Monday, January 23, 2017

Rupert vs the vet - and a big thank you to @chewy



Unfortunately, Rupert is not gaining weight. All of the weight I have been able to get on him he would lose within a short amount of time. Every time I found a food he would like and eat, he would stop eating it after that initial meal. He seemed to have a preference for beef and the mixed grill type of foods and was refusing to eat poultry (including duck which I tried assuming it was novel). As I mentioned on Friday, he really liked the can of Tiki Cat that Chewy had sent me through the Influencer program. Interestingly he also ate the second can. He liked the reddish "consomme" of the product.

I stopped by the shelter and picked up a wide variety of foods made plans to coerce him to eat every couple of hours this weekend hoping that the uptake in calories would make a difference. Sadly, it did not. Each time I was in there I got about an ounce in him and it raised his weight but a few hours later when I would go back in his weight had dropped again.

I was getting concerned so I texted the woman who was going to come down and see him on Sunday that things were not getting better.  She was still interested in meeting him so we confirmed plans and I gave Rupert another bath and cleaned up the room and left him with food and hoped that the last feeding of the day would bring hope.


When I went down for the last feeding on Saturday night I saw that he had peed four times since his late afternoon feeding. That is a lot. I knew he was drinking a lot of water and was peeing frequently but it had never been so blatantly obvious. I texted the shelter coordinator and asked if they wanted me to bring him in and they did, so I texted his wannabe mom to tell her that he was going to the shelter and we will reschedule when he comes back.

I got him into the shelter and they wanted to keep him for the day and have him see the vet on Monday I intended to run out and get him some Tiki Cat food but once I walked out of the shelter I realized I didn't have my wallet with me. I ended up running home to get my wallet and I hit every pet food store between my house and the shelter (30 minutes away) with no luck. (I did get to scritch the neck of a kitty up for adoption at one store. I nearly laughed when they let me know it was up for adoption and tried to 'sell' her to me)

Finally, I went to their website and tried to find a store in the area that carries the food and found two. One down the street by the shelter and the other by my house - the one store I didn't go to - I called the one and they didn't have the flavor he liked and the other was closed. I was glad I had the foresight to take the three cans in the collection that had consomme.  I brought those in for him and learned that while I was out they were able to get a urine sample from him and tested it and found that it was very dilute and had "quite a bit" of blood in it. I was afraid I had missed something until she mentioned that it wasn't visible until they ran the test. So they were starting him on antibiotics. He was slow to take the food but eventually started eating on his own.

It was mentioned that they would really like to do a full blood work up on him, but they need 3cc's of blood to do that and considering doing that would remove over three ounces of his 1 lb 4oz body, no one really thinks that is wise.

So I will be praying that they find something and it is treatable and I get him back quickly. Paws crossed and purrs and prayers are all welcome.

36 comments:

  1. Oh, little Rupert! Paws crosded that they find out what is going on and can make you better. <3

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    1. We have our paws crossed for you little dude. Fight! Nothing beats a forever home. -- Kearney & Claire

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  2. Sending good thoughts. I hope they are able to find out what's going on with him.

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  3. Oh, Rupert. You need to get better buddy!

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  4. Rupert MUST get well.He is so dear to so many of us.If prayers do really work then he will. He must.

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  5. I am purring lots for Rupert. You know, if love were enough, he'd already be thriving and then some.

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  6. We're purring for for Rupert!

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  7. Poor guy. On the post with the Chewy review I commented how unperturbed Rupert seemed by another cat (Jack) around the food ... and over the next day, I thought about it more and more ... is it possible he needs other cats to kind of show him what's food? Excuse the deeply psychological and anthropomorphic speculation here ... If I remember correctly, he "failed to thrive" amongst his littermates, so I suppose it's possible he associates food with being scarce and other cats pushing him out. The first time he encounters a variety his curiosity or belly might get the best of him ... but after that, he needs other cats to "fight" him for it to identify it as something he wants? I have no idea ... I've fostered exactly 0 kittens. I'm grasping at anything that might help the poor guy and my over-analyzing brain probably went a bit amok :)

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  8. Sending lots of purrs and prayers for Rupert to get well and eat more. We've fallen in love with him already.

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  9. Sending Rupert purrs and healing thoughts. Hope the initial antibiotcs start turning things around fir this wee lad.

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  10. Purrayers for this feisty little mite and all who've come to love him. Maybe they are finally onto something that can be treated.

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  11. We think Rupert is really a tough lil guy, like a furry teeny Charles Bronson. He will kick this, whatever it is, and we will keep purraying for him to come back to you very soon.

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  12. Oh, Rupert. At least he's being well looked after. Look after yourself and attempt the impossible task of not worrying -- too much.

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  13. My thoughts are with Rupert and you. I know how stressful it can be having a baby kitty who doesn't gain weight. Since I always see chewy in your blog I decided to order from them on a late Thursday night and I had my order Saturday morning I was so impressed I thought that was great. You will get that food quick if you can't find it locally.

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  14. Aw man... little Rupert, you need to eat, buddy! Hoping you get to feeling better and eating more!

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  15. poor baby - hopefully the antibiotics will perk him up some...

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  16. Praying for little Rupert. Thank you for doing so much to help him. You are truly a blessing.

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  17. We are all pulling for you Rupert! Sending you purrs and prayers.

    Hershey, Bear, Princess Fiona Fuzzy Paws, Fluffy, Mia and Ali

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  18. Oh my, this guy just can't get a break. Purrs he feels better soon.

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  19. Sending love and good thoughts to Rupert, and to you, Connie. <3

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  20. I'm sory Rupert isn't gaining weight and urine test result doesn't look good. Sending purrs and prayers for him. xo

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  21. We cross our paws for the poor Rupert and hope the blood test is useful to find how to help him. Purrs

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  22. LG's mom2:44 PM

    I'm new to this blog (found it via a link from another blog). I've been reading for a bit but not posting. However, little Rupert has captured my heart and I wanted to say that I hope and pray that the docs will figure out what ails him so that he can thrive. He is such an adorable little moppet.

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    1. Welcome to the blog :)
      If love could save him, he would live a hundred years

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    2. LG's mom8:00 PM

      Thanks for the welcome. :-)

      I imagine he would be a cute little old man cat, too.

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  23. Sending lots of prayers and love to you Rupert.

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  24. Sending healing purrz to Rupert. I sure hope he perks up and can go to his forever home.

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  25. I hope you get answers soon

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  26. We're sending Rupert a ton of purrs and hope he will be okay.

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  27. Sending loads of love and purrs and prayers to BAST!

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  28. Thoughts, purrs and prayers for sweet little Rupert. We hope he is going to be okay and will be back with you very soon doing well. Hugs

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  29. Tons of purrs for little Rupert. He is so adorable!

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  30. We are sending all our purrs for Rupert, and mom bean is hoping that whatever ails him will be determined. Poor little mite!

    Sasha, Sami, & Saku

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  31. Poor little boy. We're purring for him.

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  32. Poor Rupert. I am praying for him.

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  33. Worrying about poor Rupert, and poor you. How I hope they get to the bottom of his problems and that it's easy to find and fix, and that he quickly turns into a roly-poly kitten. And that then you will keep him.

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