| 0416Singapore cat
castration vaccination anorexic pet health and welfare educational for animal lovers,
excerpts from The
Glamorous Vets, Singapore, sponsored by AsiaHomes Internet.
April 18, 2002 The cat has anorexic nervosa "Is the cat going to die?" Ms Hyde asked repeatedly. "He ate voraciously after he came back home. He was active but he drank only water for the last four days. He drank lots of water but he had a great disdain for his cat food." Ms Hyde had phoned me about this peculiar behaviour and was told to hand feed the cat. However she was busy working and did not know how to do so. How does one hand feed a cat who refused to open his mouth to eat? 
I put the six-month glossy black cat on the examination table. He was
so cuddly less than a week ago when he came for surgery. Now, he was a
shrunken shell, recumbent and too weak to stand up. I put a thermometer into his rectum. It was only 37.5 degrees
Celcius when the normal temperature should be 39.5 degrees. This was no good.
If the body temperature dropped by another degree or two, he would be dead
as he went into heart collapse and blood shock. His blood pressure
must have dropped considerably. I checked his scrotal area. There
was no redness, swelling or any inflammation indicating bleeding or
infection. If there was infection, the cat would not eat and drink
and would be sleepy. Yet, his owner had said that he was just being
selective and would not eat the solid food but drank. The scrotal wound
where his testicles were cut was healing well. I grasped a fold of the loose skin above the cat's neck and pulled it up. The skin did not fall back as it would normally do. The cat was moderately dehydrated. It was five days since he was castrated and vaccinated. Now he was hypothermic and needed electrolytes and glucose injections. "Why not put an intravenous drip?" Ms Hyde asked, referring to human patients who are usually given three or four drip sets. "This cat has very fine cephalic (hand) veins and therefore the needle for the drip would be needed to be inserted into his jugular vein," I said. "However, the cat would pull it out in no time. It would be best to give the salts by injection under the skin." I said as I injected 10 ml of the glucose saline. Ms Hyde had to ward the cat and left with a heavy heart. It could be bad. Within five hours, the skin was elastic. However, the cat still could not stand up. He went to the litter box. Suddenly, he had epileptic fits. His neck and legs extended and fine trembling shoke his whole body like a mild earthquake that rocked the buildings in Singapore some years ago. No shattering earth movements. The duration seemed like an eternity to Nurse Ann but the shivering stopped after around five seconds. Was this an idiopathic epileptic fit? Would it recur? "This must be the end!" Nurse Ann exclaimed when the fits recurred an hour later. I gave another glucose saline injection. The rectal temperature had risen by 0.5 degrees. It was not fevered, so why were there fits? Something had affected the brain. Was it a virus? Was it the viruses from the vaccination? He was given vaccination after castration as requested by Ms Hyde. I prefer separate occasions to vaccinate and castrate, but most Singapore cat owners would not return for vaccination and so, I did not advise on this occasion. There were no problems with other cats. Twenty four hours later, the cat could sit up. He was more like a zombie. His yellow eyes were looking through you rather than at you. His deep black pupils were half dilated into an oval shape. He could not walk or stand up well. 
In his tranced state, he was not drinking now. Nurse Ann dipped his head into a plate of soup. His tongue
would automatically lap up the soup when his lips touched the liquid. When Nurse Ann
repeated the action, the cat would extend his tongue and lap without resistance. As
long as he could lap the soup, there was no need to use a syringe to squirt feed into his
mouth. The tongue was extremely red and laps in liquid when the
mouth touched the plate. The cat was like a zombie.I smeared some canned cat food onto his paws. He did not object. The next day, he had groomed and cleaned up his paws. This was a good sign but he was not eating on his own. 
"Why not smear cat feed all over his body?" Nurse Ann asked me. We added some
salt and electrolytes into his water. The cat's body was stained with
tuna cat feed. I wondered whether
the cat could groom itself since part of the feed went up to his back and behind his
neck. Cat food with electrolytes were painted onto his body. His
coat looked liked those boys who gelled their hair. Sticky hair stood out
as if he was electrocuted. Would he groom himself overnight and fed
himself? He was not bothered by all these procedures. He smelt
fishy for sure. The next day, he was a clean cat. He could stand up. His pupils were less dilated. It was good to see life coming back. If only he would eat by himself. "Meow, meow, meow, meow" the cat greeted me on the fourth day morning. A continuous soft call of life. This was the best sound in the world, I could tell you. The cat would be on the road to recovery. Ms Hyde was happy to learn the good news. "Does the cat eat by himself?" she asked. "No," I said. "He needs hand feeding." I must be speaking Greek again to Ms Hyde. What is exactly hand feeding? Ms Hyde had said that the cat only drank water and the juice from the canned feed earlier and would not eat solid food. Besides, she was working the whole day. She had to work long hours. On the fifth day, the cat greeted me too. Ms Hyde said that he wanted to be carried when he meowed. I asked her to bring the cat home as she would be given good care. "Confine the cat in the bathroom to conserve his energy and get more rest," I said. "Your cat will regain its appetite in the next 14 days. If there are problems, then the cat can come back to recuperate." I prefer to keep the cat longer for observation for another five days. Complete enforced cage rest and nursing will ensure good recovery. This was a young cat and should have tremendous amount of healing power. However, I must also think of the owner's financial expenses and to minimise the cost of maintaining a pet. The total bill was a hundred and ten dollars for this anorexic nervosa cat. Singapore was in the worst recession and every dollar would be important for any pet owner and ultimately for the cat too. As to why the cat drank only water and deteriorate into a skinny animal so quickly, it remained one of those unsolved veterinary mysteries to me. Was he behaving like Karen Carpentar or the many slim Singapore teenage girls who wanted to lose more and more weight? And then die of anorexic nervosa? I have no answer to this behaviour. |
