Manja's visit to the vet today

We brought Manja to see Dr Dawn Chong today for a follow-up visit from her hospitalisation when Iva first rescued her. 

Dr Chong felt Manja's cancerous lumps in her intestines - they really are huge. I felt them myself - they are almost about the size of ping pong balls. Surgery is not a good option because Manja may not survive it. Neither is chemotherapy because it will merely worsen her quality of life and not prolong it much further or push the cancer into remission. So the plan is to give Manja the best till she goes. If she deteriorates to a point where she is in pain and suffering, we will euthanise her to let her go peacefully. Dr Chong advises this is the best course of action in caring for Manja and we are in agreement with her.

So far Manja has been eating but hasn't been drinking that much. Dr Chong advises that if Manja is dehydrated we can give her sub-cutaneous fluids at home or syringe her rehydration fluids. Manja hasn't pooed yet so we don't know if her digestive system is stable but she hasn't vomitted either.

I did mention to Dr Chong that the vet that Manja was diagnosed at, Joyous Vets, suggested doing an ultrasound because an x-ray showed that there was a mass of fluid around Manja's abdomen. Dr Chong suggested that this may not be necessary, as it will merely confirm our diagnosis of Manja's cancer. Hence we did not send her for the ultrasound.

Manja does not need any medication at the moment nor a special diet. Since she eats rather little, a high calorie diet will be suitable and we are currently feeding her Taste of the Wild donated by The Water Dish for this month. We will also be supplementing her diet with canned food so she stays hydrated especially since she drinks rather little - a habit that most stray adult cats tend to have.

Emotionally she is still getting used to being an indoor cat. She scrabbles at the main door sometimes as if she wants to go out, and does not know how to use a litter tray - she peed on our sofa twice. So for now we have placed her in a pen with a litter tray so she gets used to the idea of going to a box. She seems less stressed when in a pen, with food and water that she doesn't have to share with any other cat, and seems to eat and drink more inside the pen. We will eventually still let her free roam as we do not wish to cage her for long and also we actually do not have enough free space in the foster lounge for this additional pen we got for her. She is otherwise quite happy living with us, most of the time relaxing. We are playing the Music Cats Love CD on loop for her too, so she can hear birds chirping and the sound of nature.

She does not need to go to the vet again for a follow up unless she falls very ill.