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Last Updated: 1/8/24
Photos are listed from oldest to newest.
I took a lot of photos and one movie on the day we got Tinkie on 2/2/08. I was cleaning my
aquariums which is why there are hoses and light fixtures on the ground. The photos make her
look so big but she is tiny.
Tinkie - holding her up
Tinkie - looking upset for some reason (it
only lasted a second but the camera caught it)
Tinkie - looking at the camera
Tinkie - climbing the light fixture for the 50
gallon aquarium
Tinkie - looking at the cat fountain
Tinkie - standing on the hose
Tinkie - standing on the hose
Tinkie - sleeping
Tinkie - sleeping. She crawled up in to the
junk on the shelf and found the very first cat basket I ever had for my first cat Bootsy. The
blue pillow in the basket is newer than that but she decided to sleep there.
Here are three photos from 2/9/08:
Tinkie
Tinkie - playing with the plastic on the
paper towels
Tinkie - looking at the dirty aquarium water
in the bathtub (yes, she eventually jumped in for a swim!)
Tinkie with GK on the couch on
2/16/08.
Tinkie - close-up on 2/16/08.
Tinkie with GK on the couch asleep on
2/16/08.
These photos are from 3/8/08:
Tinkie - coming to get you!
Tinkie - "Hum, what's in there?"
Tinkie - "You are feeling sleepy."
Tinkie - grooming herself
Tinkie on 3/29/08.
Tinkie on 4/1/08.
Tinkie on 6/9/08.
Tinkie on 7/12/08.
Tinkie on 8/3/08.
I got these rare photos of three of the cats together at the same spot on 10/6/08:
Tinkie, Elvisina, and Gino
Tinkie, Elvisina, and Gino
Tinkie on 10/11/08.
Tinkie on 10/11/08.
Tinkie on 10/14/08 inside the 20 gallon glass aquarium that I was cleaning. Crabby the hermit crab and six-spotted roaches live in there but Tinkie thought it was for her!
These two photos from 11/27/08 show Barney and Tinkie playing together.
Tinkie and Barney
Tinkie and Barney
These photos are from 12/6/08:
Tinkie sitting on my 20 gallon tank on
12/6/08.
Tinkie watching the squirrel. She spends
most of Saturday morning trying to get to the squirrels who come for food.
Tinkie and Barney laying together.
From 12/13/08:
Tinkie and Barney laying together.
Tinkie and Barney a few minutes later,
asleep.
I had to take this photo of Gino, Barney, and Tinkie all on my bed on 1/6/09:
Gino, Barney, and Tinkie
Tinkie with Harry and Mr. Tiny on 2/8/09. The two boy rabbits were inside for their grooming. Tinkie likes to play with them.
Tinkie - this is what you call a Scott Towels Value Pack! Tinkie likes to get in to the paper towel bag every Saturday such as this day, 2/28/09.
On 4/24/09, I found Tinkie sleeping with her tongue sticking out which Tootsy used to do.
When
I carried her downstairs, she still had her tongue out so I tried to hold her and get a photo at the
same time. This is the result:
Tinkie sticking her tongue out
The kittens were sleeping together and grooming each other on 4/26/09. I missed a photo of the
kissing but they were still holding hands.
Barney and Tinkie
Barney and Tinkie - close-up
Tinkie likes to sit on my 20 gallon tank and stick her foot in an opening in the 50 gallon tank.
She is hoping to catch a rosy barb. Here she is fishing on 5/29/09:
Tinkie fishing
These two photos are of Tinkie and Barney on 7/4/09:
Barney and Tinkie
Barney and Tinkie
Tinkie lays on my aquariums a lot. Here she is on 8/16/09 laying on my 20 gallon freshwater
tank while her head rests on my 12 gallon nano cube reef tank.
Tinkie on my aquariums
Gino, Tinkie, and Barney on 9/6/09.
Gino, Tinkie, and Barney on 9/6/09, left to
right.
Tinkie on 10/10/09.
I set up the 50 gallon Rubbermaid tub basement pond on 10/20/09. Tinkie and Barney were
anxious
to "help."
Basement tub pond with their
assistants.
Tinkie and squirrel on 10/24/09. I did the movie below at the same time. The squirrel is a female gray squirrel.
Tinkie and squirrel on 1/30/10. This squirrel is a black variant of the gray squirrel.
Barney and Tinkie on 5/26/10.
Tinkie on 5/26/10.
Tinkie on 7/3/10.
Tinkerbelle - watching the guinea pig on 4/20/11.
I love this photo from 4/28/11, how could I not put it up as a photo and not a link! This is my little angel!
Tinkie on 7/18/11.
These photos are from 2/24/12 when Tinkerbelle was sitting in the cat seat of the upgraded
guinea pigs' cage called Pigtopia:
Tinkie
Tinkie
Tinkie - close-up
Tinkie on 8/28/12.
Tinkie on the new cat climbing tower, 9/13/12.
Tinkie on 10/15/12.
Tinkie and Emmy in the crib on 11/7/12.
Tinkie in the cat perch on Pigtopia (guinea pig cage) on 1/25/13.
Tinkie in the guinea pig cage on 1/26/13. I was cleaning the cage when my mother ordered me to do something for her. I left the door open, and I found Tinkie at home inside when I got back. The guinea pigs were a big confused!
From 8/24/13:
Emmy, Barney, and Tinkie
Emmy, Barney, and Tinkie - Barney is
yawning.
Emmy, Barney, and Tinkie - Emmy is
stretching.
Tinkie on my 50 gallon aquarium on 9/12/13.
Tinkie and Emmy on 9/14/13.
Tinkie helping me to wrap presents on 9/21/13.
Tinkie who showed up in a photo of my rabbit, Mr. Tiny, on 10/12/13.
On 1/25/14, I had my two rabbits out together, and Emmy and Tinkie showed up to check them
out.
Tinkie is in the bottom of both of these photos:
Rabbits and Cats
Rabbits and Cats
Tinkie on 5/22/14.
Here are some photos of my rabbit, Mr. Tiny, on 6/1/14 after his bath. Tinkerbelle, was helping.
Mr. Tiny and Tinkerbelle
Mr. Tiny and Tinkerbelle
I have bookend cats!
Emmy and Tinkie on 6/6/14.
Barney, Tinkie, and Emmy from left to right on 6/7/14 playing with a laser toy.
Tinkie and Emmy on 8/20/14.
Tinkie on 9/7/14:
Tinkie on her scratching chair
Tinkie facial close-up
Tinkie nice profile
Tinkie rubbing the bars
Tinkie on the mouse tank the day I got the mice on 11/12/14.
Tinkie on the mouse tank on 01/10/15.
Tinkie and Tutty on 2/2/15. He wants in. She only gets along with him when there is glass between them! King Tut spent half the winter in the basement, and Tinkie kept fighting with him under the door. Tutty cannot be free in the house because he attacks Barney.
Tinkie on 2/14/15, my Valentine.
Tinkie on 3/28/15, showing off her tummy.
Three cats on 10/22/15; from left to right, Barney, Emmy, and Tinkie.
Tinkie being held by my niece on 3/30/16.
It was a Tinkie Christmas on 12/25/16:
Tinkie
Tinkie
Tinkie on 1/24/17.
Videos:
The first two videos are on Fishpondinfo while the rest are on You Tube.
Video - 1759 KB, mpg file - Tinkie on 2/2/08.
Tinkerbelle and Squirrel - 1623 KB, mpg movie.
Tinkie on 10/24/09. She was waving at a female gray squirrel using the feeder. Once I did the
video, she only gave me one wave.
Male dark-phase Eastern gray squirrel taken around April of 2012. He was eating seeds at the window. Yes, he is black. The video ends with Tinkerbelle.
Video of Barney, Emmy, Gino, and Tinkerbelle playing on 10/15/12.
Tinkie and Gino in December of 2012.
Aquarium and Tinkie on 1/30/14. The video starts with my peppermint shrimp but pans to Tinkie who was sitting on the other saltwater tank when I did the video.
Tinkie riding her Fast Cat wheel on 6/5/15.
On 2/2/08, my mother went to the pet store and adopted a kitten. We named her Tinkerbelle for a few reasons. My niece said a few weeks earlier that we should name a new kitten Tinkerbell. I added the e on the end so it spells "belle" which is French for beautiful (feminine). Her various knicknames include Tinkie, Tinkus, Tinker, Tinkiebelle, Tinkie-Winkie, and Puss-Puss.
I found her from this Pet Finder ad. Note that it is "Maine Coon" and not "Main Coon." There
was no photo with the ad which I found on Friday, 2/1/08.
"These are four beautiful girls who are part Main Coon. They are 9 weeks old and ready to go.
They were saved from the kill shelter in Baltimore and taken to foster care by a caring person.
They will be ready and available for adoption at [text omitted]. If you want one of these I
suggest you get there at high noon as they won't last long!!! They are beautiful, friendly and
ready to go."
By the time my mother got there are 12:30 pm, only one kitten was left. Tinkie was the runt. My mother saw two other of the kittens who were still there with their new caretakers. Those girls had white paws.
Tinkie looks to me like a silver tabby with medium length hair. The adoption woman insists that she is a brown tabby. Our second cat, Tootsy was a long haired silver tabby. The adoption woman says that Tinkie has been checked out by a vet for various things and is fine but I will get her to the vet early in the week to make sure.
They named this kitten "Hilda." She is super sweet as she was bottle fed and hand raised. She loves to purr, cuddle, and jump around like most kittens. They say her birth date is 11/27/07.
Tinkie is being kept in a bathroom for a week or two for a number of reasons. First, she learns where the litter pan and her stuff is. Second, it gives the other fours cats a chance to get used to her sounds and smells before even attempting to have them meet and hopefully get along. Gino (the only male) is dominant. If he accepts her, she will be fine. If not, ut oh. Time will tell. As I was finishing up this page, Gino saw Tinkie for the first time. His eyes went as big as saucers. He stared for about five minutes. Then, the biggest hiss ever came from him. So far, not so good. Later, all the cats would get a chance to hiss at her.
Tinkie had really runny, yellow diarrhea the first few days we had her. She finally got to the vet on 2/5/08. He looked in the fecal float for worms and cocciodiosis (a single celled protozoan that can cause diarrhea). He did not see any but decided since it would not do her any harm to give her de-wormer one more time (the rescuers did it twice before) and also put her on an anti- cocciodiosis medication. She is getting 0.45 mL once a day for 10 days of Albon liquid (not sure of the concentration). Tinkie weighs 1.8 pounds. She got a distemper shot (they gave her one a month before). The rescuers also had her tested for feline leukemia, feline AIDS, and ringworm which were all negative. Her ears are a little waxy but no ear mites.
The vet says she should be spayed in May when around 5 months old and also get a microchip then (so it does not hurt while she is under). Her first rabies shot will be at 4 months old. We go back in a month for another distemper shot.
By 2/7/08, Tinkie's diarrhea was not better. I think she may also have been vomiting. I did not see it but the yellow stuff all over the room looks like at least some of it might be vomit. I decided to try some supplements to get good bacteria and fiber into her gut. I mixed some Metamucil and Pro-Zyme into some plain yogurt. These were very small amounts in a few tablespoons of yogurt. She ate it but she was no better the next day. I called and talked to a different vet at the practice on 2/8/08. She said we could put her on Flagyl (metronidazole). It has the bonus of treating for giardia if she happens to have that. Along with worms and cocciodiosis, it can cause diarrhea in kittens. She got 0.2 mL (from a concentration of 125 mg/mL) once a day of that for a week. She hated it. It made her foam at the mouth immediately. But, it seemed to have worked at first. A day later, she made about three semi-formed feces. I disinfected the bathroom and things seemed cleaner. I let her out of the bathroom the next day. Within a few days, the diarrhea was back.
As of 2/17/08, Tinkie still has diarrhea. I am calling the vet tomorrow for an appointment. I have new knicknames for Tinkie: Tinkus, Tink-less, Tink-lees, Tink-ness.
On 2/16/08, I gave Tinkie some Bene-Bac (which I had been trying to get since I got her) which resulted in a high fever the day after when she just laid around all day. She also started sneezing. By that night, the diarrhea ended. So, when I took her to the vet on 2/18/08, he pronounced her perfectly healthy. Her fever had broken. As of 2/24/08, she has not had diarrhea again. In case it came back or her sneezing got worse, the vet gave me amoxicillin but I never used it. She was up to 2.2 pounds. The vet also gave me WD cans insisted the disgusting stuff would help her. She got better without it but still eats a lot of the dry WD that is out for Gino and Elvisina. I wish she ate the good stuff and not the mix of pig lard, by-products, and corn. When was the last time you saw a house cat hunt down and kill a pig and then eat its lard and then some corn? I so wish they made organic and/or all natural vet diets. Gino and Elvisina have only gotten fatter with duller hair since they went off organic natural food due to health problems.
Tinkie went to the vet on 3/4/08 for her next distemper shot. She was up to 3.1 pounds and is growing so fast.
Tinkie had her next distemper shot and her first rabies shot on 4/1/08. She was up to 4.2 pounds.
Tinkie was spayed and microchipped (Home Again) on 5/14/08. She did really well. Her weight was up to 4.8 pounds. When we got home though, I would hear her fight with herself because when she would bend, it would hurt, and she would get mad. She recovered quickly. I also had the vet look at her tail as the last inch was kinked or broken. He said nothing needed to be done; it is pretty common. Her total spay cost was $324! Correct me if I am wrong but that is awfully steep!
On 3/31/09, Tinkie had her checkup and got distemper and rabies shots. She is only 7.6 pounds but she is small boned. Everyone at the vet liked her as she is very laid back with very soft fur.
Tinkie had her checkup on 3/30/10. Her weight is 7.7 pounds. Because she is tiny, I call her Littles and Little Angel. She got a distemper shot. The vet could not find anything wrong because she is near perfect!
Tinkie's yearly checkup was on 3/29/11. She is up to 8.1 pounds! She got a distemper shot. She was a good girl as always. I mentioned that she had spent time (a few hours a day for 10 days) on the cage of a guinea pig that my mother got that turned out to have ringworm. We do not see any signs on Tinkie but will keep an eye out for them. It would turn out that the only bald spot I saw on Tinkie was a permanent one on her ear.
Tinkie had her yearly checkup on 4/3/12. Her weight was up to 8.8 pounds. She got a distemper and a rabies shot. She was a sweetheart.
Tinkie had her yearly checkup on 4/11/13. Her weight was 8.7 pounds. She got a distemper shot (three year). I asked about two unusual spots on her anus and was told that they were her anal glands. My dog's were above that area so I did not know.
Tinkie's check up was on 4/11/14. Her weight was up to 9.2 pounds. I paid to have her anal glands expressed as she has been overly sensitive to touch and even bit me twice (which she never does), and I think they really hurt her. They squeezed out what I thought was a lot of yucky stuff. We had to wait 20 minutes for the vet after they weighed her. I held her, and she cowered for a few minutes and then wanted down. She went to the counter and tried to dig behind the vet stuff. I tried to put her in the carrier, and she clawed my neck. She was petrified so I let her go back to the counter. I moved the vet's display so she could hide behind it. She tried to a dig a hole through the wall to escape.
On 8/17/14, I went to trim Tinkie's nails, and she squeaked in pain. I figured she had lost one of her nails, probably in one of her fights with "new" cat King Tut. A week later, I confirmed that one of the nails on her left front foot is gone.
Tinkie had her check up on 4/6/15. She was 9.6 pounds. She got a rabies shot. She was purring for the vet tech. I had the vet (a new girl who just graduated!) express her anal glands. It took her a while but finally one side came out like black cheese (and just missed me but got all over her). The other side was more liquidy.
Tinkie had a check up on 4/7/16. They were all worrying because she lost 1.5 pounds (down to 8 pounds) but then I remembered that I had stopped free-feeding in May of 2015 so weight loss after that is normal. She got rabies and distemper shots. I had them do her anal glands. The vet thought they looked infected so she gave her an expensive Convenia antibiotic shot. Since she is getting older (no!!!), they took some blood for a baseline. Tinkie was an angel while there; everybody fell in love with her. Her bloodwork came back normal.
Tinkie had a check up on 4/6/17. She got a rabies shot. They drew blood and took urine by cystocentisis, and all the results were normal. When they went to do her anal glands, nothing came out but they still charged me! They also charged me for her nails but I did not ask them to do her nails (I have no trouble doing them), and they did not need it! Luckily, I got credit on my account for that.
My angel went to the vet on 3/29/18 for a check up. Her weight was up to 7.6 pounds. She is so tiny! She got a rabies shot, her anal glands squeezed, and bloodwork (results pending). She was a total angel the entire time, loving up the vet and her assistant even as they jabbed her. The vet finally called on 4/8/18 (she had been on vacation; I wonder what that is like) to say Tinkie's blood results were normal.
Tinkie had her appointment on 3/26/19. She was 7.57 pounds. They took her to the back to draw blood and squeeze her anal glands. The vet said she has never seen a cat not put up a fight to have that done! She got her rabies shot and distemper shot. Everyone fell in lover with her, yet again! The vet called on 4/1/19 with her results and said they were all good. She said, "She's perfect but you knew that!" Yes, Tinkie is perfect except when she has pica and eats things like plastic bags, when she gets poo stuck on her tail fur and has a fit while I cut it out, when she drags stuffed animals all over the house repeatedly, and when she wakes me up at 3 am vomiting on my bed or rug. Otherwise, she is perfect! Love you Tinker!
I cancelled Tinkie's appointment in March 2020 because I was sick and thought I could have coronavirus (They would only test people who needed to be in the hospital. What a failure of government and the health system!). I took Tinkie to the vet on 4/23/20, and I had to stay in my car while they took her in and spent a lot of my money. Her weight was 7.1 pounds so she is even tinier! She got an exam, rabies shot, anal glad expression, blood draw, and ultrasound assisted cystocentesis (to test urine). The vet called with the results on 4/27/20, and they were all normal. She had no heart murmur.
In early 2021, Tinkie started holding her left ear half way down and scratching her ear. I checked it out, and it looked a bit dirtier than usual. Also, when I massaged her ear, it sounded like fluid was in there. I cleaned her ear with isopropanol wipes every day for a week or so, and she seemed better. Then, in early February, she acted the same. When I tried to clean it, she cried and pushed away. So, I took her to the vet on 2/5/21. I thought she just had an ear infection but it was a lot more.
The vet used long Q-tip-like things to clean Tinkie's ear. She would swab, remove, and Tinkie would shake her head. After doing that about four times, Tinkie shook, and blood went all over. It was a lot of blood for a seven pound cat, maybe a teaspoon splattered around. The vet and I were in shock for a brief moment. I realized it came from her nose, not her ear. The vet could not really explain why it bled except that the ear is connected to the nose and throat. Two vets examined her ear, and both agreed that she has nasopharyngeal polyps. Not just one but multiple ones. They could not see too far down her ear because it was inflammed. They put a dose of Claro (which I looked up later to find is not approved for use in cats, just dogs). It is a one-dose treatment for ear infections caused both by certain bacteria as well as fungal infections. Tinkie will return in 13 days to be re-examined. The vet said a specialist might be able to remove the polyps which could be just in her ear or also in her eustachian tube and/or nose. They did not see any in the back of her throat. I love Tinkie so much. I had to pretend she was okay so I did not cry. I found out later that her weight was 6.9 on 2/5/21.
Tinkie was supposed to go back on 2/18/21 to the vet but we had sleet and freezing rain all day so we went back on 2/23/21. The vet was not able to see anything more than before! She gave me a reference for a "soft tissue surgeon" and said the next step would be for the specialist to do a CT scan of Tinkie's head to find out how many polyps that she has and where they are. Her weight was 6.84 on 2/18/21.
On 3/8/21, I got another dose of the Claro ear meds for Tinkie as she is back to shaking her head and holding her left ear at half mast. She has an appointment in April with the surgeon.
Tinkie saw the surgeon on 4/12/21. He said that most cats with nasopharyngeal polyps are young and have had a virus. He said what is in her ear does not look like polyps. He said it also does not look like a cancerous tumor. He thinks it might be a foreign object! He is not sure though so she will have surgery next Tues, 4/20/21. He will pull on the thing and might be able to remove it. If it is not flesh, it should come out. If it is a growth that is more than superficial, he will just biopsy it to find out what it is. I asked about the head CT. He said we could do it but he did not think it was necessary at this point. It might be later depending pending on what he finds. They took blood and chest x-rays required before surgery.
Tinkie's blood work showed some early kidney problems. Her SDMA was at 15 ug/dL, above the highest OK value of 14 ug/dL. Her BUN was above the highest OK value of 37 at 39 mg/dL. Her phosphorus was a little low at 2.4 mg/dL (should be at least 2.9 mg/dL). Her protein was a little high at 8.9 g/dL (should be no higher than 8.8 g/dL). Her cretinine was within normal vlues (0.9 to 2.3 mg/dL) at 2.2 mg/dL but near the high end. This was not the news that I wanted for my angel.
Tinkerbelle had surgery on 4/20/21. The vet removed something from her ear but he did not know what it was. It was sent out for pathology. She came home with a cone because she was scratching her ear. She was loopy, falling all over, and hyper affectionate. I confined her to a small bathroom until morning for her own protection by which time she had managed to remove the cone herself without opening it. Tada!
Tinkie's results came back on 4/27/21. Her urinalysis was normal. Her pathology report said the thing that they removed was "exfoliated serocellular crust and keratin scale with colonizing gram-positive coccoid bacteria." Basically, it was the result of her infection and not the cause of her infection. It was a mix of dried blood, scabs, skin, and infected materials. Her culture came back positive for Staphylococcus felis. It was susceptible to multiple antibiotics including those in the Claro which clearly did not work. She needed a different antibiotic.
Tinkie went to the regular vet on 4/29/21. She was down to only 6.6 pounds! Her surgery must have taxed her. The vet let me look in her ear with the otoscope. It looked like lots of dried blood and scabs to me. She put an "Otopak ear treatment system" in her ear but I have to ask what drugs were actually in it! The vet also gave her her yearly rabies shot and expressed her anal glands. Tinkie was an angel as usual.
On 5/18/21, Tinkie had a recheck. The vet said, "Beautiful, beautiful" a few times. So, Tinkie's ear is all good now I guess. She has continued to lose weight, down to 6.47 pounds so that is concerning for me. The vet gave me a hydration puree (Purina Hydra Care) for her to eat but I do not really see how that will help. I asked what was in the "Otapak." She said it has an antifungal and steroid (did not get to write those down) and the antibiotic is enrofloxacin (Baytril). Many of my cats and rabbits have had Baytril so it works pretty well. I do not think any have had it topically though until Tinkie.
I became worried about Tinkie and Emmy as they were both showing digestive distress. Both were vomiting almost daily for a few weeks. Emmy had liquid feces. Tinkie was constipated. I took Tinkie to the vet on 7/22/21. The vet thought there was no problem. I left fecal samples for both cats which are pending as they send them out for lots of money (two times $85!!!!!!). The vet tech said Tinkie's weight was the same. The fecal results showed nothing, as I expected, except a loss of my money!
Tinkie began having what I considered to be asthma attacks around the last week of September. I had her to the vet on 10/8/21. I had to wait a week for an opening since I work full time, and it was not an emergency. They took two x-rays and almost $400 of my hard-earned money to tell me that her lungs showed a little bit of inflammation but they would not recommend any treatment at this time. My cat, Elvisina, had asthma and took terbutalin. They no longer use that and would put her on prednisone which has all sorts of side effects. I would not need to worry about the weight increase because she is so tiny. They said her weight was the same as last visit.
Tinkie had her yearly visit to the vet on 3/31/22. Her weight was down a little to 6.24 pounds. They said her anal glands did not need expressing, and they did not hear a heart murmur. They gave her her 3-year distemper shot. They took blood for a panel and also for a BNP SNAP test to check for heart disease which was required to put on her steriods. I had made recordings of Tinkie's asthma attacks, and I had even e-mailed them one last year with no response. When I showed her a recent video, the vet said, "That's asthma." I know! I told them she had asthma but they did not believe me until they saw the video. The vet put her on prednisolone daily for a week (5 mg pills cut in half) and then every other day. I thought she would have been on something like Elvisina (terbutalin) or Aerokat or some other treatment. I got the vet to look at her ear which still seems to bother her but all I got was a few, "beautiful, beautiful" from the vet.
Tinkie's blood work was not very good. I will list those results that were abnormal only. Total protein over 8.8 at 9.5 g/dL, globulin over 5.3 at 5.9 g/dL, BUN over 36 at 44 mg/dL, creatinine over 2.4 at 3.1 mg/dL, calcium over 10.8 at 10.9 mg/dL. Report says, "This patient's RenalTech status indicates that it will develop chronic kidney disease within the next 24 months with greater than 95% accuracy." Um, I think she already has CRF (chronic renal failure). We are going back at the end of the month to discuss options.
I have been recording Tinkie's asthma attacks, and she is still having them even with the prednisolone!
On 4/28/22, I took Tinkie back to the vet. She wants me to do so many things to help Tinkie that I am overwhelmed
and stressed. The cats also hate the changes. Tinkie got her rabies shot. Her weight went down a tiny bit but I
forgot to record it for her records (they no longer have it on the receipt).
They were able to use cystocentisis ($81.17) to get urine for a urinalysis ($84.91).
The vet insisted on a urine culture for $250! The entire bill was $701.21 just for this day!
I already spend more than I make. Here are the new things and changes she has ordered me to do:
1. Feed Tinkie vet diets for kidney failure even though they are made of things like pig-by-products and glutens.
Emmy is gluten intolerant so, if she eats any, she will be back in diarrhea and gas city. We got a case of Royal
Canin Renal Support E cans and Hills K/D tuna stew flavored cans. It is funny they say they are tuna when tuna is like
five things down the list after that yummy pig stuff.
2. Give Tinkie Purina Hydracare for hydration. Tinkie loves this but will eat it instead of food!
3. Give Tinkie Porous-One (carbon) every night in her vet food (which she only partially eats).
4. Give Tinkie Vitamin D3 in her partially-eaten food twice a week.
5. Feed Tinkie and Emmy separately.
6. Do not leave food out so they only get fed twice a day.
Here is how that is going three days later:
1. Both Tinkie and Emmy eat the two vet diets I got. Both seem to prefer it to their regular food but not
exclusively. I do not want Emmy to eat it! Tinkie is supposed to get a can a day so half a can twice a day. I
cannot get her to eat more than about 1/8 of a can in a sitting.
2. I am pouring the Hydracare on the food because otherwise she will not eat any food.
3. Since Tinkie will not eat a full serving, the extra vet diet with carbon ends up in the open where either one
of them may or may not eat it.
4. I am picking the Vitamin D3 up tomorrow.
5. If I put one in a room, that cat will eat nothing. I brought up an old cage (previously had a hedgehog and
a guinea pig in it). I have tried putting one cat in there in the kitchen with the other one out of the cage.
Whoever is in the cage will not want to eat, instead just wanting out of the cage! Emmy is more apt to eat in the
cage as she is food-driven.
6. Since Tinkie is eating next to nothing while Emmy is the cage, I have been leaving out the leftovers because both
cats are used to eating a tenth of their daily diet ten times a day instead of half in one sitting! Their stomachs
are tiny! Tinkie eats so little that she should not be surviving. I do not see how I can expect them to instantly
change their entire life around! This is so stressful for all three of us! The vet likes to use scare tactics. She
says if I do nothing, Tinkie might live a year. If I do all this, she says she might make it up to three years.
On 5/2/22, the vet let me know that Tinkie's urinalysis and urine culture showed no bacteria. There were a few red blood cells but that could be from the cystocentisis. By 5/4/22, Tinkie is eating next to nothing, any of those things the vet wants her to eat or her usual food. Emmy is eating Tinkie's vet food, hydracare, and carbon when I check the camera that can see their bowls. Tinkie has not triggered the camera at all. Things are not working as the vet wants.
I requested a printout of the urinalysis. Her specific gravity was 1.023, and the pH was 7 for my records. The blood level was listed as high but was likely a result of the cystocentisis.
I made massive changes for months after this but did not record any of it here! The cats all have microchip feeders now so I can control what each cat eats. I got a canned food list from the Facebook feline CRF group and changed what Tinkie was eating completely. She mostly gets specific Weruva cans. I also started her on Kidney Gold. I am not trying to provide free advertisements here so I am not going to provide a list.
Tinkerbelle had an appointment on 10/12/22 and expensive blood work. Her weight was further down from 6.3 pounds to only 5.8 pounds which was worrying. We changed her from prednisolone pills every other day to liquid daily. I would later look at the dose, and it is such that she is getting twice as much (or as if she were getting that half pill daily but in liquid). She gets 0.25 mL daily of a 10 mg/mL suspension (or 2.5 mg daily). The vet said to stop the Vitamin D liquid. They went to some conference that said it does not help.
Her BUN was actually within acceptable range at 34 mg/dL (below limit of 36 and down from 44 last time). Her creatinine went down to 2.6 mg/dL (from 3.1 last time) but still above the 2.4 limit. Other values that were off from acceptable were 10.3 g/dL total protein (8.8 max), 6.6 g/dL globulin (5.3 max), white blood cell count 3.4 103/uL (3.5 min), 6% monocytes (4% max), 19% eosinophils (12% max; high due to her asthma), 1734 absolute neutrophils (2500 min), and 816 absolute lymphocytes (1200 min). The accepted min or max are listed. If max is listed, she had a value that was too high; if min is listed, her value was too low. Her urine was normal. The vet was suprised at her results. I was not because of all the changes I made and how much spirit she still has.
The morning of 1/26/23, Tinkerbelle was laying on a couch she normally did not frequent. She had lost her sparkle and would not eat her Churu with prednisolone. I knew she was dying but could not take the day off of work to take her to the emergency vet where they would do blood tests that showed she was in kidney failure and give her fluids. Because I had been giving her her prednisolone in Churu, she had not gotten it all, and she was having lots of asthma attacks. I switched her to the old pills I had to make sure she got the meds. I called the regular vet, and, of course, they could not get me in for an appointment for four more days. I asked if I could get a bag of lactated ringers to hydrate her. To my shock, they agreed. I started giving her fluids daily on 1/26/23. She ate basically nothing on Sunday, 1/29/23.
On 1/30/23, I took her to the vet. Her weight was down to 5.41 pounds. They took blood for testing. They gave me syringes so I could more accurately give her the 20 mL of fluids that they wanted. It is really hard to tell using the bag. Tinkie had some snot and congestion. It is possible she caught Covid from me the week before. I got it for the first time from a co-worker who knew his family was positive but since he was "negative," it was okay for him to not wear a mask and cough all over me. Because of this upper respiratory infection, the vet gave her a shot of Convenia (expensive antibiotic). For her appetite, she told me to Mirataz on her ears every day.
By the next day, the change was incredible. Not only did she eat but she cleaned out her bowl which she never does! She has perked up. She is dragging and dumping my Beanie Babies from upstairs to downstairs again. It also means that she is putting up a fight when I stick her with the needle for fluids. I hate it but I usually have to stick her more than once because she pulls it out. It is so hard doing all this by myself. Tinkie's breathing is still a bit raspy but otherwise, she seems better than in months. I only gave her the appetite stimulant for three days but will resume if she stops eating. I think her problem was Covid.
Tinkie's bloodwork came back better than expected. Her BUN was "normal" at 33 mg/dL (normal is 14 to 36), and
her creatinine was "normal" at 2.2 mg/dL (normal is 0.6 to 2.4)! She had a bunch of other results that were off. Her
protein was high at 9.5 g/dL (normal 8.2 to 8.8), globulin high at 5.6 (normal 2.3 to 5.3), Na/K raio high at 45 (normal
32 to 41), platelets low at 184,000 per uL (normal 200,000 to 500,000) but they clumped, neutrophils high at 86%
(normal 35 to 75), lymphocytes low at 7% (normal 20 to 45), absolute neutrophils high at 12,298 per uL (normal 2500 to
8500), and absolute lymphocytes low at 1001 per uL (normal 1200 to 1800).
Tinkie was doing pretty well on Flovent, prednisolone, and 20 mL of lactated ringers every other day. She was stable
until I came home on 4/27/23. Bright red blood was running out of one of her nostrils, and her breathing was raspy.
I called the regular vet
who was able to see her and cancelled caring for all the other animals to rush over there. We were there about an
hour and a week's pay. Tinkie got another Covenia shot and two x-rays. The vet and I were pretty sure we knew what we were looking at
but I paid to have a radiologist confirm that Tinkie has lung cancer. The bleeding though was from one nostril. The
vet thinks maybe Flovent was bothering her nose so now she only gets that in the morning and not twice a day. I think she
probably has a polyp or tumor in her nostril that ruptured or was harmed. The Convenia took care of that healing over
for now. The vet wanted me to give Tinkie 100 mL of fluids a day! I tried to give her more but she starts screaming
and tries to bite me if she gets much more than her usual 20 mL. It must hurt her so I am not following doctor's orders
in that regard.
The next few days after his incident, Tinkie had a total turn around. I've also been giving her
the appetite stimulant in her ear daily, and she is ravenous! She is eating all her food; she's active; she's dumping
my stuffed animals all over again; and you'd never know she's terminally ill. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, and
her breathing sounds fine. Just a few days earlier, I thought it was the end so don't count out your animals! Sometimes
something simple like an antibiotic can give you more time. Tinkie is not ready for her real angel wings just yet.
Thanks to the appetite stimulant, Tinkie started to eat almost all the food in her bowl, sometimes as much as the other,
larger cats. She went back to dumping stuffed animals all over the house (a cute habit of hers that's a bit of a pain).
She hardly slept in her usual spot. She started to run from me when it was time for fluids. She was very active,
attentive, affectionate, hungry, and, if I did not know better, I would say nothing is wrong with her.
I took Tinkie to the vet on 5/25/23. She gained a pound, up to 6.98 pounds! The vet said, "What did you do?" I could
tell that she could not understand how she was doing so well. With a prognosis of lung cancer, cats tend to live days, weeks,
and, rarely, months. She said, "Keep doing what you're doing!" I am doing a lot -
prednisolone twice a day, Mirataz appetite stimulant in the morning, 20 mL of subcutaneous fluids in the evening,
Porous One in the evening, Flovent inhaler every morning, and Kidney Gold twice a day. The vet wondered if maybe Tinkie
does not have lung cancer, that it was just bad scaring from her asthma, and now she said I had found the "sweet spot"
as far as medications. She offered another x-ray but, since it would not change her treatments, I declined to save a
few hundred more dollars. The vet went ahead and gave Tinkie her rabies shot because in her words, "Tinkerbelle is
going to live forever!"
Well, Tinkie was doing great until she wasn't. Her last normal amount of food from the microchip feeder was 99 grams on 6/10/23. The next day, it was 15 g, then 56 g, 64 g, 32 g, and then 4 days of zero grams, then 1 g, 4 g, 0 g, 7 g,
0 g, 0 g, 7 g, and 0 g on 6/26/23. On 6/11/23, she seemed listless with a fever late in the day. I increased her fluids
which I continued to do, finally getting up to 100 mL every evening. She did lick up a little food on saucers so that
weight would not be recorded by the microchip feeder but each day, it was next to nothing, up to maybe 20 g at most, far
below the 100 to 200 grams a day that her little body needs. Then, she started showing signs of thick, yellow nasal
discharge which I assumed was due to dying from lung cancer. She sneezed a lot. Despite not eating, she still visited
half a dozen places a day, leaving snot on everything. I put towels all over the place. The morning of 6/24/23, I
got some new Friskie's Little Shakes, and Tinkie licked up half of one. I realized I couldn't keep her on hospice and
needed to do something. I called the vet who agreed to give her a shot of Convenia without a doctor visit. It was
expensive but it seemed her main problem was an upper respiratory infection. Perhaps her cancerous tumors had become
infected in spots. The snot became more clear by 6/26/23 but it is still present. In the last few days, she still
moves around the house, uses the litter pan, rolls around, purrs, rubs her mouth on my feet/shoes, and alternates
between looking like the living dead and like there's nothing wrong with her at all. She is a true miracle! Today,
6/26/23, I got her to eat not one but two Temptations Purrees, and I am amazed. I have had many animals and loved
many animals but Tinkie is my only living animal who loves me back. She is a real fighter! Where there is life,
there is hope. Just because you're dying doesn't mean you can't live!
I took Tinkie to the vet on 7/6/23. She is down to 5.9 pounds, a loss of 15% of her weight.
She got another Convenia shot, a Vitamin B complex shot, and a fill Cerenia
pills. The vet and I agreed that cheaper oral antibiotics might give her vomiting and/or diarrhea so we went with
the expensive shot. The Vitamin B shot was my idea. The Cerenia was the vet's idea. Even though Tinkie only
vomited foam once in the last month, she might feel nauseous. She did eat a bit more in the days after the visit.
Her nose continues to ooze thick yellow discharge. I believe she has tumors in her nose that are the main
reason she is sick and not eating. I clean her constantly and still let her all over the house. She can still
move all around and keeps sleeping in a new spot where I do not have a towel down to collect the discharge.
Tinkie continued to deteriorate. I believe that she had a polyp or tumor in the back of her nose, putting pressure
on the area which caused the discharge. As it grew, it put pressure on her eyes as well, and her eye discharge
increased. At midnight on 8/30/23, Tinkie head butted my door. I had started closing it because having her in the
room while I was sleeping kept waking me up (from her breathing). I moved her to her favorite spot in the den, and
then stepped barefoot in a huge puddle of urine in the bathroom. I knew that I had to start confining her. She
head butted the door twice more a few hours later, and I got only a few hours of sleep. I confined her to the
white bathroom adjoining the laundry room which is the room in which she was quarantined as a kitten. I knew
confinement would harm her spirit, and it did. She ate almost nothing. The morning of 9/2/23, for the first time
in her life, she could not get up. At this point, I absolutely would have wanted to help her die because she was
now suffering. That is not to say that she felt no pain before that day but she was still Tinkie, purring, getting
into trouble, and having good and bad adventures.
The problem was that it was Labor Day weekend, so doing so would have meant spending what little time
we had left at the emergency vet and spending a week's pay when I knew she was almost gone. Unfortunately, my mute
angel starting meow crying, and I was able to comfort her, "Mommy's here. Mommy loves you." And, she would stop for
a while. That afternoon, we took a goodbye tour of the house. I showed her her favorite spots, all the rooms, and
she touched noses with Emmy. Tinkie was paying some attention (we could still lock eyes).
Even Cleo (who was petrified of Tinkie), took a look. I took some photos. I ugly
cried. All that while doing 14 hours of Saturday chores.
The morning of 9/3/23, I expected she would be gone, and I thought she was at first but I saw her chest rise. She
was unconcious at this point. She lost her battle sometime between 9:53 and 11:09 am. My brother came over at
1 pm, and he dug a hole for her. I was not ready to put her in it but I did with a favorite frog toy under her
arm. He made me put dirt on her, and I lost it (I do not cry in front of my brother as I have never seen him cry
real tears (he is good at fake ones)). My little Ween was gone. I have other animals but none let me pick them up
and give them kisses. None come to me to comfort me. None make biscuits on me. None go to strangers and love on
them. None carry my stuffed animals around the house like her babies. Her loss is devastating.
Angel--> Anjow --> Anjowly --> Jowly ---> Jowleena --> Jowweena --> Weena --> Ween
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