The vet called today with the results from the blood tests. "We have two problems," he said. Tosca is extremely hyperthyroid, but that was no surprise and that's treatable. The news that I didn't want to hear is that her titres were high on the FIP test. Ideally, you want the titres to be zero. A moderate reading would be a 1:400 ratio. She had a 1:1600 reading. This is not good. It's not the end of the world, but it's not good. He said she's "in a gray area" because the rest of her blood word, thryoid aside, looks fine, meaning there are no obvious signs of active FIP. But she could be in the early stages of developing it.

I picked up the Tapazole for her (damn, I remembered it being expensive and it sure is) and the plan is to retest her in two months. Normally, he would immediately recommend doing the radioactive treatment to deal with the thyroid, but in her case, he wants to wait. If we retest her in two months and the titres have gone up...she has limited time left.

Like I said, not the news I wanted to hear.

It also means I'm going to take Saffy in for the FIP test as soon as I can manage it.

Tosca had her visit to the vet this morning. She warmed up her vocal chords the entire way there. I adore my new vet and it's clear that he truly loves cats. He was quite taken with Tosca who sang arias for him. She's such a well-behaved girl. The only drawback is that she wouldn't stop purring, so he wasn't able to listen to her heart. He used a technique I've never seen before to try to startle her into dropping the purr for a moment. He held her face and blew a short, forceful breath in her face. Then he did it again. It didn't work. When she's decided to purr, she purrs.

I took Diva's records with me. Given the unknowns around her death, I thought it might be a good idea for him to look over her results and see if they suggested FIP to him. He didn't see any indicators of that. Based on what he saw and what I told him, his guess was probably something like lymphoma.

We're doing a standard blood work-up on Tosca, plus FIP test. She seems to be in excellent health, so this is more of a precaution than a serious worry. He thinks she might be hyperthyroid, though. Her thyroid is enlarged and she has the voracious appetite, so we'll see if there are indicators for that. At least that's something that is easy to treat.

We heard a soft "kwump" as we were falling asleep. It's the kind of sound that isn't outright alarming, but enough to warrant turning on the light. It was Pippin, knocking over a laundry basket full of clean clothes so he could curl up on them.

It's interesting to watch the different ways the moggies react to the Red Bug (the laser pointer). Kate doesn't even seem to register it. Tosca pointedly ignores it. Saffy and Opal (the twin torties) go after it like fiends made of lightning. Those girls are astoudingly quick and agile. Pippin will sometimes chase it down, but once he's gotten tired of it, he is completely blase about it, even when the Bug is on his own paw. Ho hum. Whereas Opal will squeak and jump if she sees the Red Bug "land" on her.

My cats are junkfood junkies. I bought them treats that are pure organic flakes of salmon. For the first few days, they were enthusiastic. Then suddenly...they won't touch them. So I bought another type of pure organic treats. Nice healthy ingredients, no filler, no bad stuff.

They liked them for maybe two days and once again the dainty noses go up in the air and they refuse to touch them. Tosca complains about the lack of treats. I guess I'll have to be a bad Mother Cat either way -- give in and buy them junkfood treats or give them no treats at all. :P

I have a pair of warm boots I keep in my office to wear on the cold days. They come well above my ankle. When I pulled them on this morning, there was a practice golf ball in my left boot. Given the height of the boot and the fact that it was still upright, I could only conclude that one of my dear moggies had actually dropped the ball into the boot. The cat form of putting practice. Given her tendencies to fetch, I figured it was probably Saffy. Sure enough, she trotted up to me five minutes later with the ball in her mouth and dropped it at my feet.

Plastic practice golf balls make great, cheap cat toys, by the way. They're quick and light to bat around, somewhat bouncy, and because of all the holes the cats can easily pick them up and carry them around.

Wow, Samurai cat armor! Gorgeous stuff. Check out his other art, too.

I have actually found some cat treats that Kate likes! She loves them, in fact. They are bits of dried salmon. They have a pungent smell, which probably helps because I can see that she reacts to the smell unlike other treats I've tried to entice her with.

Saffy is sprawled happily in my lap and I'm happy to have her there, even if it does make it difficult to type. She has her front paws crossed under her chin and propped against my right arm.

I find that I need to stand guard for a few minutes after I put gooshy food out for Kate. Tosca, who is shaped like a furry beach ball, is an eating machine. After she inhales her own food, she tries to take over the other food bowls. She also lectures me VERY LOUDLY if I'm not quick enough with putting the food out.

It was a quiet New Year's at home, followed this weekend by a ferocious set of rainstorms. All is quiet with the Moggy Horde. Kate is doing well and eating with a strong appetite. I've seen her eating the dry food again. Excellent!

As soon as I have my next paycheck in hand, I'll take Tosca in for a complete blood work-up and FIP test. She seems perfectly healthy and eats like a pig, but I'll feel better doing the tests and having full info to work with. It's part of my resolution to make my vet rich in 2008. :P

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