Thursday, October 15, 2015

marvelous Marvin

Mr. Marvin is turning into quite the social cuddle bug.


He's always got to be on a human.


I'm sure this won't come as a surprise, but my heart has been really opening up to this guy. I'm not sure how he does it, but I think he gets sweeter everyday! 

He's very secure in himself. New space and new people don't intimidate him in the least. He just doesn't get scared. With that kind of personality, I wondered if he might be interested in a job, as my therapy cat. I brought him to the office one afternoon for an interview.


He immediately hopped up in the picture windows and admired the view of the city from the 7th floor! There would be no hiding behind the couch for this boy!

Once the windows and floor were explored, he went on to check out the other higher places, like the bookshelf! I hope to do a few more visits to the space to get him fully acclimated and them try him with clients. 


I do have concerns about his health though. In addition to his chronic kidney failure, he's been having more problems with balance lately. I noticed it awhile ago, but it seems to slowly be getting worse. He sometimes has difficulty walking in straight line and will jump down from places and crash hard.  The other day his balance was so far off I almost confined him to an enclosed pen out of concern for his safety. And no, he's not abusing the nip!



Since it's been getting worse, I brought him to the vet to get this looked over. I feared it might be a tumor in his ears, because he never likes having his ears touched. But of course there in front of the vet, he walked perfectly straight and made me sound like a crazy, overprotective kitty parent!


The vet looked deep into his ears and tested him in all sorts of ways, but didn't find anything obviously wrong. She gave me some things to really watch out for next time he looks unbalanced (specific symptoms of micro-siezures, etc.) so I'll be on the look out. Since he was there, we ran his kidney numbers, and his creatinine was back down to the high end of the normal range, that was a happy surprise!

So long as Marvin stays healthy, I think he's got a job - my new therapy kitty! Yah for both of us!! I'm excited to get to work with him, I think he'll have a lot to teach us about how to be better at being human.

12 comments:

  1. What an odd symptom.. glad to hear the blood work looks good though

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  2. Great news regarding his blood work!

    Isn't it amazing and wonderful how Teachers come to us in so many forms? What a blessing he is for you--and you for him, as well. Good luck with him as a therapy cat, I think that's a fantastic idea.

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  3. Am so happy for you and Marvin! He has such a lovely-shaped head. Hope you get to the bottom of his imbalance soon, and don't ever NOT go to the vet in fear the staff will roll their eyes...Job #1 for cat humans is to keep their cat friends in tip-top shape!

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  4. we wondered if his ears were causing the balance thing too, but it sounds like not so much. he certainly gets our vote for therapy cat!!

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  5. Oh he is such a handsome boy. I'm glad he will be your therapy cat!

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  6. Maybe he had vertigo. They never have symptoms at the doctor--neither do I! You'll have to keep a close eye on him.

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  7. Way to go Marvin, you're sure doing great!

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  8. dood...way happee ta lurn ya iz doin grate & mega kewl bout yur new job...just rememburr; any thing over 35 minitz iz considered over time & de goin rate for OT theeze dayz is $ 945.50 !!

    heerz two an ocean sunfish kinda week oh end ~~~ ♥♥♥

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  9. He is really a special guy! Glad he seems to be doing better!
    hugs,
    Linda

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  10. Weez glad it's nuffin' serious. Sumtimes sis Lexi gets a little unstable too. Mommy just assumed it was cuz she be weak or havin' a bad week. Da CKD is so pawful and she lost so much weight dat she's not as hearty as she used to be. And bein' older muscle wastin' was also an issue. So wiff da addition of da purrotein powder and so long as she eats good meals, she seems to be fine, but ifin she gets picky or dusn't eat as good then hers balance suffers. Maybe dat's all dat be wrong here. Weez sendin' ourrayers. And weez glad hims gunna get to be a Therapy cat.

    Luv ya'

    Dezi and Lexi

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  11. Is this any use to precious Marvin and you?

    http://www.canidae.com/blog/2013/08/what-is-vestibular-disease.html

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  12. Love Marvin's adventurous spirit...and it appears he's a cuddle bunny, too! Being a therapy cat will be a win-win for everyone.

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