Wednesday, April 21, 2010

All is not well for FatBoy

FatBoy looked anxious at the doctor's office although his temper was even. He gave the assistants some trouble when they had to take his blood.
His Fortekor, which is long term and his Vibravet which is for a whole week...


The results for his blood test were very poor and the vet Dr EL said that he had kidney failure and because of that, she would not put him under any anesthesia for his dental problems. His teeth and gums, although terrible, were not the worst that she had seen in a stray. I could see the bloody roots of his teeth and understood then what kind of pain he was in when he eats or had to chomp on anything.

She also said that he needed long term care and for a stray that would be very difficult. So she also suggested putting him to sleep as he was indeed suffering from kidney failure and she said that would be the primary reason why he was losing all his weight. The catch was as he had kidney failure, she could not even help him to remove the pain he was in with his teeth. So he was in pain all round. She said it might be the better solution as we would not want him to live in a lot of pain as he was in now.

The only thing we could do was to make sure he had twice weekly SubQ, coupled with his long-term meds Fortekor. I do not know if I would be able to do the SubQ for him but will try this Friday as he has to have the SubQ every two days at 250 ml. It is more the fluids that would be able to help him I think.

I was grateful that one of the residents, a taxi drver, who lived in the same block as FatBoy saw me carrying FatBoy in a carrier and so we were able to get a cab very quickly. He waited for us until 8.30 pm ( nearli 1.5 hrs) and so we did not have to wait for another cab. This place was not the easiest place to get cabs at all.

He said that FatBoy would be 8 years old and everyone loves him. Ultimately we would have to think of FatBoy's best interest and not ours when making any decision. I would also have to ask the auntie who has been with him for 8 years, his whole life almost.

I really do not know what to do about it and we would have to make some kind of decision for him by next week. It should be more than anything about the quality of life that has or will have.

His indicators are:

Cre 8.4 mg/dL (normal 0.8-2.4)
Alt 53 U/L (12-130)
Alkp 52 U/L (14-111)
GLU 120 mg/dL (71-159)
USG: 1.1012 (urine)

The vet said his Cre coupled with his urine indicators showed that his kidneys had been failing him for a long time although the rest of his indicators were ok. I noticed that his bones near his hind legs were showing quite prominently too. However when we went to the vet at a***, he weighed in at 5.35 kg.


Monday, April 19, 2010

Vet Appointment

I wonder what will happen to me tomorrow...

Tomorrow we are going to MP at Katong. It is a friendly practice and the place is big and airy. FatBoy would be in very good hands.

Rain

It rained very heavily this evening but we were glad that Bujang got in a short walk first. The amigos of course spent the evening...
sleeping...
comforting a scared toy kitty...
watching the weather rain on his parade...
showing off his newly brushed fur...
Life went on as usual...thankfully...

Monday Mystery

Totoro: Where have you been Bujang?
Bujang: Leave me alone or I will smack you once I get outta here!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Goodnight Sunday

zzz...

A new plan for FatBoy

Megat's set of teeth after his teeth got extracted. I wonder if FatBoy's teeth would look like this afterwards.
FatBoy: I am not helping you as I do not want to go to the v_e_t!

After discussing the pros and cons with grandma about putting FatBoy outside , I decided to send him to another practice that has boarding facilities. The first practice is the one all the amigos go to and there is no problem. If we want boarding, we would have to go to the hospital at B. B is very far away from home and there would be much stress for everyone. Since I cannot have FatBoy at home and the auntie cannot have him in her home, I decided that I would have to ferry him to and fro. This would be better as he would be boarded at the clinic itself when it comes to his surgery.

However since he is going to another practice, he would have to be re-examined and I think he would have to take some antibiotics for a week. This is ok as he is an amiable kitty and we can put the pills in his food.

So next Tuesday, we have an evening appt for him to see his new vet and then we take it from there. Grandma was pleased as she was afraid he would make alot of noise outside and disturb the neighbours. She was also afraid someone would release him when he was outside the house.

Of cos, on afterthought (aiyah san, sometimes you are furry silly!), I could have put him in a shelter for the night but then it would be very inconvenient to get him early for the surgery as the shelter is also far from my house :)

So that is that. We only have to wait for next Tuesday.

Sunday Walkies

Bujang rested after he threw up all the grass that he ate...
Minah made her appearances as usual. She was hungry so I gave her some kibble. Then she took a nap :)
We saw a pretty yellow bird too :)

Esy Peasy Sunday

Totoro is feeling much better this morning after his vaccination. We are all pleased with his progress...
Sunday begins with a little cuddle for Tanaka...
Where? What does Sunday look like?

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Goodnight Saturday

I am just glad I was not involved in anything to do with the vet although I know san would bring me to see Dr BL as soon as possible because of my coughs this April.

Anyway GOODNIGHT SATURDAY :)

Toro and the vet

Grandma told Toro that he had to go to the vet as its time for his vaccination...
Dr BL said his bladder was not swollen but that was not to say that nothing 'bad' was happening. I admitted that this was true but he just had a urine test in March and I did not want him to undergo any more prodding and tests. I told Dr BL that he is urinating as usual and is not in any discomfort. He is drinking as usual too.

After his vaccination, Dr BL took a look at his teeth as he had plaque the last time. After some scrutiny, he was diagnosed with one tooth that needed scaling and a little swollen gum where the tooth was. Dr BL did not feel that he needed any major scaling and I thought we would have to try other means as scaling means anesthesia. So we went home with some tooth gel that I have to smoothen over his gums, especially the swollen side and something that I can put in his drinking water. We will try this first.
Toro was a little unwell in the evening but managed some canned food for dinner, a request for some scritching and a small bout of investigation over the carrier that we had used to put FatBoy. I had to disinfect and clean it for Bujang. He is now asleep in the middle of the living-room.

FatBoy at the vet

After the vet visit.
The assistant was very taken with fatBoy and thought he was very pretty. So she asked Cousin R if it was possible to open the cage so she could pet him. FatBoy was very amiable and allowed her to do so :)
The auntie did not manage to catch Fatboy this morning. She said she just managed to put half of his body in the carrier but he got wise and ran off. So I came down and tried to entice him into it. He was hiding under a car but came out when he heard me call him. I pretended to give him some food (he had already eaten) then asked Cousin R to quickly bring over the carrier. I pushed him into it quickly. DONE!

We had to bring him to the vet as he has been losing weight these past 2 months. Many people have been asking the auntie why he had lost a lot of his weight. I was afraid he was sick but he eats his food and does not drool. His temper is also as calm as ever.

But he yelled so loudly in the cab. I have never heard such an unhappy cat. He yelled in the cab, yelled on the way to the vet, yelled at the vet and grumbled when he saw the vet.

But once he was on the table, he suddenly transformed into the very friendly kitty that everyone loves.
FatBoy: How can you say those things about me? I am very friendly and I love everyone!
He weighed at 5.53 kg and had a mouthful of very bad teeth. The vet , Dr BL said he would have to pull some blackened ones out and do some major scaling! So he has another appointment on Tuesday. I really don't know where to keep him before that as the auntie is not strong enough and she is afraid he would yell her house down. So Cousin R said we could catch him on Monday night and put him in a cage outside of my house. This seems the only way out. I would have to put a blanket on the cage and write a note to everyone not to let him out. Then on Tuesday morning, Cousin R would bring him to the vet as he needs to be there about 9 am and I would be at work by then.

I hope this plan works.