Being away for work is the hardest.
3 days away from my cats seemed like eternity.
Especially when i constantly worry about Poppy and if daddy meow would remember to give the cats fresh water and scoop the litter tray every day.
Am glad to be home now.
Poppy's doing fine.
We've completely changed his diet to Royal Canin Renal as recommended by my vet.
And we've also bought the c/d diet from Royal Canin which specifically claims to be able to dissolve certain stones in the kidneys.
But at this point, we don't know what type of stones Poppy has.
The ultrasound shows that both kidneys have stones.
One kidney has a huge stone but is functioning better than the other kidney which has less stones.
I have learnt so much over the past week.
That feline kidney stones are not as common as one may think.
First thing the vet will ask if it's bladder stones or kidney stones.
I would definitely not hesitate to let Poppy go for operation if it's bladder stones.
But for kidney stones, it's another thing altogether.
The risks are way much higher.
That's why the vet today gave me some hope.
He said it's better to do more tests first instead of saying 'you must do the operation or the cat will die'.
Poppy's so far had 2 x-rays and an ultrasound.
Next test would be to get urine and blood samples to determine the type of stones in order to ascertain if operation is needed or not.
The most the vet can say is that if the kitty is still running, jumping and eating normally, don't do the operation yet.
It is always more advisable to get more tests running and learn about the type of stones before doing opting for surgery.
What made my heart sank a bit today though, was that the vet said the failure rate of operating on kidneys are high.
Operation may go well but the cat may not be able to cope post operation due to infection, leakage, kidney failure, etc.
But what brought my hope up was that the vet did say it may be possible for Poppy to live a normal life with the stones, and that we control it via diet. And maybe some minor ones may eventually dissolve in time to come.
Who knows?
Nobody does.
But at least it is a small ray of light shinning through my dark clouds today.
For me, i love my cats too much and i am not good at dealing with grief.
When MeowMeow was knocked by a car and went missing for one week, i remembered i cried every day till the day he came back.
Anyway, there is still hope.
At least Poppy's still himself. Naughty and so unsuspecting.
I have KC and ML to thank for posting my story up on Cat's Blogosphere that gave me quite a few good comments which i have taken note of.
And i am very grateful for all the comments - the purrs, advice, experiences that cat lovers have left here. It helped me form my questions to the vet. Thank you so much, it meant a lot to me.
And of course, Sharlene and Ellen who gave me really great vet contacts which i have visited and will be visiting soon. Thank you so much.
At times like this, it is always nice to know that there are so many animal lovers out there who are willing to help by offering a piece of advice and a purr.
I will have to make my decision soon. One more vet to see.
Here's Poppy eating his c/d wet diet. MeowMeow gets to eat too.
And here's Poppy being spoon fed his c/d diet.
I reheated his food one day and when he refused to eat it, i spooned some and blew on it to cool it down and then fed it to Poppy. After that, the naughty refuses to eat from the bowl, preferring to be spoon fed. Cats are smart.
Especially when i constantly worry about Poppy and if daddy meow would remember to give the cats fresh water and scoop the litter tray every day.
Am glad to be home now.
Poppy's doing fine.
We've completely changed his diet to Royal Canin Renal as recommended by my vet.
And we've also bought the c/d diet from Royal Canin which specifically claims to be able to dissolve certain stones in the kidneys.
But at this point, we don't know what type of stones Poppy has.
The ultrasound shows that both kidneys have stones.
One kidney has a huge stone but is functioning better than the other kidney which has less stones.
I have learnt so much over the past week.
That feline kidney stones are not as common as one may think.
First thing the vet will ask if it's bladder stones or kidney stones.
I would definitely not hesitate to let Poppy go for operation if it's bladder stones.
But for kidney stones, it's another thing altogether.
The risks are way much higher.
That's why the vet today gave me some hope.
He said it's better to do more tests first instead of saying 'you must do the operation or the cat will die'.
Poppy's so far had 2 x-rays and an ultrasound.
Next test would be to get urine and blood samples to determine the type of stones in order to ascertain if operation is needed or not.
The most the vet can say is that if the kitty is still running, jumping and eating normally, don't do the operation yet.
It is always more advisable to get more tests running and learn about the type of stones before doing opting for surgery.
What made my heart sank a bit today though, was that the vet said the failure rate of operating on kidneys are high.
Operation may go well but the cat may not be able to cope post operation due to infection, leakage, kidney failure, etc.
But what brought my hope up was that the vet did say it may be possible for Poppy to live a normal life with the stones, and that we control it via diet. And maybe some minor ones may eventually dissolve in time to come.
Who knows?
Nobody does.
But at least it is a small ray of light shinning through my dark clouds today.
For me, i love my cats too much and i am not good at dealing with grief.
When MeowMeow was knocked by a car and went missing for one week, i remembered i cried every day till the day he came back.
Anyway, there is still hope.
At least Poppy's still himself. Naughty and so unsuspecting.
I have KC and ML to thank for posting my story up on Cat's Blogosphere that gave me quite a few good comments which i have taken note of.
And i am very grateful for all the comments - the purrs, advice, experiences that cat lovers have left here. It helped me form my questions to the vet. Thank you so much, it meant a lot to me.
And of course, Sharlene and Ellen who gave me really great vet contacts which i have visited and will be visiting soon. Thank you so much.
At times like this, it is always nice to know that there are so many animal lovers out there who are willing to help by offering a piece of advice and a purr.
I will have to make my decision soon. One more vet to see.
Here's Poppy eating his c/d wet diet. MeowMeow gets to eat too.
And here's Poppy being spoon fed his c/d diet.
I reheated his food one day and when he refused to eat it, i spooned some and blew on it to cool it down and then fed it to Poppy. After that, the naughty refuses to eat from the bowl, preferring to be spoon fed. Cats are smart.
3 comments:
We are glad to hear the prognosis may not be so bad as your first thought. Cats are very smart. Spoil me, then spoil me some more!
Yep, Poppy is one smart (and spoiled) kitty. We're going to have to borrow a spoon from his bowl and demand equal treatment! For each of us. Jan will hate that. But we can have some fun asking.
We're glad you've found a ray of hope in there. We hope Poppy doesn't need surgery.
If Poppy is feeling fine, no pain, no bloody urine, no problems, it might be best to just let the world go on as it is. No point dragging trouble from the future to the present.
That said, Poppy is young enough he should have as good a change of surviving the operation right now as he ever will.
We don't envy you your decision, whatever it is. Sending comforting purrrrrsss & kitties purrrrayers to you all.
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