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Poor HomerRSS feed

Posted: Monday 29 August, 2005

by Rosemary at 8:19pm in Cats 1 comment Comments closed

We've had a bit of a scare with Homer this weekend. For those who don't know Homer's background, we rehomed him from the Cat Protection League in December 2003. He was very depressed in the shelter, had been a stray a long time and was very nervous of people. He was "10 plus" years old then and shortly after we got hime, he was diagnosed with FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus). He's come on great since then - he used to live under the bed in the guest room, but now he's comparatively sociable and will sit on the sofa with you and get a stroke.

Anyway, I noticed towards the end of last week that he seemed to be drinking a lot and seemed a bit off colour. I took him to the vet on Friday and his first reaction was that Homer had a tumour on his kidney, which was hugely enlarged. I was in bits. When we got him, we knew we probably wouldn't have him long but it was very upsetting just the same. Anyway, Homer was kept in for tests and an X-ray. Dan and I discusssed what we might do and decided that we would not have him operated on. If it was a tumour, and he was in pain, then we would have him put to sleep, at home.

However, all was not as bad as it first seemed. Homer is in chronic renal failure. This is the most common cause of death in old cats - if a road accident or other disease doesn't get them, the kidneys will be the organ to pack in. He's been on a drip and medication all weekend and he's now home and looking pretty good. He's got a special diet and pills that he will have to take for the rest of his life. The nurse said she knew he was getting better when he started hissing at her when she went into the room.

We've taken his bandage off tonight, where the IV drip was. The pill giving will be fun, although it might do Homer good to be handled. In retrospect, maybe we should have forced the issue more, in preparation for this. Who knows?

So we will be taking each day as it comes. We'll be watching his condition carefully - any deterioration, and he'll be back to the vet pronto. As long as his quality of life seems fine, we're happy.

I've even lit the fire for him tonight, as a little treat. He deserves it.

Comments

Snowbabies

Tuesday 30 August, 2005 at 11:19am

So happy to hear Homer is doing well :-)

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