Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Check ups for Tucker and Benny

Yesterday, I brought the boys in for check ups. Benny, as usual, did great and is doing well. I had opened the top of his carrier and was petting him. He was a cooperative patient, like he always is.
Getting a pet. He looks sad here, but he was purring at the time.
Tucker boy didn't check out as well--but it's not terrible news. He had a chest x-ray to monitor his cancer. The growth went from 1.2 cm to about 2 cm in six months' time. While I was intially disheartened, to grow only 1 cm in 18 months is pretty darn good.

I also asked the vet about Tucker's teeth. He's been eating slower, sometimes not finishing his portion. A few times, the other cats have even pushed him away from his plate, and he just walked away. She saw some bad tartar and gum inflammation on his back teeth. She was able to scale some of the tartar, but he got quite upset so she stopped.

She gave me a course of antibiotics to reduce inflammation and I'm going to start brushing his teeth every day. (When we had two cats, I was quite good about brushing, but it seems three cats is the tipping point.) She could do a dental on him if needed but would rather not, given his health issues. She told me to monitor his eating and see how he does.

I had taken his carrier apart and he was quite confused. However, it let me have better access and I didn't have to pry him out.
This is not acceptable.
I will update this post when I have the bloodwork back. However, our vet didn't expect anything to be unusual.

7 comments:

The Rosie Bee said...

Continuing to pray for Tucker! Also, I love, love, love that last picture. It's my favorite when kitties curl up like that. :)

Fuzzy Tales said...

Continued purrs from us for Tucker. Our vet won't even attempt scaling unless the cat is under anesthetic. I know Derry needs a cleaning again, it's been almost three years. He won't let me look in his mouth, but the odd time I'm close enough when he yawns, I can see the tartar on the one or two remaining back teeth.

Fingers and paws crossed for Tucker's blood work--and for brushing his teeth. I can't manage to get the boys to let me do that!

Anonymous said...

*hugs* Glad you all made it through the vet visits.

And you're reminding me - I should probably try to get a better look at how Cassie's teeth are doing and/or bite the bullet and get dentals scheduled.

Connie - Tails from the Foster Kittens said...

I've started scaling my own cat's teeth with my fingernails.. I get quite a lot of tartar off myself.. I wish I could brush more, but seriously, with seven cats and two who KNOW I'm up to no good when ever I even THINK about teeth (heck when I think about my own sometimes they run) I don't get as much done as I would like. I keep trying different supplements to help remove tartar.. maybe one of these days I'll find something that works well.

Roberta said...

Benny and Tucker looked so cute in their carriers. They have to pry Tiny out of his. I hope the brushing will help Tucker's teeth so he can start munching on food again. Purring for good test results.

The Island Cats said...

Good luck with brushing Tucker's teefs. We hope it helps and his mouth feels better. We're purring for him.

Angel, Kirby and Max said...

WE are glad they are doing well. We never have a problem getting out of the carrier when we get home!

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