Attention On Mikey

This is Mikey, My Outdoor Cat

Mikey is my totally outdoor cat.  He does not like to come in at all.  Oh he will sneak in but he makes a very fast beeline to the other door which is about 12 feet from the other door.

Don't get me wrong because he is not a stray or feral by any means.  He was born outside and that is where he chose to live all his life.  He is 8 years old now.  He only ventures out of the yard to my neighbors across the street.  He likes to chase mice out from under my neighbor's sheds. Otherwise he stays near the house.

Well we have had a go around and a time of it the last couple of days.  See Mikey doesn't get sick, he never gets fleas and he is the most healthy cat that I have ever had.  I don't know why his system is different than any of the many other cats that I have had, but I like it.  He hasn't been to a vet since he got fixed in 2008.  No need.  This time he was close to being taken to the vet though.




On Thursday I noticed that he licked a spot on his back close to his right haunch (thigh).  I looked at it and it was just a poke, small and I thought it was from another cat when they fight, but I do not think that was the case.

It was bad enough for me to do anything with. The next morning he had licked at it so much that the sore was a small hole and it started to bleed.  Well I had to bring him in to get that fixed up.  He wasn't too cooperative with that deal.  He cried all night.  I couldn't get him to stay still enough and stop licking it.

The next morning he had it the size of a quarter.  I tried to tie something around him so that the Triple Antibiotic ointment that I put on his sore would stay there.  No such luck.  It was grating on my patience.  We did go to a vet and got that collar, but he broke that within an hour.

Then I finally got him and cleaned him up and put more ointment on him and added a bit of Vicks so that he would not lick it.  Oh my goodness that cat is stubborn!  He got that tie off within 5 minutes!  Mind you by the time that I got a hold of him this time his sore was a gaping hole.  I was at my wits end.

This is Duke when he was much younger
and had his black mussel

Mind you that morning I tripped over my dog Duke and was very sore. As I came down I was grabbing for something to break my fall.  We have half doors and I hit the one side of the left door and caught it on my neck and shoulder.  I managed to get up,  I do not like falling because I have had three DVT's an in the same leg that I fell on and bruised my knee.  That was scaring the beegeebee's out of me and I watched my leg all day for any signs of the red veins going up my leg.  Thankfully that did not happen.

Duke is now in some pain and we had to give him his pain meds last evening and this morning.

Finally something came to mind to use on Mikey that I forgotten that I had.  I got these to put the cats in if I had ever had to give them a bath.  It  is called a Klaw Control Grooming Bag It did not come to mind to use it on Mikey so that he would not lick his sore and it could heal up.  Now putting it on Mikey was a challenge in itself.  It took us two times before we got it on him.  Oh he was not a happy camper when we finally did.  He acted like we killed him or something.  He would not move or anything.  I thought that I hurt him in some way.  So he slept in that all night and he did not like it.  This morning though when I got up, he was able to eat his tiny bit of canned food with meds in it.  That was a good sign.  Then I did let him out of the crate to walk around.  I knew that he could walk around because when I held him last night he moved his toes and he stretched in my arms.  Silly for making me think that I hurt him when I did not.  He did walk around and he drank water, which he had not wanted to do the last couple of days and he actually ate the kibble.  I opened the back door and let him get fresh air through the screen door and he did potty and he is making a whole lot better progress.  I am happy that he will heal.  She still isn't happy because he wants back outside.  Once he heals in the next couple of days he will go back outside and everyone will be happy campers!

Mikey, Mikey, Mikey in his younger days.

© Debra K. Allen a.k.a Lady Guinevere

I researched and wrote this article. Please do not copy and paste any part of this article, picture included for your own use. I will find you and report you for stealing.  It is my right to change any information therein at any time and/or change the location of my article. 

What Is Feline AIDS

This was Bambi, my cat who got Feline AIDS from another cat back in 1991.  We had to put him to sleep in 1992.

Many people that I have talked with in many places did not have any idea that cats could get AIDS (Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome) or even that there was such a thing. For this reason I pulled this information from my article about the importance of Spaying/Neutering Your Cats and Other Animal Companions. Your cat can also be a carrier and not show signs of the disease. Auto Immune Deficiency means that the body attacks its own immune system.

Feline AIDS cannot be transferred from cat to human or vice versa. It is very similar to Human AIDS in that it is passed from human to human only this is passed from cat to cat.

Much like the Human AIDS, which is incurable, so it is with Feline AIDS. Once they get the virus they can never get rid of it. Ten years ago Vets would put the cat down who had shown the virus in a blood sample. I know I had a cat that was put down because he got it from a cat that was left on our doorstep. I learned the hard way when I brought a cat inside that someone had left in a towel on our doorstep. One of my cats was a very nurturing cat and unbeknownst to us he had licked her tears. None of the other cats that we had got the disease and we couldn't figure out why. He was the only one who nurtured anyone and never really bothered my other cat. We didn't know anything about Feline AIDS then.

Symptoms of Feline AIDS from the initial onset to the final stage of the disease are

Fever

Listlessness

Gum infections and the loss of teeth.

Lack of and sudden weight loss

Cats who get colds easily find it hard to heal.

The second stage of the illness Cats can stay at the 2nd stage for the rest of their lives if they are well cared for. At times the cat may not want to eat or lack the willpower to do so, but you can experiment with foods from Special Cat foods, to canned foods and even human and baby foods. The best ones that I have found that they will eat is raw hamburger but you can try fish and chicken as well. .

In the 3rd stage the immune system totally breaks down and the cat is very ill. The cat's organs start to fail rapidly. These signs are the same as Feline Leukemia and most will be put down if you haven't lost them first. My Little Black Cat, I think, had Feline AIDS but I think she was a carrier or the signs never really showed up until later in her life. She passed at age 19. She got colds easily and they would take a long time to go away and near the last year of her life she had problems keeping food down. It was hard finding something that she would eat and keep down. The Vet even gave her a special formula for senior cats, but she wouldn't even take a bite of that.

Since then I have found RAW Foods such as beef, chicken, turkey, venison and duck are great. Raw chicken wing or legs are the favorites of kittens and some Outdoor unneutered/spayed cats. My cats and dog love RAW hamburger or ground chuck. Chicken Livers is a very good source of vitamins and minerals, but only give it once a week because it zaps the Vitamin "A" from their bodies. You can also add carrots and apples to the mixture. They also suggested giving them Cottage Cheese, but I have never gotten any of my animals to eat that or Rice. I guess it depends on the cat.

Just like the Human AIDS, the care it takes becomes a labor of love and there is no cure as of yet.

© Debra K. Allen a.k.a Lady Guinevere

I researched and wrote this article. Please do not copy and paste any part of this article, picture included for your own use. I will find you and report you for stealing.  It is my right to change any information therein at any time and/or change the location of my article.