Jimmy is feeling Good: Ridiculous but wonderful update #46

[jennielynn1970]

I know Sophie had a bunch of meds to help with the Colitis. I think that had to get it under control.

I hope the vet can help Jimmy, and then give you an idea if you need to change his food or not. If high protein is bad for cats with kidney problems, then I wouldn't go to EVO.

Hope there will be help and Jimmy will return to his happy, sweet self.

[Emeraldgreen]

Thank you all for your prayers. They worked!! Jimmy is home and is greatly improved from yesterday. The vet didn't want to give him food until they did the ultrasound this afternoon around 3:30. She told me that afterwards, if he ate, she would discharge him and he could come home. Thankfully he ate so we picked him up around 5:30 this evening.
The vet said he passed that weird looking stool all night. He was on the IV all night as well and he was brighter this morning. The specialist that came in today to do the ultrasound will send the official results back next week but they found that he does have a second kidney but it's very small. His pancreas looked good and so did his liver. His larger kidney appears to have a few stones in it but the vet said they don't seem to be causing him any problems.
The lining of his bowel was thickened and she believes this is where the infection is. She sent him home with Metronidazole and a liquid antibiotic that is cherry flavoured. Not Jimmy's favourite flavour! I think it's a human med that is used for pets as well and would explain the cherry flavour.
They also sent him home with a small bag of Medi-Cal Gastro dry food. I'm supposed to give him this for awhile and then re-introduce the Wellness Holistic kibble again.

Moesha wrote:

Do you know, it hit me in my sleep last night about the high protein food and one kidney. I forget that protein isn't good for the kidneys. That's the opposite of what I deal with with Morgan and the diabetes. It was just funny that I was sleeping and thought of that and remembered it this morning. Hoping all goes well today.
Today 04:25 AM

Thank you for posting this thought. I shared it with the vet and she even said 'hmmm, that is a good thought and makes sense!' So no more Taste of the Wild'. It is working very well for some of my other cats (especially George) so I'm so glad to have found it (thanks krazyaboutkatz ) but Jimmy reacted to it the same way he did to Innova Evo and it was my fault for not realizing what was going on. It was just too hard on his system and it may be the kidney issue with one being very small and the other doing most of the work.

But on top of all this, I think there was something else going on. While we were driving home Jimmy let out a howl and I looked into the cage and saw him straining to go. He was really in pain and having difficulty. When we got home I checked it out and he had pooped out these threads! There were 3 or 4 of them and they were about 3 inches long. They weren't worms, I could see the actual freyed fabric! I went into their room and found 3 things that could be the culprit. The carpet cat condo that has got rope wrapped around parts of it that is quite freyed and another scratching post thing with balls on ropes that is freyed and an antique chair I recently put in their room that has upholstry that is falling apart. I took them all out because Jimmy has been eating one of them and I think these threads were somehow stuck in his intestines. He was really howling when he 'got rid of them' on the way home. I put them in a plastic baggy to take to the vet to see what she thinks. Maybe because he is so ultrasensitive, it caused some kind of infection??

Anyway, here are a couple of pics of Jimmy with his now completely bald stomach. He's got stripes on his belly skin just like a trout! I think he is a shadow tabby. When you look closely at his fur in the sunlight you can see stripes.

It's 1,000.00 later in 24 hours but I couldn't be happier to have my guy back. Thank you all for your amazing prayers. They really, really worked!

[gini]

Prayers are being offered for you and Jimmy. What a beautiful guy he is - and I know how heartsick this has made you.

I will just pray that he gets better each day.

[Catty1]

OH MY! Dear Jimmy, how WONDERFUL to see you at home and looking so relaxed...but of course, you are with your meowmy!

Lara, wow - I bet those threads COULD have thrown the whole digestive system into an uproar...I wonder if a tougher cardboard scratching post would be okay for him? But he is back in His Home and can make buddies with the new kids!

When you said $1,000...lol, I remembered many years ago when my sister had to rush one of her boys to the emergency vet in Vancouver. "Meatball" was breathing very strangely and with difficulty. Her roommate took Meatball down to the vet - I think my sister had lost the ability to drive by then - and the next morning, he was transferred to the regular vet.

Darcia (my sister) and Mom were talking on the phone. Mom is nuts about cats too, and would do anything for her furbabies, but when she heard that Meatball's overnight was $1,000 she was startled and exclaimed, "One thousand dollars! Are you going to PAY that?"

"NO, mom," replied Darcia in that sardonic way, "I'm gonna crush his skull with a ROCK. What do YOU think?!"

Of course - we will do it all for our furkids.

Give Jimmy a snuggle for me.

[Moesha]

I'm so glad to hear Jimmy is home and hopefully on the way to recovery! Those kitties eating things they aren't supposed to are causing troubles. At least they have loving moms and dads to take care of them.

[Medusa]

What a sweet face Jimmy has! I'm so glad that he's on the mend. You may be $1000 lighter in the bank balance but oh so much richer in your life now w/Jimmy back home and getting healthier. (At least this is what I tell myself when it's my checkbook. LOL) I'm so happy for you both.

[jazzcat]

I'm glad he is back home. I bet you did discover the culprit. I would imagine that could have really wreaked havoc internally.

[Emeraldgreen]

Thanks again everybody for your posts and prayers. Jimmy is continuing to improve each day. He's being so good about letting me squirt meds down his throat. And he LOVES the new Medi-Cal Gastro diet. He never liked the Hypo-Gastro diet made by Medi-Cal have but this new diet that is just Gastro they've produced is very popular with everybody. I'm going to ask the vet if she thinks it would be okay to feed it on a regular basis to Jimmy, Paddy, Wallace, Mink and Stinky. I will continue to give Georgie, Oliver, Teenie, Tiny and Sneakers the Taste of the Wild because they're all doing very well on it, especially George.

Here is a video I took this morning of Jimmy and Paddy after breakfast. They're both washing up after a good meal. And below is another picture of Jimmy's shaved tummy. He's so bald, it is going to take forever to grow back all that hair!



Video:

[Moesha]

I wanna squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze those kitties!!!

[Emeraldgreen]

I wanna squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze those kitties!!!

LOL! Paddy is particularily squeezy.

[Randi]

Aww Jimmy, it's so good to see you're back home!! A good wash and a rest is just what you need - and then lots of cuddles.

I'm glad to hear Jmmy likes his new diet too. I loved the video, both Jimmy and Paddy are gorgeous!! Please give them some kisses from me!

Keep getting better, Jimmy!

[MoonandBean]

I typed "Jimmy" in the search area so I could catch up with how he's doing. I was so relieved to hear he is home and doing better! I'm sure fibers could cause colitis...he's lucky he has such a smart and caring family!

[Catty1]

Awwww...Jimmy with his speckled trout tummy! What an adorable face washing session. It's really clear that Jimmy is feeling happy and relaxed.

[jennielynn1970]

I am so coming to Canada and stealing me some kitties, lol! They are just too darn cute!!

[Emeraldgreen]

I am so coming to Canada and stealing me some kitties, lol! They are just too darn cute!!

LOL. Someone else said that in a post, maybe you guys can carpool! heehee

Unfortunately Jimmy was not doing well this morning and gave us a scare. He has been doing so well for 2 weeks. I was even saying to my husband that I haven't seen Jimmy be so frisky and look so good in years and wondered if maybe he had this infection for a long time?!?
Last night he ate dinner and all seemed normal but this morning he wouldn't get out of bed just like 2 weeks ago. He wouldn't eat and then he used the litterbox and produced some more of that awful looking stool that lookes like intestines. It was just a little bit but I immediately called the vet's office. It is of course Sunday and their machine said that a different vet hospital was on call. I called the pager and the vet called me back. She must have been at a party because I could barely hear her over all the people in the background and I don't know how much she could hear me. Anyway, I told her the whole story and how he had been on IV fluids overnight, had xrays, an ultrasound, bloodwork and a urinalysis. She said that he has probably had a flare up and needs to get back on the metronidazole. My vet only gave me one week's worth of it and 2 weeks of the Novomoxan liquid. I asked her if I could get some metronidazole from her and she said that she would have to do all the tests all over again on Jimmy and all at emerg fee rates. During regular hours, it was over a 1,000 so I could only imagine what she was talking. It really seemed that she was trying to talk me out of bringing him in. I was so mad when I got off the phone. This is the holistic vet that I was planning to bring Jimmy to in the near future once we got over this hurdle but not anymore. She was so cold and she sounded like she couldn't care less about his condition, just the bill that it might generate. I've spoken with a ton of vets during emergency hours (just as I'm sure we all have) and for the most part, they are reasonable and somewhat caring.
Anyway, I decided to monitor him knowing that if I had to bring him in, I would. I turned the heat up so he would be nice and warm in our room and spent alot of time with him. I finally got him to eat some of the dry Gastro kibbles soaked in water and then I found a jar of baby food in the cupboard leftover from Tiger's ordeal. He ate about a tablespoon of that. He seems brighter now. I will take him in the morning if he is worse and will pick up some Metronidazole from the clinic when I go to drop off Muddy's urine sample.