Tiger's Home! 'The butter incident!'

[Catlady711]

In my case I think surgery pix are interesting, especially since I've never seen a surgery like that one.

Sorry Tiger gave you a scare and had to go back to the vets, but I am glad they got him perked up with the injection.

Have you tried warming his food up to get him to eat? Sometimes we do that at work when a cat has a hard time smelling or not wanting to eat. Warming it makes it stinkier. Also things like sardines, tuna, salmon, anchovies are good stinky foods that you could try mixing in with the wet. Maybe that would help him to eat better for you?

Anyways I hope he gets to eating and the recovery goes smooth from here on out. Thanks for the update.

[jennielynn1970]

How's Tiger doing?? Hope he's breathing a little easier!

Gentle hugs sweetie boy!

[Emeraldgreen]

[QUOTE=jenn_librarian]How's Tiger doing?? Hope he's breathing a little easier!

Gentle hugs sweetie boy![/QUOTE

He's hanging in there. The following morning after his prednisone injection, he was in rough shape again. Wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink. I tried everything and he was so miserable. My vet who did the surgery called to see how he was doing and he suggested that I take him back to my local vet and get a depo shot, a steroidal injection that could last up to 4-6 weeks in his system. So, after work yesterday we took Tiger for yet another car ride, poor guy. We got there at 5:25p.m. and they took him to the back, gave him his shot and it only cost 10.70. They already got me on the exam part the day before. But even then, they only charged me a 'brief exam' fee which was 30.00 something dollars. They are really great there. The vet only wanted to give him a 10mg injection because she didn't want to overload him with drugs. She said this would last for 2 weeks and if he needed more after that, she would give him another injection.
It is amazing how fast that stuff kicks in. We got home and he proceeded to eat 2 servings of 9Lives cat tuna and then drank water. I was so happy I cried. (not bawling or anything, LOL but I was just so relieved after all he's been through).
This morning he ate again but only about 3/4 of his meal, but that is still awesome. He was clearly in pain so I gave him his pre-measured syringe of pain meds in his mouth and he has settled in on our bed to sleep.
I'm hoping that each day he gets back to his old self a little more and then when the Transfer Factor arrives in the mail, I can start mixing that into his food. This might be crazy but I'm really thinking that the combination of the surgery and the Transfer Factor is going to give him another year or more. I'm feeling so hopeful. Thanks for asking about him and for everyone's well wishes. I appreciate it so much.
Here he is Snoozin on our bed this morning.

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This pic was taken yesterday. Jimmy hasn't left Tig's side since he got home from surgery. It is so sweet.
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[Medusa]

Aw, how sweet. I love how they take care of each other.

[jennielynn1970]

Awe.... what a sweet, brave boy Tiger is! He has just been through so much (as have you and your family). I really hope that he will get better and that he will have at least a year or more with your big boy.

Don't you love when the kitties stick together when they know that one of them is sick? They really are great to each other.

[Moesha]

Hoping for all the best for Tiger, including a speedy recovery. Thanks for keeping us updated and for including pictures!

[Emeraldgreen]

I can't wait until the Transfer Factor gets here by mail!! As you suggested Catty1, I emailed both the people that had written testimonials about their cats and TF treatment. One didn't reply but the other did and I feel so hopeful. I asked Bethany what dose she gave and then asked how long her cat had lived afterward. I remember reading something about 18 months later but I expected her to reply that her cat had ultimately succumbed to the cancer BUT... this was her reply:

"I started my cat on transfer factor in February of 2006 -- one month
after she was diagnosed. She was doing very poorly. In fact, I'd
actually taken her to the vet to have her put down, but couldn't do it
in the end. That was the week I ordered TF.

She's still alive and well."

-Bethany

She wrote to me again today with this:
"I really hope it works out for you. Don't worry about overdosing
him... I'm not sure it's even possible. I started my cat on 4-5
capsules a day for a few months before backing off to a maintenance
dose."

-Bethany

I hope it comes soon.
Hubby doesn't know I ordered it so I'm going to have some explaining to do but I'll figure that out later. lol

[elleree]

Hey, I'm new here but I read your story about Tiger and I'm very happy he's better. It's silly because I don't know you or him at all since I just joined but I was all happy to hear he's doing better. He certainly looks eager for food in your video. He is a very handsome cat. ^_^

You mentioned some of your cats wheeze but don't seem to have asthma, wel here is a site I found that mentions a bunch of respiratory problems.

http://www.petcaretips.net/feline_re..._problems.html

I don't know that it will help but it won't hurt, anyway.

I hope Tiger keeps getting better.

~Elleree

[Emeraldgreen]

Thanks Jenn, I've hugged the fluffball for you.
And thank you Elleree for the link about respiratory problems. I will check it out! Just got home from work and haven't had a chance but I will definitely look at it. Welcome to PT and thanks for your well wishes for my Tiggy!!

Tiger is hanging in there. I know that doesn't sound great but it's the best way I can describe him right now. For the past few days he's been REALLY mellow and it has been worrying me. He is also getting progressively more snuffly sounding which doesn't make sense. It seems to me that he should be getting better with each day, not worse. So I was thinking that maybe it is a bit of an infection that has cropped up in his nasal area and he might need another Convenia antibiotic injection. I called the vet clinic that did the surgery and they felt that it could help and wouldn't hurt so they told me to set it up with my local vet. We have an 11:00a.m. appointment tomorrow.

The Transfer Factor FINALLY arrived the other day. It came to 65.00 including shipping for 60 caps. I realized that this was going to be fairly expensive for the first few months but after that it will be alot cheaper once he gets down to a few caps a week.

I was so excited when I opened a capsule and mixed it in with some stinky tuna and juice for Tiger but then was horribly disappointed when he sniffed it and walked away!! He is so sensitive to what's in his food, it drives me crazy.
So, I mixed half a capsule into some salmon cream cheese which he ate. He later had another half capsule mixed in with tuna and didn't seem to notice it as much. Today I bought some sardines and got another half capsule into him and hope to get more into him with some salmon cream cheese in a few hours. Giving him 4 caps a day is really going to be a challenge but I'm just glad that he's eating some of it. It's a start.
I've given some to Jimmy too and hope that it will help with his IBD. We'll see how it goes!

[jennielynn1970]

How did it go at the vet? Are his sniffles any better?? Healing thoughts on the way!

[Emeraldgreen]

How did it go at the vet? Are his sniffles any better?? Healing thoughts on the way!

Hi! Well, we went to the vet and I basically promised him it was our last visit because I can't think of what else any vet could do for him at this point, other than this last antibiotic injection. They gave it to him and we were out of there in 15 minutes so that was great.
He has his good days and his not so good days and some are a bit of both! Yesterday morning he was so lethargic but when I got home from work and walked into our bedroom he ran to see me and then promptly started to attack the cat scratching post with all kinds of energy. That made me so happy. His breathing is sometimes so noisy that I'm afraid he can't get enough air and at other times, like this morning, I can barely hear anything.

The Transfer Factor is so hard to hide. He is mr. fussy pants and thinks I've snuck into everything so he carefully scrutinizes everything I offer him to see if I've 'tainted' it with anything before he eats it. The only way I can get it into him is mixed into salmon cream cheese or sardine juice. My husband is not thrilled with overpowering odor of the sardines so I've only done that a few times. I seem to only be able to get a capsule and a half into him a day but at least it's better than nothing. I'm hoping it will help.

Jimmy other the other hand is doing awesome on the TF!!! I sneak a half capsule into his food every couple of days and the change in him is remarkable. He is putting on weight and his coat is so beautiful now. He was looking so gaunt before and his coat was terrible. It builds the immune system and I guess it is helping him with his IBD. And his breathing is a bit better too which was an unexpected surprise. So, I'm very thankful for this!
p.s. Tiger, Paddy and Jim are all out in their outdoor enclosure enjoying the sunshine and doing a bit of grazing! They love their grass.