# Beautiful Senior cat just adopted



## dragoness (Feb 12, 2015)

Ever since my last Maine **** passed of lung cancer on Christmas Day 2013, I have had the itch for another Maine ****. As anyone who has one can tell you, they are very devoted cats.

I was perusing petfinder, and fell in love with a senior Maine **** from a local rescue, and started inquiring. 

Because of a (snake) rescue I did last fall, I missed (totally forgot about) the appointment for everyone's rabies vaccine - so that had to be corrected. 

Once everyone was current, I went and picked up my new boy. He was brought to the shelter by someone who found him starving on the streets last October, and though he has gained a little weight, he still has more to go. 

He has a crumpled ear. The assumption is that a bad infection, from an injury, caused it's collapse. It requires a little extra cleaning, but is not a big deal for him otherwise.

He also is missing one or more teeth (hard to tell, he won't let me look just yet) and seems to struggle with eating kibble - which may contribute to the lack of weight. I do feed him canned, as did the shelter, but maybe not enough. 

I am calling the vet as soon as I get my schedule to get him in for a senior wellness exam, and discuss a good diet for a senior cat who needs to put on some weight, but may be dentally deficient. I may try adding some chicken broth to his kibble to soften it up in the meantime, and see if it helps any.

His coat is slowly coming back - he was a matted up mess when he came to the shelter, and riddled with fleas. They combed out what they could, and gave him revolution, but parts of him still had to be shaved, so he is a bit patchy and think right now. But with good food, some R&R, and frequent grooming, it should be back in no time.

I'll get some pics up in a bit.


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## G-PEG123 (Feb 20, 2014)

I can hardly wait to see him! What's his name? I hope he gets healthy quickly!


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## dragoness (Feb 12, 2015)

Here he is:


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## dragoness (Feb 12, 2015)

We are still working on a name. 

His age is estimated at 11 years or so. I think when he sees the vet, I'm going to have them do some bloodwork to check his organ functions, and recommend a diet for him. The rescue did most of the work, though, and now he just needs some TLC. He is very affectionate.


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## NebraskaCat (Jan 15, 2013)

There's some wisdom and experience in those eyes, no doubt. Thanks for adopting a senior! They have so much affection to give.


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## dragoness (Feb 12, 2015)

He has a vet appointment for next Wednesday. Senior cat wellness exam, plus blood panel, dental exam, and hopefully dietary suggestions for weight gain. 

For now, he is eating a mix of moistened kibble, rehydrated poultry, and canned food, all mashed up together into a kind of soft paste he eats easily. Dry kibble is kept available, and he eats some of it, but he struggles with it. 

More than willing to hand-mix a good diet for him. Have blenders and processors I keep around solely for dedicated animal food prep. I have put more than one frozen mouse in a blender to make slurpees for carnivores.


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## Speechie (Dec 2, 2013)

Oh he is beautiful!!! Congrats and I am so glad you took him home


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## Jetlaya67 (Sep 26, 2012)

What a handsome boy! Thank you for adopting a senior.


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## Jenny bf (Jul 13, 2013)

Oh he is lovely and his crumpled ear gives him character. I am so glad his path crossed yours so he can live out a restful and comfortable retirement


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## maggie23 (Mar 10, 2012)

i'm so happy for you both!!! i love seniors. i adopted a 10 1/2 yr old girl who is almost 14 now. but, heck, i love all ages of kitties actually. as if! ha ha!

and mouse smoothies...yum!!!


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## Cheddar (Jul 11, 2014)

I am so happy for the both of you. What a story with such a great ending. He is beautiful!


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Dragoness,
So this is the boy, who needs ear cleaning! He's Gorgeous, and looks like he's got a lot of character! 
Sharon


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## dragoness (Feb 12, 2015)

Well, we named him Magnus.

He also had his first vet exam (with us anyways) the rescue that took him in sent me copies of the bloodwork he had done with their vet, so we could compare notes. I took him in for a pretty standard senior wellness exam, and the vet did a blood and urine sample, as well as an ear swab for his crumpled ear.

Got the results yesterday. all of the things they checked (kidney, liver, and thyroid, among others) were within normal, healthy levels, indicating good organ function. His kidneys appear to have actually improved since his last bloodwork, where the numbers indicated very early stages of kidney malfunction. Thyroid is on the high end of normal, so the vets want to re-test in about 6 months to see if it is stable or deteriorating. 

His crumpled ear has a lot of bacteria in it, which isn't surprising, given that it is warm, dark, and moist, and fairly enclosed. I have antibacterial drops to apply once a day for it, to follow with twice weekly cleanings until I no longer get "Black ****" when I clean them. at that point, it will just be a weekly maintenance cleaning.

They think he may have some heart problems, but they said it would be a good idea to track his heart rate at home, as trying to get an accurate measure at their office is difficult because the cat is stressed just to be there.

I had them check out a lump on his ribcage that I thought may have been a previous break, and they said they suspect it was simply something he was born with, because he has another (smaller) one in the same spot on the other side. 

Also had them check his teeth. He seemed to struggle with the kibble, so we have been feeding him as much wet food as we can get him to eat (he is underweight at only 11 pounds, and able to count his bones). The rescue had some dental work done on him, so everything was pretty clean, and he is only missing a few teeth, one canine and a couple incisors, so he really shouldn't have any issues chewing his food, he may just prefer not to chew it. 

He also has a cold - for which they gave me some Lysine to add to his food to boost his own immune system.

All in all, pretty good. He gets ear drops once a day, Lysine twice a day, and canned food 3-4 times per day, just to get calories in him. 

After reading about 200 labels at the pet store, I have come to the conclusion that canned foods overall are a lot leaner than kibble. We normally feed Blue Buffalo Wilderness, which is something like 40% protein, and 18% fat (no wonder my other male cat if a pork chop), where I am having a hard time finding canned food that is over about 5% fat and 10% protein (Evo seems pretty good though, but he doesn't seem to like it). I'm of half a mind to simply soften his kibble for him with some beef bone broth, or start making my own cat food, if I can find a recipe HE likes.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

You are my hero of the day for adopting a senior fellow! He is beautiful! I hope the medical/dental issues are minor!! I've never adopted a senior that didn't come with issues but that's just the way we rescuers roll!


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

Thank you for rescuing a senior cat...he is a beautiful boy. It's possible he got his ear frozen. That happened with one of my cats one time and it looked very similar.


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Magnus is gorgeous! He's so lucky that you were willing to take him home with you and get him the care that he deserves. It sounds like with your care, you'll have quite a few years with him yet!


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