Tabs' temperature is normal!!

I am writing this from my phone as I know everyone is waiting for good news. Tabs' temperature is 39.44 degrees which is NORMAL!! She defecated lots too. No diarrhoea. All normal. No hairball at all.

Her vet wants to do a full blood profile to be on the safe side and advised one more night on drips.

Tabs is very perky today and says THANK YOU to all the aunties and uncles who prayed hard for her recovery.

I am very deeply touched by your caring and concern. Thank you very much, dearest friends.



 

Tiger looks for Tabs

It's probably anthropomorphising, but Tiger went berserk yesterday, squeezed out of the grille and dashed around the living room, looking for something or someone.

I think Tiger was looking for Tabs as both of them are very close.

So, how do you explain it to an animal that his best friend is in hospital and won't be back yet, but not to worry, as his best friend is safe.

You can't.

We can say it in our language, in our thoughts, and only hope that they will somehow understand.

I was reading "Cat Sense" by John Bradshaw on Day One while accompanying Tabs in hospital. The emphasis is, we always make the mistake of assuming or expecting that our pets will see the world in our eyes and as we do, but they don't. That is the truth - they just don't. They see the world on their terms and it is so very different from how we see it.

So, while we comfort ourselves thinking that they will understand, the truth is, they may not, but I certainly hope that somehow our pets and us will reach a platform where there is understanding...somehow.

So I could only carry Tiger and "tell" him that Tabs is alright and will be back home soon. But now, Tabs is unwell and has to be at the clinic for treatment.

My husband says Indy was making a lot of noise in the afternoon too, but I think that's more of asking him where I was as Indy has sworn his life to protecting me. But even then, we'll never know. Indy is also close to Tabs.

The Cow Family is somehow not close to Tabs at all; they ignore her. But that's just how I see it. It may not be true at all!

Meanwhile, Tabs' vet continues to explore and think of all possibilities of what may be affecting Tabs, leaving no stone unturned, yet all in good time. We have to give the medicines a chance to work and time, as ironical as it seems (as we seem to be fighting against it), will tell us more. Only time will tell.

We are going to do a full blood profile today and hopefully, we can eliminate some possibilities. As of yesterday, Tabs wasn't jaundiced, so I think that is good. Perhaps the force-feeding is helping.

Joy sent this: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/10/05/pancreatitis-in-pet-cats.aspx, article which is really useful. Before this, I had never heard of pancreatitis in cats and dogs as no one had ever claimed for such treatment before. So, there is really much to learn, if indeed, Tabs has pancreatitis. It seemed to the most probable cause now as she does has some discomfort in the abdomen and snarls when we carry her.

Siti Azura shared some notes by Irene de Villers on homeopathic treatment for FIP cats.

And everyone has been very helpful and supportive. Thank you very much.

Much as I hope and pray it isn't FIP, it still helps to be prepared. When the vet first suggested the possibility of FIP, he said that cats get it because they have had no exposure to the corona virus when young. Vaccination does not offer immunity against this deadly virus, so the only immunity is from the environment. Tabs came to us wearing a bright red collar early one morning on Dec 16th,  2011. She just walked straight into our house asking if she could live with us. It was during the time when Indy was mysteriously and seriously ill. For the record, Indy was put on drips and eventually recovered and until today, the vets are still baffled as to what was wrong with him.

The day Tabs walked into our lives: http://myanimalcare.org/2011/12/16/a-new-kid-on-the-block-2/

The fact that Tabs had come with a bright red collar probably means she was a former pet, either abandoned or lost. I asked the neighbours for a week, but no one claimed her. Since then, Tabs had been with us and kept indoors. She only strayed for a few hours each day when Cow and Cleo chased her out of the house in that initial week when I was trying to find her owners. After barely three weeks, we moved to this present house, so we brought her along with the six of them (Cow, Bunny, Pole, Cleo, Tiger and Indy). The six of them were free roaming in the previous house so they would have got some immunity from the environment. But Tabs had been protected indoors because after we moved here, we had to keep everyone indoors (in case they tried to run back to the old house).

So, do you keep your beloved pets indoors or allow them some measure of contact with the environment? After all, they are creatures of Nature and belong with Nature.

Isn't this a Catch-22 situation? What should you do for your pet? Expose her to the environment so that she can get some natural immunity (and subject her to the dangers of being free-roaming in a man-made environment - road accidents, poisons, abuse) or protect her indoors and provide the necessary vaccinations which do not provide immunity to certain diseases such as those caused by this deadly corona virus?

Not wanting our cats to be in a concrete environment, we have a back garden for them so that they are still exposed to Nature - sunshine, green grass, plants and the Earth. Some bacteria comes from the soil, but where do we draw the line now?

It boils down to the fact that whatever we do, we can never do it perfectly. We can only do our very best and leave the rest to Nature.

Tabs in hospital - Day 2

I reached the clinic at 9.30am this morning. As I approached her cubicle, I saw her sitting down facing the wall (that means she is angry). When I called her, she looked in front and her face lighted up immediately. She wanted to come out of the cage, so I let her out and she sat on my lap immediately.

She seemed so much more perky today so I was sure she had no more fever.

I brought her food up and managed to feed her 50ml of the blended ID. She was hungry!

That's a mirror - watch the birdie, Tabs!

Now, one would have thought that surely the fever had gone down, what with the perkiness and that she managed to eat 50ml of food.

But soon, the vet came up take her temperature. It was a shocking 41 degrees.

Oh dear...again? The temperature was down to 40.6 degrees yesterday and this morning, it was up again. That's not good. The vet had wanted to start her on another antibiotic last night, but decided we should just wait until this morning. If her fever remains down, it means the antibiotics (Clavomox) is working and there would be no need to start on another one.

Clavomox is a gram positive and anaerobic antibiotic. The vet said that it if does not work, Tabs would need a gram negative antibiotic (to cover a wider range of bacteria). So, he gave the other antibiotic, Marbocyl through the IV.

We can only hope this antibiotic will work. If not....we'll have to get the newer generation antibiotics. Some pathogens have grown resistant to the existing commonly used antibiotics.  Sigh...viruses and bacteria rule, don't they? They are at the top of the food chain. How ironical, isn't it? The tiniest creatures rule the earth.

So Tabs and I settled down and I fed her 40ml of liquid ID every 2 hours.

She also urinated, which was good. There is no defecation, but the vet said not to worry as she is not constipated and ID is highly digestible so it is okay not to have any stools.

Tabs slept in the afternoon.

When she awoke, she would sit on my lap....and help me sew the new Mickey blanket!

Watch the birdie, Tabs!

Luckily I brought something to do to pass the time.

In total, I managed to feed her a 220ml of liquid ID, which is more or less one can. She needs to get enough food so that she does not develop a hepatic liver.

An ear-prick test was done on bilirubin and it shows Tabs is not jaundiced. She is also not dehydrated.

Later in the afternoon, the vet arrived to take her temperature again. It was 40.2 degrees. We had hoped it would be lower, but never mind, at least it had gone down 0.8 degrees. Little baby steps...

What the vet is worried about is that a fluctuating temperature (up-down, up-down) is indicative of FIP. But I mentioned that Tabs lives with two FIV+ cats, Bunny & Tiger, and the vet said in that case, the possibility of FIP is even lower now (theoretically) because if Tabs had got the corona virus (the mutated kind causes FIP), an FIV+ cat would get it first, but Bunny & Tiger are both fine. This means, Tabs probably does not have the corona virus, which in turn, presupposes that Tabs does not have FIP.

*yay!*

I know it's a conjecture based on logical reasoning and theory, but at least it's a reasonable conjecture and not a wild guess.

So, what other possibilities are there? Hemobart? But I have not seen any fleas on any of the cats.

The vet thinks it would be good to do a full blood profile again tomorrow, to see if we can rule out certain things and get a better picture of what may be causing Tabs to be sick.

Until tomorrow, I pray the fever will go down. If it goes down tomorrow morning, the possibility of it being FIP will go further down the list.

But pancreatitis is also quite serious. The vet cautions me that he had seen pancreatic cats that did not make it. It is good to know and be prepared. That is not being being pessimistic. It is being realistic.

I shall keep my hopes and spirits high for Tabs.

Tabs seemed a little reluctant to see me go this evening, but it wouldn't be fair to keep the vet assistant waiting on a Sunday, so I left at 6.30pm.

I spent 9 hours with Tabs today, leaving her only for 20 minutes to have lunch. It was quality time.

Thank you, everyone, for your kind prayers and wishes for Tabs. I told Tabs all about it and Tabs says "Thank you, aunties and uncles!"

Thank you, Connie, for dropping in to visit Tabs and me yesterday after the event and thank you, Maslinda and Wana, for your kind intentions of wanting to visit.

Hopefully, Tabs can come home tomorrow?

Tabs is hospitalised

I was duly shocked this morning when we arrived at the (4th) vet. I had already emailed him the X-Rays and all the details. This vet does not think it is hairball at all.

Tabs' temperature was taken and it was very high - 41.24 degrees. That's very, very high, indicative of some infection. So an ear-prick blood sample was taken and it showed the presence of "band cells".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band_cell

These are immature white blood cells produced by the body to fight infection. It means the infection is quite severe. The X-Ray (taken on Thursday) did not show anything much. Palpation also did not indicate that there was any blockage. She is also not constipated at all. Using the high up-down fever as a gauge, there were two possibilities - pancreatitis or FIP. But FIP usually affects kittens below 1 year old, so it is not likely. Yet, it cannot be ruled out.

I was quite shocked. How could Tabs get FIP? She is indoors and she is not in contact with any sick cat. Pancreatitis is equally worrying. But the causes are too many and hence, we cannot pinpoint the exact cause. It is due to the inflammation of the pancreas, which in turn could be caused by many factors.

In any case, the only thing to do was to put Tabs on drips and give her a Clavomox injection to address any secondary infection due to bacteria. Then, force-feeding is absolutely necessary as we do not want her to get a hepatic liver (fatty liver).

I decided to stay with Tabs all day until closing time. Connie says she can manage the booth and one of our readers, Kelly Lim (bless her!) offered to go down to PWTC to help Connie. Lester would be going down too.

Tabs wasn't happy with the drip, of course.

It took quite a long time for her to settle down.

Still stressed.

She settled down after a few hours.

I was able to force-feed her the blended ID using a syringe. From 10ml, we increased it to 15ml, then 25ml and finally to 30ml. She has to get enough food to avoid getting the hepatic liver. And the vet said Tabs is overweight. A cat her size should only be 4kg, but she weighed 4.45kg on Tuesday and today, 4.32kg. That's overweight and she has to reduce some weight.

Oh dear...then what about Bunny, Tiger and Cow? They are definitely overweight. Obesity can cause many health problems. And the worrying thing is that when the cat is sick, obese cats have a tendency to develop the hepatic liver as the body will metabolise the fat and it can choke the liver.

Her temperature was taken after a few hours, and it went down to 40.6 degrees, which was good. But her heartbeat raced. It was 200+ and that was worrying too. Finally, she managed to sleep and I did not wake her up for food. The sleeping settled her down and her heartbeat slowed down a little.

By evening, Tabs was growing fed-up of being force-fed. Or, maybe she just hates the ID. But the vet already had it blended into a liquid paste so that made feeding much, much easier. Tabs has to be on ID just in case it is pancreatitis. The diet has to be low-fat.

I think Tabs gets stressed quite easily as her heartbeat increased again. Her temperature was taken at about 7pm and it was 40.8 degrees. Oh dear...this was not good. The vet decided to take another X-Ray to check her lungs.

To my relief, the lungs are alright. No fluids. Everything else also looked alright, actually.

It is not hairball, not sentinel loops. We don't know what it is except that it is causing her the high fever.

Tomorrow, the vet will do an ear-prick test for bilirubin to see if she is jaundiced. Based on her eye colour today, Tabs is not jaundiced. She is also not dehydrated. If her fever does not come down by tomorrow, the vet will start her on another antibiotic to address another group of bacteria. He wanted to give the Clavomox time to do its work first.

I asked if it could be toxoplasmosis. It is possible, but again, it's hard to tell.

Since we do not know what the cause of the illness is, we can only treat the symptoms.

It reminds me of Indy in Nov 2011. He was so sick, he was hospitalised and put on drips and the vets could not really pinpoint what was wrong with him. Scans and X-Rays were done too but no conclusion was reached. He finally recovered....and is now the alpha of the brood.

I really hope Tabs will recover too. I hope her body will be strong enough to fight off the infection, whatever it may be.

Please get well soon, Tabs.

P.S. My friend helped send the X-Ray to her vet and her vet also thinks it's not hairball or constipation.

P.P.S. I also sent the X-Ray to another vet (this would be the 6th vet), and he also thinks it is not hairball. He says to test for pancreatic amylase test. He too suspects it may be the pancreas.

Taking Tabs to see a 4th vet today

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions and concern.

It is 5am now and there is still no defecation from Tabs.

I gave the pumpkin last night. It did not work.

I also consulted the 2nd vet who did the X-Ray again and he said that though there is faecal matter in her intestines, she was not constipated yet, so it did not warrant an enema. He said to give it about 3 more days, and if there is no improvement, Tabs may have to be put on drips. He also suggested an esophagal feeding tube (inserted through the neck) to ensure she gets enough food but that sounds very stressful. I didn't think it was necessary since I am able to force-feed her. And what if the problem is not in the eating, but at the intestines?

The 3rd vet said it may not be hairball but something called "sentinel loops" which requires surgery and should not be delayed, but the vet is going on leave today for a few days, so he could not do the surgery as he did not want to leave his patient after the surgery. Which leaves me to look for a 4th vet this morning who is able to do the surgery should it be warranted. It is all so scary and worrying. Meanwhile Tabs is obediently eating whatever I force-feed her without putting up a fight. There is still no defecation as of this morning.

We'll be taking her to the 4th vet the moment he opens this morning. The problem is that whatever the X-Ray shows isn't conclusive. The vet would have to palpate her again today, and it all depends on the what the vet feels (concluded from the X-Ray and the palpation) is the best thing to do. All four vets are experienced.

I even consulted Dr Susanna yesterday if acupuncture might help, but she says acupuncture cannot help at all in such cases and that I must refer her to a conventional vet, which I already have.

I hope the 4th vet will be able to solve the problem once and for all.

Meanwhile, I am thankful that Connie is helping me man the booth at PWTC today. I hope Lester can help too, or she would be all alone.

Tabs, this morning.

Tabs needs a 3rd opinion

Thank you, everyone, for your advice, suggestions and concern for Tabs.

We still have to force-feed her but she eats the food willingly. She is alert; just not as active. But there is still no defecation.

Based on the X-Ray, another vet seems to think it may not be hairball but something more complicated which may require surgery.

We will be taking her for a 3rd opinion tomorrow.

Praying for the best.

Tabs and her hiding places

After coming back from the vet's yesterday, Tabs ate on her own. But after that, she must have felt quite uncomfortable as the subcut fluids (fluids under the skin) had caused several bulges at the areas where the skin is loose. This is quite common, I checked.

All afternoon, she hid under the bed and refused food.

We let Tiger out to accompany her.

But she felt better being alone.

Tiger wanted to help, though.

Then, last night, she came downstairs and sat on top of the book cabinet. I decided to sleep downstairs to accompany her. At about midnight, when I woke up to check, Tabs was totally gone. I checked the whole house three rounds and could not find her anywhere. So I raised the alarm and woke my husband up. I really thought Tabs had somehow escaped through the netting.

To my relief, Tabs was hiding between the chair and dining table. Phew...cats can really hide and not come out when they are ill.

So to play it safe, we put her back in Bunny's Place. Can't have another scare like that again. I even went out of the house to look for her last night.

This morning, she refused food again. This is despite the B-complex, which is to stimulate appetite. So I had to force-feed her again. Managed to give her all the medicines and she ate the food when force-fed. I added sweet potato and VCO to her food.

 This is her hiding place now, on the shelf behind the clothes.

At least we know where she is.

I know we have to wait it out as we've done everything that the vet has advised. She just has to pass out all the dratted stuff from her gut to feel better again. At least she is able to retain the small amounts of food and there is no vomiting.

She is taking Metronidazole (antibiotics), Gentle Digest (probiotics), B-Complex, Laxatone and liquid paraffin (both to stimulate defecation). She has been urinating but not defecating yet. The vet said it may take up to 2 weeks to clear off all the stuff from the intestines.

Tabs stops eating again...off to the vet's

Tabs had no appetite again this morning. I force-fed her the ID so that I could give her her medicines. But within minutes, she vomited out everything.

This has gone on long enough, so we brought her to the vet in PJ for a more thorough check-up.

On the way there...

At the clinic, the vet palpated her and felt there was "something stuck". A quick blood test was done and everything was normal. Temperature taken - normal too. Checked for mites - no mites.

The vet then took a X-Ray which revealed the problem - Tabs' stomach and intestines are full of hair. Luckily it's not "dense" yet, so it has a chance of coming out and it MUST come out. There is also some distension (gas) and in short, her intestines is "full of stuff" which needs to be passed out.

A full blood test was also done. Everything is normal. Liver and kidneys are all okay. What a relief!

On top of her existing medication, the vet prescribed liquid paraffin and B-complex (to stimulate appetite).

I asked if the hairball problem is serious for cats since it can lead to death. The vet explained that it's not the hairball that kills but the inappetence (lack of appetite). Not eating causes the body to metabolise the fats and this leads to fatty liver, which can be fatal.

So the solution now is to help Tabs pass out all the "stuff" in her intestines, including all the hair, and also to make sure she eats, even if only small amounts, every day. It may take up to 2 weeks for her to pass out all the stuff.

Meanwhile, to play it safe, Tabs was given subcut fluid. If need be, she can come in for subcut on a daily basis to ensure she is properly rehydrated.

Tabs was quite active through it all and thought it was quite an adventure, what with visiting a new clinic, the joy ride in the car, etc.

The vet said it was not necessary to feed her ID (I suspect she hates ID and it repulses her, hence, she vomits it all out). Royal Canin Hairball or Fit 32 is good, the vet said. Give her food, as long as she eats something, that's good. Add flavours, if need be.

So we came home and I offered Tabs some RC Hairball. She only took a courtesy bit and decided she'd rather sit.

The patio cats were very concerned and all came in to see how Tabs was, not knowing that the poor girl was so freaked out by all the attention, so we had to get everyone out of the house.

I knew Tabs was hungry, so I tried Natural Balance Chicken...

 Yum, yum....she ate quite a bit.

And for some reason, she only wanted to eat in this precarious position by the sink.

After food, I gave her the liquid paraffin and B-Complex.

Now, to wait for her to pass out all that nasty stuff from her stomach and intestines.

Patience, patience...but at least I have some peace of mind knowing I've done everything I can for her, leaving no stones unturned.

Tabs eats on her own!!

I was just about to update on Tabs, to say she spent the whole day sleeping and does not seem to want any food when I thought I'd try and voila...she ate on her own!

Here's what happened all day....

She wanted to sleep upstairs, so I turned on the fan on slow speed (only for ventilation) and gave her a towel.

But by evening, she came down to help me with the next blanket.

Meanwhile, in the afternoon, two readers, Su & Amber, suggested using Virgin Coconut Oil. I remember reading about it too, so I thought it would be no harm trying. So I gave Tabs from my old bottle first. Everyone inside and outside had some too.

After that, I called the vet to let her know Tabs' condition. I managed to feed her her medicines and the teaspoon of ID this morning, but she still had no appetite at all. The ID was force-fed. There was only one incidence of vomiting today and that happened about 5-6 hours after breakfast. Just a bit of whitish bile-like liquid.

The vet said to monitor Tabs until tomorrow, at around 4pm. If she still has no appetite, then we have to bring her in for X-Ray or further palpitation and check. After all, the Metronidazole needs 48 hours to work. There has been no urination or defecation too, but then again, she hasn't been eating.

I went off to purchase another bottle of VCO.

At one of the shops, I met another vet and he suggested to give Tabs a baby enema to just flush out whatever that is blocking the intestinal tract. I asked my vet, but she thinks that could be a little harsh for now. Maybe Lactulose is a better option. In any case, I asked about the VCO and my vet said to wait until tomorrow (I had already given and Tabs took it quite well). I only gave 1ml (with a syringe).

Tabs spent all day sleeping and just watching me sew the blanket.

Then, just now, at about 10pm, I thought I'd try and see if she wanted some ID. I noticed that she didn't like the ID at all, so since I had bought Royal Canin Hairball, I put a spoonful into a bowl and offered it to her.

Tabs wasn't interested at first, but she started sniffing at it and...

Oh my goodness!! Tabs is eating on her own!!

All her friends, led by Indy Jones, came to the grille to watch.

I think everyone is concerned too.

Aww...

She did not finish all, but never mind....slowly does it.

I'm so relieved! I gave her another 1ml of the VCO.

It's after half an hour now....no vomiting of anything.

Thank you, Amber & Su, and thank you, everyone, for all your kind wishes and prayers for Tabs.

Tabs says: Thank you for rooting for me!!

On another note, this may be totally unrelated, but just a few days ago, Timmy turned aggressive towards Tabs and the poor girl was so frightened. I wonder if this lowered her immunity. She was breathing heavily after the aggression by Timmy. And just now, Timmy turned on Ginger and wanted to pick a fight with the poor boy.

Today, I kept all the patio cats out of the house as Tabs was inside. Better play it safe as we didn't know what bacterial infection Tabs had that had caused the fever.

If indeed it is hairball as the vet had suspected...oh my gosh, hairball can be so nasty. I read that in certain cases, surgical removal of the hairball may be necessary to save a cat's life. I'm going to furminate Tabs every day now. And everyone is going to get Virgin Coconut Oil too!

The next blanket coming up....

The demand for the Mickey blanket gave me an idea...if a well-known cartoon character is so popular, how about Hello Kitty for kitty fans?

So, while the bidding was going on for Mickey Blankie, I started working on another blanket.

Mum is still working on the frame for the orange Teddy Bear, but meanwhile, we have enough cloth to complete this blanket below so it might just come out before the Teddy blanket.

I thought I'd throw in a little creativity...

The Hello Kitty pieces have to be big enough so that you can see the kitties.

Take a look...

Hello Kitty, anyone?

Mum will be working on the frame and base.....wait for it!

And it's a neutral purple colour, neither a boy nor girl colour specifically.

Poor Tabs...

I gave Tabs the Laxatone last night, as instructed by the vet. Unfortunately, she could not retain it and spent the next half an hour vomiting it out. It breaks one's heart to see this and there is nothing much I could do except to give the Metronidazole 48 hours to do its work.

After the massive vomiting (which resulted in me washing the cushion covers and mats), she just sat and watched me sew the next blanket. I think she could not agree with the Laxatone.

The plan for this morning is to give her one teaspoon of ID. Just one teaspoon and no more, the vet said, as the most important thing is to stop the vomiting. The vet didn't want to give her any anti-vomiting medicine as that has a possibility of leading to more complications for Tabs' case (as serious of a rupture in the intestines, if it goes wrong, so we don't want to take any risks at all).

This is a safer way. Diet control and hopefully, the medicine works and that nasty blockage HAS to come out, somehow.

I gave her a litter box in the downstairs bathroom, but there is no poo yet. Meanwhile, she is separated from all the other cats (she gets the whole house to herself). She did want to nibble on wheatgrass last night. I guess that would be their natural way of getting rid of the blockage.

Tabs had no appetite at all this morning. I force fed that one tiny teaspoon of ID so that I could give her the Metro and Gentle Digest. I didn't dare push my luck with the Laxatone again as it might induce vomiting and all efforts with that one teaspoon of food and medicine would go to waste.

I'm watching her now to see if she can retain that one teaspoon of ID and the medicine. It's been half an hour. So far, so good.

Tabs has lost some weight already...this is one weight loss I don't welcome!

Indy is concerned for his friend.

 I hope the medicine works.

When your pet falls sick, nothing else matters anymore - you just want to do everything to make her well again. But some things cannot be hurried; it has to be allowed to take its course. Hence, Anne Sewell's "Do your best and leave the rest; 'Twill all come right, some day or night" rings true.

Tabs has high fever (suspected bacterial infection due to hairball)

For the past two days, I noticed liquid vomit on the pantry floor. Normally, it comes from Pole as she is quite prone to hairball and 1-2 days on Laxatone would do the trick. So I fed Pole and Cleo Laxatone, but the liquid vomit was still there.

It was only today that I noticed it wasn't Pole or Cleo but Tabs who had been vomiting.  I should have known it was Tabs as the vomit had lemongrass in it. Tabs likes to eat lemongrass.

This morning Tabs did not finish her breakfast and by late afternoon, she did not want to eat her dinner. I also saw her vomit three times today, and it's liquid like bile. She was still very active, though. But with animals, never take chances and never delay. I had already given her Vetri DMG this morning and also fed her Laxatone.

Without further delay, I took Tabs to the vet's.

The vet examined her and found "something stuck" in the lower part of her intestines (already on its way out). It is probably hairball and the blockage can lead to a bacterial infection. Tabs' temperature was 40.2 degrees, which was a high fever.

The plan is to fast her for 24 hours to stop the vomiting, start her on antibiotics (Metronidazole) and probiotics Gentle Digest. Tomorrow morning, she can only be given one teaspoon of ID. If she stops vomiting or if the vomiting is reduced, the amount of ID can be increased later. She should also be given a double dose of Laxatone tonight to help ease the passage to get rid of whatever is blocked at her intestines. The consolation is that it's already on its way out.

If Tabs still continues vomiting after 2 days, I would have to take her back for bloodwork.

I hope it's just an uncomplicated case of hairball and hopefully, the medication will take care of the infection and the Laxatone would clear the blockage.

I even bought a new tube of Laxatone and Royal Canin Hairball kibbles this afternoon to give to all the cats. Tiger has also been vomiting hairball. Maybe the two tabbies are stressed, being intimidated by the Cow Family and Madman Indy Jones. I mean, who wouldn't be, right?

Here's Tabs relaxing after coming home from the vet's.

Get well soon, Tabs.

Rosie had hairball a few days ago too, but Laxatone took care of that and the vomiting stopped. I also give them wheatgrass to help (as fibre).

I have heard of a case where a cat died of hairball. The intestines were completely blocked. Scary, isn't it?

 

Here's...the Mickey Blanket (Blanket No. 5) - up for auction!

Here it is, folks! Our Blanket No. 5 is dedicated to Mickey & Minnie fans!

Special announcement: The comments moderation has been disabled. This means your comment (your bid!) will be published automatically and immediately in the comments section without going through moderation. Happy bidding! Please check the comments section before making your bid as I may be a little slow in updating here. 

The bids as they come in:

2nd October, at 1.57pm, Donald Duck bids RM2000.

2nd October, at 1.51pm, Pluto & Gang bid RM1390. 

2nd October, at 12.39pm, PC Leong bids RM1388.

1st October, at 4.20opm, CB Ong bids RM1288.

1st October, at 12.23pm, Donald Duck bids RM1188. 

1st October, at 12.00pm, Pluto & Gang bid RM1000. 

1st October, at 11.43am, CB Ong bids RM888.

1st October, at 9.29am, Caramel Puppy bids RM801.

1st October, at 8.37am, CB Ong bids RM800.

1st October, at 12.11am, Pluto & Gang bid RM700. 

30th September, at 11.43pm, Wine Dogs bid RM600.

30th September, at 8.00pm, Caramel Puppy bids RM500. 

30th September, at 7.55pm, Wine Dogs bid RM400.

30th September, at 7.41pm, Pluto & Gang bid RM300.

The same auction rules apply:

1. To place a bid, please use the comments section only. All comments will be published in chronological order.
2. Please check the latest bid (in the comments section) before making yours.
3. The auction ends at 2pm on Wednesday, 2nd October 2013.

The winning bid will be donated entirely to the AnimalCare Fund to help the street animals.

Do we hear RM100?

6 ft by 4 ft.

The back is full of Mickey & Minnie Mouse too.

Let the bidding begin!!

Will this Mickey Blanket be yours?

This Mickey Blanket is sewn by my mum. She is 80 years old and is delighted to contribute her needlework skills to do her part for the animals.