. He gave me a large bottle of the powder and said to give it to Bart each day (only a level half teaspoon mixed with canned food) and to bring him back in three weeks to see how it did. He would call me with the results of Bart’s blood draw.
click for a larger picWe came home, Bart got some of the powder in Fancy Feast and he didn’t have a problem with it. He was glad to be home, that’s for sure.
The phone rang shortly before six and Bart is in the beginning stages of renal failure. So, no more metacam. He said he wanted Bart to start on Calcitriol, the same thing Miss and Ollie are on. He checked their prescriptions and Bart can share with Ollie.
So, that’s it. That’s the latest scoop on Bart.
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