The Sickly Pan

Giving Pan a hug after blood extraction attempt.

I spoke too soon. I was too excited for Pan's recovery. After 3 days of being hyperactive and just being a jolly little kitten, Pan went low energy once more. This time, there's no fever. She's still alert and responsive, but with no appetite. I noticed that her poop is not healthy, and that she often vomits. As usual, we gave her the special wet food diet for kittens having intestinal issues. I knew she wanted to eat, and she really tried, but she just vomits after.

I am paranoid when it comes to my cats' health. They are like my babies and I treat them like a family. Last night, when we noticed the vomiting and unhealthy poop, we immediately went to the same clinic she was confined a week ago for check up. Her doctor was in the morning shift, and the doctor last night is not really my favorite doctor. I don't want to talk ill as he might be good at something else (like maybe dogs), but I don't really trust his judgement because of an incident before, and an incident that happened with a good friend of mine concerning the same doctor. But I have no choice since he's the one on duty and available.

So we told him the story of the vomiting and appetite loss. We also told him that we notice this sort of skin irritation on Pan's head that we found right after we took her out of the hospital last week. We didn't think it was bad until it grew. We gave first aid such as cleaning it with betadine and putting some anti-fungal cream but didn't help. He recommended that Pan get confined for observation and that he's going to do stool and blood test. I don't really like Pan to stay in the clinic specially if they are not going to administer something that we can't administer at home. He said there's no need for IV since Pan's trying to eat. He also said that there's no parasite found in the poop, so that's not the reason for the vomiting. Then we came to the blood test. He tried to extract blood from Pan, but failed - 3x. Pan was in pain, screaming, and I couldn't bear hear or see it. He couldn't find the vein so Pan ended up with 3 needle pokes for nothing. He gave it a rest and I carried Pan like a baby to pacify and calm her. So while he's away, I told Mark how easy it was for the other doctor to find Pan's vein without causing too much pain, and that this doctor did it at one try. I was pretty pissed that he couldn't do it like the other doctor, but what do I know about veins and kittens? But then, I was already decided to not pursue with the blood extraction since I didn't trust that he would be successful on the next try. When he came back, we told him that we wouldn't want Pan to be confined if it's not totally necessary as we would like to care for her. If there's something oral to be given, we can do it. And then he said yes it's fine to go home, since there's nothing serious he found on the feces, on the skin test, and that she didn't have fever anyways so there's no need to pursue the blood test. I was relieved. He just gave Pan a dose of a low-acting antibiotic that's good for 14 days. And then we went home.

This morning, I took Pan to my trusted vet clinic in Mandaluyong, together with the pupi casts for a full check up. I want to make sure that the 4 also didn't carry worms that they might get from the 3 kittens we are fostering.  Nishi, Patterick and Sylvia are all in good health and got their periodical deworming. Lotto, however, was diagnosed with a fever due to a bacterial infection. I figured it's because Lotto spent most of the time with the kittens and he's the most friendly. So Lotto got his medication. Pan, on the other hand, was confined and under observation.

This is the 3rd time Pan's been in the hospital. Her stay there is far longer than she have stayed with us. I am very hopeful that we nail the problem with her health and soon be a healthy cat once more - for a long long term. I miss her. She's a sweet, considerate and smart kitten for her age. It's been a tough life for her ever since she was born. Poor sweetie.