Meshach's Turn

Yow...Yow...Yow... (translated---I wanna go home!!!)

Last night was Meshach's turn to go to the vet. As I mentioned in the previous post, he has been having a few 'problems'. One was very stinky breath, and the other was the 'twitchy back'. Little Beaster (as I often call him.. for no particular reason...) was not happy about being crammed in the PTU and toted out to the truck. For most of the journey over to the vet's he demonstrated his unhappiness---loudly. He has very few 'Siamese' traits, but he does have the voice when he chooses to use it. Boy, did he choose last night. It's 38 miles to the vet's, so I got to hear an earful. Add to that the stinky breath issue and I was mighty glad to pull into the vet's!

Meshach settles in for the trip..but mouth is still in motion!

I went armed with video clips of Meshach and his twitchy problem. I really feel a bit bad about not getting him into the vet's for the bad breath problem a little sooner. I just had it in my mind that he needed to have his teeth cleaned and I was afraid to see him have to go under anesthesia.

It didn't take the vet long to diagnose that he has gingivitis. Ouch. His teeth are really in good shape, very clean for his age, and not loose (yet), but left unchecked the gum disease will eventually cause his teeth to loosen and fall out, plus of course not to mention the ulceration in the mouth itself. Hopefully it's been caught in time and will respond well to the antibiotics. Time will tell. It was interesting that the vet gave him a shot of Convenia which is a somewhat new antibiotic that lasts up to fourteen days! So no trying to shove pills or liquid meds down his throat several times a day. Wow... He also got a shot of Depo Medrol to help relieve the inflammation. So far he seems to already be improving. I hope that he does well. It's always a bit worrisome, especially as they get older.

After receiving the diagnoses about the gingivitis, I then asked about the twitchy back. Well... I was pretty much blown off, but this didn't surprise me. The vet said it was from 'itching' and that it was very common. I told him I thought it was a little more than just 'itching' but didn't get much response. He did say that the depo will probably help relieve the symptoms of the twitching for awhile. (and by golly I think it has for the moment anyway!)

So, how do you really feel, Meshach...Meshach????

The official name of this condition is Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome (FHS), you can learn more about it by clicking the link. Meshach does not have it as severely as some cats do, but it is still distressful for him at times. When he first started manifesting it, I did quite a bit of research and learned there is often no obvious reason why cats display this ailment.

So for now, we've gotten the main problem under treatment, and hopefully the treatment will help with the other as well.

Back at home Sage was waiting for his PTU/new bed to get back (oh, and his brother too, of course!)