oh, that is strange. He has not been exposed to any of those that I know of. I have had him since he was a dump job at my last house about 5 - 6 years ago. Who knows what happened before that? No can opener just pop top cans. It’s like he smells the food and it triggers “fear” in him - like he knows what’s going to happen when he starts to eat. He did have a couple of episodes where the food hit that lesion and made him scream. (and I do mean scream). How would you check for lead levels? I will ask my vet what she thinks.
blood test. requires special tubes.
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Ollie at his breakfast this AM without any prompting. he ate the whole bowl. Downside - it was kitten food so he ought to be really delightful to sleep with tonight what with the gas. lol
He still hides when he hears the cans open. So weird. So long as I can find him I guess I can deal with this small (in the great scheme of things) item.
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Yay for a whole bowl of breakfast!
It’s those little victories, right? You know…
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Ollie goes to internist tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed - for both him and my wallet. lol
He continues to do …okay. Has decided - yet again - that he is terrified of food. have to work very hard to get him to eat even a bit of fish which is his fave. Sore in mouth started to look okay but now has taken a decided downward turn and looks slightly worse. Upside is that he has decided that the other cats are not so bad and will let them snuggle with him sometimes and is trying new sleepy spots.
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Good luck to you and Ollie! Hope you get some help and answers from the internist. Let us know how it goes. 
Hugs and jingles for you and Ollie! Hoping the internist finds a solution and Ollie gets better soon.
Jingles for Ollie!!
I hope the visit goes well and he has some good news.
Jingles ! 
Well that was a waste of time. The internist was very nice, the place is lovely and she had some suggestions about what could be happening to Ollie, but in the end it all came down to $$. They wanted to do xrays ($369), ultrasound ($565) and sedation ($150). Those plus the visit was going to be $1200 and that is something I just don’t have. They also wanted to do biopsy of the lesion - treating that as a surgery - more $$$$ - and I just couldn’t. So we went home. He enjoyed the trip - he loves the smells and chatters away quite happily to me as we go along.
I will take him to his regular vet and get chest and head xrays ($200) and I think they have or know of an ultrasound tech that comes through periodically that costs significantly less. The specialist thinks the lesion is caused by his FIV and was convinced it was a stomaitis. We can start from there and do what we can. I think in the end there is no fix, there is only making him comfortable and only having a fair idea of what is wrong rather than definite answers. The conclusion is the same. Knowing or not makes zero difference.
He feels okay. Right now he is at the front door shouting at the “feral” cats that come to eat. He’s so funny - he has to yell at them first, then he comes and yells at me, then goes back to yell at them some more. Tonight at dinner I had BLT and had him over my shoulder practically breathing down my neck because he smelled the bacon. I have to figure out a way to make bacon dust for him because that is his favorite food. Well, who doesn’t love bacon? 
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I’m sorry. Sometimes I think if I were loaded if have everything done, other times I just don’t know.
I’m glad he enjoyed his outing. What a sweet boy. Jellybean howls from the time I get him in the carrier til we’re back home and he’s out of the carrier.
I wonder how crispy bacon would do in food processor… Paste or powder? Lol
Give Ollie a snuggle for me.
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I’m sorry - I didn’t realize Ollie was FIV-positive. I lost one in 2019 to stomatitis from FIV. Oddly enough, his sister, who is also FIV-positive, is just fine.
Minion developed mouth lesions about a year before we put him to sleep. Not all FIV cats get them, so the vet wasn’t sure what to do. We finally read a a study that (and I may not have this all completely right) cats who are FIV positive and have stomatitis are actually developing an immune response to their own teeth, so if you can pull the teeth, you can sometimes prevent the stomatitis from coming back. We didn’t get to try that with Minion, but it’s something to maybe talk to your vet about. Otherwise, the only thing we could do for him was put him on antibiotics and steroids, and neither was a long-term fix, and by the end, neither was working at all.
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I’m sorry the apt. was not doable, but completely understand.
Love the bacon story as I LOVE bacon too !
Jingles for Ollie and for his ‘emotionally exhausted’ Mom.
Enjoy Mother’s Day together !
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It sounds like one of those things that you might not have gotten any answers even if you did all the procedures. If the internist is convinced that it’s stomatitis, then you can go from there and treat it with your regular vet for less $$.
Ollie sounds like a funny, friendly kitty. All my cats HATE going anywhere. They howl the whole time, claw at the door of the crate, sometimes they pee or poop in the crate, etc. 
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I was in a situation where the next step was to take my cat to UC Davis (megabucks, stress) I felt that the aggressive exploratory procedures would just confirm that he was very ill and miserable. Unlike Ollie, we were unable to make him comfortable (rapid onset gall bladder issue, perhaps rupture). I’m very impressed with some of the suggestions provided here, and hope they help Ollie.
Jingles for Ollie; He sounds like such a cool cat.
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So frustrating to still not have any clear answers. I too missed that Ollie was FIV+ - poor guy really does have the deck stacked against him. FIV-driven stomatitis seems more and more likely. Would your regvet be able do extractions without breaking your wallet?
Loved the bacon story, and agree bacon makes everything better. Do you think you could put bacon bits in a coffee grinder and make it into a powder that way?
On going jingles for Ollie and yourself.
Yeah, the FIV just is the complication frosting on his “cake.” All his teeth are gone (thank goodness because sometimes he is is still bad to bite.). That thing in his mouth looks worse and he doesn’t even want to open his mouth all the way.
I wish my other vets had told me that FIV cats are prone to stomaitis’s (?) and that it’s allergy to their own teeth (thank you for that important piece of info @Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom).
I think I will do what I can for him that is not too invasive. Maybe we can see how far along this is. Internist suggested xrays to see if this was cancer and if in his head how far along it was or not and to see how bad his heart is. Fair enough. He gets to go on Wednesday.
I’m so depressed. Like some of others that are posting here - I can’t lose another one. Not now. My little family is getting littler.
Ollie is a cool cat. Strange, but cool. I would loved to have seen him as a kitten. I bet he was the bane of his mother’s existence. 
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I am so sorry. I spent Saturday looking at Jellybean and crying. It is so hard to lose them… I wish they lived longer. Healthily longer.
Hugs for you!!
I bet Ollie would’ve been a hoot as a kitten! How did you get him? How old was he?
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Ollie was a dump job at a property I lived in in the middle of the lettuce fields. I know why he was dumped - he was a horrid biter and he sprayed like nobody’s business. I figure he bit either someone’s grandma or someone’s kid AND sprayed their house down so out he went. I have no idea how old he is - guessing 10ish?
I’m so sorry to read that Beanie is not doing well. I am hoping he pulls out of this. I am hoping for good news. (((hugs)))
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