Yesterday, Randy noticed that Ozzy was licking or pulling hair from his belly creating a bare patch. The last time we had a cat that did that was our girl Jetta. She licked her belly entirely bare before we discovered that she suffered from struvite crystals in her bladder. Because of that previous experience, we decided to have him checked.
In a bit of amazing luck, the vet was able to get him in today. Ozzy was most unhappy about being put into the carrier and he complained loudly all the way to the vet’s and while we waited in the lobby.
After ultrasound and a urinalysis, the vet confirmed he does have a bladder infection. I have the great joy of getting antibiotics into him twice a day. That will be fun.
Ozzy weighed in at 22.8 lbs. We have done everything short of starving him and he keeps gaining weight. I had a long discussion about it with the vet. She doesn’t think we’re overfeeding him.
One possibility is that he has a pituitary gland problem that causes excessive growth. She said it can show up in Maine Coons and Ragdolls, and Ozzy has genes from both of those breeds. There’s a test we can do, but it’s expensive. If he does have the condition, there’s no treatment for it, but cats that have it develop diabetes early on. The main reason to do the test would be to have forewarning, so we could watch for diabetes. I discussed it with Randy after I got home, and we decided it would be a good idea.
If he doesn’t have the condition, the vet said with wry humor, then he may simply be a big cat with a round shape.
She wants to recheck Ozzy’s bladder after he’s had the course of antibiotics, so we’ll have her draw blood for the test at the same time. And hope it comes back negative.
[#]MoggyHorde #CatsOfMastodon #caturday #Ozzy
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@christymarx What a handsome boi :BlobCat_Love: Wishing a speedy recovery,
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