This summer has been a delightful one for our sweet and handsome Newman. The weather has been absolutely superb, allowing for almost
continuous solarium time. But alas, along with all the warm weather bliss comes a rather humongous change for the FIV suite.
In this warmest month of the year, when the FIV+ cats normally spend their days soaking in the sun and eating and drinking to their hearts’ content, all is not quite as happy as it once was. It seems that Lester’s recent tummy troubles are affecting everyone.
Since medications have not helped to ease Lester’s gastrointestinal issues, the next step is diet modification…which means no more dry food smorgasbord during the day. However, the nights will be happier, as Lester will be crated with his new hypoallergenic diet and everyone else gets to nibble all night long.
When there isn’t a bowl of dry food to nibble on as one wishes, some chow-centric cats get a bit agitated. Perhaps all of this explains why I observed Lester (photo below) having staredowns with some of his suite mates. As if it’s their fault he doesn’t get any of the sought-after dry food! I intervened and distracted him, which helped keep things peaceful.
On the medical front for Newman this month, it seems he has “problems that aren’t problematic.” First, one of Newman’s adoring fans felt that Newman had some pain on his tail. However, when our veterinarian checked this out, she could find no signs of trouble or discomfort.
Next, our vet team evaluated how to proceed with Newman’s mycoplasmosis (discussed last month). Although this can cause anemia and other problems, Newman is fortunately asymptomatic (indeed, we only discovered it when testing the FIV+ cats as a precaution). Just to be on the safe side, we’ll be checking Newman for anemia every three months for a full year. After that time, if he’s not developed anemia, we can rest easy that he’s absolutely fine. For his part, Newman’s showing every sign of feeling “absolutely fine.” He is his normal, happy, playful self.
On behalf of Newman, I thank you for your continued and generous support, and for loving him from near or far.