Susie's Diary

Susie has been diagnosed with FIP (Dry form). This diary notes her progress and shares pics of her :)

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November 3rd -10th
November 15th-23rd
November 24th- 30th
December 1st - 8th
December 9th and 10th and update from August 2003.
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Susie shortly after her operation, and both girls napping.

November 15th

She has been very active all day -practically climbing on me while i'm getting her food ready :) She ate half a tin of a/d without much hassle, and got through almost two Felix foils also. :) She had more fish than usual as well. She's also been very active and affectionate - definitely more so then she's been in last few weeks. I think she might have put some weight on too, although i can't be sure. She goes to the vet tomorrow.

November 16th

Well things went quite well at the vet today. He said that her lymph node had reduced by a quarter - he seemed surprised, and I certainly am too! I think it's a really good sign. She is on Prednisone so of course her appetite has picked up, but I think that because the enlarged lymph node is in her intestine, then it must be making eating difficult. Her appetite picking up might be a really good sign that she is able to eat more.

She had put on 100 grams in weight - not a huge amount but i could feel the difference so I knew she'd put something on - her spine didn't feel as prominent as it had done - there was definitely a bit more body fat there!

It wasn't all good news though because she has a temperature. It wasn't very high but as her immune system is suppressed any temperature needs taking care of. She has a course of antibiotics (Synulox) twice daily, for this. So with her vitamin pill that makes 4 and a half pills a day!

November 17th

Today she has eaten a whole tin of a/d but hasn't show a great deal of interest in food since then. She didn't like the fish I offered her (Coley) despite loving it yesterday. She did eat half a foil pouch of Hi Life chicken though - i think it's harder for her to eat because it's very chewy, but she did show interest in it.

She's mainly wanted to sit by the radiator today -despite my pleas for her to come and sit on my lap! My boyfriend has been out all day and I worried about giving her pills on my own, but she was co-operative. (he normally helps hold her but she is pretty good with pills in general.)

I'm trying to look into herbal remedies but everything I see is for boosting the immune system and we are suppressing it. I'm not sure if there are any herbal or alternative medicines useful for FIP.

I feel so confident for her sometimes - the drugs are making her feel so much better - then other days I just feel so scared that i'll lose her. I mean I know this is a fatal disease, but she's my baby, and I refuse to let this take her from me without a fight. She's a tough little cat. I can't bear the thought of her not being here.

November 18th

She had a good day today - two and a half tins of a/d, and a quarter if a tin of Felix, along with stealing some bites of Betsy's diet food. She was fairly active too - although still doesn't really want to play. She lashed out at Betsy again, although it was an isolated incident because they were washing each other by the evening.

She didn't go for the Coley at all - wouldn't even sniff it, but she loved a/d today.

She sat on my lap and we a cuddle a few times, and I made a big fuss of her - she's so spoilt! I'm careful to give Betsy lots of cuddles too so she doesn't feel left out - afterall Susie gets fed several times a day and with all these different things, whereas Betsy's on diet food twice a day!

She goes back to the vet in three weeks - i'm gonna work real hard at encouraging her to eat a/d - if her weight is up in three weeks and her lymph node still shrinking then things are gonna look really positive.

I'm concerned now that her immune system is suppressed - she already caught a slight fever. I am not sure what steps I can take to help her.

November 19th

Went out after work for drinks but I left at 8pm - didnt wanna give susie her pills later than 9 and wanted to be sober to do it. She decided she didn't want her pills last night and wasn't very co-operative but luckily they all went down ok. She was pretty hungry - eating 2 thirds of a/d. She showed little interest in Felix though.

I left work at 5.30-ish and was in the pub till 8 - relxed for first half hour then worrying about her from then on really - just wanting to get home. I don't wanna leave her at all at the moment - I get so worried about her. :-( She had a little food then cuddled on the couch - Almost finished the a/d but wouldn't touch anything else.

Martin (my boyfriend) and Kevin (his lodger) came home around 12.30am, not drunk but merry. Kevin was smoking in the doorway -i told him to close the door because the smoke was coming in (plus having a conversation by shouting through the wall was keeping me awake. Grrr). I get even more freaked about Susie and cigarrette smoke now - there are so many smoking related diseases cats can get, and if her immune system is suppressed then it's all the more likely.

To me, she is made of glass at the moment and I am so scared of anything hurting her - I just want to keep her safe and healthy and happy. I'm scared of this disease that's inside her. I'm hoping with all my heart, every day, that this goes into remission.

November 21st

Betsy decided the bathroom made a better litter tray then her tray did today. I hope she didn't do it because she wasn't getting enough attention. I must be awful seeing Susie get so many meals! And extra fuss. I'm sure Betsy knows she's ill though.

I settled down to watch a movie with them both on the bed sleeping, and periodically fed Susie some a/d. She finished the tin by the end of the movie so I was alot happier about that. I tried her on some Felix but she only had a little. She's drinking water more frequently than she used to, but the vet warned me about that so I was expecting it. I'm glad she's getting fluids voluntarily.

The friend of Martins who makes comments about how 'You shouldn't spend that sort of money on a cat, it's not right' was supposed to come round but didn't - i was so relieved. I just can't deal with comments like that -it's disregarding my feelings, and what does it have to do with him anyway? It's my cat and my (um..Egg Credit Card's!) money! Humph. I shouldn't get wound up about it but I do. I'd spend anything if It could make Susie well, or even keep her happy and feeling good.

She still seemed to be cold today - sitting close to the radiator - it's difficult to say if it's actually because she's colder than usual though. Because we've not lived at this flat for long im not used to her pattern of behaviour yet.

November 22nd

She's been so great with pills up until now but really resisted them last night. I guess she was bound to lose her patience with it eventually - i mean if someone was putting 4 and half pills down my throat every day, I know it would bother me after a while!

She only has one antibiotic left to go, and after that she's back to two and a half pills a day, so it should become easier for her. It was such a battle last night - dont think she digested all of the vitamin pill or the prednisone either as by the time i got her to swallow some of it was a soggy mess.

It was frustrating because I just wanted to get them in her quickly so it was over fast, but it just didn't work like that. I think the fact that she was half wrapped in the duvet didn't help because her movements was so restricted. I'll make sure to get her in the right position before trying it tomorrow.

I bought a book 'Caring for your Sick Cat', it wasn't as helpful as I'd hoped - giving very basic information on selected diseases, and obvious things for operation after care etc. Also the section on administering medicines just had to be posed! That cant be a real cat! I mean that cat was SO co-operative!

I was exhausted and feel asleep on the couch for most of the night. Tried to feed Sue again when I woke but she didn't want anymore. Betsy seemed off her food but after giving in and giving her some Felix I realised it was just her diet food she was off!

November 23rd

I gave her her antibiotic this morning, which ends that round of pills. She tried to fight the pill and spat it out but i did get it in. I found that she has developed the skill of holding it in her mouth without swallowing for sometime - thus convincing me that she must have swallowed it...until I go to put the second pill in and see it still there! I'm going to see if i can get hold of a 'pill popper', they aim towards the back of the tongue so will put the pills in a better position to encourage her to swallow.

Martin fed her for me this morning as I had a assessment for a job. I didn't pass - got to the final stage and then failed on a reaction test. I really wanted the job. :-(


Looking comfy!