Dec
29
(Update below)
Unfortunately we have recently discovered that our beloved cat of 7 years, Sabrina, is very sick.
She stopped eating a few days ago (the same time we changed her food brand) and we didn't recognize the signs of illness. I thought she was just being a primadonna about her food (like most cats are when you switch brands), so I changed it back. She won't eat that either. Fortunately she was still drinking water, but she won't even eat a treat. Something is wrong: after watching her sniff a can of freshly opened tuna without even so much as licking it, it was time to act.
We took her to the emergency vet and discovered after some testing (x-ray) that she has an obstruction in her stomach (a round foreign object of some sort) and she will need surgery or else her liver will fail. Her skin and ears have already jaundiced (although you can't easily tell; she's a black bombay) from the liver working overtime trying to digest whatever it is (we figure it's tinsel).
We have just enrolled in a good pet insurance (www.petcareinsurance.com) but it hasn't kicked in yet, and the initial visits to the emergency vet and overnight stay (she needed an IV/fluids to get stabilized) will set us back a bit.
We're hoping you will help us with that by donating a few bucks to Save Our Brina. A PayPal account is not required (you can use a regular credit card).
Here are some pictures, in chronological order, of our Brina, and with this, we hope to take many more.
This is one of the earliest pictures of Sabrina, taken with a very terrible Kodak camera:
Sabrina sometimes wakes up with her tongue sticking out and it stays that way for a while until she's had her morning coffee:
That's my brother Jeff on the right, in a picture taken in 1989.
Here's Sabrina hanging out inside of a Mountain Dew box:
Sabrina sports her new stylish bandana + collar:
She actually likes her collar a lot, unlike most cats which will defy your every attempt to put one on them.
Sabrina loves boxes, as you can tell from the teeth marks on this box that came from some cheesy "game":
Sabrina, hanging out on the couch with some Halloween stuff:
So that's our Brina.
Here are some stats:
Full name: Sabrina Jean Owens Cooke
Likes: cardboard, long sits on the couch, tuna, potted meat, talking (she carries on meowing conversations with us), cockroaches, lizards (especially DjLizards)
Dislikes: hissing sounds, soda, anyone not in the immediate family
Favorite toy: Milk rings
Help Save Our Brina!
Update 12/29/08 10:16 AM:
She's doing very poorly… she is quite weak and kind of shaky. The vet isn't sure if she will make it through the trauma of surgery.
Update 12/30/08 2:00 PM:
She made it through surgery, but she can't even lift her head she's so weak. They found a hairball obstruction as well as the weird object that showed up on her x-ray.
Update 12/31/08 9:00 AM:
She can move a little bit, and has eaten a half can of food! She's in an incubator to keep her warm, bless her heart.
Update 12/31/08 6:00 PM:
She can now keep her own body temperature, but she's not able to move most of her limbs yet. She's doing a bit better. Pray for our Brina!
Update 01/02/08 7:30 PM:
I'm finally home from work and Vanessa has brought home our Brina. She has nasty stitches in her stomach and is shaved in several places (for shots, surgery, etc). She appears weak but becomes incredibly strong whenever you try to feed her or give her medicine! She won't eat on her own yet so we have to force feed her with a syringe.
Update 01/03/08 11:00 AM:
She still doesn't want to eat on her own. You have to shoot food into her mouth with a syringe while holding her down. :(
Update 01/05/08
Vanessa had to take her back to the vet because she was just not being cooperative with regards to eating. She turned yellow again and now she must have a feeding tube inserted in her neck so that she will eat. The vet will take good care of her. We miss our Brina.
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2 Responses to “Save Our Brina!”
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I left a comment in the shout box but it said I was a spammer and IP was blocked!?!?! :(
I am so sorry to read about poor sweet Brina! I hope nothing bad has happened since the last update… Call me if you guys need anything :(
Miss you both and am thinking about you… J
sorry to hear about your cat…it sounds like you might have to make a tough decision soon if she still can't eat on her own. I've always been a cat lover, and it sucks when a favorite cat gets old and has trouble like that. good luck.