- Joined
- Mar 19, 2022
- Messages
- 2
- Purraise
- 5
Hi, I'm Laura, I'm 38 from the UK and have been a cat person all my life.
My parents had cats when I grew up, and as soon as I was in a position to offer a home to some cats I picked up Taiki and his sister Twyla from a person who's cat had a litter of kittens. I freely admit to making a mistake which was not rescuing kittens. 14 years later I know better. Very sadly Twyla died some years ago - 20th May 2014 to be exact. Taiki has been my partner in crime ever since - he is my best friend and confidante.
My bestest buddy hasn't had an easy life.. the vet found a luxating patella on his right hind as early as 5 months when I booked him for his microchip and snippy snip. He also started having urinary problems quite early, only 2 years old when he had his first UTI and uroliths. He was around 7 or 8 when his kidneys started to cause issues - he was evidently experiencing some pain and overgrooming his back. He was sufficiently complicated to end up being referred to the RCVS in Potters Bar and had a full investigation there. Long story short, he has CKD but also hypercalcaemia. Some time after that referral we experienced an emergency where he was struggling to pee. He spent 4 days in the hospital then initially with a urinary catheter which culminated in bladder surgery to remove the stone which had blocked him up. I remember thinking then if this buys him 2-3 years of happy life it'll be worth it. We are 5 years post-surgery now. We know it could happen again - the hypercalcaemia seems to have created several stones in his kidneys which are visible on x-ray and the vet said there was evidence the one in his bladder had come from his kidneys.
Meanwhile he gets a full blood workup regularly and the last one was accelerated because he'd started being sick and had dropped loads of weight. It picked up hyperthyroidism. So now we are dealing with CKD, hypercalcaemia and hyperthyroidism! These things all seem to be contradictory in terms of treatment and it feels like I'm slowly losing my best friend, but for now he seems content, takes his medication like a champ, loves eating his wet food and chicken breast treats and has put a bit of weight back on. We'll see how long we can soldier on like this - I'd do anything for him, including letting him go if he was suffering, but based on the loud purr in my face right now (it's getting to be dinner time) I think he's okay...
Here for a bit of moral support really and to share cute cat photos. Good to meet you all!
Taiki & Laura
My parents had cats when I grew up, and as soon as I was in a position to offer a home to some cats I picked up Taiki and his sister Twyla from a person who's cat had a litter of kittens. I freely admit to making a mistake which was not rescuing kittens. 14 years later I know better. Very sadly Twyla died some years ago - 20th May 2014 to be exact. Taiki has been my partner in crime ever since - he is my best friend and confidante.
My bestest buddy hasn't had an easy life.. the vet found a luxating patella on his right hind as early as 5 months when I booked him for his microchip and snippy snip. He also started having urinary problems quite early, only 2 years old when he had his first UTI and uroliths. He was around 7 or 8 when his kidneys started to cause issues - he was evidently experiencing some pain and overgrooming his back. He was sufficiently complicated to end up being referred to the RCVS in Potters Bar and had a full investigation there. Long story short, he has CKD but also hypercalcaemia. Some time after that referral we experienced an emergency where he was struggling to pee. He spent 4 days in the hospital then initially with a urinary catheter which culminated in bladder surgery to remove the stone which had blocked him up. I remember thinking then if this buys him 2-3 years of happy life it'll be worth it. We are 5 years post-surgery now. We know it could happen again - the hypercalcaemia seems to have created several stones in his kidneys which are visible on x-ray and the vet said there was evidence the one in his bladder had come from his kidneys.
Meanwhile he gets a full blood workup regularly and the last one was accelerated because he'd started being sick and had dropped loads of weight. It picked up hyperthyroidism. So now we are dealing with CKD, hypercalcaemia and hyperthyroidism! These things all seem to be contradictory in terms of treatment and it feels like I'm slowly losing my best friend, but for now he seems content, takes his medication like a champ, loves eating his wet food and chicken breast treats and has put a bit of weight back on. We'll see how long we can soldier on like this - I'd do anything for him, including letting him go if he was suffering, but based on the loud purr in my face right now (it's getting to be dinner time) I think he's okay...
Here for a bit of moral support really and to share cute cat photos. Good to meet you all!
Taiki & Laura
Taiki is a cutie pie. 
even if his mum does have to pop that patella back in place 
(quite regularly these days!)
You Amy want to pay a tribute to her here in 
