TGIF

Ms Akira was not happy on the way to the osteopath today as I forgot to put her soft toy in the carrier with her. She made alot of noise for the 40 minute journey but there was nothing that I could have done about that. But she was happier when Dr AL saw her and he said her leg was not as bad as before and there were no more spasms in her left leg. We spoke about her usual behaviours and the improvements in her behaviour. I told Dr AL about her night walks and showed him the video of her walking. He was pleased that she was beginning to be curious about the outside world as this would make her less 'inward-looking' and OCD. He advised that I try to wipe her down every day with warm water and sea salt as this would calm her down and wipe away the sweat on her legs. This may help her to overgroom less. He also recommended that she has the air-con on as this would make her more comfortable but that would mean I have to remove the child gates. I realised when I came home that she had a thick blanket. I had forgotten all about this and so I removed that and gave her a lighter one in cotton. This would make her less hot I hope and she would not have to lick her legs to make herself feel more comfortable. Dr AL said that she seemed to have eczema and advised that I get a cream that would not encourage her to lick her hind leg. When we came home, I managed to take a picture of her as she jumped onto the table and indeed there was a 3 inch patch that looked redder than the rest. There are many things for us to think about.

On a lighter note, I thought I would show off the hardworking cats at the vet's :) 

This one is very beautiful and would greet clients :)

This one is much more shy and likes sitting on the counter :) She greets only some clients and I was glad that I was one of the privileged ones :)

She works pretty hard looking after the dog food ;)

The vet also looks after a little dog whose owner was not able to look after. They are nice people here :)

Ms Akira's Adventures

 Ms Akira wondering if she could pounce on a bug but she was too late :)

 Where did the bug go to san?

Our night walks. It has been 3 nights now that we have gone out for a short time along the corridor. She is wearing Toro's harness as I could not find her old one with the psychedelic  pattern. She was very brave and curious. So she got much praise about her courage and bravery. She told Laura that she is not such a brave kitty but i thought after 4 years  and then going outside for 3 nights is such a great feat. 

This morning she heard me walking outside with Bujang and decided to join is by going out through her opened window. She has never done this before as she would be too afraid but NOT this morning and so I had to put the mesh. It is a pity as she now doesn't have a full view of the small garden I had planted for her to look at but I am afraid she would really try get out. The boys do not do this at their window though so I guess she is really getting her courage back again.

This is Ms akira walking down the steps. Dr AL wanted me to video her walking :)

Ms Akira and the Osteopath

Yes, if I had not been there to see it, I would not have believed it. Ms Akira did many things today and was very brave as well. She actually walked along the corridor with san! I was very proud of her and so was san 

 Ms Akira is looking quite kittenish in this picture :) The osteopath did her a lot of good.

It began some time ago when san called Laura. That was on the 16th of November and Ms Akira told Laura this: 

Akira:  I would love it if you could help me cause I feel pain inside of my body.  I feel a pain in side of my body that feels like my neck is collapsing onto it self.  and my mouth feels like it does not line up straight.  And sometimes my eyes throb.  My belly constantly feels like it is expanding and there is tight rope in there.  Cause my legs get numb and they seize up.

I do want to tell the doctor something the medicine he gave me helps me but at night time I have a hard time sleeping and also my paws tingle.  They tingle at the tips and when I eat my food I get really dizzy at first and then it goes away.  I have a hard time with anxiety and the other cats cause my body starts to feel worse. My head starts to hurt and I feel like a weight on my neck that hurts my lower neck and my shoulder blades and then that hurts my back end.  

My mouth also hurts.  When I lick it hurts my mouth and jaw.

xxxxxxxxxx

Laura then said that Ms Akira would benefit from going to the chiropractor. I then asked our vet Dr L if this would be good but he instead directed us to an osteopath as he said it would be so much gentler and since Ms Akira is a gentle and timid kitty, it would be a better option. So we got the address and this morning, we went to see Dr AL, an osteopath and naturopath,  at the Biopolis. I was very nervous as the receptionist said I could not bring Ms Akira into the clinic as one of the other doctors was allergic to animals and we had to meet Dr AL at the garden. But I decided to just wait outside the office and when he came we had short discussion of what ailed her.

Dr AL put her soft carrier on his lap and just started to massage her head softly. I gave him the transcript of our session and he read it quite calmly and after that we discussed her medication and what our vet recommended. He said that he could 'see' her cranium and he agreed that she is under some stress. He added that he would try to re-wire her reactions and persuade her to perform alternative actions when she is unhappy or fearful and not lick her hind legs.

Then he massaged or 'flicked' her spine gently to realign her spinal column. Ms Akira was not very fearful and started to purr. Then she turned around and allowed him to massage her left hind leg and that was when Dr AL felt little spasms along the muscle. Dr AL had me place my fingers on there and I felt the muscle move quite rapidly. Dr AL said that she was very brave and well-behaved as he was giving her a deep massage and it must be painful for her. Dr AL said that she must have been hurt more than once for her muscle to be in that state and she must be hurting quite a lot! She even purred when he was massaging her hurt leg! I was very impressed and also horrified that she truly had hurt herself and this could be why she was not walking well or over-grooming as she was trying to make her legs hurt less! Dr Al said that we need to see him some more times so that he could further adjust her body and if she needs some long-term care then he would teach me how to do rehab for her at home.

After some time, Dr AL announced that he managed to un-knot her muscle some and he asked me to see her face. It was a surprise for me as yesterday she was looking pinched and thin and after the massage, her face looked much smoother and less pinched. Then Dr AL said that I should watch out for some changes, however small as with a change in the body, there would be a change in behaviour as well. 

And indeed I must report that the change was quite immediate. In the taxi  she was curious and wanted to see everything that was going on outside. She lay on her tummy, quite relaxed and spent the entire journey looking curiously about. This was a great change as before Ms Akira would curl herself up into a ball and hide under the blanket and she would meow throughout the whole journey. 

The greatest miracle was at about 8.30 ish, I had opened the gate to get her some grass. Ms Akira uncharacteristically walked out calmly!! WOAH! I then scooped her up and we walked together near the plants. before she would have struggled and meowed and clawed me so that she can go back inside! Then i decided to put her in Tanaka's harness and walk her with the leash. She walked at first quite nervously but then later she became quite confident and walked TWICE along the corridor! This was unprecedented  Before Megat came to live with us, she did walk out but only infront of our house but now, along the length of the corridor. I was so pleased that she was so brave tonight and praised her. I think the Dr AL performed a miracle when he managed to massage her hurt muscle this morning. I look forward to more night walks with Ms Akira when it is more quiet. HURRAH!