Twinky, these furry four legged cats are like family. My mom ended up getting a brother and sister cat and they became mom's kids and were standins for her real kids that had left home. Always rough when they get older and start getting sick. Hang in their and keep us posted.
Tuxedo is still blessing my life and getting up to mischief. She is, though, appallingly thin. She hardly eats anything, but she does enjoy the jelly from tinned cat food (has always refused to eat the solids), occasionally has a teaspoonful of some ultra-expensive pate-type food from the vet, and still has a bit of kibble. I have a small tin of tuna in spring water for her tonight; maybe she will enjoy some of that. It's quite likely that my carpet will enjoy some of that, too, a few hours later.
Late evening, we have a cuddle on the couch. We have a nap for a couple of hours. She likes the cuddle, but I wonder if she likes the warmth too. I have got her a little heat pad, which emits very gentle warmth, and that's wrapped in a soft fleece blanket in her current choice of sleeping location. She seems to like that and spends most of her time there (can't say I blame her in that; it's been very cold outside!).
Her littermate Crypto, who always seemed a smaller skinny cat, now looks large and fat by comparison. She has also become more affectionate and touchable. I wonder what she knows, with her superior sense of smell. The two cats don't have much to do with each other, and seem more to tolerate than enjoy each other's presence. But who knows? Do cats mourn, in some way? Some do, I think.
I have been carefully nurturing Tuxedo and loving her up lots. I have found something she will "eat" and that helps. She likes Felix "Soups for Cats" - only 50g packets of mostly jelly with a few strips/fillets of meat (?) within. Comes in various fish, or meat, flavours. She loves that jelly!!! but leaves all the meatier bits. I also give her "cat milk," which is soya-based, no lactose, and is fortified with various minerals and taurine and other feline needs. She's ravenously hungry most of the time, but only takes liquid stuff, no solids.
Today we visited the vet again. She is now 3kg, has put a little weight on. The vet had a feel around her middle and says that the hard inflamed bit now seems reduced and less firm (this is good). She's had another jab of something that should soothe her inflamed digestive tract, for a longer period this time. I got her home and she ate two packets of the Soup and some of the fillets. I have some B12 vitamin powder which she is to have - 1 capsule alternate days, or 1/2 capsule every day, for a week. She is now yelling at me for more food.
I'm so pleased by this (an answer to prayer), and hope that she will continue to put some weight on and be able to live quite some time yet. I don't think we will get her up to her previous 4-4.5kg, but I am hopeful after today's visit and jab that she will continue to eat more and may take some solids, or at least the pate type foods.
Now to give her some more Soup, and then we will have a cuddle on the couch for a couple of hours.
The downside to this (I don't exactly see it as such) is that her littermate Crypto wonders why Tuxy is getting all this lush soft food and keeps trying to muscle in and nosh it herself. When Tuxy's made it clear she doesn't want the fillets, I let Crypto have them. She is not a very tactile cat, won't be picked up, but likes me to fondle her by her walking under my dangling hand. I wonder sometimes what she knows or understands about Tuxy not being well. Can she smell something's not right?
It is now over two months since the original visit to the vet. The vet had been willing, if not to say keen, to euthanise Tuxedo.
Well now. I am pleased to say that Tuxy is doing well, and it must be going on for ten weeks since her diagnosis. Internet research suggests that cats with the problem she has, if the aggressive version, last on average 40-60 days. She has well exceeded that. With the less aggressive version, prognosis is 6-9 months.
I fed her on "soup" to start with, then liquidised sachets of catfood in jelly, and have now weaned her onto pate-style tinned food. She is partial to Purina Gourmet pate and "melting heart," both expensive though not as expensive as vet offerings (which the cat refuses to eat anyway). Her backbone no longer feels as if when stroked her spine will break through her skin. Her hips feel comfortably though not excessively padded, and not sharply boned. She is developing quite a fat belly (unless she has a tumour that is growing). She sleeps a lot (but nothing new there), her coat is glossy and thick again, and she is bright-eyed. She jumps about onto furniture and can run very fast when she wants to. She pees and poos normally. She no longer throws up all the time, unless she has got fed up of waiting for me to feed her the tasty wet food, and has stuck her nose into the dish with kibble. And then, she always throws up.
So I am very thankful to have this time with her. She is going to be around for some time now, I think. I am not saying the vet is wrong. The cat does have serious health problems. Perhaps the problems were caught in the nick of time. Perhaps she will get worse in a few months. Perhaps, however, she is healed through the power of prayer.
The other cat, Crypto, gets a little annoyed at me. She likes the tasty wet food, too. I often catch her in the act of trying to sneak some from Tuxy's bowl. Kibble is no longer her choice of food. She declines my offerings by hand of fragments of ham, chicken or fish, which she always liked before. Hard to explain to a cat that her littermate is on a special diet and she herself is not. Sometimes, I give her a little treat of a sachet of wet food. She gets playtime if she emerges from her lair. She's a strange creature.
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Rocky
So sorry. I had a cat for several years. He came down with bowel problems too. He's been gone for 7 years now. I miss him.
Hugs.
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Twinky
Thank you, Rocky.
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penguin2
Twinky, these furry four legged cats are like family. My mom ended up getting a brother and sister cat and they became mom's kids and were standins for her real kids that had left home. Always rough when they get older and start getting sick. Hang in their and keep us posted.
Hugs
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Twinky
Thank you, Penguin2.
Tuxedo is still blessing my life and getting up to mischief. She is, though, appallingly thin. She hardly eats anything, but she does enjoy the jelly from tinned cat food (has always refused to eat the solids), occasionally has a teaspoonful of some ultra-expensive pate-type food from the vet, and still has a bit of kibble. I have a small tin of tuna in spring water for her tonight; maybe she will enjoy some of that. It's quite likely that my carpet will enjoy some of that, too, a few hours later.
Late evening, we have a cuddle on the couch. We have a nap for a couple of hours. She likes the cuddle, but I wonder if she likes the warmth too. I have got her a little heat pad, which emits very gentle warmth, and that's wrapped in a soft fleece blanket in her current choice of sleeping location. She seems to like that and spends most of her time there (can't say I blame her in that; it's been very cold outside!).
Her littermate Crypto, who always seemed a smaller skinny cat, now looks large and fat by comparison. She has also become more affectionate and touchable. I wonder what she knows, with her superior sense of smell. The two cats don't have much to do with each other, and seem more to tolerate than enjoy each other's presence. But who knows? Do cats mourn, in some way? Some do, I think.
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Twinky
Some good news.
I have been carefully nurturing Tuxedo and loving her up lots. I have found something she will "eat" and that helps. She likes Felix "Soups for Cats" - only 50g packets of mostly jelly with a few strips/fillets of meat (?) within. Comes in various fish, or meat, flavours. She loves that jelly!!! but leaves all the meatier bits. I also give her "cat milk," which is soya-based, no lactose, and is fortified with various minerals and taurine and other feline needs. She's ravenously hungry most of the time, but only takes liquid stuff, no solids.
Today we visited the vet again. She is now 3kg, has put a little weight on. The vet had a feel around her middle and says that the hard inflamed bit now seems reduced and less firm (this is good). She's had another jab of something that should soothe her inflamed digestive tract, for a longer period this time. I got her home and she ate two packets of the Soup and some of the fillets. I have some B12 vitamin powder which she is to have - 1 capsule alternate days, or 1/2 capsule every day, for a week. She is now yelling at me for more food.
I'm so pleased by this (an answer to prayer), and hope that she will continue to put some weight on and be able to live quite some time yet. I don't think we will get her up to her previous 4-4.5kg, but I am hopeful after today's visit and jab that she will continue to eat more and may take some solids, or at least the pate type foods.
Now to give her some more Soup, and then we will have a cuddle on the couch for a couple of hours.
The downside to this (I don't exactly see it as such) is that her littermate Crypto wonders why Tuxy is getting all this lush soft food and keeps trying to muscle in and nosh it herself. When Tuxy's made it clear she doesn't want the fillets, I let Crypto have them. She is not a very tactile cat, won't be picked up, but likes me to fondle her by her walking under my dangling hand. I wonder sometimes what she knows or understands about Tuxy not being well. Can she smell something's not right?
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Rocky
Glad for the good news.
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Twinky
It is now over two months since the original visit to the vet. The vet had been willing, if not to say keen, to euthanise Tuxedo.
Well now. I am pleased to say that Tuxy is doing well, and it must be going on for ten weeks since her diagnosis. Internet research suggests that cats with the problem she has, if the aggressive version, last on average 40-60 days. She has well exceeded that. With the less aggressive version, prognosis is 6-9 months.
I fed her on "soup" to start with, then liquidised sachets of catfood in jelly, and have now weaned her onto pate-style tinned food. She is partial to Purina Gourmet pate and "melting heart," both expensive though not as expensive as vet offerings (which the cat refuses to eat anyway). Her backbone no longer feels as if when stroked her spine will break through her skin. Her hips feel comfortably though not excessively padded, and not sharply boned. She is developing quite a fat belly (unless she has a tumour that is growing). She sleeps a lot (but nothing new there), her coat is glossy and thick again, and she is bright-eyed. She jumps about onto furniture and can run very fast when she wants to. She pees and poos normally. She no longer throws up all the time, unless she has got fed up of waiting for me to feed her the tasty wet food, and has stuck her nose into the dish with kibble. And then, she always throws up.
So I am very thankful to have this time with her. She is going to be around for some time now, I think. I am not saying the vet is wrong. The cat does have serious health problems. Perhaps the problems were caught in the nick of time. Perhaps she will get worse in a few months. Perhaps, however, she is healed through the power of prayer.
The other cat, Crypto, gets a little annoyed at me. She likes the tasty wet food, too. I often catch her in the act of trying to sneak some from Tuxy's bowl. Kibble is no longer her choice of food. She declines my offerings by hand of fragments of ham, chicken or fish, which she always liked before. Hard to explain to a cat that her littermate is on a special diet and she herself is not. Sometimes, I give her a little treat of a sachet of wet food. She gets playtime if she emerges from her lair. She's a strange creature.
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