Update on Sterling Locke [4] - (To Vet Today! #16 @%#(&^!! #17)

[sandragonfly]

hiya all - I rarely have been posting around lately I know so I hope you all remember us!

there has been quite a few questions asked about how my new silver kitty, locke is doing so here's an update about him...okay, whew, it is a bit overwhelming and I'll try to keep it short.

I'm really worried about him. since I got out of hospital for two weeks today, I couldn't believe how so much more skinny he is now.

this all started way in back of the summer while we were roadtripping.. losing just a little time to time. I assumed it was the all stress he dealt with.. but then I didn't had the chance to work out the meal amount for him while recuperating from my surgery.

the pictures you last saw of him from his breeder, (if you didn't, search "locke") were very much bigger than when I got him. THAT bothered me but he was eating, playing and purring fine and ate as much as others.

so when we arrived back here from california, I decided to increase amount in his food to see if it had helped ease the stress, it really didn't. and he began to chew through my blankets. or any farbics that has a SPOCKLE of food, food grease or whatever on it...especially my pajamas. :rolleyes: I then washed everything and he began to get better at it. I've also watched out for his colorful logs - thankfully they seem all had came out.

then only for him within the last two weeks he was with me, I thrice amounted his meal daily - he never can finish his meals I hand out several times during the day and he ate as much as he wanted to. sometimes when I am home, I'd leave him in bathroom with his foodbowl. always a little over half left; not sure whether if that means half empty or half full.

and now my friend who have been watching my cats for two last weeks has been giving them double than what my catsitters usually give (because I never felt it was enough and a lot less work for them) and has been free-feeding locke.. :eek:

:( behaves & potties okay but extremely skinny? today is sunday; tomorrow I'm going to phone a vet and see for an opinion. meanwhile, please keep him in your thoughts that there's no serious obstruction - we don't, DON'T need any more troubles..

maybe I am a little over worried, I'll try to get some before/after pictures up tomorrow. even though he's my problem child but I can't love him more and want the best for him.. he's such a sweetheart to go through this.

[catmandu]

The Only Thing That Comes To Mind Is Worms If Sterling Locke Is That Thin, Yet Eating.
My Precious Was Thin At Her Passing, But That Was More Depression From Missing Her Sam, Even Two Dental Cleanings Didnt Seem To Help Her.
We Are Sending Our Prayers To You And Sterling Locke That He Will Be Fine Very Soon.
There A Snumber For Natures Variety 1 800 519 7387.
If You Dont Have A Printer They Will Mail You A Free Product Voucher.
We Just Recieved 8.4 Pounds Of High Test Dry Cat Food.
Freeee!

[Catty1]

Gina, I hope it might just be a worm he picked up. He might have eaten a moth or something when he was outside...

If you can get a sample of his poo, and pick it up with a plastic baggie, that's all the vet will need to check. It will be less expensive.

Do that first, and then take Sterling Locke in if you have to.

Just a suggestion.

Hope that silver boy is all better soon! :)

HEY - how is your leg now?

HUGS!

[phesina]

Dear Gina, prayers for Locke and you and everyone in the Ark..

Love, hugs, and purrs,
Pat and cats

[sandragonfly]

oh, dear...never thought of worms. :( will do. take in the sample then. to be sure anyway. I haven't called the original vet to ask about his weight/eating yet - I took my orphaned sugar glider to an emergency clinic earlier today. here's the before and after of him at our old home almost two weeks ago...


before:
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t88/americadroplets/locke3.jpg

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t88/americadroplets/locke2.jpg

and after:
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t88/americadroplets/thinlocket.jpg

at a different angle.. he has the largest hind long legs here too.
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t88/americadroplets/sterlingocke.jpg

I don't know how I come to thought of this again but I'm afraid to think that his previous owner wasn't being honest with my friend (who surprised me with this kitty) that he is "in a healthy condition." but then why did the breeder gave him away for so much less than what it usually is? this intuition keeps crawling back up inside me. oh well, at least he is with ME now and will get good care if anything, for sure.

[Catty1]

OH my - he has lost some weight, my goodness!

I hope it is something simple to fix...have you seen anything 'funny looking' around his backside?

One type of worm has eggs that look just like sesame seeds!

He still is beautiful! Usually a vet tech can check the sample pretty quickly!

Get better, Sterling Locke!

[sandragonfly]

sesame seeds - haven't seen them in a LONG time. I don't see anything wrong with his rear either, his logs look fine or aren't that smelly too.

he only wanted to eat 1/4 of his breakfast this morning so went I to the vet and dropped his sample off!

[Catty1]

Fingers crossed that Sterling has something simple! There are two types of worms, and I THINK it's the tapeworm that shows eggs...

HUGS and PRAYERS for your silver boy!

[Taz_Zoee]

I hope it's nothing serious for poor little Locke.
:(

[jennielynn1970]

Wow, he really looks thin. Hope the vet will be able to figure things out.

[Catty1]

Any updates on Sterling Locke?

[Katjaye]

I hope all is going well for all of you! Hope there has been some good news for you! What a beautiful kitty!

[rg_girlca]

Prayers and positive thoughts on the way for beautiful Sterling.

[sandragonfly]

sorry I was in bed sick all day.

I haven't got a message from the vet yet. sometimes people have a hard time understanding to leave a message through relay if I am not online (I need to be online to answer the call but I'm not on most of time) so I'll want to and try call them again tomorrow.

what I'm betting here, in this case, no call means good news? I hope so. I'll let you know soon.

[Catty1]

I think that SOME news would be good news, in that you can find out why Sterling is not eating and is losing weight. I really hope it is something simple! :)

PT Prayers for Sterling Locke!

[sandragonfly]

ok, I called the vet first thing this morning - he chewed through half of my kitchen towel overnight. :( I've been PLACING his food in FRONT of him, of third different kibbles I tried, I can tell he wants to eat so badly, is so starved but could not eat.. or finish it! then goes to wanting other cats' food - they all eat the same food. :confused:

so the tech looked into my record and found result, said "everything looks okay and all is good." except for BUN level, a little high - "nothing to worry about right now." of course my boy needs some enough kibbles/raw diet then some water to stimulate his kidneys!

lately I've done some experiments with him, only two things that would help him EAT better!! are to soak the food a bit with warm water AND hold, hug him while he eats then he'd storm up a purr and finish most of his meal.. :rolleyes: :( I don't know why it breaks my heart but it was sweet of him letting me hold him under my arm (I lay on my eblow) and knowing he can't eat comfortably without me there. that one I can't figure out why.

my cat, eclypse who occassionally needs a comfort strokes while she's eating - that's understandingable because she's deaf and needs to know someone safely is behind her. but locke, once I let my hand/arm go - he'd cowder, sometimes would run off and sulk then hunts over other bowls like a hungry stray. :( so I have to hold/talk to him all the way, and to let him know that his bowl is all his! today I will try him on a higher place and see if he feels more secured..

anyway, back to vet - I'm still not certainly satisfied to WHY he's like this, eating possibly so much but is so skinny so I called in and asked if they could squeeze us in today - we have an appointment today at 4! I'd really like to find out.

I'm really worried, worrier when it comes to physical exams, etc. and it drives me nuts. please wish us good luck!!

and thank you!!

[sandragonfly]

so we took him to the vet just now and it didn't went too long..

we found he has a BROKEN COLLARBONE... I never felt a thing until the vet showed me :eek: ...it was out of the place is all I can say. the xray showed the injury is about 5-6 months old so that was before I got him. :mad: :mad: :mad:

how could the @%#(&^ people do this to him OR didn't do snything about it???? :mad: now I see why he doesn't want to be picked up sometimes and utterly is a sweetheart who loves to be petted all over but is in pain.. I'm loss at words righht now. :( :(

:mad: :mad:

[jennielynn1970]

Oh my goodness!!! So, they didn't notice the broken collarbone before? You think they would have felt that there was something not in place there when they saw him before.

Poor guy. So what will they do for the broken collarbone?? Does it have to be rebroken and resent to heal properly?

[Catty1]

Gina - wow...and then with the stress Sterling was under, a change for him and all the travelling.

IF the vet thinks surgery is needed, then go to www.imom.org and apply for funding. If your vet will work with them great - if your vet never heard of them, they will send a letter to him.

Some vets want all the money up front, some will wait for the funds from imom. Once iMom confirms that all funds are raised, then the surgery can go ahead.

And of course, a few of us get iMom updates from kuhio98...

So don't worry if the poor fellow needs surgery.
Those stupid owners! Do you have an email address to reach them and find out what the **** happened???

I hope some temporary painkillers will help Sterling Locke eat...and maybe raise his dish up on a 2 x 4 or something, and he won't have to lean as far. That explains why he would eat out of your hand - he didn't have to bend down and put pressure on the collarbone.

{{{{hugs}}}}

[sandragonfly]

okay, I am calmer now.

no, no surgery. the vet said it's unusual to have surgery on broken clavicles as it doesn't really joints to other main bones. it was hard to see on xray - we could see about "1/3" of clavicle poking out mass of muscle right by upper chest/neck as you could feel it poking his skin when feeling for it. and from how the fracture showed on the film, vet believed he was being kicked in chest. :( :( :mad:

I was mostly worried about the pain, I would imagine a sort of dislocated collarbone poking your windpipe trying to eat, the vet reassured me that otherwisely locke wouldn't have had tried blankets, pajamas and towels.. then I came to think of this, all were reachable higher (on boxes) than where his foodbowl was anyway. we also see no other obvious obstruction in lower body = good news!!! he potties very well, and just saw brown-bluish kitchen towel loggies in the litterbox.

still, we think it's affecting him most uncomfortably right now so he recommended to continue soak the food he likes in a bowl on something a foot higher, and try some prescription food/appetite stimulators if this continues as he didn't eat very much past this week. he also sent locke home with pain killers I asked for. the vet does not thinks he is in pain but I preferably so to test if pain is not the reason, and I would want to wait until after his next breakfast/dinner at a higher height before I start it.

the vet said it IS possible, IF he is in pain, that he'll have a quick-n-fix operation - taking off the edge of that poky bone by sawing it out then re-heals on its own along with muscles closing in place; less pressure I presume.

if that happens, ONLY the owners who gave him to my friend will pay for it. :mad: :mad: I have no problem and am all ready to report on them. my guts didn't really like one of fishy owners when I first met her anyway. I've just emailed her/them for his records, all of it and told them all about this.

jenn, with me since the end of june, locke was never seen by a vet - never had a chance or time until just today.

oh poor my baby boy... he was always so stiffy when I successfully pick him up or gets stiffed, sulks when I tried to. and I just relaized it's his first birthday tomorrow. :(

[Donnaj4962]

Awww, Gina, poor you and Locke! I am so glad that you took him back to the vet! Poor little guy. Many prayers that he heals nicely and no surgery is needed.

[phesina]

Oh, Gina, poor little Sterling Locke.. what a horror story.. so glad he is with you now to finally get the care and love he needs and deserves.

God bless you both.

Love,
Pat and cats

[Taz_Zoee]

:rolleyes: Unbelievable! And these people are breeders??? Poor kitty has been living like this for months now. Who knows what would have happened if he wasn't with you right now.
Gentle pets to Locke.