…when it’s a warm, sunny, Friday afternoon and you find yourself taking a nap with your favourite soft white kitty

Chesterfield Fitzwilliam Rupert is growing into a fine specimen of a feline. It’s hard to believe he’s only been with us about three months as it seems like much, much longer. I can’t remember or imagine life without him now. He is what makes our house a home xx

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as You know life is good…

ANYWAY I didn’t care because we went to the vet this morning FULLY EXPECTING to be told that Toby needed an URGENT blood transfusion….BUT!!!!! THEY RAN A BLOOD COUNT AND HIS NUMBERS HAD GONE UP!!!! In the space of just five days his blood count had risen from a severely anaemic 13% to a whopping *19%* which is only mildly anemic. ‘Normal’ is said to be anywhere between 25-48% so this was a hugely respectable achievement. Well done Toby-Toes!

He looks pathetic in this picture, but he hates the vet visits for obvious reasons and goes limp as soon as we walk through the door, but in reality he was skipping prettily around the house with his tail in the air earlier this morning (another good sign as he was lying around quietly before).

But wait, there’s more:
* HIS TEMPERATURE HAS GONE DOWN from consistently over 104˚ to 103˚ (normal is 100.5˚-102.5˚)
* HIS WEIGHT IS STABLE (he hasn’t gained, but more importantly he hasn’t lost either)
* THE UVEITIS IN HIS EYES IS LESS INFLAMED
* She was also pleased with his poo sample which he conveniently provided just before we left the apartment this morning (it was a good type of poo with nothing in it that shouldn’t have been).

Squee, squeee, SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! This means that we must have been doing something right this past week!!!!! The vet was ever so pleased too so now we’re going to scale down the druggy bits to work out the minumum dose he needs to maintain him, and she’s also making lots of enquiries amongst her vetty friends for any other tips and tricks. She’s also put me into contact with a good holistic vet that we’re going to talk to as there’s been much buzz online about FIP and holistic treatments. Although it’s nasty FIP, it’s lucky really that we’ve been able to catch it so early so we can try to keep one step ahead of it and delay the bad bit for as long as we can. And of course I’m definitely going to continue with the chicky dinner snacks every couple of hours and the twice daily kitty vitamins. Pleased, pleased, PLEASED.

So afterwards we went to Costco for more chicken breasts, and celebrated with a delicously unhealthy pizza for lunch.

‘scuse the overall look of tiredness, but hey, I have an excuse. I’ve been intensively nursing all week, with late nights and early starts, and had had to get up at 6.45 am for the vet appointment. And I’m pregnant, dang it!

Speaking of pregnancy…..
We had an appointment with the OB-GYN today and everything is bang on target:
* blood pressure = good
* belly size = good
* weight gain = good (16lb so far in 25 weeks which is right on schedule- I’ve been told to gain a total 25-35lb overall)
* baby heart rate = EXCELLENT AND STRONG

And speaking of babies, I got to see DrMr holding a baby for the first time today. Friends of ours gave birth to a precious little girl last week and we went round to see her. He looks good with a baby, it suits him. I think he’s going to make a very nice daddy.

But wait, there’s more!
Actually I’ll save that for next time when there’s hopefully a bit more to tell about it

In the meantime I shall leave you with a pic of Chesterfield Fitzwilliam Rupert looking exactly as how we all feel this evening.

RELAXED.

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Happy, happy, happy, happy, HAPPY!!!

Hurry up PCR test results! Depending on the outcome of those and if his fever is down we can start think about seeing if there’s anything else we can do. Our (new) vet mentioned Interferon to help things along which has been effective in a number of cases.

Oooh, speaking of the little person, he’s just requesting my knee from the looks of it so I must go…

PS for anyone who happens to stumble upon this whilst googling for info on FIP or how to treat it, I found this site to be extremely informative and helpful. Looks like my vet seems to be using a similar template for treatment, if not this one.

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Another sleepless night…

After a rather sleepless night with me waking up literally every hour and a half in a (needless) state of paranoid anxiety, I finally got up at 6.45am, called the animal hospital as soon as the main reception opened and they told us to come in straight away. There we saw a VERY nice vet, completely sympathetic to our situation, and taking time to read through all the notes I had taken with me, and examining the little bag of poo that I’d retrieved from the litter tray just before we left (she said it looked fine). She asked lots of questions and I answered with as much detail as I could, and she did the same for me when I was the one doing the asking.

To cut a rather long (two and a half hour) visit short, she said that she wasn’t prepared to condemn him to a death diagnosis based on blood analyses and suspicion alone and there was in fact a test that we could do that looks for the DNA of the mutated virus which can give a 95% certainty of diagnosis. Although his symptoms are certainly similar to those which can occur with FIP, we can’t necessarily rule out other causes- e.g. elevated globulins are also indicative of an inflammatory response to something. All the same, I’m not going to get my hopes up, just in case. Even if it does come back FIP positive, at least we will know for sure, rather than assume something based on a hunch and we can get on with dealing with the consequences the best we can. I just want what’s best for him, which for the time being is comfortable. And so long as he’s happy, we’ll do what we can for him. Watching them take his blood was just awful as he really didn’t like it at all, and he looked so small and pathetic afterwards with his little pressure bandage on his little leg. I have so much admiration for animal blood doners, it’s such an ordeal for them to go through for no benefit for themselves, they’re so, so kind.

Speaking of blood, although Toby is very anaemic, we decided in the end to delay giving him a blood transfusion for now. There is a risk that cats can react badly to them and they monitor for this by looking at peaks in body temperature, but because he is still running a 104˚ fever it would be hard to tell so could actually be rather dangerous. So given that he’s still acting relatively normally, albeit he’s a bit sleepy, he’s still eating well, playing and grooming, so he’s not right down there at the critical level just yet. So whilst we wait for the test results to come through, he’s on various medications to stabilise his fever, anti-inflammitories to calm his immune system, special antibiotics to deal with any infections (including Chlamydia which is pretty hardcore), I-lysine to try to deal with any viruses and animal vitamin and mineral supplements to hopefully boost his iron to stimulate red blood cell production. It seems strange to both supress his immune system yet be dosing him with antibiotics, but if it is FIP it’s the cat’s own immune system reponse which does the most damage (that’s how the virus operates) and so if you supress the immune system, you need the antibiotics so that they can take over the function. She also noted that his watery eye wasn’t down to conjunctivitis (infection of inner eyelid), but uveitis which is an infection of the eye itself. So we have some new ointment for that too- perhaps his inflamed eyes are accounting for the raised globulins? But eye trouble is another thing that happens with FIP… uuuuuuuuurgh! I HATE THIS!

When the test results come through (HURRY UP!), we can decide the next step. If it is FIP, we only get one shot at a transfusion as animal blood is such a precious resource that it can’t be handed out willy-nilly. A cat with a terminal illness is a cat with a terminal illness after all, and there might be another cat somewhere who has been hit by a car and in desperate need and has got a longer life ahead of him. The new bloodwork that has been requested will also reveal if his blood cells are being destroyed, or if for some reason he’s not making new ones so quite a lot hangs on these results really. All that I want right now is for his fever to go down and it would be wonderful for him to put on a bit of weight. I would love it for the iron supplements to start working and for his anemia to start to improve, but that might be asking a little too much depending upon what his issue is.

Since getting home, he has already perked up. No sign of ‘fever eyes’ with the blinking and the third eyelid showing, and he’s been happily sitting on his favourite blue blanket watching activity round the bird feeder. Hopefully this means that the meds and fluids he got at the vet have started to kick in and his temperature is coming down. He has a ravenous appetite still and has also been having lots of sliced turkey goodness too because he’s been so brave so far and deserves a treat. Plus it’s got iron in it and I want to fatten him up. Come on little Toby, I’m not going to give up on you!

So until the test results come through- hopefully tomorrow, but possibly on Monday given that it’s the weekend, I just have to monitor him closely and if it looks like he needs the transfusion, to rush him straight back and he can have it.

I’m happy with how things went today, glad that we’re getting a second opinion, yet at the same time I’m sick to the stomach with worry. What a weekend for DrMr to be doing one of his crazy 72+ hour shifts at work… I’ve been dealing with all of this on my own, keeping him constantly updated over the phone. Did I mention already that I HATE THIS?

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Back from the vet

“Hi there, what can I get for you today?”

“Venti-decaf-single-latte please” (my usual order for about the past 10 years)

“Which type of milk would you like today? Whole milk, 2%, soy…?”

“2%”

“That will be $3.50 for you”

I begrudgingly hand over my money, out of practise with how much it costs to buy coffee these days as I haven’t done it for so long, and then shuffle/waddle over to the hand-off counter to collect my drink.

“Hi there, how are you today?”

I take a deep breath, giving me an extra second in my head to decide what to say.

“Not good actually, I just got a phonecall from the vet. She told me that my dear, sweet five and a half month old kitten probably has Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP), and that he is going to die.” were the words that wanted to come out of my mouth.

“Fine thanks, how are you?” were the words that did.

***

Last night we took Toby back to the vet for his two week follow-up, delighted with the fact that his flu symptoms had subsided, and that he was progressing in leaps and bounds since he came off the antibiotics which had probably been making him feel sick, that he’d got his appetite back and was starting to play again with his brother. But then happiness turned to concern once again when we discovered that he was still running a high temperature. Overnight bloodtests were ordered, the results of which came back this afternoon. His protein thingymajigs are showing to be rather high, and his albumen is slightly above normal, and he is dangerously anaemic. So anaemic in fact that drastic action is required.

Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) is notoriously difficult to diagnose as the symptoms are the same for a number of other conditions and there is no difinitive diagnostic test (except a tissue sample taken at autopsy), therefore most cases are assumed based on strong clinical suspicion. So while there is a chance that this may be the wrong determination, there is also the chance that it could be right. There are also two forms- “wet” characterised by an accumulation of fluids in the abdomen and can progress rapidly, or “dry” where there is no fluid retention but it can manifest in any number of ways. The vet thinks he has the dry form which is the one that progresses more slowly.

Because of the unpredictable nature of the condition we don’t know how long it will take for him to deteriorate- it could be weeks, it could be months, but we’ve decided that in the meantime that we want to do all that we can to help him be comfortable. And if it turns out not to be FIP after all (God help us) then we may have bought him some extra time so that we can find out what the problem actually is, and hopefully  be able to treat it.

First thing tomorrow we will be taking him into the animal hospital for a much-needed blood transfusion. He’s still a happy little kitty at the moment, no sign of discomfort or pain, just a little bit tired, so hopefully this will pep him up a bit and make him stronger, and then we might have a go with some immunosuppressants and see what happens.

Please, please, please keep your fingers crossed for us!

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as My day that went a bit like this…

Barnaby Jonathan is a very sweet and gentle cat, loyal to a fault and always willing to exchange tickles for nice big feline hugs. When we’ve been out for the day, he always runs to meet us, and he is at his most content when he’s curled up on somebody’s knee. Here I am attempting to  plant a nice little kiss on the end of his dear little nose. Nine times out of ten he will give a nice big kitty kiss right back, but then there’s the occasional moment when he’s a bit michievous. After eighteen years I should have known what he’d do from the look on his face….

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Day 138/365

Oh oh, o-o-oh, oh oh, o-oh, oh oh, o-o-oh…..the “I’m going New Kids On The Block concert in October” stuff.One of the great things about now knowing where I’m going to be and when is that I can now start to PLAN things in advance.

I’m *beyond* excited

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Day 98: The Right Stuff