Hi Kathryn! Gabriel and Gabby are doing well. I have pain medicine that I gave Gabby last night with another dose tonight. Both appear to be as loving as ever. I trust that all will go well with Felix and Ava. Can't wait to see pictures of Leo!
People can tell any of us not to worry, but telling us not to worry about our furkids is about like the vet telling us to keep our furkids calm-it is impossible!
Hi everyone! Well it didn't go as well as we could have hoped for. The surgery itself was fine but apparently Ava had diarrhoea and when the anaesthetic kicked it the diarrhoea came out. So when we picked them up she was still having diarrhoea and they just put her back in the carrier with her brother. It ended up on Felix, on the blankets, the carrier and she was freaking out about being so dirty. To make it worse they had collars on their heads to stop them licking the wounds. So we bought cat shampoo on the way out of the vet's and the first thing we had to do when we got them home was to wash them, which was really hard since they have never been bathed and we had to keep the wounds dry. They ended up getting the collars off and being as they were in so much distress with them on, we decided to leave them off and watch them to make sure they didn't lick. We ended up bathing Ava's behind 2 times and we still couldn't get it all out. She still had diarrhoea for most of Friday evening and it was so bad it was just dribbling out of her, so we had to run out and get baby wipes to keep her clean. We decided to call the vet yesterday and see if they could bathe her properly or shave the fur off that was affected, so we took her in and they shaved off the fur which has helped since she is a super clean girl and was so upset about being dirty. As soon as the collar was off all she wanted to do was clean herself, not even interested in the incision. The collar's were useless. They couldn't drink or eat and when they tried to use the litter box they would get a collar full of litter when they went down to sniff the litter. Poor Ava had diarrhoea in the litter box and got it all over her collar. The diarrhoea seems to have stopped and she finally used the litter box with solid waste this morning. They have both been eating well. Felix is sooo affectionate! It is as if he never went to the vet. Ava is a bit quieter today coming up to 48 hours since the surgery, but from all accounts this is fairly normal? We take them back to the vet next Friday for a final check to make sure everything is healing well. Thank you all for being so concerned about them. I would have let you all know sooner but it has been a bit of a chaotic few days.
Their new brother hasn't made things a lot easier though. Ava is not happy about him. My husband changed his name to Barney (from Leo). The breeder's prefix is Barnabas so he thought it made sense. He is lovely and adores Felix. He has been following him around the house like a little shadow. However Ava is hissing and growling at him, Felix does the occssional hiss or growl but is much more tolerant. We think we introduced him too quick. We basically brought him inside, put the carrier down, let everyone sniff each other through the carrier door and then opened it so they could get as close as they wanted and he could come out when he was ready. He slept in a room alone last night just to be safe and I think we will do it again for a while. We have decided to keep him in the second bedroom alone for a while to let Ava and Felix recover and we will let him have supervised "play dates" throughout the day to try and get them friendly. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also he is sneezing a lot. His breeder used talcum powder on his fur and he reeked of it when he came home and we initially thought that was why, but he is still doing it so we are starting to wonder.
I'm so sorry that you've had such a tough time, but it sounds like you've handled it well. Ava may be a little quiet because of the surgery a long with the newcomer - but keep an eye on her to make sure she's eating and drinking well - those are always signs if things are going wrong. Call the vet if in doubt.
As for the sneezing - lots of times newcomers will sneeze as they get used to a new environment. Even my girls who were older when they came to me sneezed for a while. However, the stress of a move to a new home can bring on upper respiratory infections so just be alert to that. Most contracts require the new kitty get a wellness check within 24-72 hours after arriving at their new home. Did your contract have that in it? Even if it didn't, you may still want to run Barney in for a wellness check - it's a good thing to do after getting a new one.
Hope things settle down for you soon and we're able to get pics of your new boy -- and Ava and Felix too!
Awww poor Ava ,,,she must have felt so sick after her surgery.
Happy to hear that there both doing better that is great.
I have nothing else to add I think,
Teresa covered all corners.
Kathryn, I am so sorry that things went the way they did. I was hoping that all would be well for you and your furkids. Keep us posted how they are doing-especially Ava.
I'm so sorry to hear of Ava's troubles, I hope she is well on the way to recovery. It constantly amazes me how quickly they bounce back and hopefully Ava will too.
As for Barney, Blossom sneezed for almost 3 weeks off and on when she came home. we took her to the vets and she had a course of antibiotics as a precaution and she's fine now. Stress can affect cats and kittens in all sorts of differnet ways and sneezing can be one of them. I would get Barney checked out just for peace of mind.
Hopefully, when things have settled down a bit you will be able to post some photos, you know we all yearn for them
Very sorry to hear about Ava's problems after the op. I gather Felix has sailed through his op. I hope Ava recovers really soon.
In the UK, neutering is carried out around 6 months old and I am now at the point where I have to make a decision of whether to Neuter Cody or not. I think I will have to start another thread about this.
Thank you all for your kind words. Ava is much improved. We have left the collars off both of them as they were more distressed with them on and neither is licking their wounds. We will just pop them on when we go back for their check-up on Friday, no one need ever know
Ava's biggest problem at the moment is Barney. He loves to follow Felix around but has this thing about patting everyone including us. Last night we let him wander the house instead of staying in his room; it was 42 degrees yesterday and we only have one fixed air con in the lounge that does very little in the other rooms, we had been leaving Barney in the second bedroom with the portable air con. So last night we were in dire need of air con in our main bedroom and thought we would see how things went. There were no problems
But I still left him in his room with the air con on today while we are at work to be careful. I woke up with Ava on my husband's bedside table, Felix sleeping above my head on the pillow and Barney under the sheet snuggled into me. This being said he did spend most of the night chasing the sheets as the fan blew them and pawing my face. Almost as if to say "are you awake"? He doesn't use claws but the problem is he does this with Ava and Felix too, so I think this may be part of the problem. I suppose it could be seen as threatening to them. I just think he is a touchy feely cat. Both Ava and Felxi don't like eating in the same room with him yet. He tried to go and eat off the same plate as Ava and nearly lost his head!
He also doesn't seem to grasp the concept of privacy in the litterbox. We have a big covered litterbox and he likes to sit outside and watch what is happening. In fact last night I took the cover off to scoop it and he jumped in and laid down and them started playing in the litter. Sort of pouncing on the corners and litter was flying everywhere ! He thought it was a great game. Poor Felix was sick yesterday. Throwing up for a few hours. We think it was because of the heat and he may have eaten more than he should have. He is much improved today. Although we had the air con on it was still 35 degrees in the house so both Ava and Felix were quiet. Barney had heaps of energy but we kept him in his little room for a few hours and had some more suprevised play dates to give the other two time to rest, especially after their surgery. I think it will end up ok but it probably wasn't the best time to introduce him. We can't get over how snuggly he is!
We didn't get a contract from the breeder. It is a bit of a strange situation. She is the president of the COAWA (Cat Owners Association of Western Australia). They run most of the shows and she is a judge as well. She breeds persians and ragdolls. My husband came across her from another breeder that was helping us find a ragdoll to show. I rang her yesterday about the sniffles and she also said it could be from the move, new house and new smells and he seems to have lessened in the sneezing department. She said she was going to post some anitbiotics out to us and to use half a tablet twice a day until they were all used. But I don't really feel comfortable about using medicine that hasn't been prescribed for him. I thought I would wait and see how he goes this week and maybe we can take him to the vet's on Friday with Ava and Felix if it hasn't cleared up and get him checked out.