Medical Subsidy For Walter The Cat (Dani Irwan�s)

I’m writing to you this time regarding Walter, the male stray cat who comes to my house & whom I’ve been feeding everyday. After his 2nd visit to the vet on the 11th of June, his fever subsided & he appeared to get better & also regained his appetite. That was good.

So this past Sunday on the 1st of July, I brought him to another vet to have him vaccinated & see if it’s a good time for him to get spayed. When the doctor examined Walter, however, he saw that Walter’s tummy is swollen on both sides. The swelling is bigger on the right side. It is hard to the touch. His penis is also blue-ish. I was surprised, as I didn’t notice this before because Walter was also eating & drinking normally, albeit he doesn’t finish his food sometimes. The doctor asked me if Walter was peeing & pooing normally. Alas, I couldn’t answer this question as he only comes to my house to eat, and then he leaves, so I have never seen nor do I know where he does his poo & peeing business.

With the little info that we have on Walter, the vet suspects that it’s his kidney or liver that is swollen. Palpitating his bladder shows that it is of normal size, so maybe he does pee normally, we don’t know for sure. As for the cause of the tummy swelling, it’s hard to ascertain without further observation & testing. Because I am unable to monitor him closely and also because I was going away to balik kampung for a short while that day, the vet recommended that Walter be hospitalized there at HVC for 3 days until Wednesday, so they can monitor him closely to see if he’s eating, drinking, pooing & peeing normally. They also recommended a blood test to see what’s wrong with his organs. This will be quite costly, however. Walter also seems to have developed a mild case of conjunctivitis which is just starting so the vet will treat that as well.

The total amount for the 3 day’s hospitalization, medications (antibiotics, eye drops, painkiller, etc) will come to RM110 minimum. If the blood test is done, this amount will increase to at least RM260. And this is before any further medication/procedure which is needed to treat Walter’s swollen stomach. Hopefully the swelling will recede naturally with the antibiotics but at this point I don’t know.

I’d like to ask if I can apply for a subsidy for Walter’s treatment this time? I’d appreciate it if you could help me again this time around.

Please see the attached photos of Walter which I took on Sunday.

Looking forward to hear from you, Dr Chan.

More updates:

First of all, the good news. The medication given to Walter & the careful observation over the past 4 days by the vets has successfully made the swelling on the sides of Walter’s tummy recede. His tummy is now back to normal and no internal organ is swollen, thank God. His early conjunctivitis has gone away thanks to the eyedrops. Walter is also eating, drinking, pooing & peeing normally now.

The blood test that was done on Walter came back perfectly normal, except for slightly elevated glucose level. This shows that all his internal organs are intact & functioning as they should.

Now, on to the bad news. The vets then did a snap test on Walter’s blood to see if he has FIV or FeLV. The test came back positive for FIV. So Walter is an FIV positive cat (

What should I do now? The vet told me that he can go on to lead a perfectly normal, reasonably-long life. The only danger to him are secondary infections, brought on by other illnesses, in which case his body won’t be able to fight back that well. However, we do not know if Walter is just a carrier of the FIV virus or if he’s in fact infected by it. A carrier will be just like any other normal cat & his immune system won’t be that compromised. An infected cat however will have the immune system problems stated earlier.

For the time being, he is now back at home with me. I plan to have him vaccinated & then spayed, sometime soon…probably at the end of July when I have more money. I also want Walter to have a forever home, if possible. But would anyone be willing to adopt a cat that’s FIV positive?

The total cost for Walter’s treatment came to RM395. Here’s the breakdown:

a) Consultation fee = RM30

b) Antibiotic & pain killer & vitamins injection = RM25

c) Spot-on flea med = RM20

d) Blood test = RM150

e) Hospitalization = RM80

f) Oral medications = RM10

g) FeLV & FIV snap test = RM80

� � TOTAL = RM395

I’d appreciate if you can help me with a subsidy for the above amount, Dr Chan. It’s quite a bit more than what I expected it to be and what I can afford right now.

I will proceed with filling in the medical subsidy form I’ll attach the official receipt to the form and have it Pos Ekspress’d to you, if possible by tomorrow.

Thank you.

An FIV+ cat can lead a relatively normal life. Generally, with a compromised immune system, they take longer to get well from any illness. Now, we have the experimental drug, RetroMAD1, which has proven to help a considerable number of FIV+ and FeLV+ cats recover faster when they are symptomatic.Dani Irwan is looking for an adopter for Walter. If you are interested, please contact him directly. Thank you.