Re: Scooter's Dental Problems; continued

[Marylyn]

A URI could cause the kind of pain you are talking about.    I could not swear to it but I think my alternative vet would use a laser pointer around the mass in the mouth (without opening the mouth itself).  I've seen her use it for such and it has helped.  She has shown me where to use it on the Royal Princess Kitty Katt when her throat was very swollen and she could hardly swallow.  Later I used one on Dixie Louise.  And, since I am typing this, I imagine I need to use it on her again.  The pointers can be obtained at Office Depot and places like that if you want to try it.  Just don't get it in Scooter's eyes.  You may also want to consult an alternative vet.                                                               If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures                                                  from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who                                                  will deal likewise with their fellow man.                                                                   St. Francis ----- Original Message ----- From: Peggy Ankney To: Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 7:35 PM Subject: Re: Scooter's Dental Problems; continued Thanks everyone for your responses.  Scooter’s blood work from Monday was good, says the vet (I asked for a copy of the results but I can’t interpret any of the numbers). I took him back to the vet this morning for his dental work.  They did an x-ray of his mouth and found a soft tissue mass, which could be a tumor, behind his molar on one side.  So a dental extraction isn’t the answer.  His temperature was only slightly elevated (102.8) but he was still very lethargic, though his lymph nodes weren’t swollen, so he didn’t have an obvious infection.  The vet gave him fluids and monitored him through the day.  I stopped by on the way home to see if he was any more alert, but he was sleeping (in the litter box).  I pulled him out and laid him on the soft fleece they provided, and took the towel and toy mouse from the carrier and put them in with him so he would have some familiar smells.  He just sat there while I petted him, but he did eat some canned food so that’s a very good sign.  The pain seems to be in his middle somewhere, because when I try to pick him up that’s when he growls.  Would a urinary track infection cause that?  I’ve decided I will likely keep him at the vet this weekend, since my husband and I are both going out of town.  I’d much rather he was at home, but if he’s still not eating or drinking at least this way I can be sure he’ll get food and water.  He didn’t look like he was bothered by being there – he’s still kind of out of it.  In fact, he didn’t seem very stressed or very much different from when he was at home.  I’m going to stop by again tomorrow afternoon on my way home from work.  I’ll ask about the possibility of a urinary infection.  How would they teest for that?   The vet did say that the mass could be a tumor, which could be cancer.  He tried to get me to see that the outlook wasn’t great since Scooter has FeLV, but they are going to continue with antibiotics and monitor his mouth to see if it clears up.  I’m hopeful, because of the way he was eating the canned food tonight.  He hadn’t had anything solid for a couple days.  The liver shakes were great – thanks to whoever sent in the recipe.