Garfield is a 12 year old feline patient who we have chosen as our brave heart this month.
Garfield’s story
Garfield was admitted on the 18th July 2018 by Veterinary Surgeon Inga, due to lethargy, not eating, dehydration and not his general self at home.
Blood and urine tests were run in house and he was placed on a drip to encourage a normal hydration level. Anti-nausea and gastro-protectant medications were started to try and help Garfield feel a bit better. He received lots of tender, love and care from the nursing team as he is such a lovely boy. After being hospitalised for a couple of days, Garfield still didn’t want to eat anything, so appetite stimulants were given.
3 days into his hospitalization, Garfield had a general anaesthetic and an oesophageal feeding tube was placed in order for us to provide adequate nutrition. After starting his tube feeds, Garfield again became very nauseous and began to vomit/regurgitate the food back up. A foreign body was suspected at this point so an ultrasound was performed. Stomach, small intestine, spleen, gall bladder, liver and kidneys all appeared normal so medical management was continued. A continuous rate infusion of metoclopramide was started which helps contractions of the stomach, however it also helps with nausea, feeling bloated, vomiting and anorexia. Tube feeding was continued at a very reduced amount to see if he could keep the food down.
After 9 days of hospitalisation, the nurses taught Garfield’s owner how to give him medication and tube feeds and Garfield was allowed to go home. Although he still didn’t want to eat in hospital, we advised his owner to monitor him at home and offer all his favourite foods to try and encourage him to eat. The hospital environment can be quite scary for nervous cats like Garfield so they don’t want to eat, so if they are well enough to, sending them home to see if they eat is the best idea.
Garfield came back in a few days later to see Veterinary Surgeon Alan and he was doing very well. He had eaten a little bit by himself at home, his vomiting had stopped and he seemed much brighter in himself. After another 4 days he came in to see Veterinary Surgeon Roberta, who removed his feeding tube! We were all happy to hear that he had been eating well and playing at home!
Although Garfield was very poorly when he first came in and it was touch and go at times, we are all very pleased here at Moor Cottage Veterinary Hospital, that Garfield made a full recovery and is happy to be back at home with his owner and his other feline friends!
