Had a nasty scare with our cat today!

Einstein, our 7-year-old gray cat had to go in for some dental work today. When they put him under anesthesia his heart stopped! Luckily we have the world's best veterinarian and they performed cat CPR. Needless to say he didn't get the work done so we will have to attack the bad tooth from another angle, but we are SO happy to have him home! He goes to Portland Wednesday for a heart specialist to check him out. After what happened to our other cat we are making sure Einy lives a long time so it's worth the money. He got some Tuna from a can tonight and extra lovin'.

His picture is in one Nibbler's updates:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/reader-rides/969/

So you vet gave your cat some drugs that caused him to OD? or did you cat just have an allergic reaction?

They don't know if he has an underlying heart condition or if he truly had an allergic reaction to the anesthesia. That's why he's seeing the specialist on Wednesday. They didn't administer any other drugs before the heart failure, just the anesthesia. Our vet is very, very good and felt really horrible about almost losing Einy. She has his female doppleganger and has taken care of all of our pets, including putting Dude down (our 18-year-old male orange tabby).

Glad to hear that Einstein's OK

A vet once gave me some cat toothpaste and a tiny brush to prevent plaque buildup (siamese cats are notorious for their bad teeth). Can you imagine any cat sitting still for that? Reading the ingredients, I noticed that it contained a lot of peroxide - I've been rinsing my own teeth with that for years and rarely have problems with plaque. So, I started rubbing a q-tip dipped in peroxide on my cats teeth - been doing it regularly for several years (and several cats) now. The vet often comments on how good their teeth are. Peroxide's cheap too... 99¢ versus ten bucks for cat toothpaste.

Dental work? Can I be your cat?

Lesley wrote: Glad to hear that Einstein's OK A vet once gave me some cat toothpaste and a tiny brush to prevent plaque buildup (siamese cats are notorious for their bad teeth). Can you imagine any cat sitting still for that? Reading the ingredients, I noticed that it contained a lot of peroxide - I've been rinsing my own teeth with that for years and rarely have problems with plaque. So, I started rubbing a q-tip dipped in peroxide on my cats teeth - been doing it regularly for several years (and several cats) now. The vet often comments on how good their teeth are. Peroxide's cheap too... 99¢ versus ten bucks for cat toothpaste.

I may have to try this, my fat cat had a dental workup last year that involved a few of her teeth being removed (including a fang) and has bad breath rearing its head again.

Glad he is ok. Also surprised nobody posted a "can i haz dental surgery" or a "i am in ur dentist chair taking ur drugs" captioned cat pictures.

Your cat needs to make friends with this guy:

Sorry about kitty Glad he's okay though! One of ours had to have all of his top-rear teeth removed due to Stomatitis (Look it up. Nasty stuff.) Laugh all you want about dental work for teh kittehs, but if you truly love them, you'll do whacky E36 M3 for 'em.

We really thought we were going to have to put said kitteh down, as the surgery was friggin' spensive. Luckily, the doctor was willing to do trade!!! So kitteh is super happy and sweeter than ever...partly because he's now on a strict "wet food only" diet. Mmmm. Liver & Chicken.

We have another who's in kidney failure (common mode of failure for kittehs, apparently.) Rough stuff, but we'll keep him around as long as he's happy & not in pain.

PS: Yes we are the berkeleying crazy cat people at the end of the street.

We had a scare with my cat this week as well. We live on a rails-to-trail path, and the cat often accompanies us when we walk the dog. Apparently, she decided to see where the trail goes when we were not home, and wound up pretty far away. We have a collar on her with our number on it, so we got a call and got her back pretty quickly, but we were sweating it for a while.

Smokey is 15 now and gets insulin shots at 6 and 6 every day. Blind as a bat from the diabetes but still keeps chugging along. Even manages to whap the new kitten in the head when she bugs him too much.

Thanks for the kind thoughts everybody. Also thanks for the peroxide idea, we might have to try that. Einy's hanging out nappin' on my lap now. He had a good day today and they removed his IV thing. He goes in tomorrow afternoon for the heart work. He loves car rides, so the hour plus ride to Portland and then back will make him super-happy.

poopy,

Didn't peg you as a cat-person, but I definitely owe you a beer for being one. Gotta love the little furballs! We've fostered two for Paws to Adopt (they have to be housebroken and get along with other pets before adoption), rescued Dude from a nursing home (they were going to put him down and he wasn't even sick!), and have had 3 of our own now (Nibbler who got hit, Einstein, and Porsche).

we have a shop cat at work...crazy bugger, but just plain awesome.

good that your cat is doing well, hope the portland trip answers a few questions...

I'm glad your cat is doing well. Anesthesia and cats can be touchy. Just a couple weeks ago some fun my girlfriend has been having with one of her cats was finally resolved. Sebastian is 16. He and the younger (Samantha is 4) got into a fight this spring. He ended up with a nasty cut on his right rear leg that got infected. Surgery to remove the abscess and as it was doing ok 'til it got infected a second time. Then thanks to scare tissue and ligament damage he had a permanent limp. Then we find out the infection is back and now is in the bone marrow. So, the old man went in to get the leg amputated. He's doing fine now even if he does look pretty gruesome with the fresh nasty scar and being shaved.

I just remembered, as long as the topic of cats is up I want to warn people about a close call mine had.

NEVER EVER EVER buy HARTZ flea products.. http://www.hartzvictims.org/

I put some of their drops on my cat one evening, the next day I was bringing my (at the time) girlfriend over to my house for the first time (meet my mom etc). My cat was in tremors convulsing. Wound up with me hauling ass over to the vets office where they were barely able to save her. She had to stay there for the better part of a week on all kinds of meds. I dont remember what the vet bill for that was, but it was a lot.

I cannot say strongly enough, DO NOT BUY HARTZ FLEA PRODUCTS.

it is FAR worth the extra dough for frontline which has FAR fewer cases of toxic reactions

http://hartzkills.org/ http://www.geocities.com/againsthartz/

Holy freaking &I^$^%&#!!!!!!

Um... Roight. I'll pass that along.

The good news is that it was 5 years ago and the cat has had no lasting effects. I am shocked that they still have that stuff on shelves though.

Just got back from the specialist. Einstein has severe heart disease. He could die at any minute, but they expect him to last 3 to 12 months. His left ventricle is three times the size of normal. We're getting some meds for him and have an emergency injector if he goes into respiratory arrest.

We're devastated.

I am so sorry to hear that dude. Give Einstein a gentle pat from me.

Sorry to hear that. I think that's what did my dog, Abby, in a few years back. Poor girl knew she was sick. It's hard to lose a pet. Hopefully, he'll hang in there for a year or more for you.

I'm sorry too, all our best thoughts from me and my furry children.

Ah dammit I hate this berkeleying E36 M3. I'm sorry for Einstein. Maybe (hope hope hope hope) he will be one of those "the vet gave him 3 monthes but he made it 3 more years!" stories. Blossom, miura, Carla, wish him the best and weezer and Lola will watch for him when the time (way far off time, I'm confident) comes.

Joey

Damn, I hate to hear this! I'm sorry you have to endure losing a part of the family.

The good part is that you still have Einstein, if only for a while. When the time comes, you'll know he couldn't have lived with better humans. He knows it, too!

Condolences, from one who types this with a lovable, purring, sometimes infuriating furr-ball sitting in my lap.

Godspeed.

Very sorry to hear about Einstein. Our kitties Marty, Ellie, and Copper send their good thoughts too.