Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
25 days old
Spent most of today in tears.
Mouse's appetite is a lot less than normal. She did however eat one large meal today, so that made me feel a bit better. She had fluids and enemas twice today, and her poops have increased and that makes me feel a bit better also.
The problem is that the hard mass in her stomach seems very large to me, and I really can't imagine how it could be feces. I have a good idea how big her intestines are from the x-rays, and if her colon is swollen to be as big as this mass is, then I just have no hope! I read that if it is constipation then rubbing and massaging it might increase blood flow to the area and help. So I have been doing that as much as possible.
We go back into the vet's office tomorrow, I will show them how I have been giving enemas and fluids to make sure that I am doing it correct. I will also talk to the vet more about this mass.
I had a rat that had a tumor and the vet (different vet, different state) removed it with out a hitch and she lived another year (rats only live 3 years total, and she lived to be an old lady). So maybe if they can do surgery on a rat, maybe they can do it on a small kitten? Just trying to keep my spirits up.
Anyway, here are the pictures we took today, and the video. Mouse will twist while I am petting her so that I am rubbing her hard stomach, so that is what she is doing in the video. Also in the video are my two dogs, Kody and Daisy.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
24 days old
Mouse is 24 days old today. She had her 4th veterinarian appointment today, and she is due back on Monday.
In the past week she has gained exactly 1.5oz. A normal kitten her age would have gained around 3oz. The fact that she is gaining weight is a good sign and we have been trying to look to the positives.
Two days ago I noticed her stomach looking bloated and that it felt hard to the touch on one side. I was very worried and yesterday when we took her to the vet. The doctor didn't know what it was so they did some x-rays. The inside of a kitten's abdomen is filled with fluid so it was impossible to tell what the mass was. We ruled out her kidney because the area was closer to her ribs than where he thought her kidney was. We also ruled out a tumor because of her extremely young age and the placement.The only thing the mass could be then is severe constipation or an enlarged organ.
The vet yesterday gave her an enema and IV fluids. And last night she did have some bowl movements, but not much. Today we went back and they showed me how to administer fluids under the skin and to give an enema at home, since home treatments are less expensive and I am going into medicine and injections are not new to me.
Today after her enema she had some really awesome bowl movements (I know, not the word i would have used to describe poop before last week!). She went a lot and we are hoping that indeed the mass is fecal matter backed up and that with these treatments will get better.
The problem with constipation in kittens is that the longer the poop stays in her colon the dryer and harder it becomes, making it even harder to move. This in turn makes the wall of her colon weaker and could bring on a whole nother situation.
I gave my first injection of fluids to her tonight, it was not as easy as they make it look. I did it though, and am confident that tomorrow it will be easier. And tomorrow after I administer the fluids I also have to give her an enema...oh joy...
I cant take video right now, and I'm sure not many people would want to see me giving Mouse an enema or injections anyway. But I will take pictures, because you all should know by now that I am not faint at heart to post some extreme pictures. This is after all her story and right now poop is a big part of her story!
Here is a picture of her after her bath yesterday. We will be taking more when we are less stressed about her health.
In the past week she has gained exactly 1.5oz. A normal kitten her age would have gained around 3oz. The fact that she is gaining weight is a good sign and we have been trying to look to the positives.
Two days ago I noticed her stomach looking bloated and that it felt hard to the touch on one side. I was very worried and yesterday when we took her to the vet. The doctor didn't know what it was so they did some x-rays. The inside of a kitten's abdomen is filled with fluid so it was impossible to tell what the mass was. We ruled out her kidney because the area was closer to her ribs than where he thought her kidney was. We also ruled out a tumor because of her extremely young age and the placement.The only thing the mass could be then is severe constipation or an enlarged organ.
The vet yesterday gave her an enema and IV fluids. And last night she did have some bowl movements, but not much. Today we went back and they showed me how to administer fluids under the skin and to give an enema at home, since home treatments are less expensive and I am going into medicine and injections are not new to me.
Today after her enema she had some really awesome bowl movements (I know, not the word i would have used to describe poop before last week!). She went a lot and we are hoping that indeed the mass is fecal matter backed up and that with these treatments will get better.
The problem with constipation in kittens is that the longer the poop stays in her colon the dryer and harder it becomes, making it even harder to move. This in turn makes the wall of her colon weaker and could bring on a whole nother situation.
I gave my first injection of fluids to her tonight, it was not as easy as they make it look. I did it though, and am confident that tomorrow it will be easier. And tomorrow after I administer the fluids I also have to give her an enema...oh joy...
I cant take video right now, and I'm sure not many people would want to see me giving Mouse an enema or injections anyway. But I will take pictures, because you all should know by now that I am not faint at heart to post some extreme pictures. This is after all her story and right now poop is a big part of her story!
Here is a picture of her after her bath yesterday. We will be taking more when we are less stressed about her health.
Here are a couple pictures that I snapped today at the vets office.
Here are some pictures from today (also taken from my phone) of some of our other pets. The cat is Kiko (2 years old) and the dog is my baby Kody (5 years old).
Sunday, April 18, 2010
18 Days Old
Today Mouse is 18 days old. Her and I got a good routine going and I think that we are both more adjusted and happy because of it.
With the doctor wanting me to feed every 2 hours I decided that I would start the time from after her feeding, so really she starts eating every three hours, but most of the time her whole process takes upwards of 30 minutes so I start the two hours from when she is done eating.
She had some serious blood in her poop today, but she has proven to be a trooper and produce some good poops also.
Yesterday afternoon I made a stuffed toy for her to sleep with. It has two small 'legs' and a big body. My plan was for it to be like the momma cat with a couple kittens. It looks really weird, as you can see in the pictures below, but it definitely serves its purpose and Mouse seems to like it. I filled the very middle of the big part with little packets of dry, uncooked, long-grain rice, and did the same with the little 'legs' and I heat this in the microwave for 2 minutes every feeding so it is nice and warm when she sleeps next to it. It is not hot to the touch like the sock is, and it doesn't need to be covered for her to sleep next to it after microwaving.
If you look in this picture there is what looks like a pillow under the towels, it is a tube sock half filled with dry, uncooked, long-grain rice. I microwave it for 2 minutes every time I feed her so it's warm when she lays down. It gets REALLY HOT, so I cover it with 3 layers of towels that Mouse can NOT get through to keep the heat from being too much for her to lay against. The sock will stay warm for around 4 hours in this situation. If it was uncovered it would last for about 2 hours. It is still warm when I take her out for her feedings every 2 hours.
Mouse has started to potty on her own, leaving me presents in her bed with her. This results in her going through about 4 towels today. The problem is that she is too weak to use a litter box any time soon and she already has burns from not being properly washed after urinating and defecating.
Tomorrow we are supposed to go to the vet for a follow up appointment. I am going to have to call first thing in the morning, because my husband is in the military and had over night duty today, so he will not be coming home from work until AFTER work tomorrow (3-4pm), where usually I could just take him to work and use the car, I can't do that tomorrow. I will call and reschedule the appointment for Tuesday morning. Hopefully I will have my truck back tomorrow. It was recked in December and we are supposed to be able to pick it up from the mechanic tomorrow (well really, we were supposed to pick it up two weeks ago...but that is a whole nother story!)
Mouse is currently sleeping on my lap after a half bath that she just got. Because she has been pooping in her bed her hind end has a lot of crusted poop on it that I just can't get off with baby wipes. It is much kinder to her skin to just have a warm bath to help remove all that, rather than me pick and scrub her tender rear end.
At the vet tomorrow I will be asking him about diaper cream. My husband said that there is a kind called A&D that is supposed to be the best for new born skin/sensitive skin. I am going to ask if that would help the burns from the urine.
Mouse weighed 119g when I weighed her at noon today, I weighed her again an hour ago before her feeding and she weighed 228g. I will have to compare my scale to the doctor's scale, but yesterday she weighed 114g, so she is up 5-14 grams!! That is awesome! I think I will weigh her most every feeding time just to keep track - after the potty, before the bottle - of course.
I would just like to add, she doesn't do anything but eat, sleep, and potty, so that is why all the pictures are usually of her doing those things :)
So here are the rest of the pictures from today, I made some video but they were too dark, I'll try again tomorrow! I hope you enjoy seeing her as much as I do!
With the doctor wanting me to feed every 2 hours I decided that I would start the time from after her feeding, so really she starts eating every three hours, but most of the time her whole process takes upwards of 30 minutes so I start the two hours from when she is done eating.
She had some serious blood in her poop today, but she has proven to be a trooper and produce some good poops also.
Yesterday afternoon I made a stuffed toy for her to sleep with. It has two small 'legs' and a big body. My plan was for it to be like the momma cat with a couple kittens. It looks really weird, as you can see in the pictures below, but it definitely serves its purpose and Mouse seems to like it. I filled the very middle of the big part with little packets of dry, uncooked, long-grain rice, and did the same with the little 'legs' and I heat this in the microwave for 2 minutes every feeding so it is nice and warm when she sleeps next to it. It is not hot to the touch like the sock is, and it doesn't need to be covered for her to sleep next to it after microwaving.
If you look in this picture there is what looks like a pillow under the towels, it is a tube sock half filled with dry, uncooked, long-grain rice. I microwave it for 2 minutes every time I feed her so it's warm when she lays down. It gets REALLY HOT, so I cover it with 3 layers of towels that Mouse can NOT get through to keep the heat from being too much for her to lay against. The sock will stay warm for around 4 hours in this situation. If it was uncovered it would last for about 2 hours. It is still warm when I take her out for her feedings every 2 hours.
Mouse has started to potty on her own, leaving me presents in her bed with her. This results in her going through about 4 towels today. The problem is that she is too weak to use a litter box any time soon and she already has burns from not being properly washed after urinating and defecating.
Tomorrow we are supposed to go to the vet for a follow up appointment. I am going to have to call first thing in the morning, because my husband is in the military and had over night duty today, so he will not be coming home from work until AFTER work tomorrow (3-4pm), where usually I could just take him to work and use the car, I can't do that tomorrow. I will call and reschedule the appointment for Tuesday morning. Hopefully I will have my truck back tomorrow. It was recked in December and we are supposed to be able to pick it up from the mechanic tomorrow (well really, we were supposed to pick it up two weeks ago...but that is a whole nother story!)
Mouse is currently sleeping on my lap after a half bath that she just got. Because she has been pooping in her bed her hind end has a lot of crusted poop on it that I just can't get off with baby wipes. It is much kinder to her skin to just have a warm bath to help remove all that, rather than me pick and scrub her tender rear end.
At the vet tomorrow I will be asking him about diaper cream. My husband said that there is a kind called A&D that is supposed to be the best for new born skin/sensitive skin. I am going to ask if that would help the burns from the urine.
Mouse weighed 119g when I weighed her at noon today, I weighed her again an hour ago before her feeding and she weighed 228g. I will have to compare my scale to the doctor's scale, but yesterday she weighed 114g, so she is up 5-14 grams!! That is awesome! I think I will weigh her most every feeding time just to keep track - after the potty, before the bottle - of course.
I would just like to add, she doesn't do anything but eat, sleep, and potty, so that is why all the pictures are usually of her doing those things :)
So here are the rest of the pictures from today, I made some video but they were too dark, I'll try again tomorrow! I hope you enjoy seeing her as much as I do!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
First full day!
Last night at 9pm we brought home our newest family member.
She is a 17 day old calico kitten that was orphaned at a little over a week old. She was the runt of her litter. She weighs 4 ounces (114 grams), which is actually the weight of a new born kitten. She should be three times that weight by now.
Her name came to my husband in his sleep, literally! Last night when I came to bed (hours after he had been asleep), he rolled over and said, "Where is the mouse?" And the name was born!
She saw the veterinarian today, he said her outlook is good as long as she puts on weight. We are feeding her ever 2 hours as per our vet's advice, and feeding her as if she weighs 200 grams (closer to what she should weigh).
Her appetite is wonderful, and I have to watch it to make sure that she doesn't eat too much at each sitting. I have to fill the bottle with about twice what she should be eating to keep the nipple full so she doesn't suck in air.
She has not had a solid poop and the doctor put her on antibiotics to try to firm the stools up. She is also bleeding from her rectum when she potties and hopefully the antibiotics will take care of that also. The blood may be caused by Coccidia (a parasite), but the medication to treat that isn't recommended for a kitten her size, so we have another appointment on Monday (2 days away) to see what the next step will be.
She pees like a champ and is well hydrated. So even with the runny poop she isn't dehydrated or anemic.
So, with out further ado...pictures!
She is a 17 day old calico kitten that was orphaned at a little over a week old. She was the runt of her litter. She weighs 4 ounces (114 grams), which is actually the weight of a new born kitten. She should be three times that weight by now.
Her name came to my husband in his sleep, literally! Last night when I came to bed (hours after he had been asleep), he rolled over and said, "Where is the mouse?" And the name was born!
She saw the veterinarian today, he said her outlook is good as long as she puts on weight. We are feeding her ever 2 hours as per our vet's advice, and feeding her as if she weighs 200 grams (closer to what she should weigh).
Her appetite is wonderful, and I have to watch it to make sure that she doesn't eat too much at each sitting. I have to fill the bottle with about twice what she should be eating to keep the nipple full so she doesn't suck in air.
She has not had a solid poop and the doctor put her on antibiotics to try to firm the stools up. She is also bleeding from her rectum when she potties and hopefully the antibiotics will take care of that also. The blood may be caused by Coccidia (a parasite), but the medication to treat that isn't recommended for a kitten her size, so we have another appointment on Monday (2 days away) to see what the next step will be.
She pees like a champ and is well hydrated. So even with the runny poop she isn't dehydrated or anemic.
So, with out further ado...pictures!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
