Zurik Is….STABLE!!!!!

I couldn’t wait until 10 days.

Today is the 9th day since Zurik’s steroid dosage was halved and I was already too anxious, so we took Zurik for his check-up.  It’s just one day earlier.  Beat the weekend jam – that’s my excuse!  But I was actually very anxious and wanted to be sure that the half dosage of steroids was doing its job.

Zurik was so good during the entire check-up.

First, it was an all around physical and some questions about his wellbeing. All was okay.

Then, the one test I’ve been waiting for the whole 9 days – the ultrasound.

The left lung cavity – no fluids, as before. Yay!

The right lung cavity – as before. No increase in the fluids!!  Yay!!

This is 27 days after the last fluid aspiration!

But the vet wanted to check the protein level, so a tiny bit of fluids was extracted using a small syringe. It was blood tinged because the needle must have pricked a blood vein on the way in. After spinning, the protein level measured 7.5 on the refractometer. Although it’s an “increase” in reading, but the vet explained that this is probably old fluids and it’s more concentrated now, hence, the “higher” reading. To her, it’s the same as before. There’s no change, but the good thing is that no extra fluids has leaked out to the lung cavity. It’s all of the old fluids only. This is great news!!

And then she said the magical words: Zurik is stable! It’s all good!

After that, Zurik’s blood pressure was taken with the Doppler machine. This took quite a bit of effort and time but good ol’ Zurik was SO good (in fact, too good to be true for a cat). He just sat quietly and patiently, and cooperated fully.  The test had to be repeated a few times. Finally, his blood pressure was measured and it’s normal!  This rules out heart problems.

Also, the fluids only contained protein and there was no other cells, so this rules out tumours or cancers.

So, it’s all good and Zurik is stable!!

We will maintain the steroid dosage at this half dose of 2.5mg per day. And all other supplements will be maintained too. The only extra thing I need to do is to observe his breathing pattern when he is asleep by counting the number of breaths for 15 seconds. But this should only be done when he is asleep.

Zurik was a little dehydrated today, so we came home and did a 200ml subcut.

All is well!! The next check-up is in 2 weeks’ time.

This is a day to be very thankful for!!

Here are some photos I took last night when Zurik sat with me.

A selfie.

Getting some healing sun this morning!

Thank you, dear friends, for rooting for Zurik!  We are so happy that he is stable now.

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2019/05/31/zurik-is-stable/

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AnimalCare is a registered society that promotes caregiving to street animals and helps in their neutering and medical needs. AnimalCare has a Medical Fund, Food Fund and Education Fund.

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