![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
As per Dr. B's wishes, I contacted VCA Aurora's internal medicine department to see if they wanted to do a more intensive cardiac study on Lars before we begin administering any quantity of subcutaneous fluids. Yes, Dr. M would like to do a full cardiac study on Lars before we do any fluid therapy with him to make sure his heart can handle it. Our appointment is scheduled for noon on 12 August when J will be on vacation to help me wrangle the wildebeast into and and out of his carrier. Yet another specialist's visit that's gonna Cost Me. My boy is worth it, though. They usually have a cardiologist proper on staff out there to do the exam, but their new cardiologist doesn't start until the end of the month and Dr. M doesn't want to wait that long for the work-up so he'll be doing it. A friend had to bring her boy out there for a similar cardiac exam to what Lars can expect and it was done by Dr. M, so I have faith that he's got the skills to do it.
Onward to the food conundrum...
Tried in vain to get a small bag of Royal Canin Renal formula kibble from Dr. B, but they were out and told me it would take a few days to get more in stock, so I gave Brookville Animal Hosptial (Harlow's vet) a call to see if they had any--they did, and sample packs of the stuff, even! Turns out, Royal Canin recently overhauled their Renal formula line to three different flavors/types of kibble and three different types/flavors of gushy fud. They all have weird names, LOL, like "aromatic" and "savory" to name a few, instead of being named by their meaty flavoring, which is kind of strange. To paraphrase their sales tagline "what good is a renal food diet if a cat won't eat it?" AMEN, Royal Canin! Amen! Name your food whatever you want to if my cat'll eat it! :)
Had Dr B fax Brookville a scrip for the renal food and we went over to pick up the sample box after J picked his truck up from his mechanic dude (that's another story, but short story--it seems to be repaired and among the living again!). The sample pack is the CUTEST thing--the small bags of kibble are about 2 pounds each, enough for several of Lars' kibble feeds and there are two small cans each of two of the flavors and one big can of another. No charge for that, though I offered something for their trouble, which they refused. J mentioned picking up at least a couple of needles in order to have fresh ones for Lars' possible eventual sub-qs; they asked us what size (!?), which was curious, because I thought the only optimal choice was 18 gauge. Turns out they offer the slightly thinner 20 gauge as well, so we got 2 of the 18s and 1 20 to try to see which one Lars responds better to. That, too, was at no cost to us, and they didn't ask us to contact Dr. B to send over a scrip for the needles, either. They are too damned good to us over at Brookville--I think between Ra's and Harlow's "Frequent Flyer" miles with them we've probably earned the rock star treatment, LOL, but...yeah, it's nice.
Aside...
So, last night we installed and deployed the window AC unit we bought Sunday night in the kitchen and the kitchen cooled down nicely, the den became more comfortable, too, and the living room a little bit more tolerable. All four cats spent a bit more time in the kitchen and den after we had it fired up for awhile, too...
Back to the food story...
Then came food time. Lars got to try Royal Canin Renal formula A kibble last night and he snarfed it down really well--only leaving a couple kibbles behind. This morning was even better. I put down a bowl of K/D gushy food (futilely I thought) and he ate 3/4 of the serving I gave him! He did well with his Royal Canin Renal formula A kibble this AM, too! :) So that tells me that the stuffiness/warmth in the house was negatively affecting his appetite to at least some degree! I knew it! Thank Bast for that AC unit!
He's acting more himself, too, if not even a bit more feisty than normal. In the middle of the night he tried rousting me for some affections/lovins by jumping all over me and finally biting me on my left wrist where my FitBit sleeping band was. OUCH! Little bastard. ;) He also gave me love nips on my nose later in the morning to help wake me up so I could fetch him his breakfast. That's something he used to do more consistently before, but kind of fell out of favor after he started not feeling well these past few weeks.
So, yeah. I'm cautiously optimistic about the food sampler pack yielding a new fave food choice for Lars. At the very least, with it being somewhat cooler in parts of the house, he's feeling better in general so he'll likely just plain eat better because of feeling okay. YAY!! :)
***fingers crossed***
Onward to the food conundrum...
Tried in vain to get a small bag of Royal Canin Renal formula kibble from Dr. B, but they were out and told me it would take a few days to get more in stock, so I gave Brookville Animal Hosptial (Harlow's vet) a call to see if they had any--they did, and sample packs of the stuff, even! Turns out, Royal Canin recently overhauled their Renal formula line to three different flavors/types of kibble and three different types/flavors of gushy fud. They all have weird names, LOL, like "aromatic" and "savory" to name a few, instead of being named by their meaty flavoring, which is kind of strange. To paraphrase their sales tagline "what good is a renal food diet if a cat won't eat it?" AMEN, Royal Canin! Amen! Name your food whatever you want to if my cat'll eat it! :)
Had Dr B fax Brookville a scrip for the renal food and we went over to pick up the sample box after J picked his truck up from his mechanic dude (that's another story, but short story--it seems to be repaired and among the living again!). The sample pack is the CUTEST thing--the small bags of kibble are about 2 pounds each, enough for several of Lars' kibble feeds and there are two small cans each of two of the flavors and one big can of another. No charge for that, though I offered something for their trouble, which they refused. J mentioned picking up at least a couple of needles in order to have fresh ones for Lars' possible eventual sub-qs; they asked us what size (!?), which was curious, because I thought the only optimal choice was 18 gauge. Turns out they offer the slightly thinner 20 gauge as well, so we got 2 of the 18s and 1 20 to try to see which one Lars responds better to. That, too, was at no cost to us, and they didn't ask us to contact Dr. B to send over a scrip for the needles, either. They are too damned good to us over at Brookville--I think between Ra's and Harlow's "Frequent Flyer" miles with them we've probably earned the rock star treatment, LOL, but...yeah, it's nice.
Aside...
So, last night we installed and deployed the window AC unit we bought Sunday night in the kitchen and the kitchen cooled down nicely, the den became more comfortable, too, and the living room a little bit more tolerable. All four cats spent a bit more time in the kitchen and den after we had it fired up for awhile, too...
Back to the food story...
Then came food time. Lars got to try Royal Canin Renal formula A kibble last night and he snarfed it down really well--only leaving a couple kibbles behind. This morning was even better. I put down a bowl of K/D gushy food (futilely I thought) and he ate 3/4 of the serving I gave him! He did well with his Royal Canin Renal formula A kibble this AM, too! :) So that tells me that the stuffiness/warmth in the house was negatively affecting his appetite to at least some degree! I knew it! Thank Bast for that AC unit!
He's acting more himself, too, if not even a bit more feisty than normal. In the middle of the night he tried rousting me for some affections/lovins by jumping all over me and finally biting me on my left wrist where my FitBit sleeping band was. OUCH! Little bastard. ;) He also gave me love nips on my nose later in the morning to help wake me up so I could fetch him his breakfast. That's something he used to do more consistently before, but kind of fell out of favor after he started not feeling well these past few weeks.
So, yeah. I'm cautiously optimistic about the food sampler pack yielding a new fave food choice for Lars. At the very least, with it being somewhat cooler in parts of the house, he's feeling better in general so he'll likely just plain eat better because of feeling okay. YAY!! :)
***fingers crossed***
