All Around Misery

Gracie is getting worse. She looks terrible.

Her biopsy test results came in as Miliary Dermatitis, but no probable cause. Gee, big surprise! There was no fungal or bacterial infection. No cancer. She just has a horrific rash on her head, neck and back and in the last two days her ears are gross and bloody.

I've been racking my brains, trying to figure out what changed or what happened to have her react so badly. The food hasn't changed. Her surroundings haven't changed. I just don't know what it is.

I talked to Dr. Larry about how Gracie is the queen mouse-catcher and that may have something to do with it. Did she ever get fleas? Not that I've ever seen and with six other cats, I'm sure we would have noticed something by now! That said, she could still have a flea bite or two from those once-a-season mouse snacks she has.

All I know is she got another shot of steroids today and she's back on antibiotics and got a treatment of Advantage. Not sure that was a great idea to put chemicals on her sensitive skin, but I am so concerned about her, I want to make sure we do everything we can. She must be very uncomfortable.

I had blood tests run to see if she's allergic to anything. It's a crap shoot because she "should" be completely free from steroids before we run the test and she was only off them for 5 weeks before she got her shot today. I guess they can see her allergic reaction much better if there is no involvement of drugs in her system. The results may not be there, but I had to try. I don't want her to go for 9 or 10 weeks without anything. She would really be in tough shape. She's also lost weight again, so I need to watch her even more carefully.

I think this Christmas season will go down in my record books as being the worst ever. Not only have there been plenty of cat health issues, but my fiance got laid off and it seems that every time we turn around, one of us has to shell out a lot of money to fix something that suddenly failed.

We are SO overdue for better days. I hope they will arrive soon.