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.

Finally!

Thursday morning went by fast and furious. My lessons from this morning are:

1. Never leave anything for later when you can accomplish something at 5 am, especially when it comes to a crafty 13 something in the shape of a black cat!

I knew that I should have tried to give Megat his prednisolone as soon as the boys asked to be let out - at 5 am. This is because Megat would still be inside his night cage and so much easier to catch. Of course I slept late and Cousin R came to help grandma. Once he heard her voice, Megat leapt from the bed (where he was dozing with me) and hid himself. Oh dear....

2. Never surprise a cat who has to go poo...NOW!
I surprised Megat when he was trying to go...in the middle of the living room!!! Aiyoh! Cat! But I noticed that eventhough he strained himself, there was no way he was going to be able to poo at all. He saw me and hid under the couch as he asociates me with many unpleasant experiences. I decided to follow my instincts, caught him from under the table and brouhgt him to the bathroom where the boxes were. He preferred to do it on the mat and I let him be. After a few minutes, I noticed that he had a difficult time and so removed the hard poo for him. Of course I could not help him completely and the poor kitty and to strain again and again. I spoke to him softly and he tried again. By this time, all the boys were waiting outside the bathroom door quietly. Finally with one final strain, the hard poo came out followed by the softer ones. SUCCESS! He sat quietly and I gave him a treat which he ate slowly and happily.

3. Never try to pill a cat using your fingers if you are still too nervous about it.

I actually had Megat in the bathroom already and waited for him to relax from his poo exertions. I cleaned him up thoroughly and we rested togther quietly. Then I carried him and put him on my lap, scuffed him and tried to persuade him to open his mouth. SPIT!SPAT!SPLUTTER! - the pill came hurtling out of his mouth. Then he gave me a great big and very firm chomp on my middle finger. I think that was his way of telling me to @$%#. Finally I had a brain wave through the wave of pain that was going through my arm - just put the pill from the side of his mouth! He had so few teeth and there was a gap just behind his fang, ok canine. I slipped the now very wet pill and closed his mouth. Actually he closed his mouth tightly himself as he was afraid I would try to open it up again. HEE..HEEE. Because of this, the pill dissolved in his mouth and he had to swallow :) I then talked to him softly and praised him and caressed his head. he visibly relaxed. I was afraid he would try to wash his mouth with all that salive (he had done this several times before and he would drool the pill out). However, there was only a little saliva and I wiped him clean after that and gave him another treat.

4. Finally always feel grateful that the crafty 13 year old feline with a vice for a mouth and needles for teeth can still put up a good fight :)

Poo tales best left unread for the squeamish

I gave Megat the duphalac yesterday (1 dessertspoon + papaya). I even tasted it before I gave it to him. It tasted sweet and so I was quite confident that he would be eat it happily - and he did! HURRAH! Thanks anonymous for giving me that suggestion again :) [I have many anonymous readers and I thank each and every one of them:)]

I had mashed the papaya and mixed it with the duphalac. I let him sniff it and waited for him to lick it from the saucer. Of course no such luck for me. So I had to put it into 4 syringes - each 3 ml. It came to about 10 ml as the last syringe was not full. Thank goodness Cousin R was about and she helped me to hold Megat while I gave him the mixture. He was very good about it and ate it all without fuss. Cousin R had some also (on her tshirt).After the whole event (or non event) I wiped him clean from head to toe and he jumped up onto the couch to sit with grandma. These days Megat is very guarded with me :)

Result: Yes! This morning, there was a little poo in his litter box, but not much. Then a little in the box at the kitchen bathroom and a little in front of my cupboard!! Oh-oh! But I was not much bothered by this and was just glad that he could actually go. I was quite horrified that he actually tried to go on my bed sheet! ARGHHHH! But I thought a bedsheet can be changed, trashed, laundered, put away but my cat cannot! I was very glad that he was not able to do that though. He then rested and had a little rest.

Ok, although I was glad he did not poo on my bed, I was still anxious that he was straining himself and yet could not poo normally. On a brighter note, he did at least get to do some of it.

However, he also vomitted much of his food. This is the first time in a long time that he had done this. Actually I could not remember the last time he had vomitted food at all :(

Anyway I had put all these notes in my notebook for Dr P today. Cousin R agreed to bring him as I would not be able to do so myself :(. He would not be having IV but only a blood test and some pills. I think he would have lost some weight too as he has refused to eat much of his food for this week. I decided to document his behaviours ever day and I think I should continue to do so. Then I would be able to take note of new behaviours and discuss these things with Dr P to see if they could be the cause of the chemo or not. It would also be useful for the doc as she can read for herself and then ask me questions about him.

I am also considering KXBC's suggestion of giving him only a soupy wet food diet so I can increase his water intake in this way. The only thing that I have to consider is that he is on a Waltham dry kibble diet too although these days, he has refused to eat much of this, preferring the orijen diet of the rest of the amigos. So I had in the last 2 days, given him a mixture of Walthams Renal and Orijen (no grain) diet which he eats quite happily and this morning, there was nothing in his bowl :)