Raffle For Moki's Thoracic Inlet X-Ray

In an attempt to help raise the funds needed to pay for another x-ray of Moki's thoracic inlet, we have put together the above package which will be raffled off. This package is perfect for someone who has either recently added a new kitten to their family, or plans to do so this kitten season. The package includes one brand new, pink cat bed, which measures approximately 14 inches, making it a little too small for a full grown cat, but the perfect size for a smaller cat like Moki or a kitten, two brand new, stainless steal cat dishes, one brand new cat themed photoframe, perfect for displaying a picture of your new kitten, one new shadowbox kit, to display all the things you love about your cat, a cute, new, "Pick of the Litter," cat collar tag, one pink hand stuff catnip mouse, and a small black stuffed cat.

Tickets for the raffle are only $2.00, with the raffle ending on 4/24/09 at midnight (California time.) Shipping costs will be paid by me to ship the package to the lucky winner. Good luck everyone and thanks in advance for participating!

The Doctors Responce: Moki, Tamiflu and his Thoracic Inlet

So mommie bean left a message asking Moki's regular vet to call her because she was concerned about his retiring and had a few questions she wanted to ask him. When Moki's doctor returned her call, he laughed at momma and said, "I am retiring not dying..." He is such a great vet! He assured momma bean that his brother was going to be practicing for a number of years yet, and that I can always contact him, (despite the distance,) since he knows that we feel equally as comfortable with his brother. He also made some recommendations for other vets in the area who he thought might be good with Moki. I explained what happened with the new doctor he sold the practice too, and he totally agreed with momma that the new vet he sold the practice too was not the right vet for Moki. He also assured momma that he would be practicing for awhile yet, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays while he transitions out of the practice altogether. He could not however give momma an exact date as to when his transition out of the practice would be complete.

Momma bean and the doctor discussed everything that has been going on with Moki and why she brought Moki in to see the new vet, (Moki's bloodwork results came back normal, by the way...) and in the end, Momma bean and the doctor decided to put Moki back on the Tamiflu. (He has been off it since Sunday.) Per the advice of Moki's regular vet when momma bean picked up Moki's prescription for sub-q-fluids last week, momma bean searched Canadian pharmacies to see if she could find a pharmacy in Canada who could compound the prescription for her cheaper. While she did find it is cheaper to get Moki's medicine compounded in Canada, she also learned that Tamiflu comes in a suspended formula (meaning that it comes in a powdered formula which needs to be mixed with water in order to create liquid version of the drug,) which she could purchase just down the street for the same price she could purchase the drug for in Canada. While momma bean has always opted for a compounded version of the medication because of Moki's thoracic inlet problems, she did not know that she could purchase the drug in a suspended version, so she decided to give it a try. After mentioning the suspended verision to Moki's doctor, and how it could be purchased at Long's, Moki's regular vet called over to the pharmacy and momma bean picked up the prescription earlier today. Momma bean did run into one slight problem in that the pharmacy had already suspended the medication, meaning that the bottle is now only good for up to 10 days. In the future momma bean is going to ask that Moki's doctor tell the pharmacy not to mix the medicine for us. The reason why is that when the pharmacy mixes the drug with water, they mix the whole bottle which means that half of the bottle goes to waste and in the long run costs us more money. However if the pharmacy will sell us the powder unmixed, (which they do do in Canada,) momma bean can mix smaller portions of the drug with water, so that none of the drug gets wasted. (As a powdered formula, the medication is good for up to almost a year. Once mixed with water the medication is only good for 10 days.) By buying Tamiflu in a suspended version, we only spend $57.85 (with tax) per bottle, versus buying it compounded at $108.00 (with tax) per bottle. If we can suspend the medication ourselves, then Moki's medication will only cost us $57.85 per month versus $108.00 per month (the compound version lasts up to a month, not sure why...) Hope your following...in the end, if we can get Tamiflu in an unmixed (powder only) suspended version, we can save approximately $50.15 on Moki's medical costs...I am praying that all makes sense to you...lol

In addition to putting Moki back on the Tamiflu, Moki's doctor and momma bean both agreed that another x-ray should be taken of Moki's thoracic inlet soon. We need to take a look at his thoracic inlet to see if it is continuing to move upward towards his spine, which may explain Moki's cough and not wanting to drink. It's hard to say, what exactly is going on until we can get another look at his thoracic inlet and rule further movement of it out as a possible cause. For those of you who do not remember, or are new to Moki's blog, you can check out the prior x-rays taken of Moki's inlet on his catster page just click here (to spot Moki's thoracic inlet just look at the bone structure above Moki's elbow in the first x-ray, and then the bone structure directly above his leg in the second x-ray and you will spot a noticable curve, which is his thoracic inlet moving upwards towards his spine.) We are thus going to keep the donation button going for awhile yet, with all future donations going towards a thoracic inlet x-ray fund. So that is where we stand at the moment. Momma beans own schedule is going to be super-duper crazy these next three months, with momma bean taking a communications class, art history class, algebra class, and two anthropology classes, on a quarter basis. Once she gets through this quarter though, it's off to the teacher program, with a much lighter schedule for the remaining two years, while she finishes up her B.A. and earns her teaching degree. In the mean time, momma and daddy beans are taking shifts, so as not to leave Moki alone for extended periods of time. We have our schedules currently worked out so that Moki is not left alone for more than an hour or two at most on any given day. Momma bean will continue to stop by and visit everyone when she can, and will write a more personalized thank you message to all those who donate as time permits throughout the quarter. Please know that if she doesn't get around to sending you a personal thank you right away, it is not because your donation is not appericated. In fact we couldn't appericate it more or say how much everyone's kindness means to us, be it a purr, prayer, well wish or donation, we want to thank everyone for every thing they have done, and for their assistance which enables us to keep providing Moki with the medical care and attention he needs.

Ok so here is where we are at, Moki has stopped drooling, but is still not drinking on his own. We ran out of sub-q-fluids on Tuesday, so we have been using a syringe to assist him in drinking. Fortunately, the sub-q-fluids we ordered last week showed up this afternoon, so we can start him on the sub-q-fluids again this evening. He is alert, but his cough has come back. His regular doctor who is retiring will actually be in the office tomorrow, so we are going to call him and ask him to write a prescription for some more Tamiflu, we will also speak to him about finding another doctor and getting an updated copy of Moki's medical file then. We will let everyone know more tomorrow after we speak with Moki's regular doctor. In the mean time, we just wanted to let you all know that Moki is hanging in there....