Was going to cancel the visit because he improved a lot but I took him in anyway because it was scheduled. Felt a little silly, but I'm new to FIV! They did some baseline blood work instead because he had never had any before.

I have been giving him lysine powder every day for the past week. Maybe that has an effect idk. The vet said I can just give that to him forever if I want and it shouldn't hurt anything.

Verdict is that he will likely always have one watery eye, possibly due to a mild anatomic abnormal. And he might have very mild allergies or very mild asthma which does not really affect his life too much.

But I guess he needs to lose 1-2 pounds so we'll work on that next! He also has some tartar buildup so I'll have to see if I can get him to use dental chews.

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[–] bravesilvernest@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

1 5oz can, half in the morning and half at night, was the way we got our chonky older lady to a reasonable 12lbs from her peak of 15. That seems to be her stable weight, which is good to have now especially as she ages.

[–] dingus@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So when I got him from the shelter, they told me to give him half a can in the morning, half a can at night, and then "a little bit of dry food" (unspecified amount) as a snack.

[–] prettybunnys@piefed.social 1 points 1 week ago

You ought to be able to get a vet to give you a good estimate on kcal content if you ask em to.

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

My cat loves the catnip flavor Greenies dental treats.

[–] dingus@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

He is nonreactive to catnip, silvervine, and valerian root lol 🙃

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

My previous cat didn't give a damn about catnip etc either, but she still liked that flavor of dental treats. I have my doubts about whether they actually taste like catnip or contain any, because nobody is getting high off them. Also my present cat, who does react to dried catnip/silver vine, didn't eat any of the catnip plant I put on the windowsill. She does eat grass every day (and hair ties to such a degree I had to ban them, but that's a different story) so I think real catnip isn't tasty. I like them better than the salmon flavor because they don't smell like fish. And she doesn't care for the chicken flavor.

[–] fiat_lux@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Excellent job on taking care of Lester. I can tell he's in caring hands and I hope you both have many wonderful (and URTI-free, fingers crossed for that) years together.

I'd say never feel silly about a vet visit. Even if why you booked it is no longer an issue (which is definitely something that can and does happen for any pet owner), you can always use the time to pick their brains, learn new things and build a good relationship with them.

[–] dingus@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Yeah I used that time to ask her some things and then she ended up doing some blood work as a baseline (not because she was concerned). So not a total wash haha.