Felix's 4th bile duct surgery

 Well, life is really unpredictable. I have for some time in recent months been grateful for the serenity at home as Felix was able to lead a "normal" life. A vomit in the afternoon of 6th October which was initially thought to be a minor setback, though he looked a bit dull, but he ate pretty normally. By 2.30am on 7th October, he came to sleep on my pillow. This to many is nothing, but my heart tanked and squeezed hard. Its a tell tale sign that he's not feeling well and could be nasty, or at hindsight could say something wrong with his bile/liver.

He was admitted to hospital on 7th and blood test showed his ALT shot to 1267, and TBIL at 9 (which though was normal, was high by his "normal" standard). With the help of medication, his ALT dropped to 801 on the 9th, but the TBIL was slightly above normal at 17. Ultrasound gave us the bad news that the bile duct was blocked again and surgery was the only solution.

After further discussion with family vets, we decided to transfer him to VSH on 10th. Blood test showed ALT rose a bit to 850, TBIL shot up to 42. By the expression on his face, the discomfort is getting worse pretty fast. So we quickly decided go for surgery on that day. It ran from 5.17pm to around 7.46pm. Luckily, the "mess" from previous surgeries were not too bad, managed to clear the bile duct via flushing and took out as much of the stent as possible. 

His blood test readings showed fairly quick and consistent improvement during his hospital stay. However, improvement in his appetite and appearance fluctuated widely and to me doesn't seem to gel with the blood test results. So when he was discharged on the 15th, we decided to transfer him to the family vet for further convalescence before taking him home, as I don't want the worries we have to affect his psychological health.

Turnaround happened on the 19th, after he refused to open his mouth for food during lunch time. Via ultrasound and blood test, found that his stomach wasn't functioning properly as a lot of water was there. Moreover, his abdominal cavity and pancreas showed signs of inflammation. Felix showed fairly quick improvement after taking relevant medication and has since been eating normally by himself.

He was very happy when we took him home on 22nd. He greeted us with his loud meow when the nurse handed him to us in his carrier bag. When we walked in the street, he was poking against the carrier, wanting to take a better view and smell the air of freedom. In the video, you can see him wiggling inside his green carrier bag while auntie prepared to clean him before letting him out.... haha

Felix is readjusting to life at home pretty well. Unlike in the past, he's not hiding himself and seemed pretty relaxed. He ate his meals by himself, walked around a bit, and catch up with his sleep as well.

Betty being the elder sister has no problem is welcoming Felix back. She went to kissed him a few times and have their snack together. Stella, being the youngest one is totally new to welcoming Felix back. Though looked a bit puzzled, she adjusted pretty fast as well. She started by turning her turbo to the highest volume and watching Felix from a distance, to gradually lower the volume and distance apart. Its nice to see their decent love bonding, despite their age and breed differences. 

Although its difficult to say exactly what caused this episode, there are a few things I wanted to highlight:

- As parent, trust your instinct when you sense something is wrong and don't be affected by non-professional advise. 

- Very likely, steam dried Ziwi Peek is not suitable for Felix. He ate a total of 100 pieces of this "raw dried food" since early October and is the only new food he ate. Likely this sparked off problem to his liver and might have spilled over to the pancreas and bile duct.

- Must comb him more frequently. I brushed him 100 times in the evening each day. This might not be enough as found a fur ball hooked to the mesh of the stent, which blocked the bile duct. If I had known of this earlier, I would have asked the surgeon to save it for me, as its a very expensive fur ball!

- Unfortunately, Felix has to stay with the food he is used to for his own safety. Must stay firm, regardless of how "cute" he looks when he enjoys them.

- Continue to save for the rainy days, though I sincerely hope history will NOT repeat itself. 

The family and Felix are truly grateful to Dr Tint as always, for his sound guidance, Dr Tasmin for the professional care and willingness to listen and to discuss. For Dr Francois and Dr Alice for the successful surgery. The last and the most important person is Dr Vera, who regardless of the hour of the day and time zone differences, responded promptly to my queries with sound practical professional advise which is highly useful to all of us.

Below is our document of this incidence:

- Pre-surgery hospital stay

- Post surgery hospital stay

- Home sweet home

The 3 surgerical options:

The incision area:

The feeding tube:

Other shaved areas - tail and hind legs and a pair of short boot in the front :