Health of the cats

Why do we regularly check cats? First of all, to have their health under control and to catch possible disorders early enough. Cats, like any animal or human, can get sick. Even in the best conditions and under careful care, we do not always have an influence on the occurrence of problems and diseases. The risk of it, like in humans, increases with age. We have been breeding cats for 10 years now and this year Whisper has already turned 11, Elma and Dziabąg are seven, Cody is 4, and Helenka will be…Read more

We went for holiday in the middle of February. With our work and stress levels, we really needed some rest. There were moments when we couldn't handle all things. Elmirka gave birth to a wonderfull litter of five kittens at the end of January. Helen had delivery term for teh end of February/beginning of March. Elmas babies were developing nicely and were gaining weight. Even the smallest girl, who had to be taken care of with eating, for the first two days, was growing good and increasing her body weight. Ultrasound showed that…Read more

Elmirka turned 6 years old last June. Maximal age of breeding queen is 8. Which means that slowly we will have to think about withdrawing her from breeding. Elma is very nice girl, with good contrast that remains, despite her age. She always got good reviews on cat shows. That's why we considered having one more of her daughters in the cattery (apart from Helen). This time in seal point color. Last June Elma was microchipped with melatonin (to block the cycle for the time of Whispers treatment) but she got in heat…Read more

Why we do regular health checkups in our cats?  First of all, to have it under control. Cats, as any other animal - or human - can get sick. Even that from/in the best family and in perfect in perfect environment and conditions. The risk is greater with age. And our gets don't get younger in time :( Whisper has turned 10, Elma and Dziabąg are already 6, Cody has reached 3 and Helen became 5 years old last December. More about control checkups and their purpose was mentioned before and you can…Read more

Half a year. That's how long it took for Whispers chemotherapy for gastrointestinal lymphoma. For 6 months our life ran in two weeks cycles due to chemo administration intervals. Whisper was suppose to receive 12 doses of Leukeran every 14 days. We've managed to organise it along with my specialisation studies every other weekend and my clinic schedule. Any trips, conferences, cat shows, breeding plans, guests, house renovations, had to be taken aside. To be honest, when it comes to that part of our life, I don't really remember anything else than cleaning,…Read more

Night after receiving the diagnosis was hard but I manager to fall asleep. Rest of the weekend was mostly spending time with Whisper. I was slowly getting used to the thought we will undergo a 6 month long treatment. I had hopes that it will make her live a few more years with us. I was looking for positive sides. Experience gathered while taking care of my own cat, would help me in similar cases with my patients. Break in the cattery  was forced in a way, but I was hoping to use…Read more

After exploratory laparotomy Whisper needed entire weekend to get back to normal after anesthesia. Luckily later, she got to her normal routine quite easy. Considering how invasive the surgery was, samples collection and Whispers age (in April she turned 10), I was really surprised that she didn’t have any problems. To be honest I was rather expecting that recoalescence will take longer and I was afraid for complications. And it was a surprise – my fears derived from knowing what might go wrong – nothing of that happened. Since recovering from anesthesia, Whisper…Read more

After previous tests and treatments (more about it HERE) it was time for checkup. Whisper was feeling pretty well and the only worrying sign was licking her belly. This type of behaviour is observed in patients with abdominal problems. It can be due to cystitis, gastroenteritis, ovarian cysts, tumors, or constipation, In rare cases it can also be related to stress (it can be compared to biting nails in people).  Unfortunately ultrasound showed that previously diagnosed changes were still there on a similar level. Additionally renal cortex was a bit brighter than it…Read more

Introduction to Whispers helath history is availible HERE After a month of new diet and B12 supplementation, Whisper was still licking her belly. We’ve excluded other diseases, such as cystitis and other urinary tract problems. Another reason was gastric tract issues, which we knew has shown in previous ultrasound. Such symptoms may be corelated with IBD (Inflammation Bowel Disease). Other option for these changes was something I wanted to keep away from my mind. I decided to consult Whisper with a friend of mine, who specializes in diagnostic imagining. With my own cats…Read more

Soon we are about to finish our cats little "regeneration break", that we've had for last couple of months. During that time we managed to deal with few issues that needed our attention (we'd mentioned some in previous post HERE). It's hard to plan anything for a breeding female in the cattery. There are many things that get in the way - pregnancy, nursing, recovery time from kittens, heats etc. If not those, there are also control tests, vaccinations, after which they also need some time to recover.... That's also the reason why…Read more