Vincent Has The Flu (to The Vet’s Again)

Vincent has been drooling thick and smelly saliva again.  It must be the mouth ulcers again. He also sneezes occasionally and two days ago, I noticed specks of blood on the floor (which I attributed to his mouth ulcers).

Also, he has been extremely choosy over food and only wants to eat raw food. Luckily we have our supply of Cubgrub barf (for Pole and Cleo), so that’s what he has been eating.

The worrying thing is that Vincent eats a lot, and yet, he is still very thin. His weight is only about 3.1 t o 3.2kg now. Before this, after the last hospitalisation, his weight went up to 3.4kg. He was doing well for a while, then the drooling started again. Sigh…

So, it’s off to the vet’s again just now.

The vet examined Vincent and we were told that Vincent has the flu. It’s not mild also as his nose is quite wet. There is also a bit of visible blood in his nasal cavity. This explains the specks of blood on the floor the other day. It probably came from his sneezing.

The vet also checked Vincent’s mouth and there are ulcers on both sides at the back of his mouth. However, these ulcers are not as bad as the ones before (those were horrible). Vincent’s recurring gingivitis is most likely an auto-immune condition since most of his teeth have already been extracted and there are no more teeth where the ulcers are.

But right now, the flu is the main concern so we have to address this first.

For the flu, Vincent will be on Clavomox as it’s the most suitable antibiotic to address the sinus issues. It’s twice a day. Oh dear…Vincent is so hard to pill.

As for the weight problem, the vet thinks (and we also hope) that it’s due to the flu.

Vincent was checked for diabetes (using the ear prick test), but it’s negative. So, he is not diabetic.

The other possibility is kidney issues and that would be complicated. He also has been drinking a lot of water. We dearly hope this is due to the hot weather and not kidney issues.

Vincent is a little dehydrated as well today, but not severely so.

Whatever it is, we have to let him heal from the flu first. Other tests, if any, would have to come later. Hopefully, he starts to put on weight after he recovers from the flu.

First things first – we needed a tutorial on “How to pill Vincent” from the vet.

The vet had absolutely no problems pilling him today. He says it is also partly because the ulcers aren’t as bad (as before), so today, Vincent was totally cooperative and  he allowed the vet to tilt his head up and open his mouth wide.

Plonk! The pill went in….SO easily! (that’s because it’s done at the clinic, by the vet)

Tips from the vet:

(1) Place cat on a table.

(2) Wipe cat’s face and head with wet tissue – it’s soothing and it relaxes the cat.

(3) Tilt cat’s head up. If this fails, rub his chin. Most cats like this and will automatically tile their heads.

(4) For Vincent’s case, do not press on his lymph nodes (as they are slightly enlarged right now). Press below the cheekbones on both sides to open the mouth (while the head is tilted up).

(5) Plonk pill straight into throat and it must be right at the centre because both sides have ulcers right now and would be painful if anything touches the ulcers.

Important: When doing the above, the human must stay very calm and relaxed. Cats can sense and hear accelerated heart-beat and they will react to it.

Our pill-at-home plan is to have two humans do it. First human will tilt head and open mouth. Second human will plonk pill in. Must be zero error, fast and efficient. Both humans must be calm and relaxed too.

Wish us luck, please.

Home from the vet’s.

He only weighed 3kg today, on the clinic scales.

But he eats a lot. He loves barf.

He can eat 3-4 helpings each time. And he eats 4 times a day.

This is the Cubgrub barf, which is Pole and Cleo’s staple diet. Tabs and Heidi love it too. So do Cow. Surprisingly, even Bunny can take Cubgrub (without vomiting) but Bunny’s staple diet is still home-cooked food (dare not push our luck too much).  He just gets a bit of Cubgrub, which he absolutely loves.

Our Cubgrub supply is from here: http://cubgrub.my/

Please wish us all the luck in the world in pilling Vincent. Twice a day too.

And we dearly hope his heavy drinking is due to the hot weather.

We hope the Clavomox will take care of the flu as well as the mouth ulcers and whatever problems he may have. That’s a big hope, though.

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2018/08/20/vincent-has-the-flu-to-t..

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