Hi. I’m MacKenzie.
This has been a terrible week for me. Sunday night I had some type of terrible accident with my jaw: it got stuck, it hurts, and I couldn’t swallow right! The Mother of Cats did everything that she could and was putting me into the cat carrier to go to the emergency room when I finally got things under control and we stayed home for the night instead.
But she called the vet the next day and made a few suspicious trips out in the car during the day.
Wednesday morning a whole flock of crows (The Mother of Cats said it was a murder of crows. Right. That’s what I would like to have done to some of them…) descended on the trees in the yard and made lots of racket. Crazy. What is up with the crows? I was so busy watching them through the window I didn’t really fight when the Mother of Cats slipped a pill down my throat, and then missed that the Mother of Cats had gotten the cat carrier in from the garage.
OH, NOOOO!!!!
I think that the crows were trying to warn me. She put me in the car and took me to the vet’s office!
The Mother of Cats finally brought me home but as soon as we got there she gave me icky medicine that she squirted into my mouth!! NOOO!!!! My jaw hurts, why would she do something like this!!!
Oh, wait. I feel better now.
Time to nap.
Yesterday the Mother of Cats left me AGAIN and came back with even more pills and medicine to stuff into my mouth. My jaw hurts!! Why is this happening. She even followed me to the cat box and took samples of my private business to take to the vet. The Mother of Cats is really acting strangely!!
The worst thing is, she says that I can’t have any more cookies. From now on I have to eat soft baby food from a can. What is going on here!!!
I do have to say that my jaw feels better and that I was able to eat most of my breakfast this morning.
I’m such a good boy.
Can I have some tuna flakes instead of cookies?
>^..^<
Notes from the Mother of Cat:
- Yep. I drugged MacKenzie up with a sedative to take him to the vet.
- I was absolutely shocked to see his age on the check-in sheet at the vet’s office. Fifteen years, nine months. How did the years go by so quickly?
- MacKenzie has kitty TMJ and his jaw literally got stuck open while crunching his cookies. It was pretty horrible at the time; drooling, bewildered stare at me, pawing at his cheek with his tongue working like crazy to fix the problem, and then getting more frantic. The vet showed me how to massage his jaw to release it if this happens again and I’m being really careful about what he gets to eat. Right now he is on pain killers and an anti-inflammatory drug to get him over this current episode.
- I have TMJ myself (thank you, scleroderma!) and was placed on jaw rest for months while I recovered, and as it turns out that this is what we are going to do with MacKenzie. No more crunchies for him!! His dry food is very tiny so we will continue it and he also gets wet food twice a day. He isn’t a fan of wet food, but he is trying.
- The problem can be corrected with surgery, but because of his age and
hatredstrong dislike of medical personnel we won’t be doing that. - The blood work shows that my geriatric cat has hyperthyroidism and will need to start meds for that. Oh, boy. As it turns out, cats with hyperthyroidism are basically
assholesjerks, and MacKenzie’s personality should mellow out some once he is on drugs. - “He’s a jerk?” you ask. Sadly, he is. He greats people at the door and rubs on their legs, but then bites without warning if they try to pet him. He scratched my grandson, and plasters himself onto the only member of the family who is allergic to him. He yowls to be let out into the garage at 3am and scratches the door jam like a dog to make sure I come. Lord help me if I forget his cookies! A jerk. But he loves me, and life would be really hard without him.
- Today I’m going to hunt for some soft treat that might work for him. There must be tuna flakes or some nice salmon out there that would tempt him. He totally turned his nose up at the soft cat treats. What a strong willed kitty.
- He has to go back for another blood draw next month. The vet told me to double up on the sedative next time…
Yarn, Books & Roses 
I’m so sorry to hear that – must have been scary for both of you. I’m sending you a pic of the cat food that my sister’s neighbors give their kitty. It’s soft and look s like real food. It’s grain-free.
Thanks for the pic. I’m going to buy several types of food/treats and we’ll see what he’ll try. His kidneys are fine so I can do Wilderness and other higher protein foods. He won’t eat people food, the brat.
It was pretty bad, but the swelling seems to be coming down. Would you believe his teeth are perfect?!
Poor kitty..hope he feels better..he is lucky to have such a great cat mom to care for him!
I’m lucky to have him too. 🙂 Today he is much better, and he has 2 more days in his anti-inflammatory drug course, so I hope he continues to improve.
Oh no! Things do start to happen when one gets up in age:(
I’ll bet the pet store (we go to Loyal Companion-they have good stuff!) has soft treats. Myles prefers the soft baked kind. They make a million crumbs but he tries to eat every one.
MacKenzie: The vet people are your friends even if they do things that seem mean. Myles loves to go. They have cheese in a can and he’ll do anything for that:)
I’ve tried several different treats so far. He rejected the soft treats (Irresistibles) and last night he turned his nose up at tuna flakes. I’ll keep looking.
MacKenzie: They are going to need more than cheese in a can if they try to get more blood from me!!
MacKenzie – Goodness me MacKenzie, what a rough time you’ve had. Such a brave cat. No more cookies!!! Torture!!
MoC – our cat Gatsby (when I was young) was a jerk. He would lie under bookcases, chest of drawers and beds and when someone would walk by he’d pop his arm out with claws ready to rip a chunk of skin off your leg. My cat Boo was such the opposite, he’d purr even when you were giving him insulin injections twice a day! I’m glad the vet is helping sort things.
The cookies were important as they were a treat and training aid to get him to behave. With cookies he would come back indoors voluntarily without a huge cat snarling melt down. He got cookies for using his scratching post, and after getting meds. I’m doubling up the other rewards, but he sure wants cookies!!
Oh dear, ankle slashing is definitely jerk behavior!! So glad Boo is a sweetheart!
Dear old MacKenzie. When I bake a piece of Atlantic salmon for myself (well done) I break off some little bits, mush them with my finger and give them to my cat, Dawn, (outrageous I know) she loves it. You could try that with MacKenzie. Hope he recovers soon. We would do anything (almost) for them, wouldn’t we?
MacKenzie: She tried Honey Smoked Salmon (a local company) and I declined to taste it. I want CRUNCHY cookies!!
MoC: still trying…
I wish you both well
Thanks.
Sorry to hear he’s been unwell. Hopefully the medication will kick in quickly and he recovers quickly.
That’s the plan!!
Ohhhh, MacKenzie! I’m SO sorry. Poor boy!! If you like crunchy, I wonder if your mom might give some tiny bits of people crackers or cookies that crunch but break apart really easily–unsalted saltines or graham crackers, or nilla wafers, or maybe even something like Cheerios? I’ll be sending all my good healing vibes your way. ❤️
It is still sad, cookie-less days here at Casa Yarn, Books & Roses… he still rejects everything that I offer for a treat, but is eating his wet food. Next I’m trying kitten food as it is very tiny and he used to love it.
I haz sent a selection of puree-in-a-tube treats, of a type beloved by all MacKenzie’s cousin and niece and nephew cats. Even MingToo, when he was 22. And a half. The mousebane nephew cat loves them better than fresh rodent. Second Hand Rose loves them more than fish love water. I have high hopes for MacKenzie, fussy as he is.
Gonna keep my fingers, toes, and eyes crossed.
MacKenzie: Thanks! I can haz hope for COOKIES paste. The bad Mother of Cats keeps putting pills in my mouth and I need something yummy tasting.
MacKenzie – feel better! Mother of Cats only did those things because she loves you. 🙂
Mother of Cats – My goodness, you poor thing! So glad it was treatable, and that with this new medication your boy should calm down a bit. Hang in there!
He was much better about last night’s pill. Yay! He also turned his nose up at the two new types of soft treats I bought. I guess a cat knows what a cat wants. Poor guy.
His new medication is on order and it will be a cream I put on his ear. Yay!!
Oh, that sounds way less stressful! He will find snacks he likes. Hopefully your patience now will be rewarded with a much calmer cat!
Aww poor MacKenzie! Our neighbours cat used to be like that – you could never tell if he was going to purr or attack you, I wonder if he had the same problem…
Could be. Hopefully MacKenzie will calm down with meds.
Sorry to hear about Mckenzie’s jaw. That can’t be easy for anyone but, especially, a cat who doesn’t know what’s going on which you conveyed very well from his perspective.
I hope both of you have better days ahead of feeling better.
He’s been a pretty sad and desperate kitty, but did pretty well this weekend and I think that he is on the mend now. He’s not happy about not getting his cookies, though!
We’d all feel the same about being deprived of our favorite snack.
Exactly!