Saturday Supplements

For the 1st time, grandma helped me to hold him while I gave him his shark cartilage suppository. Actually tonight was the 1st time that grandma had to hold him for any suppository. Megat was not a good patient as he knew he could mess about with grandma. Usually it would be Cosuin R or me that would hold him for the suppositories. He struggled a little and yelled at us but we managed to get the shark suppository in him without incident. I then gave him the necessary colloidal silver and water. It would be better to be quick and fast so the rest of his supplements (health lingzhi, milk thistle, pumpkin and the Natural Defense) would have to wait until Cousin R can help me.

I had held him for a little longer before putting him in his cage so I will see whether his stools would have the cartilage tomorrow.

Megat's Saturday

Cousin R came by to help me with his Inteferon injection. I am not able to jab him all by myself as I am afraid it would go terribly wrong. So usually Cousin R would hold him still while I push the needle in. She is very kind to come all the way from B just for a few minutes that it takes to do this.

I also gave him his usual sang hwang suppository and now he is in his cage so that they can dissolve in one place. However I think the sang hwang takes faster to dissolve than the shark cartilage as this morning I saw some white cartilage in his stool when I cleaned his bin.

FIGHT Megat!

Megat now is the proud owner of 3 black whiskers from 7. I can see that the rest of his whiskers are growing as he had had a whole month free from chemo but I guess we will still have to see what happens.

Dr L says he prefers to try other methods first until his anaemia is under some control. There is no use putting more poision (vincristine) into his system right now. I am okay with that as I trust Megat will be okay for now. Of course the lumps may come back and he may have other complicatiosn but for now, he is a happy cat who gets involved with everyone in the house, even the guests who came for Hari Raya. He was always in the thick of things and he enjoyed himself thouroughly with all the pets and cuddles and praise. He was in several photo opportunities too :)



At the hospital we saw a cute pomeranian with a skin problem or maybe a tumour as we can see a bulge against his side. He was very cheery and interested in all the goings-on. His owner was telling us that she brought him here on the insistence of her son who thinks the vets here and this hospital would be more able to help the little dog. Fight Little doggie! Fight!

Megat's Review 24 September 2009

Megat's picture taken on the 3rd day of HR

The Feline Inteferon - 7 injections on alternate days

The shark cartiledge suppository to be given once a day at night in addition to his sang hwang suppository which will now be given in the day...

The hospital was as usual very crowded and when we came there was already a crowd of walk-ins. Dr L saw us 1 hour later than our scheduled appointment but Megat was very steady, even when a dog started to sniff at him and chew the strap of his carrier! He is used to all this I think as we have been in this position for 3 months already.

Dr L saw his gums and announced that they were still pale and as such he would not be doing a blood test. Instead he gave us 7 days worth of Recombinant Inteferon Alpha-Mutagen for Cats. He told me that this one is made with feline protein (?) and so Megat should not have any adverse side effects. He also said that as Megat is still anaemic and the vets were not able to ascertain if the depressed system was due to his FIV or his chemo, then we should proceed with some caution.

He also gave us 24 shark cartiledge suppositories. Of course my dilemma was whether I should even use shark cartiledge in the first place as sharks have been exploited to near extinction. Finally my cat won the day and I trust Dr L knows what he is talking about.

"We will beat this cancer!" was Dr L's final words for us and I trust that we will try to the end until Megat decides that enough is enough!

Megat has lost some weight and he is now 3.12 kg! How can a cat lose so much weight in 1 week from 3.65 kg? He feels as heavy as before and his bones do not protrude as much as when he had his fever 2 weeks ago. I would like to think that this was due to the faulty weighing machine as Dr L's assistant had to bang on it several times as the numbers kept disappearing :) Nevertheless I am keeping watch on his diet. He has been eating all of his Walthams Renal and stealing the other boys' kibble when they were not looking.

Dr L also advised that we stop all medication except for his supplements and we would have to come back in 2 weeks.

An Inteferon How-to

This is a delicate operation and so everything must be up and ready

1. The Recombinant Inteferon Alpha-Mutagen for Cats

2. The syringe with the err...liquid that I need to combine with the powdered Inteferon in the bottle. I also needed to pierce the grey rubber stopper with it.

3. The 25 gauge needle that I need to use to inject Megat under his skin

The grey stopper can be seen when the blue protective cap is removed...

The 1st needle that is used to pierce the grey rubber stopper to release trhe clear diluter (?)


I need to change the needle as by now the 1st one would be dull
Its 25 gauge and so the needle is fine and I hope the operation painless for Megat


Cousin R doing the delicate operation of releasing the now-liquid inteferon into the orange needle
and we are all set for the new procedure of giving Megat his inteferon injection for the day

Needless to say I was full of trepidation when I had to inject Megat with the Inteferon. I think the whole procedure gave me a lot of stress and I had to remember what to do first and last [yah the cat is last:]

I had to lay down all the apparatus and then rehearsed how to put the whole thing together. Cousin R said I should take pictures of it as it would enable me to remember the whole thing clearly in pictures :)

However once I actually put them together, it was not so bad and Megat did not complain as the 25 gauge needle was very fine. I gave him a treat and he was very happy with it. I have 7 of these bottles to get through but I am now more confident about it.

After this, I gave him his shark cartiledge suppository and 10 ml of water only as he deserved to rest.

Ooohh the blood

Thanks for the wishes cat_aunty...

is something I need but have not enough of....

Megat had a review yesterday at about 4.30 pm. Dr L had to do bone surgery on a dog and so was late. Dr L took a look at him and showed me his gums. They were very pale. He was also rather lethargic but I took that to mean he was just tired out from waiting. The decision was to put off the vincristine for this week and to stop the Leukeran for the moment as it is a chemo drug. He had been on Leukeran for about a month at 1/4 tab every two days.

So Dr L has him on Aranesp (a substitute for Eprex) for instead on alternate days and he had a CBC. Although the indicators were not good, they were also not too bad for a kitty like him.

WBC 1.96 (5.5-19.5)

RBC 5.07 (5-10)

PCV 18.93 (24-45)

PLT 77 (300-800)

PCT 0.07%

So we have to see if the new protocol will help him be less anaemic.

Of course he was very well-behaved as usual, unlike Toro who did not like the jabs at all. He sat quietly, looking at the doc and when he was outside, he rested on his toy woofie and looked at the world passing by. Toro was not at all pleased with the needle but he was all eyes and ears when we had to wait for the doc as well as the results of his blood test.

While we waited we saw 2 kitties, one ragdoll and one ragamuffin. They were very beautiful but one of them had problems with the kidneys and it was only 3 years old. We aslo saw one very small 3 year-ol Tuxie who came to get a check-up. There were altogether 5 cats on one end and many many doggies at the other end of the waiting room.

However the most heartbreaking scene was a little dog with kidney problems. When her owner brought her in, she was trembling and breathing raggedly. She strained to stand up and when she was put outside her carrier, she tried to walk with very faint steps. Then she just flopped on her stomach and could not continue. Then the nurse came to take her inside to rest. The other people tried to comfort the owner who was crying and although I think everyone feels for the owner, I would be lying if I do not say that I was feeling relieved Megat is still able to walk, talk very loudly, eat well and when he feels like it, give the other kitties a *flying kick or even box them.

*He actually gave Toro a flying kick last week when Toro dared to walk beside him on the way to dinner. Toro was so shocked that he ran off. Even Bujang knows to walk behind Megat at dinner time although we still give Bujang the first top up. The rule is always Bujang, Megat, Toro and Tanaka in the kitchen and then the Diva in the computer room.

Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa) is a drug given to patients who have chemotherapy-induced anemia (low red blood cell count). An injection of Aranesp stimulates red blood cell production, with a synthetic version of erythropoietin, a protein made in your kidneys. It is a clear liquid that can be given through an intravenous infusion (IV), or as a shot.

Saturday Quiet after a 3-week break

Megat's saturday grooming session...

...this way san..a little to the left...

...I need all the fur in my face to be neat and well-groomed please....

Megat all groomed out...

His fur is thinner on his body and getting more brown by the day...

Megat as usual came to ask for a grooming session and he sat quietly until I had finished grooming him...much like someone in a hair salon :) Dr L told me to come in with him if I found anything amiss but I am glad to report that apart from the one week when he had fever, he is looking well and feeling ordinary :)

We will be seeing Dr L next Tuesday for the second round of chemo. I suppose more fur would fall out. But this is nothing compared to the idea that he might live a longer and healthier life with us.

Fever Update

I am like the little girl trying to hide the elephant or unveil one...

Its already 3 sept and Megat has gotten over his fever although he is still a little hot...
Megat in his better days before his whiskers fell out...
He has alreday had the best of 3 months from the 4...

Its 3 sept already and Megat is looking well. We are already into the 3rd out of 4 months that Dr MP gave us . Admittedly, his whiskers have fallen out and he has 3 and 4 on each side. The fur on his head is thinning and so is the fur on his side. His fur is getting more an m ore brown by the day but he is going strong I think.

Now that he has gotten over the worst of his fever, he has started to spit more of his supplements than eat it. Cousin R said that he was more stubborn yesterday than the previous days and we were both glad as it showed Megat was getting better and is fever was not bothering him so much.

I still gave him the water mat and he spent last night sitting close to it.

I know it is a little dark to keep count but I need to keep count anyway. Counting does not discount the fact that I do enjoy him and he does enjoy us.

Tanaka has taken to kissing him on his head when he is taking his supplements and two nights ago, Tanaka came by to kiss him on his head and to touch him several times. It was very nice of Tanaka to do this. Megat was not disturbed by all this attention which was nice. Yesterday, when Megat was taking his supplements, Tanaka and Megat had a nose to nose meeting, after which Tanaka left to mind his own business :)

PS: Tonight, when we gave Megat his supplements which he took very well, Bujang came to peer closely at Megat and touched him lightly on the head- twice. Megat did not flinch and Bujang was very gentle. I think Bujang was just a little curious as he has never done this for the 3 months that he has been observing Megat. I was afraid Bujang would swipe at him and was very surprised when Bujang was very gentle.