This was taken yesterday, and is really so that a friend of Mary’s can take a look, so apologies for the dribbly close-ups! He was a vet for many years and treated lots of Persian cats with palette problems. We are hoping he may be able to give us a second opinion. Begona our vet is great, but she has never seen a problem like this in a cat.
We are starting to wonder if he WAS born with possibly an over-large palette, which is slowing sorting itself as his jaw grows. He still won’t take food from the front, but likes the syringes in the sides of his mouth. Pam thinks she glimpsed that his palette may be convex and not concave in the center. We are wondering if this is then slowing stretching up as his mouth develops, whilst Martina in Germany also wondered if the combination of Persian and Siamese may be at the route of it.
Anyway although this is a very slow process, and we have now been feeding him for almost 5 weeks, there is definitely improvement; as you can see he is managing to eat some soft pate (even though with difficulty) by himself. We think it is important for him to do this to use those little muscles.
Now that Pam is convinced that he has nothing contagious, he is mixing with her other animals and playing a lot. Funnily it is her dog Rufus who seems to like him the most!
Whilst there are no gurantees (and as Begona has said, patience is the key here), we would love a second opinion. One question after the obvious one about hope, is whether the medication is working or whether growth is the cure. He has been taking pretty high dose Cortisone for over 3 weeks now, and I feel it may be time to stop and just let nature take it’s course.
To me he doesn’t have to be perfect at the end of all this; he just needs to be able to feed himself. We are hoping so much for a good outcome, because in himself he is a very healthy, energetic little chap, and he is SOooo cutes, AND he already has a home waiting for him in Germany. A kind lady has already fallen in love with his latest photos!
More soon …
so glad Chris managed to get my comment about some replacement bras when Mary goes back to the UK next week- must say that not all my bras are tatty!!!!
Bono takes up so much time with his problem feeding but is such a lovable little fellow that it is all worthwhile.He has a new best friend in my 6.2 kl cat – Capone – they are both chasing around the flat Capone definitely needs the exercise.
Great news re. Capone and Bono. Will be interesting to see if Capone loses weight1
He is doing very well isn’t he. Will be interesting to see what the ‘experts’ say.
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