When it rains, it pours: Cyclone edition.
Posted 09/15/2010 at 10:13 AM by sacremon
Desjardini tang died shortly after that last post. I did some research on the net, and felt that there was a fluke infection in the tank in addition to the ick. I got a couple bottles of PraziPro, turned off the skimmer and added them to the tank. About five days later, the rabbitfish started to look better. Now the rabbit is back to full color and normal behavior. There is a little bit of what looks like an abrasion on his left eye, which probably started the infection there, but he has done that before. The eel is as unaffected as before.
In addition to the fish, we have five cats. A friend was petting one a few weeks ago, and noticed a small bump on her back. We took her in to the vet, who said cats generally don't get cysts like dogs do, and bumps are generally bad news. She operated the next Monday, pathology said a fibrosarcoma. Given the location, it is assumed to be a vaccine-associated sarcoma, which are more aggressive that those not on the trunk. The cat is only 6 years old, and we and the vet felt that it was caught early enough that radiation treatment might actually provide a cure. So she is on day seven of 18 days of radiation treatment, a process which is more expensive than my tank.
Another cat has had severe allergies. He had an incident a couple weeks ago where he was weak and panting, and his gait was off. Vet thought it might be a reaction to the allergy shots we were titrating him up on, and had given him a shot the night before. He had a much more severe incident of it this morning, was crying in pain and could not move his hind legs. We went into the emergency vet (same place the other cat is getting radiation). He had a blood clot that had settled in the artery that feeds the legs. He was getting no circulation there. It is also indicative of heart disease. A quick check of the literature from my phone revealed a median lifetime of 2 months once there is a thromboembolism. He had him put to sleep. He was an aggressive cat who bit, but he was primarily my cat, and would climb on my chest and purr.
My sister, who has been living with us for close to a year, went up to our mother's house where her two dogs are staying. She couldn't bring them down with her as the aforementioned aggressive cat did not like dogs. While she was up there, one of her dogs, who was 10 years old, was found to have a large, inoperable tumor. He had to be put to sleep. Her other dog has now had two benign tumors removed from his legs, which has delayed her returning here.
So all in all, it has been a disaster of a summer for pets in my family. All told we lost 3 fish, a cat and a dog, and a cat and dog have had surgery for tumors of one sort or another.
In addition to the fish, we have five cats. A friend was petting one a few weeks ago, and noticed a small bump on her back. We took her in to the vet, who said cats generally don't get cysts like dogs do, and bumps are generally bad news. She operated the next Monday, pathology said a fibrosarcoma. Given the location, it is assumed to be a vaccine-associated sarcoma, which are more aggressive that those not on the trunk. The cat is only 6 years old, and we and the vet felt that it was caught early enough that radiation treatment might actually provide a cure. So she is on day seven of 18 days of radiation treatment, a process which is more expensive than my tank.
Another cat has had severe allergies. He had an incident a couple weeks ago where he was weak and panting, and his gait was off. Vet thought it might be a reaction to the allergy shots we were titrating him up on, and had given him a shot the night before. He had a much more severe incident of it this morning, was crying in pain and could not move his hind legs. We went into the emergency vet (same place the other cat is getting radiation). He had a blood clot that had settled in the artery that feeds the legs. He was getting no circulation there. It is also indicative of heart disease. A quick check of the literature from my phone revealed a median lifetime of 2 months once there is a thromboembolism. He had him put to sleep. He was an aggressive cat who bit, but he was primarily my cat, and would climb on my chest and purr.
My sister, who has been living with us for close to a year, went up to our mother's house where her two dogs are staying. She couldn't bring them down with her as the aforementioned aggressive cat did not like dogs. While she was up there, one of her dogs, who was 10 years old, was found to have a large, inoperable tumor. He had to be put to sleep. Her other dog has now had two benign tumors removed from his legs, which has delayed her returning here.
So all in all, it has been a disaster of a summer for pets in my family. All told we lost 3 fish, a cat and a dog, and a cat and dog have had surgery for tumors of one sort or another.
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