JIMMY HAS TO BE ADMITTED AGAIN

I gave up! Jimmy has to be sent back to the vet for close monitoring. Here I’m trying to get him back to better health and there he is not cooperating at all. He did take in a small amount of food on his own this morning but medication time was hell for me. Even with my brother holding on to him tightly, he threw out EVERYTHING! He made as if those medications were poison to him, oozing out endless streams of foam. How could he get well when I could not get much medication into him?



This is the result of his stubbornness. His urine color is still as bad as ever. I better put him back at the vet to ensure that everything would be under control again.



By the way, Mama Jessica is celebrating her 5th Birthday today~ Frankly speaking, I’m not in much mood to celebrate with Jimmy’s condition but I guessed I would get her a proper treat later when I get back from the vet. That chocolate truffle is actually my brother, Johnny’s cake as he’s also celebrating his birthday today with Mama Jessica. I’m totally aware that cats or even dogs are not suppose to take in chocolate as it contains high amounts of fat and caffeine-like stimulants known as methylxanthines. If ingested in significant amounts, chocolate can potentially produce clinical effects in cats ranging from vomiting and diarrhea to panting, excessive thirst and urination, hyperactivity, abnormal heart rhythm, tremors, seizures and even death in severe cases.

HIDING IN THE DARK

Jimmy has been hiding at all the dark corners of the house ever since he came back from the vet. At times, he would face the corner of the wall as if I forced him to wear a “dunce” hat just because he has been sick. I don’t like all his recent acquired behaviors. It got me in a more panicky state. His “angel” twin, Joey, behaved exactly the same way and she was gone 3 days later. I sure won’t let Jimmy be taken by the same fame as his sister. I have been closely monitoring his moves for the last 36 hours. Luckily, he was practically sleeping all the time doing nothing except getting stained with his acriflavine yellow colored urine.



My worst dilemma now is to get him to consume something on his own. Since his liver problem issue, he has not been eating anything at all. Upon getting the vet’s green light, I managed to force feed him with some fresh milk last night. This morning, I managed to blend in some ocean fish in jelly with fresh milk and syringe fed him without much hassles. The problem came when I tried to feed him with his medications and vitamins. He spitted all out! I even tried grinding those pills into powder form and secretly mixed into his food and syringe fed him. He vomited all out! How could he recover if I could not get much medication into him? The vet advised me to try again later tonight. If I still could not handle his reluctance to have his medications, he would have to be admitted first thing in the morning and put on drips. That would be my last alternative since I have no way to get him back to health. I love Jimmy a lot but his wild ways when facing something he disliked into his mouth (even when wrapped in a warm towel as advised by some friends) is something I just could not handle well. I guessed I should not hold back some cost on this urgent medical need anymore.

I DO NOT LIKE THE COLORS OF THINGS HERE

The weather has been very humid with sudden downpours almost daily. The sick bug is definitely in the air. Mama Jessica has been down with viral infection for a few days now. She has been resting on my working table for the last 3 days without stepping out of the house much. Another load of her vomit was there again this morning. At least, she’s still fine. What worries me most was Jimmy. After being treated for FLUTD 3 weeks ago, he too was having almost the same symptoms now… sleeping whole day, barely ate, tiredness all day long. Luckily, he did consume water against dehydration. This is how sick he looks now.

Another few minutes, I have to bring him back to the vet. I don’t like the color of his urine… Deep Orange???? That’s not supposed to happen, especially when he has been put on a strict Hill’s c/d prescription diet. Let’s see what would be the vet’s diagnosis this time. I pray that it won’t be anything major as I’m still having that acute piercing pain on my back. It’s rather stressful here~ :(

UPDATED AFTER VET'S VISIT:

This is something I do not want to hear… Jimmy is having a very bad liver problem that may lead to jaundice, another scary illness that might caused death if left unmonitored. His urine test was really bad with his bilirubin level rocket high! Now, I’m super stressed out as he’s refusing to take his medications and food. I have to find ways to force feed him or he would be forced to be hospitalized within the next 2-3 days.

IS JIMMY FEELING BETTER NOW?

Finally, I managed to settle most of my backlogs after being sick for awhile. Shoo Mr. Flu Bug! Don’t ever come back again! Everybody thought that being a food writer is an easy job. Well, no. Other than the invited reviews, there would be the hours of photo editing, stretching your brain juice to the maximum and trying not to be over critic in writing a post. The worst moment would be when you are sick and your brain would just go blank.

Anyway, Jimmy has put on quite a lot of weight after being discharged for more than a week ago. A few days after his discharge, I did get some surprising “rewards” on my floor. Lines and lines of earthly colored artwork were all over my floor tiles. He had diarrhea! He was again at the vet. Luckily, it was the side effect of having a totally changed diet of wet fish basket and c/d prescription diet. More medications were given to him. Poor guy! Just two days ago, I noticed that he has been licking his genital part even more than ever. He has been giving me some weird cries nightly too. I was wondering if that inserted catheter had caused him to become a sex maniac. It sounded almost like a mating call. Let’s hope it’s not. He has been eating healthily and behaved as actively as a 4 year old kit would be but what were those constant rollovers for? Love making signals? Gosh! I have been monitoring his actions since then. Peeing was consistent and at ease but in a very small amount. I called up the vet to inquire on his behavior yesterday. You know what was her response? “Please monitor Jimmy for another day or two. There could be a recurrence. Once a cat gets FLUTD, there’s a tendency for them to get it again. If you want to make sure that it’s clear, bring him to the vet on Saturday” What? He was discharged for barely 10 days and it might have it again? Now this news is scaring me again. I would pray that this won’t become a reality. I would let the vet check on his bladder this weekend.



I must admit that I’m at fault at times for the J Family Kitties’ health. When I thought I could just give Mama Jessica some treats for being such a great mama. I landed her at the vet too. That can of wet fish basket with a variety of ocean fish plus some chopped vegetables which I had given to Jimmy landed her with a diarrhea too! Damn! Now she’s on medications with a cream to rub on the blisters on her anus due to too much of purging. I better don’t try to act too smart next time and try to stick to their regular food.



Surprisingly, Jayson had no side effect at all. That asthmatic boy of mine had a long history of bad medical health and could not put on much weight. Although he has the appetite of two cats, he’s just as thin as ever. I was glad that I managed to put him back to better health after he almost died of a viral infection causing dehydration in late January 2012.



Janice on the other hand was a fussy fat lady. She refused to touch any unidentified food other than her faithful bowl of daily cat food. But I did catch her stealing Jimmy’s c/d prescription diet occasionally. What a brat! Her hobbies remained the same – Eat, Sleep, Poo, Pee and Play! LOL! She’s always the one that made me laugh with all her weird sleeping positions. :P