Unwell

We had a dramatic morning here yesterday.

Indigo sleeps in the living room, and usually starts up her Very Loud Meowing routine to come out as soon as she hears waking up noises from the rest of the house. Today she didn't... and I was worried. I eventually found her, huddled in a cat cubby looking miserable.

A few minutes later she was sick, and as I was turning away to get cleaning stuff  I saw her stumble then pick herself up again. 'Odd', thought I, and kept a close eye on her. Inds can be a bit clumsy, and I didn't really see what happened. But then half an hour later she was sick again, but this time collapsed face first into it, flailing her limbs about and retching whilst uttering dreadful noises :( well you can be sure I rang the vet and got her in immediately.

She's had a full blood test done (£160!) and it was (naturally!) inconclusive- everything is within the normal ranges- iron, electrolytes, blood cells you name it, it was a thorough test!  She's had some neurological tests done and they have all been normal. The only explanation the vet can come up with is that she's having a particularly bad bout of morning sickness- apparently some cats do make dreadful howly noises when they feel/ are about to be sick, and perhaps the act of retching/ vomiting made her feel so wobbly she just keeled over?

Neither time she actually brought anything up, just foam/ fluid you know, so the vet is inclined to think its hormonal. Anyway she's home now, with a bland diet (which Theo is enjoying very much, thanks!), a pregnancy safe antibiotic and instructions to keep an eye on her and report any further vomiting etc to the vet- fortunately since tht second time she hasn't been sick or collapsed. She's not right though- she's not eaten or drunk again yet and she spent large parts of yesterday under the sofa and the rest in my arms. This morning she seems much more perky though, and has had several sniffs at her food and water bowls.

I hate it when my cats are poorly :(

Heh- I was about to press publish and she just ate a chunk of meat. Hurrah!

Monty The Bookworm!

Well, I can think of more comfortable places to snuggle, but apparently right on top of a basket of books is the place for Monty...

(how I stop kissing that little face, I don't know... or any of them really!)

Just got back from the vet after taking Indigo in (yes, again) this time because of the acne that appears to be taking over her chin! And of course for a checkup re her head. No medication, but the vet suggested loosening the 'crust' on her chin with a flea comb before cleaning her chin with the Hibiscrub, rather than trying to clean the crust with the scrub, so the Hibi gets to the underlying inflammation rather than just being smeared on the top. Makes sense, so I'm going to try that. I'll have to wrap her, as she'll never submit to that willingly, poor Indigo!

But the change to her head is incredible... the vet was very, very happy with how well that's clearing up. Hurrah!

Thoughtful

Sweet Kenneth, half asleep. I love his serious little face!

I'm feeling fairly thoughtful myself. I took Indigo to the vet last night. The lady I saw today was much more clued up about allergies and the like, and she agrees with me that it looks like a food allergy. (finally! A diagnosis!) To what she couldn't say, but she agreed that eliminating dyes and artificial preservatives would be a good start. She also recommended buying food with just one source of protein, rather than multiple sources like most cat foods.

So Indigo needs new food. Because it's come on so badly, she also recommended I change it now, rather than wait till the kittens have moved on, so contrary to what I said before, we've changed food after all. There wasn't an awful lot of choice in the food despite the vet being in a large pet store, but I eventually found a complete kitten wet food and a complete kitten kibble, both chicken, for them to have temporarily. This will give me time to decide on what food i want them to go on with, and make an order from an online specialist. Zooplus, probably!

Which means, incidentally, that I have a whole, unopened, 4kg bag of Royal Canin Babycat (rrp about £30!) and half a big packet of Royal Canin kitten, probably about the same amount. I can't use them but I'm not throwing them out, as it's good stuff so I'm off to the Cats' Protection sometime in the next few days to see if they can use it... bet they can!

As for where this allergy came from? Well, it seems to have been precipitated by her pregnancy... so be warned, any random reader, if you are thinking of breeding your cat... just... don't! Seriously, just don't, unless you are VERY serious about it. Don't do it 'just once', for fun, please. I know my kittens' families won't, so I'm not talking to them now but I mean anyone else who has happened on this blog and is reading... don't put your girl through it and risk her health. Bottom line is, if I hadn't mated Indie, she may not have developed this allergy, and I feel very guilty about that. On the other hand, if it was dormant then it might have started any time, if she was ill, for example.But she'll need special food from now on for life.

I did ask if allergies were hereditary, and the vet said not. Cue a huge sigh of relief all round I think! I also googled last night to make sure (yeah, I know!) and to be honest there's not a lot of info on it... but from reading it seems that whilst there may be a small hereditary component for some airborne allergies- pollen, etc- food allergies are not known to be heritable. It's just MY cat who is dramatic, it seems!

So, a few changes for us here. I've switched the dry food, I've got a few sachets of wet food I will feed the kittens over the next couple of days (keeping Indigo away!) and then I'll switch that over too. I'm to carry on with the aloe inside and out, and the vet was most impressed with the comfycollar! Indigo's also got a course of nursing-safe antibiotic, so hopefully with all those things together, we should see an improvement before too long.

I did comment to someone yesterday that I thought it had improved a little already, unfortunately Indigo slipped out of her collar and scratched herself raw again... silly girl!

On a more positive front, she's got a rather round belly now, a far cry from the appetite issues and general skinnyness of Christmastime, and other than the allergy issue, seems to be blooming. She's going to get a shock when the kittens are gone, and she no longer gets three plated meals a day plus biscuits... my cats are mostly kibble fed with just the one wet food meal per day as a treat. Guess she'd better enjoy it while she can!

Where Did You Come From?



Well, I jumped on the printer, balanced precariously on the ream of paper to get to the top of the unit, climbed over without falling off and crawled in through the cable hole, of course... surprise!

The kittens' vaccination appointment is on Thursday, not Tuesday as I'd thought. Bother. I didn't fancy waiting that long to get Indie seen, frankly, so I've made another appointment for just her tomorrow on her own. One lady who was planning on visiting soon has agreed to wait a bit, (she was ever so nice about it, bless her!) and the people who were visiting today haven't called to confirm, they don't have my address yet, and if I'm honest, I hope they don't want to come because I'm going to put them off. They were looking at several litters so in all probability if I cancel they will end up picking another pair of kittens, but that can't be helped, Indigo is more important and I reckon a stress free day today and tomorrow, plus the vet in the evening, is the best thing right now.

Quick post

Just a quick post to say Indigo's head is now dreadful. I've put her back in the comfy collar in the hope it will stop her scratching her (now raw and painful) head, and I'll hopefully be able to get her to the vet Monday or Tuesday. There must be something we can try, even if it's just another course of a nursing-safe antibiotic.

I'm applying the aloe vera gel liberally when she will let me, and I've bought some aloe vera extract so she's getting some internally too (mixed with Nutri-plus gel) but it looks so sore. Poor, poor Indigo.

Rattle

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

Kenneth, shown here on the right with brother Monty, (thick as thieves those two are) is poorly :(

Very late last night, I heard a rattly/snuffly sound coming from him. At first I couldn't decide whether it was purring or not, but in the end I decided not. Well he was still doing it today, on and off, not continuously, and after consultation with another breeder decided to take  them all along to the vet. Just in case, to prevent a snuffle turning nto something more serious and BEFORE I could decide it was something awful like FCK and spend the long weekend out of my rather neurotic mind with worry *grin*

(FCK= Flat Chested Kitten, very nasty, kittens don't often live.)

Well, it seems he does have a bit of a cold and so has some drops (Synulox) to improve matters a little. All the kittens were examined and none of the others are sounding rattly, just Kenneth, and other than his rattle, he seems to be in fine shape as well, so that was all very reassuring. While I was there, I got their  initial worm treatments (panacur drops) plus one for mama, and so by the time I'd paid for all that plus the consultation fee and the Synulox, I'd parted with a hundred pounds.

Kenneth and Monty were on my lap yesterday (when I took this photograph). I'd just been cuddling Indigo beforehand. Well they must have smelled her on my top, because all of a sudden the two boys were kneading my belly and slurping on my top. Heheh, so sweet. I put them both back in the nest, in case they were hungry, but they weren't interested, they wanted out again! Kenneth and Monty both like their cuddles :) Suits me!

And speaking of kneading, Indigo's undercarriage is getting very sore of late... the kittens knead to make the milk come, and they have VERY sharp claws! Poor Indigo! So this morning all the kittens got a very careful nail trim and are now a little less pointy. Hopefully that will make things more comfortable for my girl.

Update: 5 weeks

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

Indigo would NOT look at the camera for me. LOL.

Ok, so she's (over) 5 weeks pregnant now and it's all going rather well. She's gently rounded, but not big or slowing down any as of yet. Nose is frequently in the food bowl, and the nausea that troubled her in earlier pregnancy no longer seems to be an issue.

Allergy wise... I just don't know. The second wave of spots are now receding, but I'm not saying anything more about it, as when the first lot were receding, that's when she got the second flush of them! I've been speaking to another breeder who has been very helpful... (thank you very much!) one of her cats had a similar sounding reaction- it was an allergy to penicillin. Now I simply can't work out where Indigo would have had penicillin- she hasn't had it prescribed, the other breeder suggested mouldy bread but Indigo doesn't go out to scavenge in rubbish heaps and the like... it's a mystery!

Still, she's off the antibiotics now (NOT penicillin, I might add!) and where the first lot of spots were, the hair seems to be regrowing, so she isn't going to be bald! LOL.

You can see on the side of her face the only patch that's bothering her now... two or three swellings very close together, which of course she's scratched, and they've bled and scabbed and she's scratched them again... the last time she scratched them off was this morning hence they are looking VERY sore today. the vet suggested she may need an antibiotic again if it gets infected, but to be honest, i'm not that keen on her being on antibiotics any longer than is strictly necessary given she's just BEEN on them for two weeks. So I'm bathing with slightly salty water for now and hoping it heals up on its own.

Other than that she seems quite content, very cuddly indeed but still wanting to play as well. She's such a lovely cat!

The Perils Of Google

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

You know how it is. You have a health problem, you don't know what it's all about and instead of making an appointment to see the doctor, like a normal person, you go online, Google, and scare yourself silly. Or you go to the doctor and get referred on to a specialist, and THEN you do the google-searching. And scare yourself silly.

It's exactly the same with pets. It's a bad idea, but of course I've been doing it... and asking online... and I even emailed another breeder. The latter two were very helpful... the googling? I really should know better. I've now discovered a few things that it could easily be... and one isn't looking good at all.

My fear, discounting the most outlandish and obscure diagnoses as unlikely? Ringworm.

Ringworm's not a serious condition as such, it won't harm Indigo irrepairably, but it is infectious, can be transferred not just to other cats but to other animals and HUMANS as well and... the treatment Indigo will need will kill her developing babies. As a secondary issue, the cost of treating Indigo, the other cats and the house will be fairly spectacular, but somehow that seems irrelevent. If we have ringworm there will be no kittens. They will all die as a result of the treatment.

Worrying times here. I'm trying not to look at Indigo's belly for signs of pregnancy because until I have some conclusions on what's what with her skin, and what treatment she will have to have, I just don't want to know.