Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Top 5 Myths that Vets Hear- Part 2



Top 5 Myths that Vets Hear- Part 2
By the Veterinarians at WAH

Myth #4: My cat/dog can’t have bad teeth because he’s eating just fine.

Animals don’t usually exhibit pain as obviously as we humans do. This is partially from instinctual reasons: to curl up in a ball and not move is to invite predators. But it’s also because we are just not keen enough to notice.

More often than not, they are showing us they are in pain or discomfort, but we just aren’t getting their clues.

When we do oral exams on our patients, we often find oral disease like pus along the gumline, receding gums with tooth root exposure, loose or fractured teeth, boney swelling, and erosions of the teeth along the gumline. Any or all of these would make for a very bad day for a person! But our cats and dogs show very subtle signs, like a decrease in activity, not hanging out with the family as much, chewing on one side of the mouth, or not wanting to grasp toys in the mouth. For some cats, urinating outside of the box or marking around the house is their way of saying, “I’m in chronic pain.” In most cases, unless the problem has reached a point where there’s an obvious abscess or broken jaw, the dog or cat continues to eat.

On the flip side, it is very common for us to hear from our clients that after the bad teeth were extracted, it was like they had a new cat or dog! We hear very commonly how clients had no idea that their pets were in so much discomfort and now the cat is back playing and hanging out with the owners every night, or the dog is playing tug-of-war again.


Myth #5: You can’t teach an old dog –or cat- new tricks.

Yes you can!  They just may take a little longer to learn.  When does this become important?

Many dogs, as they age, start to lose some housebreaking habits. Owners often come home to find accidents in the house, representing a behavior that had not been present since puppyhood.

The first step, of course, is to rule out or treat a medical reason for this. Meanwhile, patient re-training can be started. Just as with puppies, training involves all positive reinforcement: rewards outside for good behavior, pointing to the elimination and praising, letting the dog watch you clean it up. On the flip side, you have to ignore the indoor accidents in front of the dog- never let him see you clean it up, and don’t scold him or rub his nose in it.

Finally, don’t allow him the opportunity to do the wrong thing. This often entails confining him in certain areas of the house, restricting access to the newly minted accident areas, or even crating her.

When cats age, they often have special dietary requirements. Converting a cat that is addicted to a certain company’s flavor or texture of food, like only dry food, can be a challenge. And this challenge is magnified when other cats in the house transition to the improved diet at different rates, or when other cats have their own special dietary needs.

The good news is that you can train cats to eat in their own areas, and it will take just a few days. One of our technicians used to line up four cat carriers, each one designated for a specific cat. And they all learned within a few days to go into their specific carrier at mealtime. Dr. Epstein has three cats that eat at different paces, including one who has pills hidden in her food. At mealtime, they each go to a different location in the house (laundry room on top of the dryer, floor outside the laundry room door, and upstairs hallway).

These are just two examples of teaching old dogs and cats important new tricks. It just goes to show you that with age comes wisdom!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Final Moments: A Veterinarian’s Decision to Euthanize her Dog


By Lexie Hanna, VMD

October 30, 2012: Hurricane Sandy came in like a storm, forcing us to hunker down as a family and be together. We could not predict the outcome, but prepared for the unknown. Our beloved black Lab Brasco’s final days arrived in the same manner, and at the same time.

What started as some presumed muscular pain quickly turned into paralysis, anxiety, leaky urine and uncontrollable bowels. The cause became irrelevant at some point. After our MRI was cancelled twice due to the state of emergency from the hurricane, we stopped wondering and did the best that we could to help ease his pain at home. Since I’m a veterinarian and acupuncturist, this involved acupuncture, massage and heat therapy, in addition to pain medication. But he is not only my patient- he is “our boy.”

So we did what any parents good would do. We loved him, nursed him, “sling walked” him, gave him extra treats, and let him lick my husband’s head as much as he wanted, until even that became of little interest to him. We talked to family, friends, and colleagues, each of us trying to grasp what happened so quickly, and why.

A great colleague of mine finally gave me light. She asked if I would “go crazy” not “knowing” what he had. And eventually I realized I did not need to know. I just needed to be with our boy (he is next to me now as I write). We did not want to spend a good part of his last days driving in the bad weather to an unfamiliar place to have him anesthetized and put through the MRI machine, just for an answer. Not that that would have been wrong. My colleague eventually said, “just do what feels right in your heart, and no guilt!” I realized then: she is part vet, part therapist and part religious guide. In our profession, we must be all three at times.

So we bathed our boy (whose urine was now very strong smelling and dribbling on him constantly). We sat with him, hugged and loved him and allowed him to guide us. We can’t control what life brings. (And right now, it’s bringing our three young boys up from the basement screaming about some fight they just had). Ahh life. A rest. God’s rest. Perhaps this is what Brasco really needs.

Addendum:
Brasco was humanely euthanized on Halloween morning, October 31, 2012. He became so painful throughout the night that we knew we had to end his suffering. But the decision was not easy. I am sure many of you have faced these same challenges. Is there a “right” time, a “perfect” scenario? Unfortunately, the answer is usually no. It is a very individual decision. For some (including myself with a previous pet), euthanasia never feels “right,” and letting the animal go in it’s own time is the answer. Many of you come in asking for our advice on this very topic. Our role is to help guide you, support your decision and help maintain your companion animal’s quality of life to the best of our ability.

Euthanasia comes with many opinions, stereotypes and emotions. It is a very unique aspect of our job, and one that we do not take lightly. However, it has its place, and we feel humbled to be able to help owners and pets in the end of life process. So “no guilt!” Just listen to your heart, and do what is right and best for YOU and YOUR pet.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

The Top 5 Myths that Vets Hear- Part 1


By the Veterinarians at WAH

Myth #1: My cat can’t have fleas because she lives inside.

Although her risk is much lower than that of a cat or dog who goes outside, she is still at risk. We suspect that the reason we see fleas on strictly indoor cats is 3-fold:
First, the cat may have come to you with one flea, impossible to find. That flea will lay 2000-3000 eggs in its lifetime! You can see how this effect will multiply!

Second, owners can carry fleas on them, usually from visiting a location that has a flea infestation. We’ve heard many stories over the years of cats developing flea problems after the owners have visited friends’ homes, and the friends’ pets were having flea problems.  As above, it only takes one pregnant flea…

Finally, and perhaps the most common reason for flea problems, is moving into a house that had previous pets- who had fleas. These little insects lie dormant in the carpeting and crevices of the floors, arrested in the pupa stage of their life cycle, waiting for their favorite hosts (cats and dogs) to move in. As soon as they sense the vibration of their normal hosts, the pupa will instantaneously molt and hop on the pet, setting up a nice, ongoing flea infestation on your cat or dog.

Myth #2: I can’t be overfeeding my dog because he’s always hungry.

It’s normal for dogs to be hungry. In fact, this is what drives their cousins the wolves to go out and seek prey. It’s what drives the wolves to steel portions of the prey from other dogs in the pack. It’s these wild instincts that drive your pet dog to counter surf and raid the trashcan while you’re at work!

But the domestic situation involves no demand to hunt to avoid starvation. Our beloved companions never go a day (or even a half a day!) without being served a meal. We have to be trained to work around that hunger drive so that we don’t make our dogs overweight!

What can you do? Just feed your dog to his requirements.

Do: Look at his weight: Is he too heavy or too thin? If the former, then decrease his portions. If the latter, then increase his portions.
Don’t: Go by the recommendations on the package! These are all designed so that no dog will starve!
Don’t: Go by your feeling of what seems like a good amount of food. Some of these foods are so low in water content and do calorically dense that even a small amount of, say, a grain-free dry food will actually cause your dog to gain weight. You may need to feed a very small amount of a high quality food in order to maintain your dog’s slim physique.
Do: Look at your dog’s energy and exercise levels. The more active the dog, the more she will need to consume.

Myth #3: I feed dry food to my cat because I was told it’s better for his teeth.

While some dry foods may have a slight edge over some canned foods in the dental tartar department, their other attributes make them unsuitable for feeding cats on a regular basis. What are these concerns?

First, dry cat food is too dry. It’s about 10% water, and cats need at least 80% water from their foods. This is the water content that is present in all the little creatures they eat in the wild. Even though they may drink more water than if they were eating canned foods, they still never drink enough water. We know this from studying their bloodwork and urine tests, which typically show borderline dehydration.

Second, since dry cat foods are essentially synthetic diets, (they are not mice, moles, and birds!), they contain a host of synthetic ingredients. The carbs and minerals deposit on the teeth in the form of plaque and tartar.

Third, we want your cat to eat a diet that is good for the whole cat, not just the cat’s teeth. That’s why we recommend high protein, grain-free canned or raw diets. The raw diets in particular contribute very little to dental tartar, and there are many safe commercial options available these days.

Stay tuned for The Top 5 Myths that Vets Hear-Part 2!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

I Kidnapped My Cat (A Memoir of Taking My Cat to the Vet) by Shelley Epstein, VMD


Today, I kidnapped my cat. She was sleeping peacefully on my pillow when, from her perspective, I shoved her into a cat carrier. She won’t tell you that first I stroked her, apologized for the upcoming events, kissed her, then gently tried to coax her to voluntarily go into the carrier. When that didn’t work, I tried to scruff her by the neck, intending to gain control to gently place her hind feet first into the now-vertically-positioned carrier. But she defied that attempt by tensing her neck into the Scruffless Wonder version of my cat. Finally, with the carrier sitting on it’s back end, I just gently lifted her up and slowly lowered her, hind end first, into the carrier. Sometimes less is more.

Then began the 20-minute commute and her running commentary of her opinion of this.

I should tell you that her name is Ellie. She’s going to be 16 years old, and we had named her after Jodie Foster’s character Ellie from the movie “Contact.” Ellie was a strong-willed, intelligent, independent-minded character, and endearing like our precious Ellie.

Our Ellie is hyperthyroid. She requires twice-daily oral medication to keep her thyroid hormone levels normal, and, because she’s doing so well, travels only semi-annually for check-ups and bloodwork. She’s been this way for at least 3 years and leads a normal life: eating, sleeping, eating, sleeping, and looking disdainfully at the dogs when the opportunity arises. She actually is a great communicator, and has dozens of different meows that, believe it or not, I understand. We have entire conversations sometimes. I’m not sure I should repeat everything she said on the car ride to the vet today.

Regarding her vet, whom Ellie is quite fond of, I must provide full disclosure here. I am her vet.

Back to that car ride. 20 minutes of 10 times per minute meowing. I had the opening of the carrier facing me, and this allowed me to poke my finger in there to comfort her. One mile from the Marsh Road exit of I-95, Ellie laid her head on my finger and rested. For 2 minutes. Then the meowing resumed.

Once at WAH, she was a model patient. I was thrilled that her heart sounded great and her kidneys appeared to be functioning quite well. She cooperated wonderfully for the techs who drew her blood, and then rested quietly and unobtrusively in a cage until I finished work.  No surprise that she willingly got in the carrier for the return trip, and that the frequency of her meows decreased to just one or so a minute.

But Ellie’s a real sport. I think she knows I do this because I love her and want her to live forever. Once home, she ate her dinner immediately and resumed our normal conversations. As I type this, she’s asleep on the bed behind me, snoring.


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Feeling Better with Kidney Failure, Part 2 by Shelley R. Epstein, VMD, CVH


In Part 1 from last November, we discussed the changes that occur in your pet when kidney failure sets in. We also discussed many of the treatments that we utilize to address these changes.

In Part 2, we will focus on more of the natural options for treating kidney failure in dogs and cats.

Diet
Many misconceptions abound when it comes to feeding dogs and cats with kidney failure. The typical diet that is prescribed for dogs and cats with kidney failure utilizes a lowered protein content and is restricted in phosphorus, which is found in the muscle meats that our dogs and cats need to eat. The idea behind these diets is that the metabolic by-products of these meats can’t be cleared as well from the body by the failing kidneys. The by-products build up in the bloodstream and are called “uremic toxins.” It is these by-products that cause the animals to be nauseous and lose their appetites.

The first misconception is that by limiting the protein content of the diet before kidney failure sets in, we can prevent kidney failure. This is NOT true for dogs and cats! The original studies were done in mice and, well, dogs and cats have proven to not be mice!

The second misconception is that by putting your dog or cat on this diet as soon as kidney failure is diagnosed, you can slow the progression of the kidney failure. This is also not true. These protein-restricted diets just decrease the build-up of those uremic toxins…and in early kidney failure, this build-up is so minimal that its effects usually are minimal. BUT, our carnivorous pets, especially our cats, need these proteins, and you may be causing more harm than good by restricting the protein before it’s really necessary.

Anecdotally, from my observations, cats that are on a raw diet seem to look and feel better while in kidney failure. I don’t know why this is, but I think it might have something to do with the cat’s ability to better digest and assimilate the foods that are in the natural (raw) form. Perhaps it’s also the high quality source of protein they are ingesting that makes them feel better overall.
Fish oil (for omega 3 fatty acids: EPA and DHA) is considered anti-inflammatory and may benefit patients with inflammation leading to kidney failure. It can’t hurt.

Acupuncture
By inserting tiny needles into acupoints, acupuncture can increase the circulation through the kidneys, relieve pain associated with some forms of kidney failure, and possibly decrease the elevated blood pressure that some patients experience. Our patients that receive acupuncture for kidney disease often feel a lot better, even if their kidney blood values don’t seem to be decreasing. Chinese herbs can be used in conjunction with acupuncture to improve the kidney function and make the patient feel better.
For more information on acupuncture at WAH, visit: http://wilmingtonanimalhospital.com/services_acupuncture.php

Homeopathy
Homeopathic remedies are used to treat a wide range of conditions. There are literally hundreds of remedies that can be used to help a dog or cat with kidney failure. The specific remedy for each dog and cat is selected based on the totality of their disease symptoms. These symptoms can include mental, emotional, as well as physical signs. To read more about homeopathic treatment at WAH, visit: http://wilmingtonanimalhospital.com/services_homeopathy.php

If your pet is in renal failure and you’d like to consider conventional as well as natural options for helping him, please give us a call at (302) 762-2694. For more information on our practice, visit: http://wilmingtonanimalhospital.com/index.php.





Tuesday, July 3, 2012

The Therapy that Sucks: Leeches at WAH.

Yes, we do leech therapy! Believe it or not, this ancient therapy is now considered a mainstream medical therapy! The saliva of the leeches contains many healing chemicals. As they suck the blood, they are also injecting these healing substances into the area.

In the photo here, 3 hungry leeches are attached to a hematoma on an awake dog's ear. (A hematoma is a swelling from a bloody fluid.) The leeches anxiously attach to the ear, then remain attached for 20-40 minutes. During this time, they will suck a small amount of blood- nothing harmful to the dog- but their benefit comes from those chemicals that prevent the blood from clotting and forming all sorts of scar tissue that would have resulted in a gnarly ear when the hematoma resolves. 


In most cases, the therapy is less expensive than surgery. No anesthesia is needed- the leeches also inject a numbing chemical into the site. It may take a month for the hematoma to fully heal, but the ear is usually normal in appearance afterwards. With all types of surgery, or even with no surgery, the ear usually becomes scarred and irregular in shape to some extent.


Leech therapy can also be used to treat other conditions. We've used it for thromboembolisms in cats- the kind that can leave a cat paralyzed in its hind end. In human medicine, it's used in plastic surgery, especially where trauma has occurred in order to encourage circulation to the site.
After the procedure, the leeches are retired and kept in a bowl to swim around.


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Tales From The First Year Of Veterinary School

                They waste no time trying to scare you. On the very first day of school, before you’ve even had your first official lecture, you’re taught one of the most important lessons you’ll learn in this profession: WASH YOUR HANDS. This is not the same lecture you got in kindergarten where your teacher instructs you on proper hand-washing, aided of course by the use of a rhyme. No, this particular presentation comes complete with an extensive list of the parasites and bacterial infections you will acquire if you don’t wash your hands after working with animals. We were even told to look at the person on either side of us because one of the three of us would probably get Cryptosporidium from a calf by the time we graduated. This particular protozoan parasite, like many of the others mentioned in the presentation, causes diarrhea. Diarrhea- there’s another thing: this word is something that you must be comfortable with in order to enter into this field at all. And if you’re married to, friends with, or even just chatting with a veterinary professional, assume this word will always be brought up when you’re trying to eat your chocolate pudding that you’ve been looking forward to all day. But back to the hand-washing, this presentation would not have been complete without the instructional video. This video featured a three minute, choreographed dance performed by the doctors and staff of a well-known medical school, demonstrating the technique necessary to properly disinfect all surfaces on your hands and fingers.
                So that was the first lecture. The first day was capped off by a 3-hour anatomy lab where multiple people made trips to the first aid kit after suffering scalpel blade cuts, sometimes self-inflicted, but mostly the doing of an overzealous lab partner who just couldn’t wait to start dissecting. With a class of about 80% women, the chorus of “Ewww”s is endless for the first couple weeks of lab. I personally was paired with two girls who could barely stand watching me make the first incisions (and these people may one day be spaying your dog, let’s hope they’re able to wield a scalpel by then). Anatomy lab is the definitive experience of first year, or at least the definitive smell. In second semester the course schedulers had a cruel sense of humor and placed Anatomy lab before lunch instead of at the end of the day when we can all go straight home and shower. Now we were all forced to continue on with our day after lab, sitting in class while the stench of formaldehyde in our own hair cast an inescapable cloud we must suffer in while listening to lectures about the parasites we might get if we don’t wash our hands. Eventually you stop being affected by anatomy lab, and as it’s the last class before lunch, hunger will override all other feelings. You find that you are fully capable of sitting at a table holding the disarticulated limb of a cow, and talking about the roast beef sandwich you packed and are so excited to eat for lunch.
                Now, you may be thinking that vet school doesn’t sound all that bad. However, if you enjoy an income, a regular sleep schedule, and reading anything besides a textbook, you may not be cut out for it. In one semester I had 21 total exams, and 8 of those took place over the course of just 14 days. It’s not the most conducive environment for sleep. And when you do finally sleep, you find that you will actually quiz yourself in your dreams about the functions and locations of the cranial nerves, the 12 unique nerves that originate directly from the brain. As a side note, these are pretty important. Because of this common phenomenon, known as “dream-time quizmaster” by one of my classmates, you will find that many students sleep with their notes right next to their bed, if not in bed with them. While this can commonly be because we often fall asleep studying, it is mostly so that if you wake up not knowing which reflexes the Glossopharyngeal nerve controls, you can quickly flip to that page in your notes and return to sleep, satisfied that you had the right answer. For many topics, you may even find that mnemonic devices are the only way to go. I would love to share some, but as you often make them up in a state of frustration when you can’t think of a way to remember all the arteries that supply blood to the canine forelimb, I don’t know any that don’t include curse words or other inappropriate references.
                While in vet school, it is important to remember that it was not your pets’ choice for you to enter into this program. This means that when you learn about cool stuff, you should not rush right off to try it on your own animals. For example, we learn about a reflex, governed by one of those oh-so-important cranial nerves, that animals possess where you can alter their heart rate and blood pressure by applying pressure on their eyes. You may think this is really cool, but trust me, when you get home at the end of a long day of classes, your cat just wants to cuddle, not have its eyeballs compressed. And your friends without pets will want to come over to practice holding a cat for a blood draw. Luckily, my pets were with me through my learning to be a veterinary technician, so they are quite used to this. What they are not used to is being cast like a cow. Since most of us did not have cows readily available to practice this skill on, we instead practiced on our cats and dogs. Casting is when you use a single rope looped in a specific configuration around a cow’s body to make them lie down so that you can examine them or do anything else that requires them to be lying down. It’s actually a kind of a cool life-skill to have, you know, being able to take one rope and know that you could strategically use it to make a 1,500-pound animal lie down. Kind of makes you feel like a rock star. This feeling is short-lived, though, because you quickly remember that you’re only in first year, and that’s really the only cool thing you’ve been taught to do so far.
                If you do have your own pets while in vet school, appreciate them. These are some of the few live animals you will work with for your first two years of school. Becoming a person licensed to treat animals requires a lot of time learning about them. . . in a classroom. That may sound like an obvious statement, but there is a common misconception that veterinary school is four years of playing with animals. You even reach points of desperation where you will volunteer to pull all-nighters in a zero degree barn with noisy sheep just on the off chance that you can be there to help with the birth of some irresistibly adorable lambs. While I was lucky and personally took part in the birth of more than 20 lambs over the course of 4 long, cold, winter nights, many people pulled these all-nighters and all they left with in the morning was fatigue and reduced feeling in their fingers and toes. If you want work done with animals and you don’t want to pay, just call a first-year vet student. We’re all desperate for animal contact.
                So, what gets you through? On some long, sleepless nights you may forget why exactly you’re putting yourself through all of this, but you’ll always return to your sanity after a shower and some food. Like many others, I have wanted to do this since I was old enough to realize what a veterinarian was. There was that moment around age five when it clicked- there are actually professions for people that love puppies, kittens, foals, calves, and lambs, and want to help them feel better and stay healthy. So, during first year you may smell like formaldehyde half the time and be deprived of animal interaction and restful sleep, but you keep powering through. You persevere because, while right now they’re only really teaching you what goes wrong with animals, if you tough it out and study hard enough, you’ll make it to the next years of school where they teach you how treat a lot of these abnormalities. So that’s why I suffer through the exhaustion and delirium, because I’m getting to learn how to help animals, and that’s all I’ve ever really wanted to do.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Because No Form of Life Should Ever Be Forgotten

It was just about three years ago that the economy hit our neighborhood hard and many houses started to go into foreclosure.   I don’t feel it was a coincidence that at about that time I started to see more “outdoor cats”.
There was a large black male that I was sure had a home due to his very friendly nature.  I would take spring time walks around the neighborhood with my husband and he would catch up to us and follow along, always singing a song.  We started to look for him when we went on our bike rides and even gave him a name, Panther.
One night when Panther followed us for two blocks singing all the way. I told my husband I was starting to think Panther  was  homeless. It was starting to get dark and I decided to give him some food because he was just so vocal.  I carried the bag out to the end of my yard and bent down to pour some into a large dish, Panther followed.  As I stood up I got a strange sensation that I was being watched.
From under my butterfly bush two other cats appeared, then a few more, then as I started to walk back toward my deck I counted a total of about seven cats along with Panther eating from the dish.  I went into the house and told my husband Bob, we have a problem.
I had heard about Forgotten Cats and wasn’t sure if Trap, Neuter, and Release was the right decision for all of these cats or not.  I knew that they all had to be spayed and neutered or the problem would really start to escalate, but release, to what?
I started to talk to the few people in our neighborhood who were involved in the civic association to see if the community was interested in helping these cats.  I quickly found out that there were far more important financial issues facing most of my neighbors than a handful of cats.  I talked it over with my husband and we both agreed that at the very least we needed to get them all spayed and neutered and give them a chance at survival on their own.  I called Forgotten Cats.  A lady named Felicia called me back and I explained the situation.  She said they were a strictly volunteer organization and explained the trapping process.  She told me a volunteer would come out in the evening and set several traps.  She said that they would need to capture the entire colony to remedy the situation.  I thought, ok, possibly eight cats. 
The next night a wonderful woman named Judy came to my house.  She explained that she wanted to place the traps in the dark and in a very discreet manor so the neighborhood kids would not know there were defenseless animals caught in traps in my yard.  She set about four traps and said that I was to check them as frequently as possible and if any cats were trapped to put a cover over the trap and call her.   That night all four traps were full of hungry cats, including an intact Siamese.  I knew there could not be a stray Siamese and this confirmed my suspicions that as people were leaving their homes due to foreclosure they were also leaving behind their cats.   Judy came out to the house and whisked them away to the  Forgotten Cats  facility and set four more traps. 
The next night was not quite so successful and in the morning much to our surprise my husband saw a litter of kittens under our deck.  They were walking and mom probably brought them with her when she came to mooch a free meal.  I quickly called Judy. 
It was a rainy day and heavy rains at that, but in spite of that this dedicated woman went out into my back yard and into the mud to set a trap for the babies.  I realized at that time that I did make the right decision.  This organization had such dedication in preventing the over population of homeless cats only to be born into a world of fear and hunger that they would spend their evening off from work, ankle deep in mud in a severe storm to help these creatures.
Judy trapped the kittens.  I said but what happens to the babies now?  They are too small to release back into the neighborhood.  Judy told me that we would figure something out.  The next day another volunteer named Donna said she would foster the babies until they were old enough to put up for adoption at one of the local pet stores.
In all, we, and I use that word loosely, trapped ten adult cats, and a litter of kittens.  Out of the ten adults when released five took off to parts unknown to me and the other five never left my back yard.
I often wonder if the five that left did ok but at least I know that they did not bring any more homeless cats into this world.
As for Panther, he now resides with his three female friends and his best friend, Simon,  the now neutered male Siamese at my house.
He still sings a lot.