Robin's veterinary treatment

This boy has come into our care as an urgent case due to being in need of veterinary treatment and being at high risk of abuse on the streets.

The cat was seen with visible skin issues/scabs, being underweight with a swollen abdomen. As if this wasn't enough to take urgent steps what was about to take place was a cruel act by a human being.

This boy was a vulnerable target for teenagers within the area as one of a group of four teenagers (10-15yr old's) were witnessed in taking a kick towards the cats face, narrowly missing the cat whilst joking and laughing about it. Under these circumstances this little boy was brought in to our care for he's own safety and well-being.

On arriving into our care we got the little boy weighed (weighing 3.3kg) and treated for fleas and worms.

Yesterday this little boy attended our vets for an overall health check and to discuss further treatment plans. The first course of action was to place him on a 10 day course of antibiotics due to his gums being red and inflamed and it was arranged for the little guy to go back to our vets this morning for blood and urine tests to check for any underlining conditions such as Liver, Kidney, Thyroid etc, and the urine tests to check for a UTI.

Whilst having an overall vet check further issues came to light. It was clear that this little guy has broken, damaged and missing teeth and this will need further treatment by ways of a dental operation. During the dental operation other issues will be investigated as he has two lumps on the inner side of this hind legs, these could be his testicles but it's not 100% clear as to what they are until an operation is carried out. A chest x-ray may also be needed.

It is uncertain as to how long this little guy has been suffering with all of his medical ailments (and being targets by people) but these ailments don't happen over a space of a few days or weeks.

All treatment for this little guy will come at a cost and this is why we are putting out this appeal to help raise funds towards this little guys treatment. No animal should be left to suffer in these conditions or having to suffer abuse from any human being, especially when all the little guy needed was some treatment and TLC :-(

If his ongoing tests (bloods/ urine / x-ray etc...) come back with the results of any underlining causes this boy will become another longer-term/medicated resident along with our many other long-term/medicated residents and will remain in permanent foster care.

If you would like to donate towards this guy's treatment it would be very much appreciated.

As with all cases of this kind we will keep you up to date on the little ones progress as and when we receive further news.

UPDATE 21/07/2019:

We now have Robins bloods and urinalysis results. His kidneys and liver are fine. However, his thyroid is slightly low but no action needed at the moment it will just need to be monitored, and his white blood are high, which indicates an infection – this could be due to his gums, fleas or worms, which he is still currently being treated for.

Robin is still continuing his 10 day course of antibiotic and the next course of action regarding dental and lumps will be discussed with our vets on his next visit. Cross our fingers the lumps seem to be getting smaller, so hopefully his lumps are just swollen lymph nodes.

His fur and skin on the other hand is healing nicely. Little to no scabs remain on the little fur he has on his back, and his fur is becoming softer to the touch rather than being dry and wiry.

He is still eating like a horse and demands more food as soon as he finishes eating. We are hoping that it settles down after a second worming in a weeks time.

Although Robin may be on the older end of the scale, it doesn't stop him enjoying life... he runs around like a kitten. Even the foster carers youngest adopted cat doesn't jump for toys like Robin does.

The results that came back on the tests show that Robin may be a hypersensitive cat, but again it is hard to tell at the moment with him having other issue going on that need to be sorted before further investigations (flea allergy, worms, and gingivitis)

UPDATE 14/08/2019:

First of all we would like to say thank you to all who have donated. Robin had his dental on the first of this month, whilst he had his dental he also had a small biopsy taken of his lumps between his legs.

Robin now only has two teeth left that are in good condition, as the vet didn't want to remove those teeth in case it broke his jaw due to them being healthy. He has had multiple roots that was exposed removed during the dental. Whilst he was under anaesthetic it was noticed that he had a lump at the back right side of his mouth, the vet didn't know as to if it could be a tumour or swelling from the rotten root that was there. So the vet wanted to see him in a weeks time (Friday 9th) to check if the lump has gone down. Regarding his lumps, a sample was taken but the lumps wasn't removed in case they wasn't testicles or a growth. As he was still very itchy and biting/cleaning himself often the vet recommended that when we come back to get more treatment for his itchy skin.

A week later Robin went back to the vets to check his lump in his mouth. Thankfully the lumps have gone down so it was most likely swelling from the roots that were in his mouth. The results from the biopsy came back that there is high lymphoid cells in the sample, which means that they are lymph nodes that are inflamed, which is good news because they aren't cancerous or his testicles, but there are many things that can cause lymph nodes to be inflamed. His swollen lymph nodes most likely ties in with his high white blood cell that came back on his blood tests that he had. Regarding his skin he is now on some natural oils and vitamins gel that goes into his food to see if that help with his itchy skin. The vet didn't want to give Robin an injection as his mouth was still healing from his dental, if he was to be given an injection it would have slowed down the healing of his mouth. It will take a week before we start to see results of his new medication.

Today you can hardly feel one of the lymph nodes on his left leg it is a little bigger than a pea but the one on his right leg has gone down slightly but not much. But considering that they was around the size of a 2p coin, it is improvement.

His fur is now growing back, it still isn't great but he looks like a different cat. When he arrived he weighed 3.3kg and on his last weighing he weighed 3.7kg which was on the 9th, when he had his dental he was 3.5kg. He is gaining weight now but still thin at his back end, and still eats like a horse, and he will eat anything.

Since his dental he is such a happier cat and more relaxed. We hate to think how long his teeth were like that for and how much pain he was in.

We suspect that Robin will still have many vet visit ahead of him to get him back on track.