I WILL BITE YOU IF YOU COME NEAR ME

A visit to the vet today shocked me! I can't recognize Jayson much as he was in a totally worn out and dirty stage. He got rather agitated with the vets and they almost got themselves wounded. He refused to be touched. He refused to be cleaned up and worst of all, he refused to eat. Even I could not convince him to put something into his empty stomach. Luckily, he was on drip or he won't have withstood the hunger for so many days. I just don't understand what could gone wrong with his temper. It was as if he were another cat in the wild. He wasn't that wild in actions before. Moreover, he smelled like someone bathe him in a sewage tank! Gosh! Let's hope he calm down and get cleaned up as he would be hospitalized for another 5 days or more. Ka-ching~ Ka-ching~ Sweat~ 

At least, his kidneys and bladder are performing better now with the visible endless streams of urine. I really hated seeing this familiar catheter procedure in him. I can see the pain he had in his eyes. Haiz~ What a suffering! :(

  

Janice also paid a visit to see how his brother was getting on. Well, she sure don't like the smell at the vet's. However, Jayson indeed felt a bit more at ease now having his sister around. His mood did switch to a brighter side but that did not make him want to eat too. I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow for better news.

 

GLAD TO BE HEALTHY AGAIN

Jimmy finally get to be home again with a clean bill of health after being stuck at the vet for 10 days. Drips after drips, injections after injections. That was how it went day to day. At least he was closely monitored by the experts to ensure that he got the best treatment to be alive still. Well, it would be some time before I can stay scratch free as there are these huge vitamins feeding time again~ Argh!! Luckily, his appetite got boosted up and he's on a eating spree now. I'm so glad that I could secretly put some of his vitamins into his food now instead of force feeding him as before. He lost 500gms before and now he gained back even more. Now I'm having a fluffy and fat cat again~ :) 

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

JIMMY CAME HOME BUT WEIRD THINGS HAPPENED

Jimmy was discharged! I’m glad he can be home to be with the rest of his siblings but it was not the same as before. Mama Jessica, Janice and Jayson thought they had seen a ghost cat! Everyone was avoiding getting too near to him after his 6 days of disappearance from the house. Jimmy a ghost? LOL! I guessed it could be due to the strong smell from the vet and the J family Kitties all had some bad experiences at the vet before. Unfortunately, I was advised not to bathe him for another week or so to avoid being brutally scratched as he could still be having some abdominal and stomach pain due to the plugged catheter earlier. Anyway, some antibiotics and pain killer pills were to be given to him for the next few days. Those medications might be the cause of him sleeping most of the time.

Jimmy is doing fine now. He has been recuperating quietly ever since he came back. The only problem I have now is on how to slow down his “tap”. LOL! Well, it was great to see him peeing at ease now but the frequencies were once too many times. I think he would need to take time to adjust to his normal peeing schedules. As for appetite, he has been gobbling down his food as if there would not be another tomorrow. Luckily, I did stock up lots of the wet food he took at the vet and also the Hill’s prescription diet pack. If not, he would not eat anything at all, not even his regular food. That would have given me a hard time mixing in his medication in the food. The other issue I have to settle now would be on the rest of the kitties. Was it the scent of the special food given to Jimmy having such a great influence that they refused to eat their own now or was it the stress of seeing a “ghostly” Jimmy? All of them are not consuming as much food as they should. Even the vet could not give me an answer to this issue. I’ll have to wait a few more days to monitor their appetite.

One very obvious habit that Jimmy had acquired during his stay at the vet’s was his sleeping habit. He won’t sleep next to my working table or fight over my sofa now. Surprisingly, he would rather sleep in a cage? Huh? What a weird behavior change compared to his previous fear for being caged. Anyway, I did not lock the door and would surely not stop him from roaming around the house freely.

It has been a long week of running around. I’m totally worn out. It’s time for a long rest to recuperate my own tired body. I truly need all the strength to support the pet community here. Thanks again for everything that you have done for the J Family Kitties.

Lastly, I would like to seek your help on something that would be beneficial for the pet community here. It would only take a minute or two of your time to help the Australian couple residing in Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia to make their dreams come true. They are currently running the foundation with little to no outside assistance. They will only need your ONE VOTE to support them in winning the AUD$5,000 grant contest to set up LASSie (Langkawi Animal Shelter & Sanctuary Foundation). Deadline is less than 24 hours! That would be a whole load of money to help out those abandoned animal on the island. I’m not doing this for myself but for the animals that deserved the best in life.

Please vote at http://sunsuperdreams.com.au/dream/view/help-care-for-abandoned-dogs-and-cats-in-langkawi and do check your email to confirm the vote or it won’t be counted as a vote. I appreciate your help on this matter. Thanks~ :)

UNPLUGGED BUT STRANDED

Finally, Jimmy has the catheter unplugged but he was not allowed to go home yet. He has to go through another one or two days of close monitoring before he could be released with a clean bill of health. After two hours from the unplugging, he was still not peeing as he should. That got me worried. By right he should have urinate naturally but there was no sign of any urine at all. I hope he would do that fast as I would love to bring him back and give him a thorough bath. He smelled badly of antiseptic lotion.

As for appetite, I'm going to be slapped with a huge bill for extra cat food. Even the vet and her assistants were surprised with the amount of intake for this 3.8kg boy of mine. Jimmy has been gobbling down a whole big can of wet food 4-5 times a day and he was still asking for more. I can even hear the Ka-ching Ka-ching sound from the cash register right now. LOL! Anyway, I'm so happy that things are looking at a brighter side now. My only hope is to see him pee naturally so that I can bring him home. I missed that curly ball sleeping next to me nightly. Thank God for giving him another chance to live on...

THINGS ARE LOOKING BETTER FOR JIMMY EACH DAY

I’m sorry if this is going to be a short post as I’m still recovering from the exhaustion from my last dengue fever attack. It has been months and the post effect made me get tired easily. Running to and fro trying to coax Jimmy to eat and drink has never been an easy task. I guessed the change of environment and painful experience would have some influences over his usually big appetite. I could not believe how thin he looked now. Just 2 days plus at the vet by refusing to eat alone has caused him so much of weight loss. Is this my fluffy looking Jimmy now? Gosh! Big head small body~ Haiz~



He constantly needed a short rest after roaming a short distance at the vet’s. I think he’s still tired from all the bladder cleansing processes.



Well, he was still leaking. At least I did not see any blood in the urine this time. Thank goodness!



The good news was that he stated eating, not with the prescription diet at this moment but with some wet food. That was a good start. Let’s hope he would gather more energy for a speedy recovery.



His next action was a good sign too. He started drinking some water. I guessed he stopped worrying about leaking endless and got his butt washed frequently. Jimmy actually hated being washed. I could still remember vividly how he clung onto my chest once during his bathing session. Well, that would be part and parcel of owning sharp clawed kitties~ LOL!



Anyway, thanks everyone for the concern, care, assistance, wishes and prayers during these few days. I appreciate it a lot. Although still weak from the trauma, he’s getting better each day. Let’s hope he can be discharged real soon. I don’t think Jimmy would want to stay in a cage all the time when he can roam about within the house freely and in comfort. The rest of the J Family Kitties are missing him a lot too. His best time so far was having some freedom out of the cage in my presence.

JIMMY WANTS TO COME HOME BUT I WOULD NOT ALLOW HIM TO DO SO

Seriously, I won’t want him to be at home for the moment… It’s not that I don’t love him at all but surely not with the catheter still stuck at his penis. Moreover, it would be hard to stop the other J Family Kitties from not giving him any stress at all. Hospitalization and the daily miscellaneous add on medical fees would not be cheap but at least he’s in great hands to monitor his condition well. Anyway, Jimmy looked better than the day he got admitted but he has lost some weight and appeared to be not in his usual fluffy self.



No matter how he begged me by showing his deep affection towards me or giving out lots of purring with his pair of pathetic looking eyes, the answer was still a NO. The reason was HE LEAKS every few minutes!



Can you imagine him in this position every 10-15 minutes? At least, leaking is better than not able to urinate at all, resulting in toxic being accumulated within the body, thus shutting down the rest of his internal organs. In short... Bye Bye!



I don’t think any pet owner would be in a right state of mind to allow their pet to go home this way. I won’t mind cleaning up the mess he would leave behind but blood stained urine is not something I would want to handle. The experts would be a better party to mend him up. I would want him to stay back to recuperate well with the right medical attention.



Actually, I thought of not showing this photo. The sight of the catheter stuck there gave me a chill that drove pain right into my spines. The thought of having something pumped into his bladder and draining it out again sounded real scary. I can feel his pain right now.



Another major problem was that he has not been eating anything at all since being admitted. That got me worried when I called up the vet earlier. I had to convince him this evening that the new prescription diet would be the best for his diet from now onwards. He did nibble some but it was not enough for him. He was a big eater at home, forever asking for more food at odd hours of the day. If this were to go on, the vet has to put him on drip for another few days to make sure he won’t be weak. Another problem was detected and it could be the cause of him not eating at all. He has gingivitis, the inflammation of the gum tissues. That pondered me as he had no problem at all biting into the dry food pellets and some cooked meat all the time. Well, the vet should know what would be the best for him anyway. Just 2 days at the vet and more and more issues which required immediate medical attention and treatment have been added onto the bill. When I thought I had controlled the flea problem for all my cats and that was one of the other issue detected. Gosh! Let’s hope I won’t be slapped with a huge bill later with Jimmy having to stay on for another 5 days or more~ Haiz~

THE WORST CASE OF FLUTD IN THE HISTORY OF THE J FAMILY KITTIES

Latest update:
Emergency surgery successful. He's still under the influence of sedation.

I have a phobia on the “F” word until I feel like crying out loud now. FLUTD (Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease) is the word and it struck Jimmy real badly this time. The J Family Kitties are sure having a big bout of bad luck for the last 1.5 years. Firstly, it was Jeremy who had gone over the rainbow bridge due to a late detection. Then, it was Mama Jessica who was lucky being a female with a wider urethra to survive the bloody and painful ordeal. Jerry went across the fastest with the fatal FLUTD blow due to a cheap brand of dry cat food fed by his former owner. His brother, Jiro, suspected having it but luckily it was just a minor bacterial infection. The worst case affected Jimmy, exactly 3 years 9 months old today, who never had any bad medical record since birth. At a human age of 31 years old, it’s not such great news too.

It has been a tiring and stressful night for me since Jimmy suddenly went into a fit at 1.00am in the morning. His actions had all the symptoms of being down with FLUTD. Surprisingly, he was still playing with his sister, Janice, at midnight while not showing any pain at all. I have not been resting ever since. Wiping and sanitizing almost every single tile in my living room can be a huge task for an unhealthy person like me. Unlike Jerry who could not make it on time to my personal vet due to a later operation hours, I rushed Jimmy to the earliest vet available. He was admitted immediately.

Jimmy is now undergoing an emergency bladder dialysis to save his threatened life. I could not stand the thought of having an irrigating bladder dethrombulator being used to flush out the calcium crystal in his bladder. Can you imagine having a catheter or sometimes known as a conduit inserted through the penis hole right into the bladder in the process for the next few days? It would be real painful experience for him but it a must to unblock his narrow urethra for survival. Luckily, they will be putting him under sedative with pain killer injections to soothe the pain.

5 days or more is something that Jimmy had not done before away from me. He had to be admitted at the vet for 5 days or more (plus under observation in case of any complications) for bladder dialysis and with a micro tube hanging out of his penis for the next few days? Argh! I’m not going to like this sight. I won’t like the figures on the bills at a later stage too for the hospitalization, food, vitamins, injections and God knows what else they would add in it. Moreover, he has to be put under a strict pH balance c/d prescription diet, which is 5 times the cost of his present food, for the rest of his life. Gosh!

SPECIAL ATTENTION: Some of my friends had suggested that I put all the cats on wet diet (canned or home cooked without oil) and get rid of all the commercial dry cat foods labeled as being formulated for urinary tract health. Chances are these might be too acidic for your cat. Some even suggested a no fish flavored dry food which is believed to be one of the causes other than being too stressed for getting FLUTD. I spoke to this new vet of mine who’s an expert in pet diet. THERE IS NO STAND OR PROOF ON THESE ACCUSATIONS. The best solution to avoid FLUTD is a regular visit to check up on the alkaline or acid level in your pet’s urine to determine what prescription diet suits your pet best. These diets may be rather costly but it would save your pet’s life in a long run.

DID ANYONE MISS ME?

Thanks to everyone who had came in here to give us some comfort. I appreciate it a lot. The day went by rather hectic with me spending practically the whole day with Joey at the vet trying to get her all fixed up. It was indeed a terrible experience for her to be in a long distance trip to a foreign place with a foreign scent. Yup! I had to change my vet for some personal reasons.

Jackie (Eric & Flynn’s Mom) was right. She did not get any wounds from any excessive playing or fights but had injured herself by rubbing and rubbing her eyes until it bled. I must admit I did not watch the whole medical procedures as I was too exhausted, mentally and physically, from a hectic work schedule and the lack of sleep for staying up all night. I just dozed off in the waiting room for hours. I just wondered why the vet did not wake me up. I guessed she would have understood the tension and pressure I had the night before.

Based on the vet’s report, she did not find any foreign objects in her right eye but a tiny lump at the bottom of her eye lid. Most probably it could be an insect bite (suspected a mosquito) since she loves to hide and sleep in dark areas of the house. To kill the irritation, she had rubbed her eyes furiously and torn some tissues there. As a result, that was what happened as in the photos I had shown yesterday. It would take a few days with proper medication and eye drop before she could regain her total sight. I was so relieved to hear that as I thought my baby would be blinded for the rest of her life. Thank God!!

I have to say thanks to Lego too for making me remember him in his improvised paper plate collar when he was younger. The vet was amazed with my first reaction to stop Joey from injuring her eye further. We had a laugh after I told her about what Michico did for Lego. To her, that was a genius idea! Well, that did save me some dough too as the vet allowed me to do so later instead of spending more in getting a new collar for Joey.

Joey’s eye is getting better after more than 24 hours with the proper treatment. But… she could be real demanding. She still insisted on me hand feed and syringe feed her every few hours. Gosh! I hope this will end soon before I over pamper her with Her Majesty’s treatment. LOL!

I would also like to share something wonderful that happened last night. I was not alone taking care of Joey. Someone else was with me… Jimmy. It’s true that you can’t break the close ties between a pair of twins. Jimmy was beside his elder sister until the morning, giving her the warmth and comfort a sibling would do during bad times. It was so touching… I could not hold back my tears seeing such a rare sight between these two kittens. At first, he was just next to her staring, sniffing and licking her sister to give her a thorough wash before he dozed off in that position.

After half an hour or so, I saw him wrapping around Joey to keep her warm as it was still raining out there. It all came so naturally. I’m so thankful that I have such a great J family around to make my life more meaningful…

I WANT TO GO HOME!

FOUR DAYS! That’s one too many days Janice has been away from home. My girl is crying foul play now. What else could I do then? Nothing! I have been sitting down in daze and cleaning up the whole place all the time to keep my mind occupied from thinking all the worst things that might happen for Janice. One call from the vet this morning changed the whole moods in the J Family. Janice was cured from her bowel problems and has been eating quite constantly. It’s great news for all but… she has to stay back a few days more to monitor her “horns” problem. Again, I stumbled onto my chair. “What? She has to stay for another few days? That would be terrible, not only for her but for me!” Haiz…

Before I realized what I was doing, I was already half way down to the vet’s. When I was in the room, Janice was already on the table for more tests. You can feel what she was feeling then by the look on her face… fear… stress… and more. Even with my presence, there wasn’t a smile on her face. She just wanted to go home but I could not allow that. She has to be cleared of whatever that has been bugging her.

The vets did some tissue tests but found no infections or whatsoever that could have caused Janice to be sick. It’s still a puzzle there. The “horns” were nothing more than some pinkish flesh popping out on her head without any reasons. They have also tried using many types of skin creams to treat the “horns”. There were some hiccups there. The cream that they had used for her left ear managed to reduce the lump slowly but it had no effect on her right ear.

Her right ear “horn” was still big and red. In fact, the other one on the other side was getting a bit bigger each day. It does not look good at all. I’m still waiting for the vet’s advice if it’s advisable to perform some surgeries on that. I hope not as it would be painful for Janice as well as for my pocket. Haiz!

Now how am I going to face Janice when she eventually gets to go home?

Note: Jeremy has recovered but Justin is still purging all over the house now not at one spot but many spots, even on top of my cupboards. :(

MY HANDS WERE TIED UP

Ever since I had taken Janice to get the stitches off and the two seriously ill boys, Justin and Jayson to the vet, my hands had been tied up with so many “side effects” of their injections. The two boys were vomiting and purging wherever they go, leaving trails of their “messes” in the open. To avoid infecting the rest further with their still unknown virus, bacteria or parasite, I had to keep trace of their whereabouts practically every minute of the day. One mess and I will be wiping, cleaning and disinfecting the whole area. Boy! I can tell you that this was not an easy task and it did tire me out easily.

Anyway, Janice did real well at the vet even before her stitches were taken out. She is now running, jumping about and playing as normal. In fact, she just broke my dish bowl barely few minutes ago. Sweat~~ Justin and Jayson were given a jab each as both of them were having serious infections with Jayson being the worst case. I hope to get both of them in stable conditions soon. I also wished that the rest will have better bowel movements soon as all of them were also infected somehow or other with their stools being muddy and yucky all the time.

Well, here’s what happened when I brought the 3 kitties to the vet earlier this week. I would say, Janice has always been the brave one amongst all the J Kitties. Stay on for more.

Moreover, it’s tough to get the kitties to take their medications. I have to do it alone most of the time and not all of them were easy to handle, especially Justin who would act as though I was poisoning him with foreign substance. Is it really that hard to feed them tiny tablets and liquid medication? Well, I found out the hard way…