Other Uf! Trying to catch up...

[Debbie-Spain]

Hi to everyone, sorry I disappeared for so long, sometimes there just isn't enough time in a day to get everything done (or enough money coming in to keep all the animals going!)... I just found some time to try and catch up on the messages here but found there were over 1,000 new ones since I last visited, agh! I missed you all anyway...

For anyone interested, here's an update on my handykids:

Kat had been brilliant and infection-free for over 6 months on Cystaid, then she just seemed to crash literally overnight: bladder infection and kidney failure, then fecal impaction (difficult to detect because she is always leaking even when impacted), she went down so fast I thought I'd lose her but amazingly she seems to have pulled through again. Mainly due, I think, (apart from setting her up for IV fluids at home) to the fact that we discovered some apparently very tasty little sachets of Royal Canin/ Walthams "Renal" food which seemed to give her a new lease of life. From being completely washed out, suddenly she was fighting at my hand to get the food out of the packet before I could get it in her dish...she always has loved her food! Anyhow, she has now been diagnosed as CRF, which wasn't a major surprise, but she seems to be stabilising. The skin around her rear end is bad again, however many times I bath her and try and keep her clean she just leaks poop and pee constantly (her sphincters are permanently open, it's like 2 leaking taps) and it's taking its toll...I worry that is going to be a major problem for her before the CRF...

Bombon, fortunately, is fine, no major improvements in terms of regaining any sensitivity in her back legs, but happy as Larry in her wheelchair, possibly one of the happiest dogs I ever saw and quite a clown with it. I'm looking at the possibility of doing some therapy work with her, this is a relatively new area in Spain and very few disabled animals are involved... don't know if I mentioned that she is partially deaf, can't hear a thing you say to her even if you shout, but she does manage to pick up some high pitched sounds like "pssst". A walk down the street with me calling her is a spectacle to behold!

Mai, the deaf/partially sighted pup I have in foster is nearly a year old and still completely mad, but has learned a few signs now, although he doesn't always take notice of them. Great character though, and still looking for a home for him (any takers??)...

Betty, the other deaf dog I have, who appears to be more "autistic" than deaf, and is one of the most impossible cases I ever had to deal with, is pending a CAT scan (to try and find out if she has brain damage)and spay and if okay will be going to a foster home in Germany, but not sure if I can get that into this year's budget!

Nina, the 10-year-old kitty I took in from the street very ill with a head that looked like a feline version of the Elephant Man (massive abscess owing to a bite or wound of some type) was adopted today by some people I know, so that is good news to end on, although she is hiding behind a cupboard at the moment, they report... her kitties have been impossible to socialise (not sure why, I had many older kittens and managed it, but these have just never stopped hissing at me!) but have a "semi-freedom" place to live once I can get them spayed and neutered...when they go I'm going to take a rest from fostering for a while.

Hope you're all okay and will try and catch up with all your news and developments over the next few days/weeks...

Debbie_Spain

[critters]

I'm SO sorry to hear that Kat's had such a hard time lately. Do you need any Cavilon spray or anything?

What a relief Bombon is doing so well and is so happy. Good luck with the therapy idea!!

It's so wonder you haven't been around in so long; You've had your hands FULL!!! Good luck, and let me know if you want me to try to send you anything.

[Bendy Kitty]

I'd been thinking of Kat
Glad that overall things are going well for you and your critters. I am having some food allergy problems but nothing critical. My stomatitis is much better, and overall I'm still a happy guy.

Mimosa is doing better & better, she can drink from a water bowl now

We have two CRF kitties getting fluids here, not fun but they aren't toooo bad about it.

Hope Kat stabilizes & has many more years with you!

bendy

[Debbie-Spain]

Kat seems to be getting livelier, especially when she sees that renal food coming (she is not going hungry, I promise!). We are also slowly "working out" the fecal impaction, oh joy!
Should have kept my mouth shut about Bombón, she started up with a urine infection yesterday, but you would never know there was anything wrong with her from her antics every time I take her anywhere public. She is the original dancing wheelchair dog! The vet thinks the infection could be linked to the fact that she is just starting to come on heat, she never had an infection before now... after this heat I am thinking about having her fixed, my only concern is that she may put on weight and she is already kind of chunky, so her front paws take quite a bit of weight relative to her size.

Had a fascinating day yesterday with a friend's dog who was being measured up for a prothesis. One of her hind legs is amputated (they found her like that when she was a month old so no history), she is now over a year old, but she walks quite badly. They tried with one prosthesis but it didn't work out and they made a very long journey to bring her here to try and get her fitted with a new one. The people who are going to make it are human prosthetists, they have an Old English Sheepdog that is 13 and has been using one since the age of 7, and it was really quite impressive. I wish I had taken my camera! I will definitely get pictures of the finished product once it is in place and post them.

About the Cavilon, I can get it here (have to order it but it only takes a day or two) but it costs 19 euros for the 28 ml bottle of spray (24.75 dollars at today's rate) and I use it for both Kat and Bombon so it works out pretty expensive. I remember Carol saying that there was a newer much cheaper generic version on sale in supermarkets there. I wonder if it would be worthwhile me ordering a few bottles, do you know if anyone sells it online? Or what the brand name is so that I can look for it?

Thanks as always for your concern and hope all your crew are doing okay!

Debbie

[Debbie-Spain]

Hi Bendy

Glad that you are all doing okay too, like I just said to Critters, it does seem that Kat is stabilising, we will do new tests in the near future to see what the situation is...I hope she is with me for many years too; I think the day she stops fighting I will too... of all the animals I have ever taken in she is the most special and I'll never forget that the fact she is even with me now is thanks to Legume

Great news about Mimosa, she is just full of surprises! Having just started fluids with Kat, I don't envy your mom with the fluids for the CRF kitties, but I guess it is by far the lesser of two evils

Good to see you again too!

Debbie

[critters]

Re: spaying, you might want to see CarolC's recent experiences, posted below, about expressing, etc after getting her baby spayed. She took careful note and posted everything for those that follow.
http://www.handicappedpets.com/cgi-bin/msg/webbbs_config.pl?read=11590

Yes, CarolC found that it's the new 3M first aid spray; not generic, but possibly cheaper. This is her original post about it. http://www.handicappedpets.com/cgi-bin/msg/webbbs_config.pl?read=9377

Hope you can get some pics of the process of a prosthesis; that'd be SO cool for Mark to put on a webpage!

Good luck!

link

[CarolC]

Hi Debbie,

I put a link to Walgreen's online so you can see the spray. It is the same as Cavilon, now available through 3M's consumer line, NexCare. I'm not sure the price will be a lot better, though.

The only two times my dog got a urinary tract infection, she was in season both times. I'm not worried about weight gain with my dog now that she's been spayed, but it probably depends on the individual dog. (And also the owner who fills the food bowl.) As active as Bombon is, it sounds like she might run the weight off! My dog also carries the bulk of her weight on her front legs.

Thanks for mentioning the Royal Canin/Waltham renal diet. I have a cat who will probably need something like that. We are on Tumil-K right now and regular low magnesium food (he's FUS, too). I would like to be able to give him food he would like as well as your kitty does.

CLICK HERE to see NexCare Spray on Walgreen's

[Bendy Kitty]

mom seyz she can do those in her sleep...and considering how tierd she is some days I'm sure is at least half asleep while giving them.

hey, don't u EVER give up. not for nuthin!
One day, just like with 'Gumie, Kat may have more problems than her lil body can handle. That has nuthin to do with her spirit.

It makes us smile to know that Legume helped another kitty so much. We still miss our Zoomie 'Gumie very much and think of him often.

any picts of Kat to post?

bendy

[CarolC]

I've been reading the website and it says it is for intermittent or supplemental feeding only.

So the rest of the time you give your cat something that isn't good for the kidneys??

How are you doing it?

CLICK FOR Waltham/Royal Canin Renal LP

[Debbie-Spain]

Hi Carol

Thanks for the liquid bandage link!

Kat has only been on the renal diet since her kidney failure which was about 12 days ago and I imagine she will come off it when we do the next tests if she continues improving as she has done so far and her BUN levels are down (her creatinine wasn't too high anyway).
She is eating the pouches avidly and the dried food too, which she prefers to the K/D that she had last time. Kat has always been quite thin and when she crashed she lost what little weight she had. My main concern was to get her eating again and the pouches really encouraged her to eat. I'm weaning her off them now, much to her sorrow (she asks for them!!)

Prior to this she had been on different diets on different occasions, once previously she was on k/d (when a previous infection caused some kidney problems) she has also been on S/D for a while because she was crying when I expressed her and a scan showed she was full of struvite crystals (apparently none in the latest analysis) and C/D when she was suffering constant bouts of the runs. Her ideal diet would be nothing but cans of Felix with gelatine but she hasn't had those for a long time now. She also gets a vitamin supplement and occasionally malt to keep the poop moving (which wasn't necessary when she used to eat Felix!). My other cats eat RC Fit 32, she likes that too...
Fecal impaction finally resolved itself completely yesterday! No more blood in urine, it looks much healthier and she is quite lively, so I think that is a good sign. Not sure how long is a good idea to wait before doing new blood tests, I will have to check with the vets. I wanted to do them on the last visit but they said it would be best to wait a little longer unless she took a turn for the worse...but she is visibly improving.

I suppose that in any case she will now have to eat a specific diet for CRF. But I honestly think that the RC Renal food was instrumental in her recovery because apart from being indicated for renal problems it encouraged her to eat when she didn't want to. If she does good tests then I will see what the vets recommend.

Hope your doggy is now fully recovered from her ops!

Debbie

[Debbie-Spain]

Hi Bendy, fluids is no biggie for your Mom because I think she's super-human, but for me as a first-timer they were tough, especially as Kat kept chewing the plastic parts and making them impossible to screw together...then if I stopped stroking her she would try to walk off, we could have done with one of those drip stands on wheels like humans have, but kitty sized.

Don't worry, we're not ready to give up yet, Kat is pretty lively and very much her old self today... I'm just working out, she is now 2.5 years old, our original target was to get her through the first month, then a year, then 2 years; after that we stopped setting any targets, but there were many times I wasn't sure we would get this far... so I guess I have to be thankful!

I'm going to post a couple of piccies of Kat but I only know how to put one in each message...they were taken in the summer but now she is putting on weight again she looks pretty much the same... specially for you, Bendy!

Hugs

Debbie & Kat

[Debbie-Spain]

Here's another...

[Debbie-Spain]

This is the last one, her fur doesn't really have a green tinge, must be the light!

[critters]

Instead of a stand you might try either a carabiner intended for holding keys (under $1 here) or a single or double ended belt clip for keys. Carabiners are often big enough to go around knobs, rails, etc. on their own, but the other clips usually need to be tied. If you put it through the hole in the bag you can clip the bag to whatever's handy--a knob, lamp, curtain rod, etc.

[Susan]

how do you view pictures