Lessons Learned From Splashes - the Original Professor’s Cat

“I’m being taught by a Crazy Cat Lady!”

That is what my husband’s advisee told him after he asked her how classes were going, not knowing that the woman in question was his wife. Since that day I have worn that badge proud as the Professor’s Cat has often been inserted into classes I teach.

So how did someone who grew up with a dog become this cat-obsessed professor? By pure dumb luck...

I had taken a teaching job in Northern VA which resulted in me living there during the week and coming home to Lynchburg on the weekend. About a year into this gig, a white and orange tabby jumped through the missing screen door of the apartment complex and he followed me up to my apartment and made himself at home.

Away from my husband, I appreciated the company. My neighbor told me “Charlie” and his buddy “Oscar” lived in the back of the complex. While there is much more to this story, we decided to take in Charlie, now called “Splashes” and, at my husband’s insistence, Oscar, now called “Slurpy”. They were buddies - you can’t break up the team. In this, he could not have been more right.

I have been cat crazy ever since.

So how does the Professor’s Cat appear in the classroom?

Initially, they serve as an ice breaker when meeting students for the first time - here are the names and pictures of my “kids”. Their pictures or cat memes are sprinkled throughout presentations. I typically have a cat-related funny picture that relates to my lecture as my opening slide. I have even interviewed for a teaching job with the lecture title - “Why are my Cats Always at the Vet?”.

That leads me to what I want to highlight in this blog series - a discussion of cat health issues starting with disorders my cat clan has experienced. I primarily teach courses related to physiology and pharmacology. Thus my cats are often interwoven into lectures on health-related issues - what is the disorder and how is it treated?

So let's begin this mini “lesson” where it started - Splashes, the indestructible cat with a big heart - literally.

Approximately nine months after we catnapped Splashes from Northern VA, he started to get in the

meatloaf position and dry heave. We thought he was having hairball issues, but he was diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy - basically an enlarged heart due to thickening of the muscle wall. In fact, our vet at the time indicated Splashes’ ventricular wall was twice the normal size and the thickest he had seen. He also had a grade III heart murmur. On Splashes’ discharge sheet were the words - “Prognosis Guarded”.

Thickening of the wall typically means the heart chamber cannot hold as much blood and blood may back up in the reverse direction - first to the atrium and with time the lungs. These cats may also be prone to murmurs and blood clots due to blood stagnating in the atrium. Splashes was treated with baby aspirin to reduce clots, a beta blocker to slow heart rate and allow chamber filling, and an ACE inhibitor to reduce fluid build-up in his lungs.

Splashes’ heart was not his only large organ, he soon was diagnosed with megacolon - a condition that can lead to chronic constipation. Straining to poop is not good in combination with heart disease as the force increases the pressure in the chest cavity. Go ahead - start pushing as if you are getting ready to defecate - you can feel the pressure as you push down while keeping your upper airway closed.

Please don’t poop…

Megacolon occurs when the colon muscles do not contract properly to move feces along. This leads to colon expansion and stool is retained. The longer the stool remains in the colon, the more water is absorbed. Your cat’s anus is only so big and if the stool hardens and enlarges, the poop will not pass.

We had to take Splashes to the vet numerous times for enemas and manual stool removal under light anesthesia. Now Splashes was given twice daily doses of a non-digestible sugar to keep more water in his colon and the occasional OTC laxative when we noticed him straining to leave his huge deposits. Splashes took all meds like a champ - making me think all cats would not mind being flipped over and having pills or liquids popped in their mouth.

Nope, Splashes was special.

Flash forward a few years

Splashes started vomiting at about 3 o'clock in the morning - waking us from a sound sleep as we shooed him off the bed. Cat guardians know what I am talking about.

Back to the vet - blood work, x-rays. He was diagnosed with Intussusception (pronounced in-tuh-sus-sep-shun). Thanks Splashes, now you are getting things I can’t pronounce.

Intussusception is where the intestine telescopes in on itself creating a blockage along the digestive tract. This disorder can be life-threatening if the obstruction is maintained. Due to Splashes’ chronic constipation and his new blood work showing elevated Thyroid hormone, our vet recommended surgery to minimize or fix all three problems. We loved him, so it was a go.

Splashes had a partial thyroidectomy to remove half his thyroid, the twisted intestine was stabilized and, to top it off, he had a subtotal colectomy - a procedure that removes most of the colon while leaving the anal sphincter intact. Video below is soon after his surgery - purr motor undamaged.

“Prognosis Guarded” - remember that? His cardiomyopathy was so stable after 3 years that my vets were not concerned that his heart condition would complicate the surgery. His constipation issue was resolved - no more butt streaks on the carpet, no more pulling hard poop hanging out his butt, no more enemas.

Splashes beat the odds and he was with us two more purr-filled years. Nothing stopped him - seed tick infestation, urinary tract infection, a torn ACL. He provided much material to weave into lectures on cardiac, digestive, musculoskeletal, and infectious diseases.

Splashes’ heart did get him in the end, but that will be part of a future blog. Please feel free to ask me any questions, leave comments or reflect on your cat's battle with the disorders discussed.

Next week I will discuss why you should consider adopting a Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV+) cat and learn what question my students always answer by saying “because you don’t have sex with your cat”.