Introducing my beautiful Max – or Maximillion, Max the Hunter, Max the Bully (where Hippie is concerned), Maxie Tart and Maxie baby – he is a much loved cat of many titles….. I got him 6 years ago from the RSPCA after he had been abandoned when he fell off a wall and broke his leg. He was just recovering from an operation where he had a pin put into his hind leg to mend it.
It hasn’t stopped him doing anything and by and large he has had a healthy six years until now.
He has been having a dreadful time over the last ten days. It started on February 9th with what appeared to be a tummy upset. Somewhat unusal for Max who just eats and eats. Poor boy was so sick that I took him to the vets where Craig prescribed an antacid injection and some paste to help with furballs – just in case.
The next day my poor boy was still being sick so my daughter took him back to the vet where they kept him in, on a drip to rehydrate him. The day after that he had an endoscopy where they checked his tummy with a camera, they could see his tummy was inflamed but biopsies showed nothing unusual.
Craig was concerned because although the sickness was stopping Maxie wouldn’t eat, he was also worried that there might be inflammatory bowel disease. He wanted to carry out a barium x-ray but Max wouldn’t let him (I didn’t ask what happened there…) – he ended up having an exploratory operation which at least showed that his bowel was fine but did not explain why he had gone anorexic on us.
By now we were really worried about him and I wondered how many more of his 9 lives we were going through with this episode……
Craig suggested putting a feeding tube in through his neck and feeding him until he was well enough to be interested so that’s what he had done. And that’s when he started to improve.
We have visited him on the last three evenings and on the first evening he looked a very sorry sight with a scarred, shaved tum, neck and paw -by the next evening he had decided to eat chicken and cat food as well as the feed through the tube and he was starting to try and remove the bandage which covered his feeding tube. Then last night I took him some Aldi Vitacat Biscuits and they appear to have done the trick.
The feeding tube has been removed this morning and he is allowed out on bail for two days to see if he’ll eat more at home – so tonight I am fetching my boy home, we have really missed him.
He’s got to stay in the house – (there will be no Max the hunter going on) and go back to Chine House Hospital on Saturday morning for review.
Then hopefully he will get back to the life he loves ….. mischief making
hot tub lolling…..
And a lot of fur regrowing to achieve ‘the look’.
This post is with my grateful thanks to Craig & David – Max’s animal doctors and all his nurses, the receptionists at Chine House who have given me daily updates and put up with my phone calls.
You are all wonderful – thank you!
This sounds exactly like the same thing our rather large gray cat (3 to 4 year old French Chartreux picked up as a stray no less) went through just a few weeks ago. Stopped eating, lost an alarming amount of weight in just two weeks, irritated stomach, high white cell count but no idea what was wrong besides some unknown infection. We nearly lost him.
The vet re-hydrated him and put him on a broad spectrum anti-biotic. We ended up spending the next 2 to 3 weeks force feeding him baby food through a syringe and constantly dragging him out of coldest places in the house that he crawled into. All that plus a lot of love and cuddling managed to bring him back and still no idea what happened.
Sending good thoughts your way for Max (and you too).
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Thanks Kirk – its been a really worrying time – I finish work in 45 minutes then I’m off to pick him up- can’t wait! I’m glad your boy is alright now!
Glad to see him back on his paws again Kate. Must have been horrible for him – and you! Perhaps he ate a dodgy mouse…who knows. Cats will be cats! Please give him a little stroke from Geri.
Thanks Geri – yes, I thought at one stage that we wouldn’t be getting him back – it was very distressing all round.
You should see him though – shaved tum with stitches, hole in his shaved neck (which they have left uncovered to heal more quickly) and a shaved foreleg – he does look a sorry sight, bless him!
Last night he kept asking to go out – but of course he can’t at the moment – so he sits at the window looking battered but still defending his territory!
Ah bless him! I bet you just want to keep scooping him up for a cuddle.
Luckily, cat hair grows back quite fast, so he’ll be his old, handsome, cat-about-the garden self, in no time.
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Willow and Tess hope you are feeling better soon!
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Best of luck to you both. I hope he makes a complete recovery.
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Thank you DBM and your beautiful puss cats!!!!
And also to you Cortes !
– he has been back for a check up today and Craig thinks he’s doing okay – it will take a while I’m sure but with lots of love and fusses plus a bit more spoiling I hope to restore him to purrfect health again!
That’s so scary Kate. I’m so happy to read that Max is improving. I would struggle to eat myself, if I knew my dog was as ill as your cat has been. And it sounds like such a mystery illness. But your vets seem excellent and very caring. Hoping Max gets stronger and stronger every day. Hugs.
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Aw poor Maxie. Glad to hear he’s on the mend. Bert sends big slobbery (and slightly sinister) licks xx
Thanks EM – he’s still doing ok – I’ll be glad when the fur grows back and covers his scars…. also he still has to stay in just in case of fights etc while his skin is exposed, he’s happy to beat Hippie up on a daily basis – he loves her but she is such a scaredy dog and with very good reason!!! x