I requested for the vet to check Cow Mau during the house call today.
Cow Mau has been having several problems lately. (1) He frequently paws his mouth during eating as though there is a lot of pain inside his mouth. This is despite 3 dentals and I’m certainly not putting him through another one. Cow Mau already has all his teeth removed except for the incisors and the canines. But being FIV+, he will be prone to gum inflammation. The vet said I could try flushing his mouth with water so that the stuck food will not irritate his gums. (2) Cow Mau has been having brownish liquid discharge from his eyes. I was told previously that this is due to blockage in his sinuses and the only way would be to sedate him to clear the blockages and again, I don’t want to put him under any sedation at his age.
Cow Mau is 17 years 3 months old.
So the vet took a swab of his nasal and eye discharge to take back to examine at the clinic. The vet also said Cow Mau actually has a runny nose (which I didn’t know) and I could start him on Bromhexine (a mucolytic) and Cetirizine (an anti-histamine) first.
As soon as the vet got back, she examined the swab and texted to tell me that there’s bacteria in it. So it’s best to bring Cow Mau to the clinic to take a proper swab to send to the lab to identify just what bacteria it is.
All the round purple spots are bacteria.
So I asked for an appointment and we took Cow Mau to the clinic this afternoon.
The plan is to put Cow Mau on Doxycycline first pending the results of the swab test from the lab since we have to address the infection now. The results from the lab would take 4-5 working days. Cow will also be on Cetirizine and Bromhexine for the runny nose.
The vet checked Cow’s mouth and there is a lot of gum inflammation where his teeth used to be. No wonder he is in such pain. Poor Cow Mau. Being FIV-positive can cause this (the gum inflammation).
And as you know, Cow Mau is a super tahan lasak type of cat, so he will endure pain. He has been eating at every meal, but halfway through he would paw vigorously and that’s when I will replace his meal with Cindy’s baby food as it’s pureed and easier to eat. The pawing happens at every single meal.
For the severe gum inflammation, the vet wanted to give Cow Mau a steroid injection (Vetacortyl) whose effect will last for 2 weeks, but we needed to see if Cow could take it. This depends on his liver and kidney readings. The vet said one option is to give the jab today (based on last year’s readings, which were all normal), then if he needs another jab, a blood test would have to be taken.
Since the last blood test was taken one year ago, Cow Mau was due for another geriatric blood test, so I said we might as well do the blood test today.
So, blood was drawn and we waited for the results.
I half-expected it to be not-so-good as both Cow’s siblings, Pole and Bunny had chronic kidney disease and Cleo has it too (Cleo is Cow’s niece). CKD can be genetic. Moreover, Cow is already 17 years old. That’s quite geriatric.
As it turns out, it was good news!
Cow Mau’s kidney readings are all within the normal range!! His SDMA is 8 (very normal, no threat). His creatinine and urea are both normal. In fact, his urea reading has improved too. His glucose is normal as well. And all his liver and gall bladder readings are also normal!
Only the TP and globulin levels are elevated and this is because of the gingivitis and inflammation.
So, we could safely give him the Vetacortyl injection.
The vet said to add Vetri DMG for Cow Mau too, to help with boosting his immunity.
So, for now, until the results of the swab test comes back, Cow is on Cetirizine 1/2 tab per day, Bromhexine 1/2 tab per day, Vetri DMG 0.5ml per day, Doxy 1/2 tab per day. For the eye discharge, Cow has been given Gentamycin-Pos eye ointment. He was so cooperative when the vet applied it on both his eyes today. Let’s hope I have the same luck too, at home!
Cow will also be on Orozyme daily. It contains enzymes to prevent dental plague.
Back home, eating a soft diet snack after dinner.
The Doxy tablet must always be given with food so that it won’t get lodged in the esophagus, so I put the piece along with the rest into a capsule and plonk it all in.
Let’s hope the medicines work and the mouth pain will go away.