Just when they thought they could relax a little...

Chang Chang:

They say I had been very 倒蛋 because just when Xin Xin's condition had stabilised, I had to present them with another set of problem.

For the whole of last week, I had been rejecting their offer of wet food mixed with crushed dry kibbles. So they had no choice but to just feed me wet food every meal. Hahaha......

Then I got pickier and rejected my usual Natural Balance Ducky wet food and they had no choice but to feed me Fancy Feast Tender Liver. But I deliberately ate less than 2 small cans a day until I started losing weight. And because I had not been seen drinking, I got a little dehydrated.

On top of that, I slept more often though I am still racing around the house every 2 nights.

They became worried as I had just been given my 2nd steroid injection late Jul for my itchy skin, constant licking and a sore on my lips. The 1st injection in late May managed to reduce the sore and reduced my itchiness but it wore off after 1.5 months before the sore erupted again.

Suspecting that there was something wrong with me after the bad experience with Xin Xin, they packed me up and sent me to the vet last night. My 4th visit in 3 months!

The vet stuck something up my butt, looked at my mouth, pressed my tummy, checked my heartbeat but could not find anything wrong. Then he drew some blood from me and ran tests for thyroid, diabetes and renal failure. He told them that at my young age of 4 1/2 years, the chances of contracting these diseases should be low. And he was right. There was nothing wrong with my blood tests at all. Daddy was happy with the test results but the vet was disappointed though. He kept using the phrase "unfortunately, we do not find abnormalies in the test results so we can't be sure what he has contracted and therefore cannot administer the right treatment."

And then he said he wanted my 大便 and 小便. I don't know what he sprayed near my rear region but my 小弟弟 went numb. OMG! Really scared me! And he tried to push something into my bladder to try extracting 小便 but of course I put up a good fight and he gave up after 5 min. Now Daddy and Mummy would have to collect those at home. :)

Before we left, they even injected some fluid under my skin to reduce my dehydration. I had seen them doing it to Xin Xin before but I never expected that I would be on the receiving end one day.

I was a good boy at home and immediately gave Mummy my 大便 sample. The fecal float test was negative. There was no parasite in me. Now it seems that only the 小便 test can confirm if there is anything medically wrong with me.

I have had this itchy skin condition since I was 1 year old. The condition only got worse in the last 3 months. Over the past 3 years, Daddy and Mummy had tested me for fleas and mites, changed my regular food to low allergen formulas, changed my shampoo to a mild hypoallergenic one, washed all my beddings weekly, experimented with different types of litter, experimented with various household detergents thinking those could be the culprit but none worked. The only thing which briefly worked for 6 months or so was the wheatgerm/evening primrose oil they fed me daily. It sped up my fur molding period but after some time, it stopped working again.

Do you have any suggestions how I can actually heal so that I won't cause them anymore worries? They suspect that my skin condition is the main cause of all my problems and if they can find out that main cause, I will never be itchy again. And when I am not itchy, I will have more appetite and therefore gain weight.

I only got itchy after the ginger furball Yuan Yuan joined the gang in Mar/Apr 05. Maybe it's her? Maybe I am allergic to her. Is that even possible?

Kitties for adoption or fostering

There are a few kitties with their mummy up for fostering/adoption. Currently they are straying around the NUS Science canteen.

This is a pic of them. Cute right?
I infer that they should be rather intelligent and will probably in 3 months time, be able to recite the Newton's laws and also e=mc2 to you. In a year or two, they may also in between naps and head butts with you, design a gadget which will make you listen to their every command.

Come to think of it, my kxbc gang should be rather intelligent too since they have already trained us to revolve our lives around all their needs like scratches, head butts, fetch food, refill water bowls, clean blankets, clear litter boxes........

Day 54 Home 54 - To give or not to give?

We last gave her a sub-cut of 150ml last Fri, 1 Aug, early morning. Since then, we have not given her any and it has been 5 full days. She is still quite hydrated and at no point in time was she dehydrated. Perhaps 1 - 3% at times but she will make up for it later by drinking.

The vet mentioned that no sub-cut is necessary as long as she is hydrated.

Should we then give her another sub-cut of 150ml tonight even though she does not seem to need it?

Day 50 Home 40 - She's heavier now

We sent her to the vet for a monthly checkup this afternoon. Her last visit was on 6 Jul.

She weighs 3.95kg now, 400g heavier than when she first came home on 23 Jun. She used to weigh at around 4.2kg before her illness. The vet was surprised by her weight gain though we are not really since we have been weighing her almost daily and have been monitoring her weight gain closely.

We still syringe feed her 4 times a day with the "horrible tasting" Hill's k/d wet food mixed with a bit of Royal Canin Indoor 27 for flavour. And during our sleeping hours, she finally gets what she desire: Natural Balance Ocean Fish formula mixed with a bit of Royal Canin. That's almost like 1 1/2 can of wet food a day. The only bad thing is that both the RC and NB food are not really suitable for renal/heart patients. She hates her Hill's k/d dry formula and we are now left with a big bag of food. It seems like the whole of Singapore has run out of Waltham's Renal dry formula and the next shipment will only arrive mid/late this month. Waltham also has the renal wet formula but it is not available here.

We knew from our experiences of feeding Chang Chang solely wet food that although the cat will feel full, it will not gain bulk and weight. But when we started replacing some of the wet food with grinded dry food, this formula will assist in weight gain. And sometimes this weight gain is necessary as they need some buffer weight to lose when they fall ill, something like us humans.

If you remember the time when Lee Hsien Loong was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo chemo treatment, he actually added some weight first so that his health will not suffer as much when he starts chemo treatment which may cause him to lose his appetite. I am applying the same theory to Xin Xin in case she falls sick again in the future. Too much weight loss will mean a lesser fighting chance for her.

The vet is glad that she has gained weight, her heartbeat has dropped from 240 to 180 though she still has the murmur (normal range is between 110 to 140) and is now able to jump, run and even fight with the rest of the gang. For the past 3 days, she has even gone back to her bad habit of pooing just outside the litter box. But I am glad for that as I take it as a sign that she is back to almost normal doing normal things.

She has also been drinking more on her own and for the past week or so, we only gave her sub-cuts twice every 3 days at 150ml each time. She still remains pretty well hydrated and the vet told us that we only need to give her the sub-cut when we find her dehydrated. Her Frusimide intake can also be slowly reduced from 1/8 tablet twice a day to 1/8 tablet once a day. That was good news for us as it means all 3 of us will suffer less from the stress of the sub-cut operation.

This was taken in Jan 08 when she was super healthy.


This was taken when she was hospitalised. Her breathing was very ragged then. Her heart pumped furiously. She was weak. She was not eating or drinking. We thought we would lose her that day.

This picture was taken when she first came home after the hospitalisation. She was still weak and sickly.

This was taken just an hour ago. She looks and feels better now.