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Radar is back home, he still looks emaciated bless him but is putting a little weight back on slowly.

He did eat some breakfast on his own early this morning, so that is a good sign. He's due his last tube feed of the day at around 11pm-midnight (doesn't have to be precisely timed, as long as it's at least 3 hours since his last one) so that is when I get to give it a try.

He's got some energy back, little sod was all over the vet consulting room investigating every corner, and has been bombing around the bedroom (where he will be confined until he is completely better, for his own safety with the tube in, and to minimise the risk of the other cats catching whatever cat flu he is having a flare-up of atm).

Wish us luck please!

btw in case anyone is interested, that hospital stay, insertion of the tube, chest x ray, medications, and supplies for feeding at home, added another over £1k to the bill, which now stands at £4.5k *faints*
 
Blimey. Repairing radar on a submarine costs less than that! Worth it obviously but glad you've got insurance.
 
OK so the tube feed itself was easy peasy, he just lay there and purred and kneaded as I was feeding him. Need to do that 5x a day :eek: if he's eating nothing, and adjust proportionately depending upon what he eats by himself. Apparently if 5x daily is too much I can reduce it to 4x a day and spread the 5th feed equally between the remaining 4 feedings - vet said that would be ok.

I do hope he starts eating soon, he went over to a bowl of dry food as soon as he got home (he has everything available in case he feels like eating! And I'll get some chicken tomorrow and poach it, if he doesn't fancy it right away I can freeze it for later use) - looked really interested in the dry food, went to pick up a biscuit in his mouth and then kind of went "maybe not" and turned away.

Contrary little bugger dashed out of the bedroom later though and scoffed a nugget of cat dry food off the hall floor where I must have dropped it earlier - so may try just scattering some around in the bedroom (the stuff is like fucking lego if you stand on it though).

petee said:
:eek: holy moly
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Yeah, indeed - and we're not finished yet! Fortunately insurance is covering a good wedge of that.
 
Poi E said:
Edward our lovely ginger tom who sleeps with us decided to have a go at my eyelid in the middle of the night. He gets odd sleep terrors where he yelps and wakes up suddenly. Cue a very confused Poi stumbling to the basin dripping blood.

View attachment 127495
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That just looks SO sore. I can imagine how it happened, I have had so many (in some respects, strange) little cuts and scrapes from my cats that nothing surprises me. Like the time when one of them (see this sort of thing happens so regularly that I can't even recall which cat it was) was walking along the top of the headboard of our bed, and fell off ONTO my face - leaving me with a scratch from the inside corner of my eye, down the side of my nose, across both lips, and down my chin - I looked like I'd been in a knife fight for about a week. (And yes, I was asleep when he landed on my face, but not for long...)

I hope your eyelid heals up quickly - it looks really really sore tbh. I hope it doesn't hurt too much.
 
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Epona said:
Ohh I like that, looks very snug and just what most cats would like. Unfortunately I am fairly sure my Sonic (who has pica - tendency to eat non-food items :rolleyes: ) would strip that fur off and either bring up some interesting looking furballs (best case scenario), or end up having to be taken to the vet to have wadded up fluff surgically removed from his intestines (it's been one of those years so far, so I consider this more probable!)

Will have a browse though, maybe they do one that is less fluffy :D The shape is good :)
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yes, the shape is what attracted me to it. felt it would enticing for a cat to walk in and curl up in.
 
Radar's medications all went in super easy - just grind them up and put in the liquid feed then they all go down the tube - SO much easier than try to pill him with multiple things (even if he is eating we can apparently grind and mix with water and put them down the tube then flush them through).

He's doing well, he seems to positively enjoy his feedings*, he goes all purry and a bit mushy/clingy like a kitten at his mother's teat... he's also had about half of a portion of wet food by mouth this morning - not enough, but at least he's giving it a go. One of his meds is an appetite stimulant, so will offer him something half an hour before his next feed is due.

*I am slightly concerned that he might be very happy with this arrangement as it requires less effort from him than feeding himself :eek:
 
Oh, also - I filled the syringes with the liquid food and one with water for flushing the tube earlier and brought them all into the sitting room on a plate - it's the warmest room and I wanted to allow them to get to room temp before doing the feed.

Jakey was bottle fed as a kitten (his mother got mastitis and lost her milk, so he was hand-fed from a few days old til weaning - he is well socialised though, his mother was with him just didn't have milk for him), he took one look at the syringes full of kitty formula and started going WAAAAAAA WAAAAAAA at the top of his voice (in the way only a Siamese/Ori can) and begging frantically... he basically regressed at the sight and smell of syringes with liquid cat food formula...
 
I also forgot to say, the reports on the growths that were removed has come back - and "is consistent with chronic polypoid otitis" - ie is benign and NOT cancerous - that is the expected result, but always reassuring to hear.

My local vet surgery and and the central hospital are excellent, but somehow they seem to have completely ballsed up doing a direct claim on our insurance - the forms apparently never got done. And it's a struggle for the receptionist to work out what we should be paying (£135 excess fee, plus 20% of any bill for treatment, up to a max of £4k - NOT her fault as the insurer should have said "we'll pay x amount" then she'd just have to charge us what is left over, it shouldn't be up to her to try to work out what we should be paying when our insurance claim hasn't gone through yet, I just hope it will get sorted out soon!)
 
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Just gave him another feed, he's also almost finished the pouch of whiskas I put down earlier (I wouldn't normally feed that crap, but anything to entice him to eat and that stuff does seem to be like crack for cats!)

1 pouch of that isn't anything like a full day's food intake, but it's a start and I am happy with that :)
 
Epona said:
I also forgot to say, the reports on the growths that were removed has come back - and "is consistent with chronic polypoid otitis" - ie is benign and NOT cancerous - that is the expected result, but always reassuring to hear.

My local vet surgery and and the central hospital are excellent, but somehow they seem to have completely ballsed up doing a direct claim on our insurance - the forms apparently never got done. And it's a struggle for the receptionist to work out what we should be paying (£135 excess fee, plus 20% of any bill for treatment, up to a max of £4k - NOT her fault as the insurer should have said "we'll pay x amount" then she'd just have to charge us what is left over, it shouldn't be up to her to try to work out what we should be paying when our insurance claim hasn't gone through yet, I just hope it will get sorted out soon!)
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That was liked for the benign report and not the insurance cock up
 
Me76 said:
That was liked for the benign report and not the insurance cock up
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It will get sorted out, it's clear on the policy that we have cover up to 4k for this, it's just a nightmare when we're all stood around in the vet reception area consulting our calculators to work out which portion of the bill we need to pay :D
 
Really glad to hear it was benign. And to hear he's slowly improving, eating a bit of food. It must be a huge relief that he's tolerating the feeding tube so well.
 
Vintage Paw said:
Really glad to hear it was benign. And to hear he's slowly improving, eating a bit of food. It must be a huge relief that he's tolerating the feeding tube so well.
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It's a massive relief that he is *able* to eat tbh, I was so frightened for him and worried that there was some physical or neurological reason he couldn't eat, and it was terrifying to see the weight drop off him - in a really short space of time too. When I took him back to the vet for re-admission on Monday, he looked awful - spine and ribs sticking out - it was frightening how quickly that happened (he was always a skinny little horror, no spare padding). Thankfully there doesn't seem to be any liver or kidney problem, so I did get him re-admitted to the hospital in time before any more serious damage happened as a result of weight loss.

Thank you for your good wishes xx

(EDIT: But seriously, if anyone saw him right now they'd be on the phone to the RSPCA to report a starving cat - poor little mischief)
 
Did Radar's dressings that protect the stoma/feeding tube, it was ok, I know how to do it now I've done it once and am feeling a bit better about that now. That is something that is definitely better with someone to hold the cat still though (although Radar is really good, he did get a bit distracted and wanted to wander off half way through!)
 
stavros said:
This, or something similar, is what I'm having to put up with on a daily basis. If I try to do anything with my hands, including stroking her, they get mauled.

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hA0835C4D
 
Phew, that is the first full day of tube feeding Radar finished!

He had eaten enough of the whiskas (kitty big mac) we offered that we decided to skip the 4th feeding. Hopefully he will eat a bit more every day and continue to improve.

Love that silly sausage so much xx
 
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