It was as I suspected -- the girls have fleas. I've seen both Zoe and Jetta scratching furiously in addition to Tosca. When I got Tosca to the vet for her appointment this morning, the vet quickly found the fleas on her. I had looked, but not seen them myself, but I guess I didn't look well enough. Also, I'm surprised that I haven't been bitten. In the past, if there was a flea within a mile of me, it bit me.

Because these are indoor cats with no contact to other cats, that leaves one source for the fleas and that's the rats. They've already caught and killed two baby rats. A month or so ago, I saw Jetta staking out a hole where a rat poked out its nose. Nastyrottenbuggers. Plus with fleas coming from rats there's the additional worry of Bubonic plague and crap like that. That rathole is getting plugged up pronto. We've been derelict in not dealing with it sooner.

All the cats are being treated with Frontline. Already tonight, I've squashed four fleas that jumped from Jetta onto me, most of them twitching in their death throes. Die, fleas, die!!! I must also get some diatomaceous earth to treat the carpet. I'll be reapplying the Frontline every month indefinitely. The vet said there's been a major outbreak of fleas in the past couple of weeks and she doesn't know why.

The more worrisome news from the vet is that since her last visit on 8/4, Tosca has lost nearly another whole pound! That's a serious weight loss in such a short time. The vet narrowed it down to a couple of most probable causes: IBS or lymphoma. Plus possible complications if Tosca has been afraid to eat when I'm not around. The vet has put her on Prednisolone to help with both the skin problems from the fleas and possible IBS. If we can't get her weight loss turned around pretty soon, I'll have to take her to a specialist for further tests.

Meanwhile, Tosca's new place to hang out is a corner shelf next to the washer and dryer. I put her up there the other day to feed her and she loves it. So now she has three bowls on the dryer for canned food, dry food and water. She drank a LOT of water when she came home from the vet. I'm increasing the amount of canned food and the vet wants me to weigh her once a week. Think good thoughts for my dear old girl.

Opal had a trip to the vet this morning. She's been squinting her right eye for a few days, so it was time to have it checked. No scratch on the eye and nothing in the eye, but her inner eyelid is infected. I'm betting a nick from a claw. She and Saffy occasionally romp and take whacks at one another. We have drops to put into her eye for a week. She made unhappy noises in the car, but was sweet and well-behaved at the vet's, who commented on how good-natured she was for a tortie. But Opal still did the hiss-at-everybody routine when she first got home, silly girl.

The good results for Tosca vanished the minute I weaned her off the tranks. She's taken up residence on a shelf to the side of the office and I can't get her to budge. She's not even coming out for the canned food or the treats. Her excessive scratching and licking is causing scabs all around her neck and chin. The vet can't get her in until Thurs. Meanwhile, I'm giving her some anti-histamine, but it doesn't seem to be helping much. She's never had this kind of problem before and never behaved like this before. I think I'll have to put some effort into looking for a new home for Zoe, as much as it would break my heart.

Giving Tosca a mild course of Amitriptyline has done exactly what I'd hoped it would. I wanted to take the edge off her anxiety so she could get over the recent incident that has left her feeling threatened. Instead of hiding out on the old green blanket, she's returning to her normal places. She slept in one of the cat beds yesterday, ate from the regular food bowls and tonight she's up on my desk hanging out and sleeping on my printer for the first time in weeks. I'll finish weaning her off the tranks this week. I'm so relieved to see her behaving like her old self.

Opal decided that last night while we were trying to drop off to sleep was the perfect time for a round of ping pong soccer on the wooden floor downstairs. She loves ping pong balls.

One of the vets called me on Mon. and we had a long chat about Tosca. He confirmed the results, including the negative titres on the FIP. In fact, he said the results were more like that of a seven year old cat instead of one who is at the bare minimum thirteen years old. He said the thyroid is under control. The titres would indicate that the virus is under control. He said that the virus can be "walled up" inside the body, such as in the spleen or bone marrow, where it's not active. They don't know much about FIP or why it will suddenly appear when a cat is thirteen or so years old after a lifetime with no sign of it, or why some cats will develope it and others won't. It's unpredictable.

That left discussing the weight loss. I also mentioned the excessive licking. He said that kind of grooming can be another sign of stress. At this point, I need to monitor Tosca's weight to see whether I can get it back or hold it steady, or whether she continues to lose weight. She's enjoying the food bowl I put next to her and eating from it a lot. I think the other cats do as well, but as long as Tosca gets plenty of food from it, I don't mind.

A day or so after talking to the vet, I decided on my own to give Tosca a low dosage of the tranks for maybe a week to see if I can relieve her stress symptoms. I feel safe doing it because she's gotten such a clean bill of health.

Meanwhile, she produced the longest Giant Monster Hairball Snake I've ever seen out of cat. It's a good thing she likes Petromalt.

The vet and I played phone tag on Thurs. and Fri., so I never did manage to connect with her. She was kind enough to leave a message with some of the basic info and it was all good. Tosca's results were, as far as I know at this moment, entirely within normal ranges, including thyroid. And here's the kicker -- her FIP titres came back negative!

Once again, I'm faced with baffling results. I hope I can talk with someone in more detail tomorrow. How on earth could her FIP titres go from sky-high to nothing? False readings? The vet said that in spite of the good results, she's worried about Tosca's weight loss. We need a way to explain that. Is it stress and maybe interference from Zoe keeping her away from the food? I've put a bowl of dry food right next to Tosca's blanket just in case. I tried giving Tosca her favorite cat bed in that spot instead of the old green blanket. Tosca made it clear that she wanted the blanket, thank you, not a cat bed, so I switched it back.

One thing I need to talk to the vet about, that I realized after the visit, is that Tosca has been obsessively licking her nether regions. I've been catching her at it far more frequently than should be normal.

In other news, Saffy has learned how to say "Right now!" She says it quite clearly in English rather than Meowese, usually when demanding food.

I've been worried about Tosca's health for a while now and she was due for check-up, so today was her day for a visit to the vet. Lately, she's been lying around on an old green blanket on the floor, not coming up onto the desk or hanging around with me while I'm working. This isn't normal for her. I can chalk some of it up to the problems with Zoe, but I suspect something else is going on, too.

For one thing, even though Tosca's always that bowling ball around her middle, I could tell she's losing weight. The vet confirmed that. In fact, the vet is quite concerned about how much weight Tosca has lost since her last weigh-in. Because Tosca has a chronic cough, we ended doing a chest x-ray along with a full blood panel and the three virus tests, which includes retesting the FIP titres. I had to leave Tosca there for the morning and pick her up at noon. When she got home, she headed straight to the food...after complaining about her rough morning.

The vet called this afternoon to say that the x-ray showed some opacity in the chest area, but it's identical to what was there when she had an x-ray a year ago. It could be cysts or granulomas, but it hasn't changed and that's a good thing.

It might be Thurs. before I get the results of the blood tests. I'm worried about the weight loss. It could be tied to the thyroid condition, I suppose. All I can do is hope for the best.

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