Just Because and some words...

 My purrfect profile...

 What do you mean its NOT about me? Who is it about? Oh the little gurrl! Ok just this once.

 A close-up of Ms Akira's face  in the afternoon light.

She is 8 years old already (Feb) and so many of those years were spent in her room. But nowadays, after the osteopath had adjusted her hind legs and spine, she is more vocal and tells me that she wants to get out more often. So I try to make sure that she gets more time outside  These pictures were taken last Friday and she spent about 4 hours in the afternoon outside in the living room when the 2 boys were sequestered in the bedroom. She had a fine time.

 Hmmm....I want to do that as well...

 What's aoutside this window? Hmmmm....birds

 Another picture? Again?

 There is nothing like a good scratch on the boy's cat tree!!

I like the peace and quiet. 

I bought a cream for the eczema and it worked quite well. Its just that she has to use the cone for 5 minutes so she would not lick her legs straightaway. That is the only difficult thing as she could not see where she was going. I had used the soft KONG cone and its opaque. So I have to be with her for 5 minutes as she negotiates the cone! Last night, I had wiped her legs and belly with warm water and sea salt. After 1 minute, she visibly relaxed and Cousin R and I were able to wipe her down quite easily. Then I had powdered her with dusting powder made up of chamomile extract and linden flowers. It is supposed to relieve skin irritations and also for sensitive skin. Then I put the cone on her but as she was quite scared of it, I had flattened the cone so it covers her shoulders instead. It was as surprise to me that she sat quietly and didn't attempt to lick the powder off. So maybe this evening I would do that as well to see if it is not  a once off thing. She seemed fine with the whole thing and later at night, we went for our usual 3 minute walk. :) I am glad that she is gradually growing more confident of herself. Thanks to our friends The Poupounette for giving us the idea of using 'hot spot' creams for dogs. We got the one for dogs and cats and it was very useful.

On the mend

Megat is a good patient and will sit quietly when I give him the wipe-down and clean his wound. he would sit through much quietly :)
Yesterday he was looking very well indeed. I have not put him in the collar after that first day. he does'nt lick the spot as he did not like the antiseptic powder. Sister s suggested that I put tea tree oil if he has minor wounds. OUCH! But she said this would work well.

The wound is now clear and clean at the edges. I had to clean it twice a day on Sunday to get rid of the crust that had built up from the antiseptic powder. I then decided not to sprinkle it liberally on the wound itself but just around it to prevent him from licking the spot. This morning , it had closed up quite firmly together. He actually has 4 more days of pills. He has learnt to spit the clavamox and had tried that twice this morning. If not for the treats that he gets, I think he would not agree to sitting quietly also :)

Thank goodness its only a bite!

Megat's shaven site where the bite was. The vet had lanced the skin and cleaned it of pus.

Megat getting some shut eye...

The vet confirmed the site as the result of a bite and she squeezed some pus out of it. I did think it was pus as after the panic attack, I relaxed and went to scrutinize the site and saw some liquid ooze out of it. There was also a bad smell. I smelled it last night but did not put two and two together.

He had a 30 minute minor op when the vet sedated him and then lanced the site. She said it was 1 cm deep and she saw 2 puncture holes. I was healed and the other one was the one that caused the infection. I was very relieved that it was just that (although just that was still quite serious). Since he was going to be sedated anyway, I had the vet micro-chip him too.

When he came home, he had a cone and was very unsteady. The vet recommended that I just leave him in the carrier but he was unhappy and so I released him. He kept sliding and slipping all over the floor. But I knew he was hungry as it was past dinner time. He had some dinner and then went to sleep. I cleaned up the wound and gave him one antibiotic- clavamox.

The wound is now clean, with no jagged edges and I think he would be sleeping the night away without me having to make him wear the collar. he didn't even try to lick his wounds at all. We will see about tomorrow but as I would be at work, I may put the collar on him just to be safe.

My Cat Totoro

We have moved Toro's information from the sidebar to his own blog My Cat Totoro as this would make tracking much easier. If you are following our fight with his kidney disease, then it is best to go directly to that blog, when we update it. I am making a slight change to his medication and am giving him Urinary Relief from Only Natural Pet. It has lysimachia, a herb, which has proven to be effective with some cats with UTI and kidney problems. I have also taken him off the Kidney Activator (thanks D) but his other meds - Azodyl, Fortekor and Alutab will still be given. However this will be a long drawn affair as we will be taking it for 8 weeks as he has chronic renal failure (crf). As it will take 8 weeks for the first round of pills, the blog will not be updated so soon :)

I had actually bought shilintong capsules (Jian Qiao Cao) from the TCM halls in Chinatown but the herbs of course come from China. Shilingtong is lysimachia. But I have some reservation with using that as such a lot of uncertainty goes on there with herbs and pet food. A kind reader had drawn my attention to shilingtong after talking about it with some caregivers here and as it had proven successful with the few cats, we thought it would be the next course to take especially with cats with crystals. I had also read about it in this TCM blog.

Of course we will still blog our everyday adventures (such as they are) here always.

I am a pro at this san!

Oh well..its just another day...

Toro ws surprisingly calm last night after his meds. He didn't protest or try to escape during the process nor did he try to escape when I asked Cousin R to help me hold him while I trim his nails. He didn't even blink when Cousin R asked him to do silly things like wave to the camera. He is gettig to be a pro :)

It might be working...

Usual suspect #1

Unusual suspect #2

Tonight Toro and Tanaka chased after each other for about 20 minutes non-stop - in and out and in and out of the bedroom to the living room, up the table and from behind walls. Since the only thing that I had given Toro were the meds from petsalive - Kidney Support, UTI Free and Immunity and Liver Support, I have to conclude that they were instrumental in making Toro behave like the kitty he once was.

He has been on the vet meds for about 7 months, been through countless blood tests, one iPTH test and 2 USs and he did not behave like he did tonight. I know I may be jumping the gun and he may not get any better. My hope is that he does not get any worse but I can't help but be glad that he was racing about tonight. Really Glad.

I can only attribute it to the new supplements I had given him.

petsalive for the amigos

The bottles comes bubble wrapped quite tightly but I have to open each one to see what was in it.

UTI for Totoro and PetCalm for Akira.

I put the granules for UTI in Toro's food morning and evening. He eats his food quite willingly even when the granules are quite obvious. I think they are tasteless and odourless. Or maybe his food just smells too strong for the meds. I put the PetCalm in Akira's water bowl and food.

These two bottles are for Totoro and Megat. I decided to give one each to the both of them. I am not giving Megat the Milk Thistle liquid extract as he HATES it and would spit it out every day. He takes the capsules better. I tasted the Kidney Support first as I have to give him 2-3 drops with some water. It doesn't taste bad and I give Toro some papaya or pumpkin immediately after so he does not revolt on me.

This is supposed to be for Akira but I have yet to give her these capsules. I may not be to give them to her at all as she hates eating pills and it would stress her out even more. So I am giving it instead to Megat as his fur is getting thinner and am thinking of giving Toro one too. I would give it to Bujang if I dare but of course I am such a coward when it comes to pilling him :)

I must say that after I gave Toro the Kidney formula I had noticed some change in him. I read from the site that the people who gave their cats the Kidney support were all pleased as their cats had better appetites and appear more lively. This has happened to Toro also. he now eats quite alot of canned food and have been spending the days sprawled across the living room floor. Yesterday I saw him standing his ground when Megat wanted to scare him. Before he would flinch and move away and seeing that Megat would fly at him almost immediately. After he stared calmly at Megat, Megat decided to abandon the idea. So maybe there is some good in these remedies. It is too soon to make a judgement though. I have given him the remedies for about one week only.

As the vets said there was nothing they could do for his oxalate crystals I decided that I should do something about them myself. If I can't help him get rid of it, I can at least make his system much stronger so when he has to fight for his life, he would be able to do so. At least THAT is my hope for the both of them.

Let Me Tell You Something...

I do not like taking meds everyday.
Sigh..no one listens to me...

I am so bored...

Ok If I look cute will you stop it with the meds?

Medicine Time AGAIN!

Toro showing off his bald abdomen

He allowed the assistants to shave him quite calmly. I dread to think of what Bujang would have done to them if this had been done to him!

Megat looking on...

Toro is very good at eating meds. He would sit quite calmly like this and wait for his meds to be given. The only thing he hates is the cranberry capsules. Even Megat hates that. Sometimes though Toro would cough up all his meds in a pile and then we would have to give them to him all over again.

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.

Pilling The Cat - A Saga for Some

This is our arsenal of meds for 2 cats - Toro and Megat.

The syringes are for Megat and it holds his sang hwang + colloidal silver combination in papaya. The 2 water syringes belong to both boys. I make sure that no pill gets stuck in Toro's throat by giving him some water afterwards. Megat also needs water to wash down the residue of his sang hwang + colliodal silver combination. He gets 5 drops of milk thistle in another syringe s it is too sour to be put with his lingzhi. SO I put that in another syringe with papaya. I asked the vets to see if putting meds in blended papaya for the long term was ok and they said it was harmless.

The fluids belong to Toro as well as the biotene. He gets fluids every alternate day and Megat gets his one day a week only.

Toro's pills - cranberry, azodyl, kidney activator, alutab and apo-k.

This is how I hold him for meds. He takes them easily and does not struggle too much. I can control him better if I sit him in front of me.

san: OK Toro. Open your mouth...Good boy!

After each pill, I need to smoothen his neck so the pill gets swallowed easily.

Then Cousin R holds him so I get get to his teeth and gums with the biotene. It is working as now his gums are no longer swollen.

Megat is not to be fooled when it comes to giving him his meds. It is always a game of hide and seek with him when it comes to this. He hates it and would hide. If he gets under the bed, then it would be a monumental task to get hm out again!

Megat knows it is time for meds or subq. He is on high alert.

Megat's pills - Cranberry, Asthma capsule and mushroom combination for him immune-system.

If Toro is the easiest at to pill, then Megat must be the most wily. I need to wrap him up securely in a towel. then he gets his sang hwang suppository. He hates this and would struggle and cry out even before it happens. As we were pilling Toro, we decided, after many years of feeding him all his meds in syringes, that we should try and pill him too. I was a little farid as the last time I did this was last year when he had to take his prednisolone. I had blue-black fingers where his vice-like mouth and clamped onto them.

This time he did not try to clamp his teeth on me but decided to trick me. SO we are very wary of him. Once when I had given him his pill, he pretended that he had swollowed it and made a loud gulping noise. Both Cousin R and I thought he had swallowed his pill and relaxed our grip. "POP!" it came out of his mouth like a firecracker! So now we are more aware and would watch that he had indeed swallowed everything by giving him some papaya which he likes a lot. :)

5 days a week for Megat and 7 days for Toro. I fear one of these days, either Cousin R or myself would have to be the ones who have to swollow some pills ourselves :)

Medicating a cat

We managed to give him all 250 ml of his fluids in 2 sittings. He relaxed visibly when he felt the alcohol and then settled down. Then he decided to move about a little and I had to re-position the needle a little to the side. After the SubQ, he spat out 2 pills - the Kidney Activator and the Cranberry but we managed to persuade him to swallow them again. Then we gave him some water in case he had hidden any of the pills in his mouth :) It took about 20 minutes but we finally succeeded. He didn't even hide after that but decided to take a walk about like a hero.

But tomorrow he is going to the groomer so we could have a more even cut and then he would be off to the vet. I think he needed some more training sessions. I certainly need him to stop squirming about even in the carrier.

Totoro at home - 2nd Day

Toro looking rather grumpy after his oral meds yesterday afternoon

I made sure I came home early to give him his meds - his Azodyl, kidney activator capsule, Apo-K. I tried to put him on my lap but he continued to squirm to get away. He was not the perfect patient the nurses at the hospital were led to believe :) So I decided to bundle him up in a towel so I can get a firmer grip and gave him his oral meds using the pill popper. To mu surprise he took them all well and was indeed 'very good with his orals', like the hosipital nurse said. Once he was finished, he got away as fast as his short legs could carry him and would only eat the treat that I offered once he was sure I was not about to catch him again.

He fell asleep in his basket after the ordeal...

Here, you could see the bald patch (and it was a very big patch) that he got as a result of his ultra-sound. Grandma was rather disturbed by the patch and asked me to explain why they had to shave her Totoro that way. I told her that I had already made an appointment with his groomer on to cut his fur close next Tuesday so he would not look so strange.

Toro relaxing in bed...

He very readily sprawled on his pillow-blanket as usual. before he went to the hospital, he would not sleep on the bed but rather hide away in the bathroom, near his litter. He actually slept right in the middle of the bed which meant a little space for me and not much place for Tanaka.

zzz on Wednesday night...

His SubQ was not so successul so he would go to the vet today until Sunday for his SubQ training sessions. At the hospital, he had a catheter and so he wa son 24-hr drip but now he had to be restrained to sit for at least 10 minutes max for the SubQ. He squirmed his way throughout the whole process and managed to escape after 100ml of fluid! AIYAH! The hospital nurse taught me to put the needle at his scruff as she said it was the space with the most loose skin. I think I was not used to giving SubQs at the scruff so that added to the fiasco. He escaped and hid under the bed for a long period. He would only get out after Cousin R left and I was able to give him his Alutab and antibiotic then.

This morning, I made sure I had his Alutab and Apo-K close at hand and when he came up to wake me up, I held him gently and wrapped him up with towel and then gave him his 1/4 Alutab for the morning. The doc said I should make sure he gets 1/4 twice a day before or after his food. So THAT is one done already. The doc would give the SubQ, the Azodyl, the kidney activator and Apo-K later and I would just have to give him his 1/4 Alutab and antibiotic later at night.

Megat's SubQ went without a hitch :) I just have to see how to give 2 cats meds everyday and when FatBoy comes back, the schedule would have to change again. I wonder how other people do this!

FatBoy Saturday on Sunday

FatBoy came out immediately when he heard the ring...

FatBoy looking a little thin ...

Meds that he has to take everyday..

from right - The Alutab (green) for phosphates - 1/2 in the morning and 1/4 at night, or if he hates tablets, then its 2.5 ml of suspension. The Apo-K for his potassium - 1/2 a tab daily and finally the 2 clicks for the growth hormone.

I gave him the 2 click without Cousin R's help because he sat very docilely in the carrier. Today, Sunday, I will try again and then will also try to give him the SubQ myself.

Tanaka showing interest at other cat's meds. I bet he won't be so curious if he has to take them himself!

I thought FatBoy would not appear on Staurday so quickly but I was pleased that he proved me wrong. he had dinner and then some more post dinner meals. So he ate 2 cans of Tuna Flakes and Chicken. He drank some water from the bowl but then took a walk in the drain to drink some rain water! But there is nothing I can do about that. Then he walked across the grass and sat looking at the night.

FatBoy will go to the catsitter tomorrow and there would be a bevy of aunties waving him off. i hope they don't stress out, stress him out or stress me out with interminable questions. I'm sure the auntie would ask again if I was going to put FatBoy to sleep and to ask me not to. That question, although very natural, stresses me out more than any other question!

He would be at the cat-sitter for a month and if he and PD get along, we can bring them both home to stay at FB's block since both are males. of cos PD can stray to Minah's block or even find his way home again to his own house but for sure he can't go back to Putih's block at all.

FatBoy 3rd Review

He has definitely lost quite a bit of weight from 4.5 to 3.8 in a space of one month...

He was none too pleased at being prodded...

I had to tell him its ok with the thermometer...

The news is not cheery at his 3rd review. His weight loss is a serious issue and he is as light as air. The vet did a simple test for his PCV which has risen to 41% and his TP is 8 g/dl. This is better than the 9.8 g/dl from before.

I told the doc that he hates his suspension and asked for something else less foul for a kitty. The vet recommended Alutab but this could be an uphill task. The vet also recommended Somatotrophin Injections, a growth hormone that may help him to put on weight. This, it seems is a growth hormone that people give to kids with kidney problems. Since Megat's meds are all human meds, I thought FatBoy deserves the same chance. It is very expensive though but it would last us 2.5 months. I give it like I would give the SubQ so that is not too frightening for me. I am willing to try anything as I thought with 5 home cats and 4 community cats, I should know what is available for them.

I am sending him to R's next week for baby sitting ,to see if daily SubQ and medicines would have a significant effect as I can only give this to him on alternate days. If he gets better, we would bring him back and if the effects are minimal, we would still bring him back. I thought I should do all before I make any final decision.

The vet says though with such a significant drop in weight, he might not live much longer. I know this to be true. I had to be very firm with the auntie and her friends yesterday about the possibility of having to put him to sleep if he gets worse. I think I was more tired of this than dealing with FB. Her friends kept telling me that the auntie is sad when she thinks of him being put to sleep but I had to tell them that better for us to be sad than a cat to be sad and in pain. This of course is my rational mind talking. I know it would be hard for me to make such a decision but I have learned from Callie's case (the community cat that died of Ataxia) that I have to make it for the kitty.