“You have as many options as you give yourself.”
~Kasie West~
Gibbs the cat is still struggling a bit with his health. The latest UA and culture revealed no bacteria; however, the last word is that he probably has FLUTD – Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease. I believe it to be a diagnosis of omission, without benefit of an ultra sound. That (ultrasound) may still be in the picture, but I’m concerned about his nutrition as a cat with FLUTD usually eats an all wet food diet (Gibbs is on his way there). Normally, prescription food is encouraged, but I’m not totally accepting that as a remedy.
Therefore, I am giving myself the option of a second opinion with a vet who treats with several different modalities, including Chinese herbs. Right up my organic, holistic alley!
Western medicine people, you can roll your eyes all you want. I desire what’s best for Gibbs and I’m exploring the options. Even if it means that poor Mr. Gibbs has to take another raucous ride in the car to a place that smells funny.
“If you are faced with a mountain, you have several options.
You can climb it and cross to the other side.
You can go around it.
You can dig under it.
You can fly over it.
You can blow it up.
You can ignore it and pretend it’s not there.
You can turn around and go back the way you came.
Or you can stay on the mountain and make it your home.”
~Vera Nazarian~
Not sure if I’m going around, digging under, flying over or blowing something up, but I’m glad I have those options. Keep happy, healthy thoughts for Mr. Gibbs. He still needs them.
While you’re at it, take a stroll over to Hands on Bowie, and share your healthy vibes with my third favorite gray cat. Bowie’s human, Herman, is also exploring options with a feline eye issue and they can use a little extra support and love these days.
This post has been brought to you by a few options, a mountain and kitty love. It has also been brought to you by Linda G. Hill’s “One-Liner Wednesday.” All you need to play along every week is an awesome one-liner and follow a few rules. Birds on a wire are not required, but make sure you link back today’s post to HERE so the rest of us #1linerweds peeps can read it.
Mary J Melange 
We, including MiMi and MuMu, will keep nothing but good thoughts, and maybe include Gibbs (and his family) in our prayers. I don’t blame you for getting a second opinion. No doctor knows everything, and too many fall back onto “this is how I usually treat this…” when maybe the animal deserves a little special attention. Who more than Gibbs? Good luck with that car ride.
Thanks for the healing thoughts and prayers, Dan. I hate to keep putting Gibbs through the horrifying car rides, but it’s for his well-being. I’m hoping that today’s vet visit will give me new insight into his health and nutritional treatment. Stay tuned, I’ll keep you posted.
Those rides are agony, all around.
A lot of options with that mountain, metaphorical or real.
Absolutely Frank! I feel as though Gibbs and I are climbing the mountain at the moment.
Oscar sends his sympathies – he almost didn’t survive the car ride when we moved up here. Best wishes to Gibbs and to you.
Tell Oscar that Gibbs appreciates his sympathy. Oscar received his reward in the end (a new place to discover) and hopefully Gibbs will find his reward as well.
Sending love to Gibbs. I hope that something helps him to be well, or at the very least, greatly improved.
Sending love to you too. ~ Cobs. x
Thanks for the love, Cobs. Your hope is mine as well. I’m anxious to get Gibbs to this new vet so we can talk about options for treatment.
I can totally understand Mary.
Some people don’t ‘get it’, but I do. These wondrous creatures aren’t our pets, they’re our family. Each one is a family member and has it’s own personality.
You would walk to the ends of the earth for treatments for a child, and us creature carers would do the same.
Praying for positive things. ~ Cobs. x
Thanks for the kind words and prayers Cobs. Yes, Gibbs and Ziva are my kids and they deserve to be treated as such.
Poor Gibbs. I can sympathize with you as Theo has had a history of kidney issues. His diet is predominantly wet food with some kibble.
I too dread the thought of putting Theo in a car, so I know how difficult this is for both of you. Best of luck. Health problems in a loved one – 2 legs or 4 – is never fun 😦
I’m trying to figure out exactly how much wet food and how often to give it to Gibbs without him puking it all up. I’m still mixing in the dry food, but the other issue is giving him enough. It seems like he and Ziva are crying for food more often, so that’s something I’ll be talking to the vet about this afternoon.
That is troublesome 😦
Hope everything is ok, Mary.
It’s okay for now, Joanne.
No judgement from me, Mary. Our old vet was along the lines of Eastern medicine. There is so much out there so whatever works is the way I go. Good luck with Gibbs. Poor baby….
Thanks Lois. I was with a group of ladies last night and told them the Gibbs saga. They gave me the thumbs up for exploring options and thinking outside the box. That made me feel better about getting a second opinion.
Wishing you all good luck, my dear friends!
Thank you so much for your concern about Mr. Bowie! Mr. B sends his regards to Mr. Gibbs!
Same to you and Bowie – good luck and better health. I hope the appointment with a specialist goes well. Mr. Gibbs understands how Bowie must feel and returns the furry regards.
Gibbs is a tough kitty with a good Mama. I’m sending you both good, healing energy. I really like that mountain poem and the brainstorming of options. When my clients used to say, “I don’t have a choice,” I’d tell them, we always have a choice.
Choices are important, JoAnna, when dealing with human and critter health. I’ve made several of them regarding my own health and nutrition, so why not do the same for Gibbs?
Hope they figure out what’s wrong with Gibbs. It sounds like they have a slightly better idea and this new vet might do more for him. We’ll keep him in our thoughts and prayers.
Thoughts and prayers are very much appreciated, John. I talked with the current vet at lunch time, so have a little more information to muddle over with the new vet.
Cricket and I send best wishes for a trouble free vet visit. Hope Gibbs is feeling better soon. Cricket has to go in for her shots, and also to trim/shave her long fur to get the mats out. They always have to sedate her, because she’ll claw them to pieces. Not fun for any of us.
I used to have a cat that needed sedation before a vet visit. He was a scared cat with claws. Gibbs will be fine, hopefully with a plan for treatment.
🙂 🙂
Just like kids, our pets need us to advocate for their health. You do what helps no matter what other people may think.
I’m sorry he’s still uncomfortable and you’re still worried, I will keep you in my thoughts.
Thanks Joey. This will be a process. The vet gave me cranberry and fish oil supplements for inflammation. I’m still deciding on food choices.
I have to say this flat out: Until we get the crap out of our food chain we will continue to see more of this. Thank God we finally have a good vet who also (coincidentally) is truly health conscious for herself. I say this because Mary, think twice before you give Gibbs prescription cat food — it is not all that healthy.
Growing up we had cats and they lived longer healthier lives (one male had a urinary problem and died around 13.) Now we have more cats and children and adults coming down with vague crap that AMA and Vets say is this or that and I am telling you, we’ve had some shockers due to FOOD. Meds are higher than good eats.
Two cats and a dog died of poison from melamine in protein from China in Science Diet and Iams and Blue Buffalo (you heard that right, and this meant $3500 in vet bills — Chinese did this to save money as melamine masks as protein and geez how can that hurt.) We do not not not buy many food items from China now, thank you, and if our meat is to be processed there then I won’t touch a bite. We found that many “natural” pet foods also bought protein from China and so, we moved to organic. Yes it is more expensive (about $.15) but not as expensive as heartache, vet bill, and burial bills.
They put carageenan in pet food (and our food) to make it thicken and be more appetizing to HUMANS (sorry pets don’t give a rats arse) and the animals end up with IBS from it (two cats suffered and Jai died — he had a steady diet from losing teeth.) They are now warning humans off it — but think of this — having it once a week in your ice cream cone (where it is also not necessary) versus having it twice daily? Newman’s Own Organic Cat Food was putting in their food AND MISLABELING IT (they changed formulas and wanted to save on ordering new labels) So Jai who was suffering so badly from IBS (constant runs and stomach aches) was getting it twice a day. YOU SHOULDA HEARD ME SCREAMING MY HEAD OFF AT ANYONE I COULD TALK TO AT NEWMAN’S OWN WHEN I FOUND OUT. Corporate liars. Newman’s Own is not on anyone’s list for any food item anymore. I started cooking for him, and his symptoms backed off quite a bit (a bad day 1/4) and hers cleared up. It really wasn’t that hard — I bought hormon/antibiotic free chicken (which we eat) and cut it into cat sized pieces and froze them on a plate then popped them into a baggie — and fish on sale — and could nuke it with a bit of olive oil and water and a teeny bit of salt and he liked it just fine. Now you can buy wet foods without them — I buy online because it is cheaper — Evanger’s and Pet Guard (organic cat food) both make decent food without a bunch of crap in them.
Our animals have things that they didn’t 40 years ago — and btw, my mom ate whatever and didn’t have the damn weird food things we have. Our pets are the canary in the coalmine. So we have found a good vet who gets it and works with us. I totally salute you and keep Gibbs off the food from the vet! ARGH, you got me going. Sorry but really, I am so pissed at what is going on with big corporate pollutants in our food, water and bodies.
I know about carrageenan and the Chinese thing. Thanks for the referral to Evanger’s and PetGuard. I’ll check on both of them.
Hugs to Gibbs. Never give up, never surrendet Mary.
I won’t Cheryl. Never.
💕
Hugs to you, Gibbs, and Ziva. I love the Vera Nazarian quote — I shared it with her on FB. You do what you need to do, for Gibbs, and don’t let anybody put you off it! Somehow, I have a feeling nobody could. 🙂
Thanks for the hugs, Marian. I’m working on the “doing” for Gibbs because I believe it’s the right plan for him.