Oah..the breeze

Eventhough my unit is blocked by another block of flats, we get quite a nice breeze in the afternoons. The boys like sitting here in the afternoons to catch the breeze. Megat seems to enjoy it particularly today :)

Saturday Sun...

Megat resting in the window cat seat...

Playing with Da Bird...

Grooming...his side has less and less fur...

Megat is feeling better and after being brushed he is much more cheerful. He even tried to catch Da Bird but only for a minute and got distracted by the breeze. But I am glad even for that moment when he tried to catch the lure. I hope he is on the mend.

Vet Visit for fever

The antibiotics given to us by Dr L

Close up ...

Megat grooming himself by the window this morning

Megat showing an interest of what is happening outside than just sleeping...

The hospital was pretty full up by the time we got there. We were early by 30 minutes but I knew it would take some time for Dr L to get to us and so it was. We had to wait for 1 hour before Dr L could get to us. There were a lot of dogs and as I watched one of the dogs poo-ing outside the hospital (on a piece of newspaper) I was thinking that none of the amigos would do that in such a public place. I also saw a man who has the Golden Retriever taking pictures of the animals in the vet with his hand phone but he didn't ask any of the owners there if he could. I would have thought it would be the polite thing to do.

One of the kids there saw Megat and said 'Ooh ugly cat..' I guess Megat is not very handsome to tell you the truth but he is a nice kitty . But he was very young and his parents were outside with their old Alsatian and the little boy was the only one in the family who thought to bring their dog a drink of water as it was very hot. So I guess he has a kind heart :)

Anyway finally Dr L hurried past us and said that he would try to get Megat a room and he was sorry that he was running late. Then when we finally had a room , he examined megat and asked when he got the fever. I said it was last Wednesday. "Hmmm, one week after the vincristine, so it could not be related." Megat had a temperature of 39.4. "A little high and he has a fever," Dr L murmured.

We got the antibiotic and he said it would be for 4 days. If he was not well after 4 days, then i was to bring him back although Dr L would be away for 10 days. "But if he is well, stay away from the hospital," Dr L joked, "as it would stress him and you too." He is a funny man :)

Dr l said he would see us at the hospital for the vincristine and so I thought I should just keep my appt for the 8th Aug as it was for vincistine. But when I asked who the doctor was that was going to be on duty it was Dr S. The front desk said she was not sure if Dr S has done any vincristine and Dr Sh would not be about. So I decided then that on the 15th it would be.

I asked her if the antibiotic tastes good. She didn't know but she said it smells of chocolate. So I was not too worried as Megat would really spit out the nasty stuff. We put in an order for a bottle of colloidal silver as ours had run out and I got 7 more suppositories.

Megat ate his anti-biotic without fuss and eventhough it was a messy business, I just let it be as I thought he would groom himself anyway and all that paste would end up inside :) So last night he just had his sub-q, his suppository, his anti-biotic, his health ling zhi which he enjoys and his 10 ml of water.

This morning his body felt much better and less hot but he was still very quiet. Once he starts to complain about how late his dinner is, I would be much happier.

Saturday morning grooming

After my wipe down, Megat decided he had better do the grooming job himself by the window. He is feeling much better and would come when I call him to get something to eat. He has yet to tell me off for tardiness. He comes quietly and then eats his wet food (for breakfast) but does not finish it. Then he just as quietly goes off without his usual kaypohness. This very short clip shows him taking a keen interest in showing me how to do the job right. He has started to worry the fur on his hind legs. I had had to put the dermatology cream that I got from PL some time ago on the thin skin and it heals quite nicely. I do this every time he gets his supplements.

His body does not feel so hot this morning.

Fever Update

Megat is resting now and indeed his body is not as hot as last night. Grandma reported that he had drunk water from his Dora cup and from the kitchen cat-it. So i think that will cool him down as well. Sister N reported that megat actually poo'd in the afternoon which is also very good news as he has constipation.

I think he has done his business this afternoon as last night I had given him his pumpkin+mashed papaya and duphalac separately from his mushroom supplement. I had always mixed them all together so he doesn't have to take so many separate syringes at a time. iIguess this is the way to go.

PS: Megat was still very quiet at dinner and had absolutely nothing to say about anything. He meowed once when I was wiping him down some cool water. Megat has to see Dr L tomorrow for his fever. So I will see what Dr L says. He is still feeling rather warm even now and is resting against the cold mat.

Fever

Dun like fever san..its hot...

Last night Megat was uncharacteristically quiet at dinner. He did not spring out from under the table to run to the kitchen and neither did he complain loudly at our tardiness and infinite slowness at giving him his dinner. I was surprised and a little anxious as eversince he came to live with me, he has always been very noisy at dinner time (eversince his Screaming Banshee days).

He ate his food + pumpkin but did no finish all of it (oh dear) and did not hang around to check out anyone else's food dishes (more oh dears). Then he decided to rest in the cat basket (and not disappear as he knows it would be time for supplements). It was very eay to catch him. He did eat almost all of his supplements with good grace and spat only 1/4 of them out.

His body was a little hot but not his ears and his nose was not dry. I decided to wipe him with some cool water and then put him in his night cage to rest. Later I then placed the cool water cushion (I had first placed it first in the freezer for 30 mins or so) against the side of his cage and placed his toy next to it so he can rest on his toy and still be cool.

At about 11.00 pm I checked to see if he was alright and he indeed he was resting close to the cool mat but this morning I saw that he did not eat any of his biscuits and not even his night treat. Oh dear....

However I gave him some wet food to eat before I went to work and eventhough he did not finish his wet food, at least he had quiet enthusiastically eaten what he could. I left him napping on my bed, at his favourite place which is next to my pillow :)

He was just a little warm and I hope when he drinks his usual Dora cup water with ice, he would feel better later. Grandma said she would see to it that he gets his water for the morning.

I do not know why he has fever as we did not go to the vet as we would usually do as he is on 2 weeks off. He would usually get a temperature right after his vincristine but this was not the case yesterday. I will just have to see if he is ok and if not, we would have to see the vet.

Get Well Megat!

Short Review of Milk Thistle and Hepavite for Megat

Oaahh too much meds, too many pills...oaahhh

Our Milk Thistle from iherb.com

Nature's Answer, Milk Thistle Seed, Alcohol-Free, 1 fl oz (30 ml)

US 7.55 per bottle. 12 for US 86.07 (with discount) (minus shipping)

It took only 1 week to get to us

Milk Thistle: Our Milk thistle entry here- milk thistle entry. Megat takes the milk thistle with good grace as I put it together with his pumpkin and papaya. But these days he is getting rightly fed up with it and has to be persuaded to eat this. I give him the duphalac+ pumpkin and papaya as his constipation is back and I don't want to give him a laxative as yet, although Dr L had given him one in our last visit.

I got him milk thistle after his ALT scores skyrocketed and a few very kind bloggers had advised me to get this for him. I cannot get milk thistle in the liquid form anywhere where I live and so had gone to iherb.com as advised by Fresh Fry. After one month on this, his ALT was back to normal (from his blood tests). I was very pleased with this. However, when he had his chemo protocol, Dr L said that the sang hwang would also take care of his liver also and so I did not give him his milk thistle everyday. His ALT scores were a little high but not as before. I have taken to giving him the milk thistle back again. I think it better to give Megat the snad hwang plus the milk thistle dose.

However, as he does not have to take a blood test regularly (like when he was with Dr P), I have not been able to see his ALT scores. Dr L said that with his very low doses of vincrsitine (his new chemo protocol) , we do not have to subject him to twice weekly blood tests. This is also good as his veins are very tiny and extremely fragile (he is 13 years old) and we need all his good veins for his vincristine.

Hepavite (I think it costs me about .90 cents per capsule from my vet): I have not been able to give him the recommended dose, 2 per day, as yet (we were given this last week). It has been 9 days. He hate sit and would spit it out. After that he would not take any other supplement as I think the taste was too nasty. So I had tried to make him take 1/2 his capsule but it was no go.

Then I decided that I should go slowly with him and I had put a little of his powder in the colliodal silver + pumpkin. He takes this quite well (with some spitting) but make sure not to put in too much. THAT would be disaster. Finally he was able to take only 1 capsule spread over 1 week.

I can try to get smaller capsules and put the powder in them but that means I would have to pill him. I have not gotten over the fear of his lethal teeth. I know it would stress me out and therefore stress him out.

So it is still regular doses of Milk Thistle with some hepavite powder each day. I was thinking of asking DR L to recommend something that is easier for Megat to take instead of his hepavite but will persevere until his next appointment.

PS: I hope this was helpful to the blogger who had asked me the question.

If only...

Megat resting on Sunday...

I was thinking that if only I can still get that Gerbers Chicken baby formula, I would be able to give Megat his hepavite with this since I am sure the chicken would disguise the taste. Megat likes this too as I had given the amigos this when they had fever from vaccinations and sterilisations. I have not seen this for some time. Maybe it has been taken off the market. I had tried the Heinz one (I think) of beef and potato but he doesn't like it..and neither do I.

A small step for us...

Yesterday, we decided on a new way to give megat his hepavite - a little at a time, but not too much in case he realised he was being duped into taking the nasty stuff. Since I am still giving him the Milk Thistle, I thought it was wiser to give him just 1/2 a capsule, in various mixtures. Indeed this was the wisest thing to do as Megat ate his supplements quite willingly and did not gag on anything. Although he still doesn't like the taste of Milk thistle, at least he tolerates that rather well in his Natural Defense mixture.


It seems to be getting easier to give him the suppository. I realised that a if I try to push the suppository in with a twisting movement, Megat is less likely to complain and he would not tighten his muscles too much. But of course with Megat, I know there would be many surprises along the way.

Hepavite woes

Megat ate all his supplements with good grace until it comes to the hepavite. This must really taste very bad - worse than his prednisolone. I had tried to put the hepavite in the duphalac as duphalac is very sweet and might disguise the taste. Poor Megat actually gagged so badly on it and he had to spend some time trying to get rid of the taste. Even his eyes watered from it!I have been trying to give him the hepavite once a day to see if he can get used to the taste instead of twice a day. Maybe tomorrow I would give him only half his capsule and try to build up his tolerance for this. Alternatively I can just give him the milk thistle and forget all about the hepavite that is supposed to help his liver cope with the vincristine.

I am quite surprised that he did not protest too much with the suppository tonight too.

The answer is NO

NO! I dun wanna eat the hepavite. I dun care what Dr L says. He is NOT a cat!

NO! I dun wanna eat the lingzhi. I will spit all offur it out. What? It has mashed papaya? Ok then.

NO! I dun wanna eat the colliodal silver. Isn't that dangerous? Who has ever heard of eating silver? NO!

NO! I dun wanna have any duphalac and pumpkin. I dun care if there is mashed papaya. NO!

NO! I dun wanna the 1/4 Lukeran. Just NO!

I am so thirsty with saying NO! I'm sorry all of it had landed on your towel, shirt, floor, mats, my fur and nose...but I still say NO!

Okie...I will have some water.

PS. Thank goodness that the sang hwang is already in his system. I would not have thought I would be grateful for the suppository!

Congrats Megat!!

Megat resting after dinner...

We decided to cross our fingers for good luck. Grandma wished twice as hard :)

Tanaka in the meantime practised Yoga for peace and harmony :) He sits like this quite a lot.

Our appointment today was actually for 3.45 but we came early. Thank goodness for this as Dr L called for us at about 3.10 pm. WAHH!! We were so impressed. He got down to business immediately and asked me if I had good news for him. I told him Megat is doing well, he is active and eating with good appetite.

So we got him on the table and Dr L proceeded to refer to his notes then he said in firm tones that I must continue with this particular protocol of low doses of vincristine with a 2-week break after a series of 8 doses, coupled with the sang hwang, colloidal silver and Lukeran tablets. In this way he said, we do not have to subject Megat to continuous blood tests. After all he is a 13 year-old kitty. He said that 80% of his patients using the same protocol lived 2 or 3 years longer. I told him that I was very pleased with Megat's state of affairs and would follow this particular protocol.


He then checked Megat's vitals. Gums - hmmm rather pale. He prodded his abdomen. I was very anxious. he checked and prodded and said that he could not feel any hard lumps anymore except for...poo!!WAHHH....I was so pleased and kissed Megat and told him he was a very good boy! Dr L then proceeded to check the rest of his body and announced that he felt no other lumps :)) The both of us could not help grinning although Dr L cautioned me again that THIS in no way means that Megat is cured as there is no cure for lymphoma but it looks promising that he would be able to make it past the 4 months. I said in the previous entry that my best hope was that his lymphoma would not grow in size but this was the bestest news I think. However, Dr L is giving him hepavite capsules (which he hates, even with mashed papaya) for his liver as he is being given a chemo drug.

It could not be helped that Megat has to be given an enema- Microlax. Dr L lined his carrier and gave him the enema. Megat did not beat an eyelash. "this is a good cat. he is so well-behaved." I didn't show Dr L the scratches I got. Why mess his image I thought.

Megat lost no time in poo-ing. I was glad the cab driver did not protest as Megat whined and complained about being in a carrier with poo! He hit his face against the sides of the carrier and it was agood thing I had bought him his very own semi-soft carrier. Once home, I brought him to the loo and Cousin R and I bathed and shampooed him. Cousin R was very impressed with Megat as he enjoyed the warm bath and would even offer us his butt to clean :) Once cleaned, I put him in his night cage and he was finally quiet and rested...not without poo-ing 2 more times though.

However, he was very naughty and did not want to eat his supplements. He spewed all of them out, even the one which was always his favourite. He was having none of it. I was not angry as I thought he had behaved very well during the vet visit, the ride home, the bath and he deserved some aggro time :)

So we do not have to see Dr L until the 8th of September. Way to go Megat!

End of 1st series of chemo protocol

Megat stalking the house...

This Tuesday Megat will see Dr L and it will be for his 8th chemo shot of vincristine. Dr L said that after every 8 shots, the cats will get a 3-week break. Of course I would have to bring him back if he does not feel well. I think he will have to get one ultra-sound after every series to see the progress of the lymphoma. We hope for some good news - I hope the lymphoma has not gotten any larger - that is all that I dare hope for.

Where have they gone san?

He has 3 whiskers on this side of his face...

Megat is balding on the left...

and on the right...

Front view...It does not look so bad in this view though..

Drinking water...running away from san is thirsty work..

Yesterday Megat only had his 1/4 Lukeran. Since he spent so much time hiding, I decided that he should have just one day to rest from his supplements. I also took these pics as just like Dr P said, he is losing his hair although she said with cats, it would sometimes be only whiskers.

A trip into the past

Megat now in 2009

Megat then in 2006

I was reading some old entries about Megat when I saw this one The Great Megat Scare from 2006. This was after a few days after I decided to adopt him and when he went 'missing'. Even then he has a rather hard life :). Actually Megat's real name is Shaolin Megat as he used to do the Four_Legged_Box with Bujang and Toro when they so much as looked in his direction. He was also called Megat Hitam and when he was living in the carpark, he was called Screaming Banshee.

Megat's stare was much more intense then than now I think.

My details about him then (Dec 21 2006)

Age : 10+ years (grey film in one eye) It seems you can tell the age of a cat by these cataracts.
He has the beginnings of a cataract and that was how the vet estimated his age.

Weight: 3.75 kg
Other details: FIV positive, has some kidney trouble

Medication: At present vet recommends boosting his immune system. So he is taking 250 mg cod liver oil, ARCferon 0.5 mg from vet. ALFA LINA as recommended by M to improve his skin and coat. Salt water wipes everyday to stop itching. One Drontal Cat Allwormer Tablet for worms. Revolution for mites/lice.

Food: Natural Balance/avoderm but will be eating Life Extension Cat Mix when it comes

Likes: Head Rubs/ Hide and Seek

Dislikes: Noise and frenzied activity

Family: Grandma, san, Bujang (who ignores him), Akira (who vomits at the sight of him) and Toro (who gets on his case at all times).

I think Megat's life is still the same now esp with the meds :)

Daily - Weekday - 1 300mg sang hwang suppository
Weekend - 250 ml sang hwang liquid (X2)
- Health lingzhi with mashed papaya
- Colloidal silver 300ml (X2)
- 1 tablet Natural Defence mushroom (for immunity), pounded into powder and taken with pumpkin and mashed papaya
- 2 droplets milk thistle for liver

Clean wipes - warm water+ shampoo ( about 2 hours after suppository) + warm water + salt solution.

It looks the same for Megat :) and his weight in 2006 when I first got him was 3.75 and now he is 3.68 although he does look better and feel heavier.

Visit with Dr Sh

Hmm...more strange docs

We got to the hospital way ahead of our appt and Dr Sh saw us. Megat got weighed and he has lost some weight - he is 3.68 from 3.74 but the vet didn't think that this was a concern. She took his temperature 38.1 as he was hot and felt his abdomen. The assistant found it a little difficult to take his renal temp as Megat has wisened (??) up to this and had clamped his muscles tightly. Then Dr Sh looked into his mouth and his eyes and pronounced him fit for his 7th chemo shot. She kissed his head twice and told him to be a good boy. It went very well I am very glad to say.


I asked Dr Sh to give Megat his Tuesday suppository as I thought it would lessen my stress this evening when he gets his supplements and obviously it would lessen Megat's stress as well. She first tried to take out some of his poo as she did not want him to poo his suppository. "Woah..phenomenal muscle control!" she said and tried her best to coax him to do as directed. Then with more lubricant she managed to give him his suppository. Thank goodness. She said that after 2 weeks (of letting me have my way), he has become wiser and know what to do to get his way. Aiyah!! THAT is Megat for you.


It didn't take long for the whole thing and we were out in 10 minutes at most. Thank goodness I do not have to coax him to into his suppository today. Yippee!

PS
Megat was very sleepy when he came home and so I put him in his cage until dinner. He sat and napped and after dinner, he pooed in his bins. Of course his blanket was stained by poo and sang hwang. he made many protests until I cleaned him up, shampooed him, wiped him with mango scented wipes and changed his litter. Then he rested comfortably until its time for supplements. He got his treats and is now walking about doing his parameter inspection of the living room :)

Patchwork Cat

Cousin R and I tried to give Megat his suppository today but it was not successful. I was not able to push it into his anus and it crumbled as it is made of beeswax and sang hwang. Aiyah kitty! All that money in the drain...and you would have to take the awful liquid later then. There is nothing for it...sorry. It has been easy as pie the other days...

Solution

I was just trying to get away san...

The solution to our problem..worked rather well...

I used the lining that I still had from last year when I had to bring Callie (the community cat who died of Ataxia in 2008) to the hospital. After the supplements, Megat was put in his lined cage. he very meekly went inside as it is a familiar place and where he feels safe. He sat for the rest of the time on his side, which is important for this exercise to be successful. As he did not ask to be let out and he fell asleep most of the time I did not let him out.



At about 10, which is bedtime for Megat and the boys, I cleaned his cage, got rid of the lining and cleaned Megat as well. I used warm water, some shampoo and a soft cloth. I must say he quite enjoyed the experience and allowed me to clean his butt quite readily. I think its the sensation of warm water. I know he would enjoy the warm water as when we first got him, the vet told me to clean him up with warm water and salt solution everyday until his very fragile skin and the clotted leaves and dirt could be separated. :) After that, I gave him his night snack (Waltham's Renal) and one salmon treat :) This was much easier than all those nights ago for him as well as for me.


I suppose using the liners would be a pretty expensive option so I am exploring the idea of using newspapers.

Revenge of the kitty

The source of all my pain taking a refreshing rest on my bed :)

Fresh scratches in the am from forelegs..

Fresh gashes in the am from hind legs..after being treated with antiseptic

Dried scratches in the pm...

This morning Megat decided to tell me off in the best and most graphic way he can. Usually he is very good in the morning and I can give him his meds very easily. This morning he decided that he had had enough and struggled in my grasp. I was very surprised and did not think on my feet (it was only 5.15 am). I did not let him go and so he did what all cats would do in that situation - he encouraged me to let him go with multiple scratches!


As I was nursing the screaming pain in my head, Megat simply rushed up my bed for some R&R. The thought of spraying antiseptic on these wounds made my heart faint but well..what can you do about it! I took a very deep breath and sprayed as much antiseptic as my trembling hands can cope with. AWWWWWWWWWWW!!!


Of course after 10 minutes, I could think more clearly and managed to bathe, drink tea and say goodbye to devil cat Megat without wanting to scold him. It was after all my fault for being stupid and hanging on.

When I got home from work, the amigos greeted me at the door and Megat came to welcome me too. I think he had forgiven me and I was glad he did not run off.

However, tonight I had sequested him in his cage after his sub q and he ate his dinner in his cage also. I am now going to go through the sang hwang saga again in 2 minutes but this time I would make sure he goes back into his cage after the hour. then at about 8.30 pm he would be allowed out until bed time.

Poor Kitty Megat

No..I dun want you to clean me all the time san...

Now that we have found a neater way for Megat to have his supplements, we hit on another difficulty. It has to do with his sang hwang suppository. It leaks out and poor Megat goes about sometimes with a trail of sang hwang following him. Of course I would also have to follow him and clean up after my poor kitty...even after the 1 hour of compulsory immobility. I don't think I should subject him to much more cleaning as he needs to rest after his night supplements. But as he and all of us need to be clean, I have to clean his anus several times after and sometimes I need to give him a wash with warm water and shampoo because he smells of poo. And of course the places that he goes to for respite also smells and sometimes has traces of poo. :( Since he cant help these things, I am not upset nor angry. Its just that I wish it could be easier for him.


He is very patient with all of this but I foresee that I might need to change his bedding daily or not allow him to walk about even after the 1 hour confinement. This kind of stress would freak out his immunity I am sure. I have yet to find a resolution for such a thing so will probably just keep him in his cage immediately after the 1 hour time-out so he could use the bin in there. Then I would clean him up and change the bedding. This seems to be the best option.

Your cat has cancer?

I look too healthy? I hope to get there soon...

The pestle and mortar with the mushroom supplement...

Huh? We now had a little tray? Its much easier that way Cousin R..

Dr L exclaimed. He looks too healthy:) Then he looked at the computer and asked many questions about Megat's health. Although we had to see the doc a little late as he had surgery, the whole consultation took no less than 10 minutes. Dr L kissed Megat on top of his head and whispered that he was a'good boy' :) Megat then had the usual low dose of vincristine, Vitamins B12 and metomide. Dr L then asked me about the suppositories. I told him that apart from my very nervous first try, the rest of them went quite ok. He laughed and told me that he thought I would complain about it :) but he gave me the liquid sang hwang also apart from another 10 suppositories. I am glad he also said that Megat's hydration is 'good,' not just 'quite good.' It does make a difference to the both of us I think.


Dr L also said that Megat will have the 8 injections of vincristine, after which he would get a 3 week break to recuperate. Today was his 6th vincristine injection as we are not doing any Endoxan. I think Megat would appreciate that for sure :)Then he told us we should see him again next week. However we found out that Dr L would not be about and so we made an appointment with Dr Sh. I think maybe it would only be for a blood test. But I made an appointment with Dr L for the Tuesday after that.

While we were waiting for our bill to be processed we met several very kind people who said nice things about Megat. We appreciated all of them as Megat was not really the best looking cat there :) One of the people told us that Megat is an old name for a Malay warrior and jokingly asked where his 'kris' was...It was very funny. She also asked about the names of the amigos and when we got to akira, she laughed and said it was her husband's name and she would tell her husband about the amigos :) Then she told us that her own cat was hurt by someone and he has a hole in his chest! She had taken her cat to a clinic and now was in the hospital to see Dr L. WOAH! I really don't know how anyone can do this to an animal!!

Sleeping Cat

zzzzz....

Aiyah Kitty

Megat's new bib so the supplements does not mess up grandma's towels too much...

Congrats Megat! May you have many calm days like this one...

The answer to the question that has been plaguing me about the sang hwang and Megat was finally revealed last Friday. I had given him the sang hwang, waited for 10 minutes and then given him his sub q. The sub q takes a much longer time than usual as I am using the 21 gauge needle which he tolerates much better. After that, I had waited for about 5 minutes before I let him go. All in all it was about 35 minutes.


Of cos my curiosity was still piqued and as he walked towards the bins I followed him and waited. Then after he had done his toilette, I looked into the bins and of course saw his poo and what looked suspiciously like the remnants of the sang hwang...and indeed it was. Aiyah Kitty!


So yesterday after his sang hwang and the rest of his supplements, I had cradled him for about 1 hour. he tried to protest but after some time, had a nap :) Then when he was released, he went to the bins, Aiyoh! But he just peed and then went into hiding ...just in case.


So I guess it has to be one hour when done at home...just like the nurse said :)

Btw today is 2nd August. So that makes it two months out of four.