Penny

Our little fighter

Regular followers of the blog may remember Queenie and her five gorgeous babies. They were born on 28th September 2011. 

Queenie was a marvellous mum and all five babies were doing really well. It wasn't until they reached the age of six weeks that we noticed lots of drips of diarrhoea in their house. It was very hard to tell who was the culprit. 

After a few more weeks it became obvious that one of the black females was a lot smaller than the others. She still seemed happy and bonny and for a while we thought she was the 'runt' of the litter. 

Soon all of her brothers, sisters and her mum went to new homes. We nicknamed her 'little squirt'. For weeks and weeks she cried, yelped and continued to constantly drip diarrhoea. It was very distressing for her and for us. The vets were puzzled by her and we felt helpless to help her. She went through several diet changes and was prescribed different medications. We have now named her Penny.

To try and diagnose the problem Penny has several blood tests, x-rays, scans, we also sent off faeces samples to be tested for various diseases. For a while the outlook looked very bleak, but throughout Penny surprised us all and she is still going strong. The poor girl even had a rectal prolapse that has to be stitched back in! Her toileting is much improved and her prolapse has corrected itself. The vets belief that she has got IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). 

Penny is now on a diet of Purina CN Convalescence cat food. It is used to feed pets suffering from Anorexia, Malnutrition and Multi System Trauma Nutritional Distress, through Lactation and Pre- and Post-surgery periods. All the ingredients in Purina Veterinary Diets CN are highly digestible and as a result it is suitable for use in kittens during periods of critical care. Purina CN Convalescence provides a high amount of energy as part of a concentrated formula.

Penny seems to enjoy her new food and has been gradually putting on weight. She now weighs 1.4kg. For a kitten of her age she should weigh at least 2-2.5kg. We are happy though that finally her weight is increasing. Penny seems none the worse for it, she is such a happy, lively girl. She has so much energy and loves to play. She is still on medication once a day, an anti-biotic and a steroid. We are unsure how long she will have to be on medication. She may well have to have something for the rest of her life. We are really hoping that little Penny will be well enough to be re-homed soon. 

We will keep you all updated on how Penny is doing. She is our brave little star and we all love her dearly. What she has been and fought through is truly phenomenal. What an amazing little cat she is.