Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Jacko]

Just making a test post... but I feel so old, it took me quite a while just figuring out where to click to make a post     maybe it's the late hour   

This forum is very nice!  I love the cat smilies   

[galensgranny]

Just making a test post... but I feel so old, it took me quite a while just figuring out where to click to make a post     maybe it's the late hour   

This forum is very nice!  I love the cat smilies   

Welcome back, Jacko!  How are Redmon & Smokey doing?

[Jacko]

Hello!  Thanks for remembering their names     They are doing okay, unfortunately the lasting effects of them being poisoned last year have taken a toll on them.  Redmon, who was the strongest and healthest of the two seems to have it worse.  Redmon's seizures are becoming more frequent and his heart apparently isn't pumping right.  The 2 vets I consulted don't seem to do much or even encourage me to try anything.  So I took it upon myself to put Redmon on diuretics to control the fluid in his lung and inbetween his episodes he is okay.  But despite their problems they sure seem happy and content, at least when I get home from work   

About 2 months ago I noticed they stopped eating during the day and just had no energy.  I didn't know what to do but thought maybe they were depressed (I guess that sounds silly) but I didn't know what else to think and I was working so many hours and getting home late.  And since they were poisoned I stopped letting them go out to the cat run on weekends and I'm sure they really miss that.  Anyway, I went to the pet store and bought all kinds of toys, new scratching posts, fur beds, and got them new blankets.  I made a point to spend at least 1/2 hour a day playing with them after work and within a few days they were back to eating and seemed so much happier.  I just wish they could talk and tell us what they need and how they feel.

So how are your cats doing?

[animalangel1]

Hi Jacko!!!!  I was just reading through your posts and I don't seem to recall reading that your cats were poisoned!! I am so sorry!! Do you know what poisoned them?

It sounds to me like your cats were depressed with your being gone alot - they can get bored just like people do.  I'm glad that you're spending more time with them helped them to start eating again.

Welcome back to the forum, by the way... Glad to have you here.

[Maria]

Welcome back Jacko,

I'm sorry about your cats being poisoned.  Wow......that's terrible.  Was it an accident, or did someone try to do this?

I'm glad you're getting more time to spend with them.  I know it affects Molly and Jeremy when I don't spend time with them.  I know Jeremy is depressed when he sleeps more than usual, and won't come to my bed at night.  He's funny, though, as now I know what to do.  If I pick him up and put him on the bed before I go to bed, he will get right off.  He then goes to the bathroom, eats and drinks a little, then comes back.  Just like us!  But he always comes back when I put him there in the evening.  If I don't, and he is depressed, he just stays in the living room on his chair (they each have their chair - and I get the couch!).

Are they doing better since you've been spending time with them?

Maria

[Jacko]

Hello!  It is amazing how they let you know their moods especially when they aren't happy.   

I may not have mentioned them being poisoned, I thought I did but there were so many things happening at the time.  We do know who was responsible, unfortunately nothing could (or would) be done about it by the local authorities because, as they kept telling me, "I had no solid proof connecting the poisoning with the individuals" and also because it seems the police don't take injury to animals as seriously as they should.  I guess the main reason for that are the current laws which consider our pets as "property" and property does not have rights, or very little.  It was a terrible few months with other things that happened but the most devestating of all of it was Smokey and Redmon being hurt.  To then find basically no help or recourse because of legal technicallities was very disheartening.

[animalangel1]

Did you know what type of poison the cats ingested or was treatment a "hit and miss" kind of thing????  I'm so sorry this happened to them!!!!

[Jacko]

We had an independent lab run additional tests on their blood and tissue samples and they determined it was a combination of maybe 3 things but the one that showed without a doubt was Strychnine.  They couldn't be sure but they said the analysis indicated it was absorbed into their systems so quickly they told me it had to have been in either an airborne type powder or possibly in liquid form. 

Even though the cat run that they play in was secure I always kept a check on them, even if it was just looking out the window to check.  I had just been outside with them and went in the house for probably 30 minutes or so and when I came out Redmon was flat on the ground in seizures and foaming at the mouth and Smokey was walking around crying and losing his balance and also foaming at the mouth.  Redmon somehow must have gotten more of the poison.  It was so sad to see those poor babies like that.  At the time I had no idea what had happened, didn't even think about someone poisoning them. All kinds of thoughts ran through my head on the way to the pet hospital, maybe they got stung by a bee or got bit and were allergic or maybe they ate an odd plant I didn't know was there.  It made no sense to me at all until the vet told me his suspicions and we knew definitely once we got the lab results.

Here's their cat run, it's 51 feet long... they just loved being out there:

[animalangel1]

Wow.....that's so sad!!!!  I wonder how it got into your enclosed cat run????  I can't even comprehend why someone would want to hurt your cats on their own property!!!!!  I'm glad they are both ok - it was lucky that you acted as fast as you did to get them to the hospital.  Man.... You must have been beside yourself with worry and fear for them.  I wonder if a neighbor had been putting rat poison around his/her house in powder form and it blew over to your place and the cats maybe inhaled it.  Either way, I'm glad the nightmare is behind you and they are both still with you.

[galensgranny]

I hadn't know the details of the poisoning.  For some reason I thought it was due to the cats having eaten some of the contaminated food from the Menu Foods problem.

That is really horrific that your cats got poisoned when your cats were in their enclosure!