Pumpkin is doing FANTASTIC!!! He's gained a lot of weight and the antibiotics that we had him on are working!!! We are still on them, but we are go for surgery on the hernia. We originally thought that it would heal on its own but it appears to still be there. We have decided that due to the cost that we will do the hernia surgery & splint the two legs. Its less than absolutely ideal, but it will work. We just have to wait for the two legs to heal naturally (it may take months), and then the splits/casts come off. He may be a hobbly little kitty but he'll be a happily mobile one. Even now with his splints he is very mobile, quick and happy.
He is eating on his own and when they do the hernia surgery they will remove the E tube. In fact, he is eating like crazy so much so that he is allowed very small kibble now in addition to his wet & moist food. So Pumpkin is being treated like a king. Litter box on the bed, a big water bowl, one bowl of liquid high nutrition, then the moist spot's stew, and finally the kibble for a feast of his choosing. He gets lots of lovin's from me, H, and J.
Once he gets into recovery we will introduce him VERY slowly to C (our other cat). She isn't too thrilled (she's used to be top cat even with the dog around), and we don't want her to beat up on him if we can help it. So we will have supervised interaction at all times. That way if it seems to stress him out too much in the beginning we can put him in his own room again. Eventually C will at least have to tolerate Pumpkin's existence so that is what we will be working with.
All of you have been so wonderful and supportive. I just can't ever thank you enough. Things are looking great!
2-8-11: Gaining Weight & Healing Well! Great Progress!
Pumpkin went back for his follow-up appointment today.
He has gained half a pound since the vet saw him on Friday! That is great because that means that the nutrition schedule plus him eating as much as he can on his own is paying off for his recovery.
There are no new abscesses & all of the old ones have healed almost completely. This is a good sign that the antibiotics that we have him on are actually working. We hope to have him free of infection very soon.
He has another follow-up appointment a week from today to check his progress. Hopefully we will have more improvement to report. As of now things are looking hope. I really pray that it continues that way!
Thank you so much for all of your emails, private messages & well-wishes. Please keep them coming, our Pumpkin is being a fighter. We will kick this infections bootie and then onward towards surgery then recovery. Before long we will have a furry little survivor to snuggle!
Here is an updated picture. The "Cone of Shame" has been removed because he has proven to be a good little kitty about not picking at his bandages. So he looks miserable in this picture but that is only because the C.o.S annoyed him greatly lol.
He also got these bandages changed to neon pink. ;)
He has gained half a pound since the vet saw him on Friday! That is great because that means that the nutrition schedule plus him eating as much as he can on his own is paying off for his recovery.
There are no new abscesses & all of the old ones have healed almost completely. This is a good sign that the antibiotics that we have him on are actually working. We hope to have him free of infection very soon.
He has another follow-up appointment a week from today to check his progress. Hopefully we will have more improvement to report. As of now things are looking hope. I really pray that it continues that way!
Thank you so much for all of your emails, private messages & well-wishes. Please keep them coming, our Pumpkin is being a fighter. We will kick this infections bootie and then onward towards surgery then recovery. Before long we will have a furry little survivor to snuggle!
Here is an updated picture. The "Cone of Shame" has been removed because he has proven to be a good little kitty about not picking at his bandages. So he looks miserable in this picture but that is only because the C.o.S annoyed him greatly lol.
He also got these bandages changed to neon pink. ;)
2-4-11 Updates!
This morning we had to take Pumpkin to the vet again. The good news is that he is eating a lot more out of the bowl all by himself. We still use the E-Tube, but we allow him to try to eat as much as possible by himself first. The bad news is that when I was looking him over as he was eating I discovered a very nasty ruptured abscess on his shoulder area. Luckily, there was no puss or other malignant material oozing from it. It appeared to just be a gaping hole right down to his shoulder muscle (sorry TMI). So we got that taken care of at the vet & dressed.
Originally the vet's idea was that he was hit by a car to receive these injuries. They have since revised it to a dog attack of some kind. We know there have already been two cats in our area that have been viciously mauled by a couple of dogs. So it is not entirely outside the realm of possibility that this is what happened to Pumpkin during his time away from our house.
The reason they have this new theory is because of the type of bacterial infection we believe that Pumpkin has. L-Form bacteria has no cell wall. Normally antibiotics will go to kill a bug like this one by attaching to the cell wall. Since L-Form B's don't have a cell wall they are extraordinarily hard to culture & treat. We have doubled his dosage of doxycyclin which is a heavy duty medication aimed at treating this type of infection. Dr. V was encouraged by the fact that the abscess was "dry" and that manipulation of the wound didn't produce any oozing or anything. That has him in the mind of the fact that the drugs would be working. That is why we are ramping it up. Hopefully he will respond, but the way the infection is manifesting itself is by these abscesses that we don't know about until they rupture.
The other bit of good news is that the hernia seems to be a solved issue. The doctor was not concerned and it appears to be healing by itself. :)
So right now we are continuing as is with the feeding/eating schedule, his pain meds, and just dosing the ever-living crud out of that infection with all we can throw at it. Hopefully this will work. Keep up those prayers and well-wishes, we certainly do appreciate it.
Surgery Cancelled due to possible bacterial infection.
UPDATE as of February 1rst PM.
The surgery for Pumpkin was canceled. We just got the call. The vet just called after they put him under. They found an abscess on Pumpkin's back and they don't know what the origin of the infection is. It is similar to the issue that they discovered on his paw about a week ago. They are running cultures to see what they can do and starting him a different antibiotic. We can't do anything until we figure out what this mystery infection is.
I am sad, and don't really know what we are looking at. For a minute there I thought it was going so well. We will just have to see. :(
The surgery for Pumpkin was canceled. We just got the call. The vet just called after they put him under. They found an abscess on Pumpkin's back and they don't know what the origin of the infection is. It is similar to the issue that they discovered on his paw about a week ago. They are running cultures to see what they can do and starting him a different antibiotic. We can't do anything until we figure out what this mystery infection is.
I am sad, and don't really know what we are looking at. For a minute there I thought it was going so well. We will just have to see. :(
Blood work is low, but improving. Hernia Surgery today!
Good news to report! We are happy to find out that Pumpkin's blood work came back with improving results. His red blood cell count is still low, but steadily improving. We went ahead with surgery today for the hernia in the abdominal wall. So, today is that surgery & they will keep him at the Vet Hospital overnight for observation. We should be able to pick him up tomorrow with more instructions for his care. Thank you so much for all your prayers, well-wishes, and positive thoughts for our furry little warrior.
Pumpkin truly is a rockstar! We are going to keep on rocking and as always we will keep you updated on his progress. Here's to more good news in the future. Keep those prayers coming, and there will be more pictures soon.
Pumpkin truly is a rockstar! We are going to keep on rocking and as always we will keep you updated on his progress. Here's to more good news in the future. Keep those prayers coming, and there will be more pictures soon.
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