I didn’t quite get the bedroom foyer to the “finished” point that I wanted to reach before I shared another update with y’all, so today, I thought I’d share an update on Tiger (our stray cat-turned-outdoor cat) and Cooper (our dog). Several of you have asked for updates so let me get you caught up.
I’ll start with Cooper. Cooper is about 11 years old, although we’re not 100% sure how old he is because we adopted him from the Humane Society, so all we have to go on is their guesstimate of his age when we adopted him. At that time, we were told he was five years old, but he’s always had the energy of a puppy the whole time we’ve had him, so I really don’t know. But if their estimate of his age was accurate, that would make him 11 years old.
And getting this dog to sit still for a picture is virtually impossible. He just wants to run, play, sniff all the things, mark his territory, etc. Obedience training has been a complete bust with this one. 😀
Anyway, about 2.5 months ago, Cooper started regurgitating his food, so on the evening of July 4th, I took him to the emergency vet clinic where they did scans and ran tests. The scans showed that he had a tumor of some sort in his chest that was causing a condition called megaesophagus, and that secondary condition is what was causing him to regurgitate his food.
And then that same week, he had a huge cyst come up on his hind end in the span of one day. It ruptured, and the whole thing was very gross, so I had to take him for follow-up vet visits for that over the next four weeks so they could keep an eye on it and see if it would heal or if he needed surgery.
Because of the megaesophagus, I started feeding Cooper his regular food (Farmer’s Dog) mixed with lots of water to make it easier for him to swallow, and I made him sit upright while he ate and then stay seated for 20 minutes following each meal. I also started feeding him smaller meals more times throughout the day.
Here’s the crazy thing. I remember back when I took him to that emergency vet clinic, they were telling me the different options I had, and one of them was to put him down. That night. They offered to put him down that night on July 4th, and gave me that option because of the “ticking time bomb” in his chest.
Well, ever since we got through that whole episode — those very trying two weeks with the regurgitation and then the huge cyst on the back of his right leg/hip area — Cooper has been perfectly fine. He has had no regurgitation at all. His energy level is just as it has always been. He’s weight is normal. Everything about him is exactly as it was before I took him to the emergency vet clinic on July 4th.
It just seems very odd to me. I don’t want to pay to have more scans done because (1) that costs a lot of money, and (2) they have to anesthetize him to do that, and at his age, I don’t want to risk having him put under just for the sake of curiosity. It took over 24 hours for him to get back to normal after the last time they did that, and it just seems too risky to do it again when it’s not really necessary. But I joined a couple of groups on Facebook for owners of dogs with megaesophagus, and I see the condition those dogs are in, and it breaks my heart. Cooper shows no signs of any of that. He seems to be thriving, and I don’t have any way to explain that. He’s just his normal hyper self, and all he wants to do is run, jump, twirl, and play. And eat.
Tiger is also doing really well. He hangs around our house pretty much all day every day. He sleeps on top of our van or under our van. He spends his days hanging around our property. And every morning, I can find him here, waiting for his food.
He is the sweetest, cuddliest cat ever. He loves to he held. He loves to be scratched. And I want to bring him inside so badly.
I’m just worried about how he and Cooper would get along. When Cooper sees Tiger through the door, he goes absolutely crazy. Barking, growling, jumping.
I thought perhaps he would have calmed down by now since Tiger has been hanging around our house for almost a year (I think). But he hasn’t calmed down at all. I don’t know how to “introduce” Tiger to Cooper in a way that I would feel safe doing so that I can bring Tiger inside.
But I’d love to find a way because I want sweet Tiger to come inside before winter gets here. I don’t want him to have to spend another winter outside. So if you have any tips on how to get these two to live together in peace and harmony (or rather, to get my very excitable, hyper dog to live in peace and harmony with Tiger), I’m all ear. Even if Tiger remains mostly an outdoor cat, I want him to have the option of coming inside when he needs to or wants to this winter without having to quarantine him in one room away from our other two animals like I did last winter. I mean, if that’s my only option, that’s what I’ll do. But I’d rather not have to quarantine him when he’s inside. I want him to be like a normal indoor cat when he comes inside, but I don’t know how to get Cooper to allow that. So I’m all ears if you have suggestions.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
