She went to the garden to poo, and it was watery diarrhoea.
At 9.45am, we were waiting outside the vet's clinic.
On an unrelated note, Baggy has some ulcers inside her ears. It could be due to ear mites or an infection of the ear. However, Baggy has always been on Revolution, but both Revolution and Advocate only cover one type of ear mite. There is another type commonly found in Malaysian cats. Or, it could be an infection brought about by scratching. This is, however, unrelated to the diarrhoea. Her ears are also very waxy. To address this, an ear gel called Oridermyl has been prescribed.
There has also been a 0.5kg weight loss since the day she was sent to me. But this weight loss could be due to having not eaten yesterday and the also the diarrhoea.
Baggy's temperature was taken and she has a high fever of 40.5 degrees. This indicates the presence of an infection. It is a bit too early to tell exactly what kind of infection it is, but based on the described symptoms, the vet suspects it to be enteritis, which is inflammation of the small intestines. It could also be due to ingesting something toxic, but usually this would be accompanied by vomiting and diarrhoea. Baggy only vomited once, yesterday, and that was due to force-feeding. There is also nothing toxic in the room or the garden, as far as I know. Baggy spends most of the time in the condo or in the room.
When palpated, Baggy seems to have a pain in the abdominal area which may be due to a slightly hardened kidney or liver. The vet says it is too early to pinpoint exactly what is wrong, too early to take an X-Ray, so the best we can do now would be to put her on antibiotics (Clavomox). Baggy is to be fasted from food from now until this evening, but she should be force-fed water throughout the day to keep her hydrated. An adult cat's water consumption is 150ml per day (which is a lot!), so I'm going to divide this up into small amounts of water to be syringed into her mouth every hour or so. She can only take, at most, 5ml per time, before she kicks up a fuss. Don't want to push it, or it might make her vomit.
I'm to take her temperature again this evening, and let her eat just one teaspoon of boiled chicken or ID.
There are too many possibilities right now - inflammation and infection of the gut, a blockage in the digestive tract (due to having eating something or hairball), having ingested something toxic, etc. The closest guess is an inflammation of the gut, and this could even be due to stress which lowers the immunity and the bacteria in the gut causes an infection. I've already put her on Vetri DMG.
If things get worse, I'm to bring her back for more tests. The vet does not think any blood test is necessary at this point in time. So, for now, it is just monitoring her, feeding her water, very small amounts of boiled chicken (or ID) and giving her the antibiotics.
The vet says glucose may not be necessary as she is not a young kitten so there is less chances of hypoglycaemia. In fact, hyperglycaemia might create problems for her, so plain water would be enough. Otherwise, very diluted glucose.
We got home and Tabs was very concerned.
How are you, Baggy?
A quick scratch on the fishpad first.
Uncle Bobby was very concerned too.
Bobby sniffed her whole body and Baggy just sat and let him do it.
In fact, last night, everyone was very concerned, and Cow kept waking me up all night, as though reminding me to feed water to Baggy. He may be a cranky old chap who goes around spraying and claiming territory, but if you've actually lived with him, you'll know he has a heart. Everyone else was also trying to help, but they don't really know what to do, so they just stay around, as though saying, "Don't worry, we're all here."
A nap after the clinic trip, with Tabs nearby.
I hope it is nothing serious and Baggy will get well soon with the recommended treatment. I did ask if the FIV/FeLV test is needed, but the vet does not think so at this point in time. Anyway, there is no more supply of RetroMAD1. Just in case, if you know of which clinic which still has, please let me know. Thanks!
Please keep Baggy in your prayers. Thank you.
5 comments:
It is helps, whenever my cats don't take enough water, what i would do it put in some diced chicken in a bowl, put as much water as you want and steam it. At least that will create some chicked soup taste for them. They will normally lap them up quickly because it is chicken soup and they get the neessary liquid into their body.
Thanks, Yoke Mei. But she has absolutely no appetite at all. Maybe she just wants her gut to rest and recover. I'm told to give her steamed chicken this evening. She just vomited the water and had diarrhoea. Maybe the gut still needs to rest.
Get well soon, Baggy.
sorry to post this rather late. i hope by Baggy will make a complete recovery ASAP. but just thought i'd share a similar experience with my late Ozee when i thought to pamper him with some kitty treats of dried shrimp and squid from a pet store.
he didnt take to the dried shrimp, but took to the squid, which i fed him as an appetiser during his meals. i noticed he then started to throw up all his food and had diarrhea. he still remained alert though he lost his appetite. took him the vet next day who diagnosed it as food sensitivity reaction. he was prescribed antibiotics for 5 days and Science Plan ID (wet food + kibbles) for an entire month. Luckily he liked the ID and made a full recovery within a week.
since then i never gave him anymore kitty treats except Science Plan ID wet food, fresh yogurt (i make my own from Georgian cultures), sweet dried coconut floss, beef steak and dark glutinuous sesame sweet rolls (all in amounts smaller than my thumb except the ID wet food). i swear that boy loved MOST of my favourite snacks. later i found out from reading online that squids can cause food sensitivity in cats, esp when its raw.
As for the feline shrimp treats, i ended up eating it myself. turns out it makes a superb baked chilli n garlic shrimp aglio olio or baked shrimp n tuna scampi. its all gone now, but as i havent wised up enough courage to try the squid in my meals, the whole packet is still in my fridge.
Thank you. Baggy seems to be fine now.
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