May 2011 - Hope for Liver Shunt Cats

Hoarse from the (Effective) Singing

Just a quick update. Another wonderful day in Newtopia. The Great Spotted Newt continues to thrive under Cat Daddy’s expert care. Me, too – even though the new gig is wearing me out – but Beloved is taking excellent care of the house, the Newt, The Dog, and moi.

Hurray for Cat Daddy!

Update for those of you who have been following Pingu’s journey. Pingu’s mum sends her heartfelt gratitude to all of Newt’s friends who have raised their voices in a song of healing for Pingu. He seems to be stabilizing.

But now, she humbly asks that if possible, you continue your joyous chorus for Pingu’s brother, Sharkey. He, too, has taken a sudden down turn, and the family is quite worried. Sharkey is not a liver shunt kitty, but, from what I can tell from his updates, it sounds as if he is facing some sort of liver crisis at the moment, as well.

On Newt’s Group, for the last week or so of singing, several members have been using consecutive lines of popular songs as their status updates. It’s been interesting to see which songs are familiar to members in various parts of the world. So far, one of the most popular seems to be “Do Re Mi ” from the Sound of Music, the “Bingo Song,” and variations of “Old McDonald.”

As Pingu and Sharkey are quite British, I’m tempted to toss in a Beatles song – but have to admit, I’m more of a Rolling Stones kinda gal

So, if you are so inclined to continue your song of healing, love and Hope, join with me:

All you need is love

All you need is love, love

Love is all you need

Victory Song (and Dance)

Thank everyone for the singing – Pingu has rallied yet again! Never underestimate the power of love, Hope and healing energies from friends

Normal day in Newtopia yesterday, lots of evening snuggles and demands for extra snackies and nibbles. A bit of fridge climbing today for a great start to hopefully another wonderful day.

Still trying to figure out what was going on with him Thursday night. He was showing many of his typical signs of an HE episode, but without the major drool that usually accompanies a medium to strong ep for him. Not all cats with liver shunts show the same signs of an oncoming/existing HE episode, but we’ve gotten to know Newt’s signs all too well. Having things change in the middle of the game is a bit worrisome, and we will continue to monitor closely and track, to see if we can identify any possible new triggers.

Otherwise, today we will be singing our Victory song, and doing the Happy Butt Wiggle Dance, to celebrate another day of normalcy – for our little Newt and for his courageous friend Pingu.

Come on friends, join with us and shake your tails in joy!

Sing With Me

Your favorite Spotted Schnookums is back to normal after a really odd night last night. He went on a food strike and wasn’t drinking either – both of which usually happen when he’s in the middle of a medium to strong episode, complete with full drool.

However, aside from a minor bit of drool early in the evening, no other drooling. Several of his other ep signs were presenting, but NO DROOL. Weird. And frustrating. Long night spent alternating Lactulose and water via direct dosing. Finally, this morning, after 15 blippy hours, within a half hour time span, he made a 180 and was on the counter gobbling snacks, and drinking deeply.

Perhaps you heard that deep sigh of relief I uttered?

So, Newt is back to normal, but now his friend Pingu has had a bit of a crisis. You’ve read about Pingu on here before, and so many of you responded that you were joining us in a song heard round the globe. Your singing worked, and Pingu rallied wonderfully and was doing much better! However, he had another crisis earlier today, and as singing a song of healing seems to have quickly become a tradition for our cat liver shunt support group, am asking you again to Sing for Ping.

With love and Hope, and painfully off-key,

Newt’s Mum (and Scribe)

Drool

After this past week of me being back on-site, working a new contract, and Cat Daddy taking his usual, excellent care of the Great Spotted Newt, it would appear that he’s gone episodic today.

Was it my cooking?

As much as I hate to take pictures of Schnookie when he’s sickly, today I decided to try and grab a quick snap to show you what a medium drool day looks like for him.

Never in my life did I ever imagine I would have accumulated such a diverse knowledge of the various degrees of drool and progressions of poo!

But, living with a liver shunt cat can do that. As Lactulose can be such a critical aspect of medical management, and its dosing can be as much an art as a science, determining the exact dosage is based upon careful observation and monitoring of kitty’s litterbox (assuming you are able to beat the dog to the scat snacks, that is!) For those kitties who have drool as one of their symptoms, you learn to gauge how bad the drool is, how long the episode will probably last, and how much Lactulose to administer, in order to help minimize the episode.

Here’s the pic of Newt’s medium drooly day today. And don’t worry, no poo pics, as the Dog beat me to it