And so the adventures of Cassius the overly documented Robocat continue..."For me?"
When we last saw our hero, he had arrived home after a bit of an issue at the RDV, and we were going to monitor him for any signs of brain damage after his hypoxic episode...
Well, I'm pleased to report that he isn't any stoopider than he was. He's still dumb as a stump, don't get me wrong, but there doesn't appear to be any lasting damage.
Gratuitous belly shot, just because it's cute...
Playing in Al-Cat-raz.
We did think there were going to be problems about four weeks ago, when Cassius developed a disorder called Feline hyperesthesia syndrome, or Rippling Skin disorder. Have a read here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_hyp ... a_syndromeHowever, it turns out that Cassius has been brewing an abscess under the tube in his throat for the past few weeks, and this seems to be the cause of the hyperesthesia episodes. As soon as we began expressing the goop from his neck and relieved a bit of the pressure, the severity and frequency of the episodes went right down.
Close-up of the O-tube site. You can't see the abscess, it's under the tube itself.
The stitching is also starting to unravel, so we needed to get that sorted too.
We have been trying to clean the area without resorting to surgery again, (cleaning video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0km2Qn ... YJlaehHqjg if you're interested...) but it's not been getting any better, so, it was off back to the RDV yesterday to have his O-tube restitched and the abscess lanced, drained and cleaned... What fun. Hopefully, now that the abscess is dealt with, the hyperesthesia episodes will stop completely.
The vets at the RDV take every precaution with Cass now, and there was a full team of vets on stand-by in case he even twitched wrong. Fortunately, yesterday's procedure went without a hitch, and I was able to pick him up yesterday afternoon.
Crazy eyed cat doped up on painkillers in the car...
And today he is napping happily on the sofa without a care in the world.
I'm exceeding pleased to be able to report that Cassius now weighs a very respectable 4.00kg! That's the heaviest he's ever been, and we are managing to maintain that weight with just two or three feeds a day (depending on who's home when...).
Cassius is happy and healthy, and that's the best thing I've been able to say here for a long time.
Home again, snoozing off the effects of the drugs.