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- Sep 15, 2015
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Here's my story, apologies it might be fairly long.
About 3 months ago this beautiful Tom kept coming into our back garden. He was in fairly bad shape, think, dirty etc... I started feeding him however he wouldn't let me get too close. The feeding became regular, in fact it was twice a day and he was always out there waiting at the same times every day. Each day he let me get closer and closer to the point where he would let me stroke his head. This went on for about 2 months. Then one morning I went out and he was limping and couldn't put one of his paws on the ground. It was at this point I contact the RSPCA (UK Animal Charity) who swiftly sent an inspector out. The poor cat ran off before he turned up so we left it that when he came back I would try and capture him now that I could get close enough to stroke him. That even he did return still limping. I managed to pick him up and bring him inside although he didn't like it. The RSPCA inspector return about half hour later and took him off to the vets where he said he would most likely spend the night and then go to the animal shelter. We were of course want to adopt him so were advised to contact them the next morning. Anyway, about an hour passed and we received a call from the inspector telling his that the vet said there was nothing wrong with his leg so they are going to bring him back and let him loose. We were pretty shocked at this decision consider he wasn't even nurtured. So we told the inspector to bring him back to ours where we will look after him while they provided the support etc...
So he came back and took about a week to get him settled into his room away from our other 3 cats. He settled down and so we booked him in with the RSPCA vet to be nurtured. A couple of days later he was done and returned home. Over the next couple of days I noticed that his breathing was very fast and deep so I insisted that my partner took him back to the RSPCA Vet to be checked over. They did check him and said there was something there but they didn't have an x-ray machine and wouldn't for a couple of weeks. In fact our whole dealings with the RSPCA have been shocking and I would go into more detail but then my story here would be a novel so I have left out all the other details about that. Anyway not happy with that we decided to take him to our own vets who were amazing, they x-rayed him and said he had a collapsed lung and a lot of fluid around it. They removed some of the fluid and sent it off for testing. We had to wait 2 days for the results and when we got them back our vets said they had to refer him to a specialist as they were unsure what was causing this.
So, we took him to the specialist vets last week and on arrival they immediately hospitalised him as they were concerned that his breathing was too fast, the put him on oxygen and said they wanted to keep him over night. The next day they called and said that he had Advanced Heart Failure - in fact the actual term used was Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. They want to keep him in for a couple of days to monitor him and his medication intake. He stay in for a total of 3 nights. When went to pick him up yesterday and were told that he must take 3 different types of medication twice daily and we must monitor his breathing when he's asleep.
Like the first poster here I am so anxious that I keep counting his breaths.
As he's in the advanced stages of this horrible decease his prognosis is not good and while I keep telling myself that at least he's not having to deal with this alone outside, in the rain i am still finding it difficult. He's such a beautiful cat (picture posted below) and it's such a shame. I have spent the last few months building a bond with this guy that I am completely devastated that he is having to go through this.
I am trying to make him as comfortable as possible, giving him a lot of love and affection. We are feeding whatever he wants and letting him play and roll around on the floor.
We have found that buying some salmon or chicken paste (just regular stuff from the supermarkets like a sandwich filler) and putting the tablet inside it is the easiest way to get him to take 3 tablets. He eats fine without issues.
It's so hard dealing with this and while I feel it's selfish of my to be upset and anxious I do feel for those that are going through the same thing.
About 3 months ago this beautiful Tom kept coming into our back garden. He was in fairly bad shape, think, dirty etc... I started feeding him however he wouldn't let me get too close. The feeding became regular, in fact it was twice a day and he was always out there waiting at the same times every day. Each day he let me get closer and closer to the point where he would let me stroke his head. This went on for about 2 months. Then one morning I went out and he was limping and couldn't put one of his paws on the ground. It was at this point I contact the RSPCA (UK Animal Charity) who swiftly sent an inspector out. The poor cat ran off before he turned up so we left it that when he came back I would try and capture him now that I could get close enough to stroke him. That even he did return still limping. I managed to pick him up and bring him inside although he didn't like it. The RSPCA inspector return about half hour later and took him off to the vets where he said he would most likely spend the night and then go to the animal shelter. We were of course want to adopt him so were advised to contact them the next morning. Anyway, about an hour passed and we received a call from the inspector telling his that the vet said there was nothing wrong with his leg so they are going to bring him back and let him loose. We were pretty shocked at this decision consider he wasn't even nurtured. So we told the inspector to bring him back to ours where we will look after him while they provided the support etc...
So he came back and took about a week to get him settled into his room away from our other 3 cats. He settled down and so we booked him in with the RSPCA vet to be nurtured. A couple of days later he was done and returned home. Over the next couple of days I noticed that his breathing was very fast and deep so I insisted that my partner took him back to the RSPCA Vet to be checked over. They did check him and said there was something there but they didn't have an x-ray machine and wouldn't for a couple of weeks. In fact our whole dealings with the RSPCA have been shocking and I would go into more detail but then my story here would be a novel so I have left out all the other details about that. Anyway not happy with that we decided to take him to our own vets who were amazing, they x-rayed him and said he had a collapsed lung and a lot of fluid around it. They removed some of the fluid and sent it off for testing. We had to wait 2 days for the results and when we got them back our vets said they had to refer him to a specialist as they were unsure what was causing this.
So, we took him to the specialist vets last week and on arrival they immediately hospitalised him as they were concerned that his breathing was too fast, the put him on oxygen and said they wanted to keep him over night. The next day they called and said that he had Advanced Heart Failure - in fact the actual term used was Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. They want to keep him in for a couple of days to monitor him and his medication intake. He stay in for a total of 3 nights. When went to pick him up yesterday and were told that he must take 3 different types of medication twice daily and we must monitor his breathing when he's asleep.
Like the first poster here I am so anxious that I keep counting his breaths.
As he's in the advanced stages of this horrible decease his prognosis is not good and while I keep telling myself that at least he's not having to deal with this alone outside, in the rain i am still finding it difficult. He's such a beautiful cat (picture posted below) and it's such a shame. I have spent the last few months building a bond with this guy that I am completely devastated that he is having to go through this.
I am trying to make him as comfortable as possible, giving him a lot of love and affection. We are feeding whatever he wants and letting him play and roll around on the floor.
We have found that buying some salmon or chicken paste (just regular stuff from the supermarkets like a sandwich filler) and putting the tablet inside it is the easiest way to get him to take 3 tablets. He eats fine without issues.
It's so hard dealing with this and while I feel it's selfish of my to be upset and anxious I do feel for those that are going through the same thing.
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