My Little Fighter….

Last October on our return to Spain we took our beloved Oscar to the vets as we knew something was not right. He had lost an awful lot of weight – down to 8lbs from the 14lbs he was in his prime (he is a Maine Coon which are a big breed of cat) as well as drinking lots and lots of water.

As we suspected he was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney failure and our vet informed us that he had probably already lost 2/3 rds of the available function of his kidneys.

They prescribed a special diet of biscuits (which he turned his nose up at) and medication that they couldn’t guarantee would do him any good but that would boost their bank balance by 50euros each month! It wasn’t a good visit and the prognosis was poor.

Anyway, we brought him home and did our own research. Thankfully he still had his appetite as many cats with this disease lose theirs. So we changed his diet to include less fish (too much potassium) and more meat. Him and his sidekick Molly haven’t eaten ‘cat food’ for many years instead enjoying tuna, sardines and coley fish. Now we include beef steak, lamb and lambs liver in their diet which they thoroughly enjoy.

We also managed to get hold of a herbal product from the States called Tripsy, which has had great results and we have been giving him this twice a day since December.

I am delighted to say that when I weighed him this morning he had put on a whole LB…….woo hoo, big excitement in the Hooper caravan and Oscar is making the most of his moment of glory and revelling in all the extra attention that is suddenly being showered upon him (Molly is rather jealous!!)

He is more settled now and sleeps better. He is still drinking a fair amount but it has definitely stabilised which is all we can hope for as kidney failure is irreversible. He is still as affectionate as ever though and enjoys his little trips outside as much as ever. His quality of life has not diminished in anyway.

So, we are happy that he seems to be fighting it for now. The next milestone we hope to see him through is his 19th birthday this May. I predict it will be well celebrated 🙂