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.

A YEAR HAD PASSED BUT YOU STILL LEFT ME WITH A BROKEN HEART

If he were to be here still, he would have been 4 years old today. No matter how hard I tried to forget that Jeremy was no longer by my side, the more the sweet memories of him kept coming back into my mind. It was the closest bond which we had through all his growing up years that caught me in tears occasionally… even now. It still hurts quite badly whenever Christmas approaches. Jeremy has been one such golden boy that had touched the lives of many people out there… not only mine. He had brought peace to those with troubled minds. He had brought smiles to the faces of many in sorrow. Nevertheless, he had brought so much happiness into my life that nothing else in the world matters anymore. Boy… How I wished I could cuddle you to sleep once again. I missed the warmth… I missed your unique expressions… I missed just having you next to me always… Happy Birthday my dear Jeremy~ I’ll never forget you!

Although Jerry was adopted for barely for a few months, this Christmas boy did not even have the fate to celebrate his second birthday this Christmas. I missed him too. Nobody would have known that the severe blow of FLUTD could have taken him away just like that. He was such a handsome and macho buddy I came to know very well.

I guessed Christmas would not be the same anymore without my two December boys but life have to go on. The rest of the J Familiy Kitties would still need my affection and commitment to keep them happy always. Let the spirits of Christmas bring more joy and happiness in the lives of everyone out there. Have a great Christmas and holidays ahead~

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!



With Love,
Criz Lai & the J Family Kitties (Mama Jessica, Janice, Jayson, Jimmy & Jiro)

THE FLUTD FEAR IS BACK!

Have I been destined to be the sole caretaker of the J Family Kitties? There seemed to be a consistent trend that each time I'm down with some sort of illness, one or many of the kitties would follow suit. This time, it's Jiro's turn. Just slightly right into my third day of high fever (prior to being diagnose with dengue fever and admitted into the hospital), Jiro has been real noisy and jumped onto my bed. His first reaction was to stood up with his two front paws on my tummy, gave out a scary loud meow and peed right onto me. This little act of disobedience has never happened before. The stench was unbearable. It was exactly that unforgettable smell that made me recall the day I lost my golden boy, Jeremy. Could it be FLUTD (Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease)? I could not be ascertained but I suspected it is... Even if I could just find the extra energy to send him to the vet, he has gone into hiding again. The monsoon season has started with endless downpour every night. Where's he now? I'm super worried especially with his weird calls each time I was near him. HE HAS TO GO TO THE VET VERY SOON!

I may be home now but I'm not fully recovered from the bone breaking Dengue Fever (or breakbone fever as it's also known for). This is not just a common fever you would encounter. It's a LIFE THREATENING one! You can't recover within days. It would sometimes take weeks to months for a clean record of health. You can check more on the fever in Wikipedia. My platelet count dived from 210 to an all time low of 61 before picking up to 114 yesterday. No doubt the fever has stopped but the after effect of being hit by the fever remained. My whole body is still aching like hell and I'm sweating furiously even though it's raining heavily out there right now. Other than the disorientation in balancing well, you can try to imagine having a long icy spike poking right into every part of your bones. The chill and pain are just impossible for a sane person to bear. What made matter worst is that there's no proper medication available to treat the fever except with two tablets of Paracetamol 500mg every 8 hours. Anything stronger such as Ponstan would cause internal bleeding. With all the side effects popping up now and then, I'm also down with male PMS - Dysthymia. I just hope I can cope with all the mood swings now.

I have to be strong now, no matter what it takes to find the extra boost of energy to stand up properly now. Jiro might just be another member of my newly adopted cat family but I can't bear the sight of him gone just like his brother, Jerry, in May 2011 this year. It may sound like a great move to help another soul to adopt them but more and more complications are beginning to appear. It's all linked on their long usage of wrong feed by their previous owner. I'm all out against cheaper cat food produced by Tesco. The brand guaranteed great nutrition and anti FLUTD but I can confirm that it killed Jeremy with only one month of consumption during my relocation late last year. It almost killed Mama Jessica. Luckily she has a bigger hole to discharge all the toxic blood. It definitely killed Jerry, who had been fed the same brand for more than a year by his previous owner... and now... Jiro is at his worst stage. I'm keeping my finger crossed that Jose's new found love for a mixture of wet and dry food would stop him from being slapped with the same fate as his other siblings. All I can do now is to pray... pray that with my every effort to keep the J Kitties healthy, they would enjoy their lives to the fullest...