I'm still chipping away at today's goals. Neck is on fire, makes it a little tougher. I just got removed from the Costco account. The people who put me on their account a couple years back, as a courtesy for helping them with a lot of cat issues, just called to ask if it was ok if they didn't renew it for me. I can understand that. Money is tight for so many people.
I don't know how that will work with my glasses I got there, that keep breaking. They're not the greatest frames. In fact, I've had better luck with dollar store frames that seem to be built far more durably. I'll have to find out what not being a member means for that.
And I was saving to buy tires there. The service is best there and I'm sure they would honor a warranty there. I had such a horrible experience with the tires I got at Les Schwab, and when they went bald 20,000 miles short of warranty, they not only did not honor the warranty but were just evil and nasty to me. I've never been back to Les Schwab since and never will go back. So I don't know where the next best place, other than Costco, to get tires would be, somewhere they will have good customer service and honor their own agreements. Any suggestions?
I do get all my dry cat food at Costco, but hopefully I can find someone with a Costco membership with whom I can go to Costco with, when I need to get cat food. Any local people out there who have a Costco membership?
I cleaned out the newest latest kitten arrivals ears this morning. They all have serious earmite infestations. I've had colds going around here, a bizarre virus, that causes extreme sneezing and congestion but no real drainage and no eye drainage. I've never seen the like. It doesn't last long either, at most, about three or four days. But it's been hitting cat after cat, one or two at a time.
Shady, who has a chronic herpes infection, has it the worst and is having a hard time shaking it. But in a way, it's brought us closer because I've had to confine her twice daily for steam treatments and antibiotics, which is hard with her, because she hates it. But she's also enjoying being petted and brushed and made over. So in a way, it was a blessing.
I got some more anti viral drops at the compounding pharmacy. Boy are they expensive! For a tiny little bottle---.1% idoxuridine--$38! For 15 ml's of 99.9999999% water, that's a lot of money. I'd love to figure out how to make that myself, if I can get my hands on the active ingredient. It is very effective in treating the eyes of herpes infected cats, however.
I haven't heard from the woman again, who was going to take in the Calico Triangles calico as a barn cat. Last night, she was trying to play through the mesh of the containment cage with the other cats, so I opened it and let her out. She explored awhile, but this morning, was back in the open cage, sleeping alongside Doc and Buffy, who had decided they like being in there, too. Cats are funny! She's a sweetheart, loves it here. They all do.
I"ve had big time phone problems here too. I just got told, when a woman called me, that the line always says it's busy. I know. The line is bad and so is my phone and the answering machine. Sam peed in the answering machine is why it doesn't really work. I can't stop it anymore and the messages are so muffled I can barely understand them and sometimes I can't. Lately, when the phone rings, I pick up the phone and try to answer but nobody can hear me. There has been extreme crackling on the line, too. It's been so bad I've been unable to return most phone calls. And for some reason, if I dial a number, that isn't necessarily the number that is connected. So I don't know what is up with that. I need to address this issues, however.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
-
Black Pearl is supposed to go to a home on Monday. The people adopting both her and Toby wanted her records, to be sure she has been fixed,...
-
I made it back to Waldo. Monday I took five cats from Gills Landing colony to be fixed and tested at the Salem clinic. All five, four gi... -
How about some retro photos? Who can guess what the above photo is? It's me, when at the fairgrounds, where a med school student gave me...
idoxuridine is ananti viral made with nucleoside analogue, a modified form of deoxyuridine, which is a Nucleoside.
ReplyDeleteNucleosides are glycosylamines made by attaching a nucleobase (often referred to simply as base) to a ribose or deoxyribose ring. Examples of these include cytidine, uridine, adenosine, guanosine, thymidine and inosine. ie, a nucleoside is a base linked to sugar.
They can be phosphorylated by specific kinases in the cell, producing nucleotides, which are the molecular building blocks of DNA and RNA.
Assuch, they are part of the RNA and DNA prcesses and the kind marketed by drug compabies are not thateasy to make. They arealso sometimes used as anti cancer meds - and all those meds are too expensive imho. The chemical comositon is C9H12N2O5
If you are serious about making it, find someone from a chemical co who can help you - you also Iodine atom added to a uracil (chem known as 2,4(1H,3H)-pyrimidinedione). You have to be very cautious with the latter becaue degredation of the it can leadto aspertate, carbon dioxide and aamonia.
I know I'd never try it in my lab - I have done it urs ago in a univ lab but not sure I recall the steps now. Maybe with a textbook in front of me and a good secure mask in case degredation of the uracil occured. But is is not an anti viral med I would choose to make even in a univ setting without lots of help.
It IS a good med for herpes though but is not available for people any more. You have to be careful n using it yourelf - here is the list from a medical text
Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.
put the drops in kitten's eye.
Remove the protective cap. Make sure that the end of the dropper is not chipped or cracked and that the eyedrops are not cloudy.
Avoid (can't stress this enuf and wear gloves if yo have them) touching the dropper tip against your eye or anything else.
Hold the dropper tip down at all times to prevent drops from flowing back into the bottle and contaminating the remaining contents.
Holding the bottle between your thumb and index finger, place the dropper tip as near as possible to the tiny eyelid without touching it.
With the index finger of your other hand, pull the lower lid of the eye down to form a pocket.
Drop the prescribed number of drops into the pocket made by the lower lid and the eye. Placing drops on the surface of the eyeball can cause stinging.
Close the eye and press lightly against the lower lid with your finger for 2-3 minutes to keep the medication in the eye. Hopefully, the kitten will not blink.
Replace and tighten the cap right away. Do not wipe or rinse it off.
Wipe off any excess liquid from your cheek with a clean tissue.
Wash your hands again.
I wonder how safe it is for cats? (Just thinking).
Here is an interesting abstract from JAMA - that shows saline might work just as well. Talk to the vet!
S
Oh my gosh, Siobhan, no one ever told me these things about idox, that I shouldn't let it touch me, etc. I had no clue. I will be far more careful both in administering it and consideration of its use. Saline solution might be just as good, because primarily, herpes dries out the cornea and probably any eye drop that moistens the cornea would be helpful. I'm going to switch out, as an experiment on Shady and use saline instead, see if the results are same, better or worse. Won't be scientific, but a judgement call, maybe already clouded due to the extreme cost of the idox.
ReplyDeleteThanks you.
Siobhan, I don't know what I'd do without your scientific knowledge and willingness to share it. THANK YOU once again.
ReplyDeleteOh! I've had luck with L-lycene pills from the health food store. Just crush them up into powder and sprinkle them on their food. It doesn't bother the ones how don't have runny eyes and it clears up the ones who do in just a day or 2. Oliver has chronic herpes in his eyes and this is a lifesaver. Very cheap too. A bunch of pills is less than a dollar.
ReplyDeleteHey Diane, I use Lysine, but they hate eating the wet food, with the powder in it. Maybe it's the type of pills I got.
ReplyDeleteCould be -- I just sprinkle it on top and they eat it. I only put a quarter of the pill at a time.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a chemist can come up with a chemical to remove cat pee from phones????
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSorry I am jst checking this now. Glad it helped. I know we see lots of eye problems (mostly from scrapnel in a war zone, sigh) in Israel and kids brought here from Gaza - and I find saline just as good. And it does not hurt the eyes of the little ones.
ReplyDeleteIf they had severe herpes, which can happen because it is after all, rather common little virus- same one that causes chicken pox and shingles after all - and even the meds for that are VERY stong, not indicated for pediatrics so we have to improvise. I worry I will have a child with worse probs post herpes meds than after, sigh!
Most big pharma groups never have children or small snimals in their thoughts if they think of people or our 4 pawed friends at all.
I'll be interested in your experiment with Saline vs that medication.
The main anti viral meds for herpes are Acyclovir, Famciclovir and Valaciclovir and they all work much the same. They disrupt the process by which the virus makes copies of itself and spreads to new cells. They do this by inhibiting an enzyme that the virus has but human cells do not and then interrupting the viruses' ability to synthesize DNA. None of the therapies cures the viral infection. HSV-1 and HSV-2 will remain dormant in the body in the nerve ganglia. (which is why ppl with chicken pox as kids can end up with shingles later in life).
acyclovir - which costs a small fortune is the best one in terms of working quickly. But all of them work best if used very early on!
There are researchers working on vaccines, esp as baby boomers age and the market grows (Big Pharma is so profit orineted - they hate orphan diseases, ie illnesses that affect small populations, sigh!) It irks me to no end to see many of those meds avail to us in North America but I arrive in a country where bombs made by North America (my country is not blameless either - they do make parts etc.)are injuring kids byt they have no access to meds that just might help the injuries. I might be Jewish but I will help any child regardless of origin and many of us here do but for some reason, Israel is always the bad guy. I have grown up all my life wondering what I ever did to be hated for my religion - and have decided mst wars are started due to religion. I guess that is why I like Bill Maher - he gets that religion is not always a good thing. In fact, it can be a bad thing, sigh
Anyway- off my soapbox and back to work.
Take care!!! I will be anxious for your expeiment results. Sounds like a great idea and I would tell the person who sold you that stuff at THAT price should be asked why the side effects were not expained. That is not ethical imho!
FCats, sorry I have never tried your suggestion. Only non traditional med stuff I use is Biron's Rescue Remedy, cocculine (great for ill cats or ones who need to sleep with NO side effects atall (- hate to give cats sleeping meds , NEVER give them valarian or Gravol- have treated kids with cats who have had tht stuff, NOT good, it often has a reverse effect. Not so great if one is travelling with a cat and gives her cat gravol before say a plane trip) and also glucausamine- I like to read all the scientific data first. My friends laugh at me but I pefer to study something anot not subject my kids at the hosp or my cats to something not as well studied as it might be tho I have no konwledge of the substance you mention and if it works for you, great! I just hope it does not have lasting effecs - have you read is monograph or its scientific data? Out of curiosity. You never know when something might turn out to be great! Like Flemming and penicillin or even a little known fact I did reseach on for my degree at Harvard. (it was not a thesis but a biochemistry assign) - showed that Vitamin B6 taken with anti depressants which can make one's mouth feel like cotton will get rid of the cotton feeling. I have tried it with an anti cholinergenic (an allergy med) and it worked for me. But the study as more significant. Yet so few psychiatrists or phsrmacists bother to tell their patients and we worked so hard on that study. Grrrrr!
Anyway- good luck, hope Sam gets that great home. He is such a regal and wonderful looking cat. He deserves a special home. Oh they all do but I like Sam I am, lol
Cheers,
Siobhan