Ugly News: I now have two cats with ringworm. Ugh. Well, I know for sure Dante has it. Whether Robbie actually has it is questionable since he doesn't have large bald areas. His spots are small, scaly, and could be caused from scratching. I'm not taking any chances, so I am treating him as if it were ringworm.
It took me several days to figure out a treatment plan. Dante is 18 years old or so and not in the best health, so the standard treatment of Fulvin is out -- much too hard on internal organs. I'm also not keen on bathing cats in fungicides as fungicides are some of the most dangerous pesticides around. If the cats wouldn't lick it off, it might be a different story. So, this leaves me with home remedies and related voodoo medicine. The plan is this:
- homeopathic remedy sulphur, one per day for 30 days
- saturate spots with a dilute solution of apple cider vinegar and goldenseal extract (to kill active fungus)
- add zinc, astragalus, and VitC to food (to boost immune systems)
- clean house daily and wipe areas with Clorox wipes (to kill spores)
Bad News: Clancy, who has chronic renal failure, is getting much worse. I can and have worked on the kidney situation with homeopathy, fluids, and nutrition, but when that improves, he has other problems. His other problems are either terrible aggression (lashing out at any cat, dog, or person near him) or overly sexual attacts (i.e., he tries to hump any cat, dog, or person near him). I can control these problems with small doses of progestrone, but then that screws up the kidneys. Right now, he's nearly panicked all the time looking for food. If I give him more (he's already eating 4 meals a day), he gets diarrhea.
While he has moments that he seems happy, these are getting fewer and further apart. I do think it's time to consider putting him to sleep. Since Monday is a school holiday, I may have it done then. We'll give him a good weekend and say good-bye to him.
Good News: Maggie went to the eye vet today and does not have to go back!!! The graft is healing, the veins are receding, and the cornea is as healthy as it can be. (Her cornea is a mess from previous eye problems, so it will never be normal.) It's been 3 months of worrying about her eyes, of eye drops, of trips to Upland to the eye vet. That is all over, finally. She can see enough to play, walk around, and bop other cats and that's enough for me.
As for me, I took yesterday and today off from subbing. I was getting so tired, I just needed a day to do nothing, which is what I essentially did. (I played some games and had fun blowing things up!) Tomorrow, I'm back to work. Course, then it will be a 3 day weekend!
I keep thinking that one of these days I'll get back to doing art, but it's hard to do art when I'm so tired. I also think I should do something for the quilt class I signed up for -- either do it or not. And then there's the whole idea of working out and losing weight. So many things to do!
