[Trisha]

I hope all goes well at the vets, good luck x

[Snap Dragon]

I hope it went well at the vets and that poor Toby is geting some much needed TLC?

Thinking of you both (and the poor vet that was on the receiving end )

[Eumaeus]

OK - well there's good and bad news.  The good news is that it wasn't a car accident or any other physical trauma. The bad news is that he is a poorly cat still.  He apparently has a badly infected cut inside his mouth - which is (in the nurse's words) rotten and they couldn't do anything to stitch?  And he is badly dehydrated.  But I am collecting him at 5.30.  They are lendign me a dog crate or something similar to keep him in so that he can stay at the barn which is his home, but still be confined so that i can keep an eye on him.  She said not to give him tinned food as it is probably too salty so I have a bag of frozen haddock  - haddock?!?!? even I don't get to eat haddock LOL.  But the fishmongers was closed and they didn't have frozen coley in the supermarket so haddock it is unti lI can get coley tomorrow LOL

Flipping cat had better eat it is all I can say

Anyway - so hopefully he will be on the mend soon - just hope he does mend properly.  Any advice on nursing cats?

Thanks

Eumaeus

[Casey76]

Boiled chicken and mashed up boiled eggs are also good

[Snap Dragon]

Aah bless him

Can't really offer any advice - He'll be happier once he's home and in familiar surroundings.

I hope he's feeling better soon.

[Caralou]

Home made cat food so no salt etc in it such as a high protein mix of either cooked white fish, liver or chicken with rice and vegetables at a 60:20:20 ration along with a measure of multivitamins blended together if you have any/can get any - I use SA37 Vitamin Supplement as it is high quality and gives them everything they need in the mix. Blend it together if he is struggling to eat and then just add some extra chopped fish/meat bits into it. I have spare SA37 and will happily post it to you if you would like me to.

Also, some raw sliced kidney or liver in small quantities will benefit him and obviously lots and lot of fresh water.

I hope he perks up soon x

[Eumaeus]

- well, the soap opera continues.

Toby is home with us for a few days.  When I collected him from teh vets, the nurse said that he is very dehydrated and in need of lots of TLC, but that she found fly eggs on him when she tried to clean him up - apparently if they are ill the flies take advantage!?!?

So I decided it was better to bring him home - less chance of f lies than at the barn, and I am here to check on him more often. 

He still doesn't look very well, but he has had soem milk and some water, and a little bit of fish, and a little bit of a special tinned convalescence diet that the nurse gave me (it looks like pate).  So he must be feeling a little better - early days yet but at least he is drinking

But the funny thing is the reaction of my geriatric house cat.   She took one look at him in his cage and went and sat on the balcony - every now and again she would come back, peer at him, and go off outside again.  Until I put out his food - she obviously thinks the pate food smells really good as, since I put tha tout for him, she has been trying to find a way into his cage to pinch it LOL

Caralou - thank you for the recipe - I will try and organise that tomorrow.  And I will see if I can get the SA37 here - if not I may well call on you if I may

Eumaeus

[Hawkins]

Good luck with Toby sounds as if your doing a fab job already and you have definately saved his life. Fingers crossed from me and mine. (thats lots of fingers and paws and legs).

[Caralou]

The pate stuff is really good for building them back up and tends to be better balanced than normal wet cat food. I've just double checked and have lots of SA37 in the cupboard (I don't make as much homemade food since Thorsy passed away as it was him that couldn't eat shop food) so if you can't get it I will get this over to you.

I'm glad he is eating and drinking and that your house cat is only slightly put out  I bet the geriatric mog gets as much special food as he does - it would be mean not to 

[Wild Pony]

Him letting you pick him up is sign he wanted you to help him. Bon Chance......

[Hawkins]

Any news on how Toby is getting on.

[Eumaeus]

Hi - well, the good news is that Toby is still with us.

He has been a very poorly cat.  Having had one long lasting anti-biotic, he was improving so they then gave him a one week course of daily injections and then he has had another long lasting one.  He didn't eat/drink at all for days and I was syringing electrolyte fluids into him.  The vet nurse started to think that he maybe had kidney damage from hs week in hiding  

But, he suddenly turned a corner. In dsperation one morning, after offering him just about every kind of mashed food imaginable (I even made him a liver milkshake LOL) I gave up one morning and just gave him a portion of what Blackie the house cat has for breakfast.  Tinned food with go-cat mixed into it.  He ate the GO-CAT!!!!!!  The hours I have spent making "eat through a straw" meals for him and the first thing he eats is BISCUIT - I was NOT impressed!!

Anyway - he is here at home still and most of th etim eis out of his cage.  We still put him in it if we want the doors and windows open as, if he were to disappear off then he would probably die at the moment - he is still so thin.  He saw the vet againlast week, and he reckons it will take him a couple of months to recover completely and that he needs to stay here at home until then.  But he is acting like a normal cat - eaing, drinking,sleeping on the bed/has made good friends with Blackie and still adores the dog.  He is like a puppy - wherever I go in the flat, he follows me gazing at me.  I'm not veyr good at cat language, but I think he has got quite fond of me

It was quite funny - when he started to improve, I couldn't figure out how h ewasn't losing any more weight with the tiny amounts he was eating.  We were letting him out of his cage at night at that point.  I got up in the middle of the night and found him up to his shoulders in the bag of dog food

So all in all, he is well.  I don't know if he is going to be happy living here now and we now have another house cat - or whether we will take him back to the barn when he is well enough.  Part of me thinks that he is settling in here and will probably be happiest staying here by the time mhe has been here another 2 months.  But he has always been such an outdoor cat that maybe he will be happier outdoors. Only time will tell on that one I think.

Anyway - thank you all

Eumaeus

[Caralou]

I'm so glad he is on the mend  The go-cat reminds me of a foster kit I had in who was so poorly with cat flu she would barely eat or drink and I was getting so worried. One of the other cats brought a mouse in and left it on the stairs - she got it and devoured it in seconds  :blink: I was so relieved she had eaten but - yuck yuck yuck!

I have a feeling he will be making himself quite comfy in the house now though 

[madcat]

He ate the GO-CAT!!!!!!  The hours I have spent making "eat through a straw" meals for him and the first thing he eats is BISCUIT - I was NOT impressed!!

I'm sorry but I couldn't help but laugh at this ....  Just so cat like!     Either deaths door and mega treats or cussed!  And the mouse ... when our champion mouser Tiges was dying of cancer and had got to the stage where outside was something you just looked at and food wasn't impressive (she would have adored a liver milk shake - I never thought of that!) .. Blondie used to bring her in the odd mouse to play with and sample the best bits.

I think you have got yourself another house cat ...  he knows which way his bread is buttered ... 

So glad to hear it is going okay ... 

[arwen]

Oh! Thank goodness he's doing better and  at the dog food.

You've brought me out of hiding to say that I've been on a knife edge followign the story through to hope he pulls out of it okay. Phew - now I can go back to the drama on the tv !!