Finally

His picture and his nature was the same - he was beautiful to look at and wonderful in his goofiness

We got his ashes last Saturday. It came in this small jar decorated quite simply - just like Totoro when he as alive- a simple sweet kitty.

 

The kitties gathered around as it was some time ago that we were so busy at night. They sat around this space waiting for what was going to happen. We have become a rather quiet household, not because Toro was a noisy kitty. He was quiet and preferred his own company and ours of course. I think we are just trying to figure out our spaces again without him. But Bujang missed him most of all as he has not stopped looking for Toro in all of our rooms specially at night or at dinner.

We buried him here, in this 7 year old jasmine plant. Toro liked the smell that it gives off in the evenings. He would sniff the air whenever the jasmine flowered.

Totoro - 1st Mar 2005- 16 Sept 2012

Toro and I have the same birthday :) We would be celebrating his life for some time yet:)

Run Free Totoro!

My cat Totoro never went anywhere without his toy. It looked just like him.

Some of his best poses...

 Cat by the window, the better to look at flowers and feel the breeze...

 Cat sleeping by the door, the better to catch the breeze right off the bat, at dawn...

 Cat sleeping on the coffee table, head anywhere at all...

 Cat on a new couch. Its mine if you please!

The superman pose- his favourite one of all

My cat Totoro went to the bridge this very evening, at about 7 or so. He was in an oxygen tent for 2 whole days, his breathing laboured and his lungs full of fluid. He persevered with me for 8 days before he said goodbye with his head on my hand..softly meowing. I told him it was okay and that I would see him tomorrow and brushed his fur, which he liked mostest of all. I gave him some water and then quick as lightning he turned to face the wall and went limp. He was 7 years and 6 months.

They tried to resuscitate him (the 2nd time in 2 days) but I knew that he was gone. 

No more pain Totoro and no more needles and doctors and groomers and all that nonsense! Run Free! Thank you  Fern for helping me throughout this time and also cat_aunty and dell and everyone else who wished us well.

We are taking a break from blogging for a bit.

Totoro Thursday on Friday

Toro at hospital yesterday 13 September. He was curious as to the little noises that he heard. It transpired that there was a hamster in the cage beside him! It was robustly running in its exercise wheel and ruffling through its tray that was full of shredded paper:)

Test results on 12 September that prompted Dr Ly to hospitalise him again

His pcv was 22% from 20% on 11 September.

Dr Ly's plan for Toro was to keep him in hospital in the morning to flush out his kidney and for me to bring him home at night where he would be able to rest and relax somewhat since he gets stressed when he stays overnight at hospital. So that was what we did. 

This morning I brought him to hospital before I went to work and later I would bring him home, at about 7.30 pm. We have to do this for about a week. I am glad tomorrow is a weekend so we do not have to rush about.

Update:

When I saw him yesterday, he was alert and gave me many headbutts and purred when I brushed his coat. The nurse on duty told me that he had peed once only and that was a little worrying. They gave him food intravenously so he won't throw up but he ate a few of his renal kibble from my hand, which made me very glad evenso.

His values remained the same as on the 12th and although it was stable, it was not the best values to have but I am grateful that he was in a place where help is available 24 hours a day. He was breathing rather heavily and I was told that if he pees more, he would breathe more easily and another reason for the heavy breathing was that his kidney has to be continuously flushed. It was a little frightening for me to see him breathing so hard and I was thinking of the cats that I would need to have in case he needs another transfusion!

When he came home, he was as curious as ever but I was instructed to see if he peed at night and how much pee he had. I was all ready to have an all-nighter when I realised that I could put him in Ms Akira's room with a litter pan so it would be easier to keep track of in case I fell asleep and this was what we did. It was not a good plan as he was restless and slept fitfully. He kept sniffing at the litter box but did not get in it. At 4 am I decided to we should go back to the bedroom and then I put him near the litter boxes. After a few minutes, he got in the box and peed for some time. It was quite a puddle.

I also had to give him his vitamin C injection at home through a plug that they had fixed on his foreleg. This had to be given s_l_o_w_l_y as if not he might vomit. I would have to do this for 5 days, at 10 pm.

This morning, I gave him only his painkiller, fortekor and azodyl as he was breathing very hard and I did not want him to choke on anything else. I did not try to syringe feed him as well as he was wheezing.

However, he was quietly chatty in the cab this morning and looked out of the window constantly. When we got to his room, there was a little kitty already there. It was nice that he would have a friend there but of course it was not the best thing for the both of them to be there at all in the first place.

They would take another test later  today to see his kidney values.

Totoro on Tuesday and an Update

Who is that san? I don't recognise the scent...



Toro's older pictures. Sorry I have not taken anything new of him but will try today.

Last night he spent much of the time trying to get comfortable in bed and found a spot close to the wall, on my blanket. We did not have the air con on as the vet techs told me that anemic cats get cold because of the anemia and so we had just the fan.

Bujang and Tanaka did not sleep on the bed as they spent the whole time last night sniffing him and trying to get to know him again. Even Megat came close to sniff him. Toro took it all in good grace and touched noses with everyone except Megat.

This morning he had 10 ml of the rice/fish/veg broth concoction and all of his pills. He went up the coffee table to drink from the public water bowl and gave me one loud meow for a grooming session. Then he decided some rest and hide was in order and hid at the green tunnel. He did go to pee several times.

Later I will try to get him some steamed fish for dinner. Maybe he would get his appetite back.

Today, we would be going to Tampines to get his pcv reading as well.

UPDATE

Our new photos of Totoro

 Toro and Bujang resting easy ...

 Toro pretending that the camera wasn't there. His right eye is smaller than his left but this could be due to him not being well...

His pcv remains stable at 20% when we took the test this evening at Tampines. Dr Tay said that this is on the low side of the indicator, the lowest being 24%. However he said that this was good progress and that when there is a transfusion, it is not good to have such a high indicator right after. We are hoping that his Eprex would do the trick. Tomorrow he gets his last of 3 injections of Eprex. However I remembered Megat had more than that when his pcv was very low 31/2 years ago, sometimes as low as  5% only!

He had his sub q and pills given to him at the clinic. Dr Tay also gave him something for his vomitting as today he had vomitted twice. He was not pleased at this and swatted him. WOAH! But Dr Tay was very understanding and said that Toro has always been such a good boy and probably today, it was one injection too many. He had 3!

At dinner, he refused to eat his steamed fish at 6 pm and I could not get the fish fine enough to go into a syringe. However I had the presence of mind to buy a sachet of Walthams renal pouches. So I had put some through a sieve and given him this to eat through the syringe. He had 15 ml before he refused any more. So at least that was some food in him.

Before I put him to bed (and he is now in bed on my blanket with the fan on), I had given him 15 ml more of the same and he ate quite willingly. He is quite used to being fed with the syringe as we give him a mixture of pumpkin and papaya every day to help with his digestive system.

He drank quite a lot of water and had gone to pee twice when I am home. However during the day, it was difficult to see as there are 4 cats using the bins and I did not want to separate him from the rest. It seemed that he was busy walking about the whole day and had climbed up and down his cat tree by the window. Grandma and Sister N were very worried that he would unravel his stitches. Even Dr Tay told him not to be climbing up and down. But he checked the stitches anyway and announced them secure. 

I hope tomorrow he would decided to eat something by himself but if not I would just need to feed him with a syringe until he is stronger. 

We have a review tomorrow with Dr Ly at 6.15. Please wish us luck.

Update for Totoro

an old pic of Toro

Toro had 70 ml of Type A blood from Bujang. He was all wrapped up in a rowel when I saw him, sitting quietly when a nurse gave him his blood transfusion. He was cold as he was also anemic due to the operation on Saturday.

I saw Dr Ly and he told me that when during surgery he saw that his left kidney was not working at all due to the amount of sand in it. His right kidney was misshapen and swollen and when he cut it, the urine spurted out of it. This kidney was also almost blocked by sand. There was no big stone already as the 2 big calculi has dissolved into sand and he had to siphon all of that out. Of course as a result of the cut, he has anemia as well and his urea and creatinine levels are way up. Dr Ly said that without the surgery, he would only have about 3 weeks before his kidney totally shut down.

Now that the had gotten rid of the sand, he could now urinate better and he was pleased with that. However, because Toro was so stressed in hospital, he was not getting any better so he wanted me to bring him home to see if home would be better. Dr Ly said this would be his recommendation always but he wanted to monitor Toro in hospital and that was why he had to stay.

He also added that he did not know where the sand came from (and of course this was what had puzzled all his doctors from 2 years ago as well). He said all that we could do now is monitor his urea and creatinine and he has to get sub q 250 daily. he would also be given some meds for his anemia. he has to take his usual kidney medicine and we have to come back in 2 days.

When I left him in hospital, he was asleep and so I hope that Dr Ly is right - that home would be better for him. (He did perk up a little when he heard Bujang wailing in the hospital). I hope his PCV is better but I will only know this tonight.

UPDATE:
Toro's pcv is now up to 20% from 10%, thanks to Bujang. But it sems sometimes it would take much longer to get a true reading so tomorrow we are going to Tampines to get his pcv reading. His review with Dr Ly is on Wednesday.

He came home at 7.40 and immediately inspected the house. Then he hid in the tunnel but he actually allowed himself to be syringe-fed with the mixture that Katie had shared with us, but only about 5 ml of it before he decided that enough is enough. he drank some water by himself (HOORAY!) and is now in bed, sitting on my blanket.

He has eprex for anemia and a herbal remedy to increase his blood pcv as well. Of course he came home with painkillers and anti-biotics. It is lucky that he is also quite easy to pill.

Totoro Sunday on Monday

 We tried to keep things normal at home...as much as we can.

 Tanaka: I am keeping the bed warm for bruffer Toro san. Its quite comfotable I must say...

Toro at hospital yesterday Sunday 9th Sept...

Close up of stitch...

Toro spent much of Saturday and Sunday sleeping. The good thing was he had peed several times on Saturday night and Sunday. So toxins are out of his body while his kidney kicks in. I am also encouraged as the vet tech (who lnows Toro very well) said that Dr Ly kept a close eye on him on Saturday night and Sunday as well. Dr Ly would not be in until Wednesday but he keeps tabs on Totoro where he is.  I hope that he would be up on his feet today to eat on his own as yesterday, they had to tube feed him food and water as he was not interested in food or water at all. He just wantd to sleep. I would see him later this evening and would speak to Dr Lee as to his care.

The operation went well and he has to be in hospital where they need to flush his kidney until Tuesday. It was quite fortunate for us that Dr Ly was able to do the operation immediately on Saturday. After his ulta sound with Dr Sabine, we had a consulattion with Dr Ly and Dr Ly recommended an operation as he only had one kidney that is working and not very well at that as he has calculi in it. Dr Ly told me tht if we did not opearte to get rid of the big stones, he would only have a few months! I did not have to think long (!!) and told him that we should do the op immediately.

The next day, we came at 10.00 am and Fern also came in to see him and to give him Reiki. He was calm and quiet the whole time. Dr Ly said he was also under great stress as Toro had only 1 working kidney. He ordered a hole lot of tests - PCV, blood clot and ordered various clamps and a hardcopy of the ultra sound. We had done a blood test last month so that was quite helpful as well.

He had the op done at about 3 plus and I was told that Toro was recovering 'nicely' at 5.20pm. I saw him for a few minutes after that. He was awake but quite weak and then I had to leave as he was in the ICU and Dr Ly had another op to do.

The other kitties were a little subdued on Saturday and they were better yesterday. Tanaka has decided to take charge of Toro's scratch bed and he hangs around that quite often:) 

 PS: I just got a call that he needs a blood transfusion so am levaing now for hospital/

Run Free Minah

Minah the BOSS ...now for sure SUPERBOSS...
Minah loved the sunshine and would roll about on the cool cement floor under it...
She loved her food as well and would cry loudly when we're late with it!
This was her favourite pose- the better to see Bujang and let Bujang see her :)

She was always curious about our carrier and would investigate and sniff it whenever she could...

Run free Minah. Today is the beginning of long days of running and laying under the sun :)

A parathyroid malfunction?

Guess who is off to the vet once again?

Totoro was off to do a blood test to see if the excess blood calcium was due to his parathyroids. Both Drs L and T had discussed this abnormality in his indicators. It seems a high indicator for calcium always goes hand in hand with high potassium but his potassium levels are normal and his calcium abnormally high. It seems sometimes the parathyroids bleach calcium from bones and this would result in fragile and porous bones which would be detrimental to any cat! So we were off to do our first blood test as his blood would be sent off for the test tomorrow.

Totoro sitting pretty in his cage...

Totoro waiting for the vet to open after lunch. Many people were curious to see us and a woman actually stopped for a bit to discuss him. He is 'very big' she finally said after we had discussed his kidneys and tests. One person actually thought he was a dog! But everyone thought he was handsome :)

Toro getting his sub-q done by Dr L

Finally it was decided not to do the blood test this afternoon as it had to be done in conjunction with some calcium test and the machine is at the hospital. Dr T would bring it with him thus Saturday and I would be able to discuss the tests more then.

Questions for kidney cat moms and dads

Hmmm...

For all kidney cat mums, dads and caregivers

There have been many questions asked about many things and if you have a kidney compromised kitty, the expenses can be exorbitant. If you have more than 1 kitty on a special diet plus meds, the expenses can be worse. So if you have answers to this question, pls show us the way.

Note from kxbc

XX takes half a tab of Fortekor everyday as well. It is expensive at $60+ per box of 28 tabs.You can actually get it off the web but it will need a prescription from your vet (must be certified to be able to practise in the UK). Now that the GBP is cheaper, it makes sense. I am trying to get that too.

Question from Anon

Any idea how to get cheaper Fortekor5? Not sure that local vet prescription wld be accepted by overseas online pharmacies. I need 3 tabs Fortekor a day (5 senior kidney cats & senior dog). Was told that enalapril works as well but Fortekor is especially for animal treatment

Note from Totoro: Ambassador :)

Please help these mummies and daddies and san too :)

dear xx's dad. san has never not given me the sub q as directed by the vet cos she is a scaredy cat mom. But when she gave the sub q twice a week, I was not feeling very frisky. I am trying the 3x a week sub q and we will see in 3 weeks if I am better. The vet did not say that I was dehydrated but we are trying to see what is better for us. Megat ony has 1 a week sub q and he feels well. So we do not know yet.

Vet Visit for Totoro

His monthly blood test came and went yesterday. The results were not good but at least he was not carted off to hospital.
Dr T said he should take the Fortekor for his blood pressure, added to the concoction that he alreday has.

His indicators are high for his creatinine - 2.6 compared to 1.8 in September. His BUN is also higher. At least his PCV is going strong. Dr T recommended 3X Sub Q instead of twice a week and now he needs to change the hartmanns for sodium chloride 0.9%. His calcium indicator is also high and as he already has calcium deposits in his kidneys, it was a little worrying for me.

September tests...

Dr T told me he was sorry that the news was not brighter. I told him that it was not good but it was certainly not bad. It would only be bad if he had told me to bring Toro to hospital asap as he did in August. We will just have to monitor him. He has to go to the vet again in 3 weeks.

FatBoy Update

More than anything else I fear as to what will be the result of FatBoy's review tomorrow at the vet. His condition has become much worse and his ribs are showing very obviously. The growth hormone has not done much for him I fear. It was only  a fragile  chance that the vet offered us. The auntie who had taken care of him has not been contactable but I could not wait any longer.

I saw him at R's last Saturday. He knew me and said hello but after that he just sat down and was still for the remainder of our visit. We cleaned him up a bit and talked to him softly. He just stared into space. I knew then that I had to do what is right for him then.

Toro Update- Hospitalisation Day 3

Toro was looking well when I left him today, at about 7.30 pm. He had eaten some wet food and drunk a lot more water as I brought him our water bowl. He is not used to drinking water from a bowl as we have drinking fountains for a few years already, which he prefers, but I am glad he remembered.

He wanted to look at what was up but he realised the jump was not something he wanted to do. It was very quiet on Saturday afternoon and the dogs were all asleep so he felt safe enough to venture out of his cage.

Toro contemplating life...

I brought him a feather that Cousin R found two days ago. He was much more interested in it as it was kept with the catnip :)

His blood test on 29 July

His blood test today...

The indicators for kidney issues (or kidney failure as the vet calls it) were a little better but not so much better that he can go home. She said it was the practice that if the 2nd test shows a a number that is comparable, then they might allow him home. We are of course hoping for the indicators to improve in the days to come. The vet Dr S said his kidneys were very very very very bad. I think 4 very bads are just the same as 1 very bad though. I guess he had to tell me the naked truth so I do not have unreasonable expectations of what medicine can do. :(

I read that Persian cats were predisposed to kidney stones and some may even have them in the kidneys from young, about 30%. This is no consolation of course. It would be good to know from the very beginning though.

FatBoy Update

Hmmm...Will life never be the same again?

FatBoy is doing well and is taking his meds regularly. We tried to give him some Flax but he just sniffed at his food suspiciously and ran off so we have abandoned that idea. We were thinking that apart from the meds and SubQ, we should try to give him some supplements to strengthen his system but have yet to come up with anything that he would eat. He also refused to eat some cat vitamins yesterday.

I am glad to see that he has come four days in a row for his morning breakfast of Waltham's renal. I just bought a new pack of this formula and discovered that the kibble is darker and smaller. They are also a little softer to the crunch. Therefore even with his very bad teeth, Fatboy can eat this quite easily.

FatBoy's 4th visit to the vet

FatBoy chatting with a little girl, probably telling her his experiences...

A lot of people came to see him when we brought him back from his SubQ...

FatBoy and the auntie...

FatBoy got his 3rd SubQ with no problems. Yesterday the nurse did the SubQ and she placed him on the table. He sat quietly and looked about. The nurse was initially a little nervous when she saw how big he was and asked me if he was fierce. But he has a mild temperament and so she placed him on the examining table. She wanted to do the SubQ by herself, helped by P, the assistant and so I waited for him outside. I could hear P calling his name several times and then when he came out, P said he was a good boy and did not 'trouble' them.

We also saw a dog that was very sick. He could not move a muscle and the owner said he had kidney problems too. I then thought about what I would do when FatBoy or even Megat get _that_sick. I hope I would be able to do the right thing for them. There were two other cats there, one was there for a general checkup and another was there because it suddenly refused to eat and lost weight. But generally the vet was quiet at that hour of the evening.

When we got home, there were quite a few people at FatBoy's void deck and they were all glad to see him. He got out of the carrier and said hello to each one but he was rather hungry and wanted to follow me home :) Then the auntie gave him some food which he ate readily. The auntie asked me if he was okay and I had to explain to the auntie again that there is no cure for his kidney failure and all that we could do was to manage it. She was quite comforted however that we would not be euthanising him but we would try to explore other options. She said that eventhough she would move house, she would continue to see him when she can. I had to remind her that if all else fails, we would have to do the right thing for Fatboy.

The auntie and Cousin R said that they noticed he did not worry his mouth so much these last few days after his SubQ and his meds. I was also glad to see him yesterday and this morning for breakfast. He ate his kidney kibble quite readily although he was less vocal when he saw me allowing Minah to complain first.

This Friday, we would have a consult with Dr Lim and I think we would get a review of his condition then.