Clive had his surgery on February 8, 2011. He recovered very quickly and has taken over the house! You can read his progress reports below, and you can also look for Clive's Story on Facebook where you will find more recent updates and photos of Clive!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Pic of his tooth and him resting



He is still sleeping this morning...he ate another jar of baby food a little while ago. I am going to try pulverizing some canned cat food in the food processor later on and see if he likes that. If not I will go get more baby food.....

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Headed back to vet

He looks slightly better this morning but not by much so I am off to the emergency room at Carolina Veterinary Specialists to see if they can tell what is going on. Maybe they can get in touch with his surgeon even though it is Saturday and she will know what to do.....

Friday, February 25, 2011

Clive is having a very bad day.....

Scary set back for Clive today....

Last night we noticed that he seemed to be laying in his little bed for a long time but at first didn't think anything of it. After a couple of hours though it really seemed odd since he is normally so highly active and then when it was time to go to bed he didn't seem to want to get up and wouldn't eat anything at all. This morning again he wouldn't eat at all but was walking around a little bit but kind of slowly. After work when we got home though he had gotten much worse and wouldn't move at all. Any time I would touch him he would cry and when he would try to walk he wouldn't put any weight in his one front leg near where his incision is. So we took him to our family vet since it's the closest to our house and they are not really sure what is causing it but he seems to be in extreme pain. The doc didn't feel any broken bones or dislocations but Clive would cry and thrash around when he would feel around his shoulder and arm so there is something bad going on. He got a shot for pain and we are back home now...he also has pain meds to start in the morning and if he is not any better in the morning we will take him back to the doc. Not sure what in the world happened...I am really upset about it because he was doing so well and recovering perfectly. His incision is almost completely healed so I can't figure out what might be happening.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Update

Clive went for a check up today. He is doing really well. Everything looks good and his incision is healing as it should. He is now allowed to "romp and play" normally which is good since he has been doing that for awhile. He has to go back on the 10th for another check up where they will keep him for the day and do another barium x-ray test to see how his esophagus is doing. Yay so far!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Update

Clive is still doing really well. The doc had warned that the surgery might not be an instant fix but it's looking pretty good so far. He has a really good appetite and still hasn't thrown up once since I got him home. He is resting more than before but really is pretty active considering what he has been through. He is even playing a little now.....His incision looks good and he hasn't been licking or scratching it so he isn't having to wear his e-collar which I am sure he is happy about.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Just got Clive home,,,,,,

   

He seems to be doing pretty well. He ate first thing when he got home and then paced around a lot. He didn't like the ride home in the car at and I think that got him pretty agitated but now he is sleeping on my arm (makes typing rather difficult). He is confused by his e-collar but it's one of the soft ones so it gives a little when he hits stuff with it so that helps a bit. Ty seems confused by his new attire as well. You can't really see his scar that well in the pics but it's really large! He is shaved on both sides of his body and you can really see how underweight he is now. Time to start fattening him up I hope. The surgeon said she was able to pass a large tube down his esophagus into his stomach while he was under anesthesia so that's a good sign. He will be on special medication as I mentioned in an earlier post (in addition to pain meds) but it has to be compounded so I have to pick it up at a special pharmacy in a few days. I am supposed to keep him "quiet" and "calm" for two weeks now which is going to be really hard as active as he likes to be but I will try.....the grand total was $1990. Thanks so much to everyone who donated and everyone who sent such great vibes his way.....

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Update from surgeon

Just talked to the surgeon. She reiterated that the surgery went well. Turns out that Clive had a slightly different type of aortic arch called Aberrant Left Subclavian Artery. All the medical jargon in the articles I have found about it pretty much goes over my head but I am still reading about it. Not finding much about it in cats but I find quite a bit about it in humans. Anyway the result is the same in that his esophagus was being constricted and she has removed the cause of the constriction so now we have to see what happens. His esophagus was very "dilated" when she was in there so the hope is that without the constriction it will regain normal shape and normal function. He will be on a medication for a few weeks that may help with that and he will go back in 2 weeks for another x-ray to see if his esophagus is looking more normal. Also a couple of pics of him getting ready for surgery this morning.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberrant_subclavian_artery
http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/content/full/178/5/1269


clive is out of surgery!

Ok so Clive got out of surgery just fine and the surgeon is supposed to call me later to give me some details. The tech who called me said he was waking up on a normal schedule and that the surgery went well. His body temperature dropped a little below what they like and he had been under anesthesia for some time so they didn't end up neutering him. They are going to do that in the morning when he will have had some time to recover and warm up. It's only about a 5-10 minute procedure. He should be ready to come home tomorrow after work so I will post again when I get him home.

surgery day

just dropped clive off for his surgery. good luck clive! i will post again as soon as i have news.g

Saturday, February 5, 2011

CLive & Ty


Clive is having a rough morning today. He had one of his really bad spells early when I tried to feed him breakfast and he hasn't been able to hold much food down yet today.....here he is getting some TCL from his "Dad" Ty. I am anxious for Tuesday to get here so he can get some relief.


Thursday, February 3, 2011

HUGE HUGE THANK YOU TO CC'S FUND

This local Charlotte group has come through in a huge way for little Clive and with their help we have now reached our goal!! Clive is so touched that so many people have taken an interest in him and are pulling for him. I really can't say enough about this group and how wonderful it is that they are out there helping people who are unable to pay for expensive procedures for their pets. You can read more about them here and again thank you to them on behalf of Clive:

CC's Heart Fund at Carolina Veterinary Specialists


Wednesday, February 2, 2011

THANKS

Just want to send out a BIG thank you to all who have donated and those who are following Clive's story so far! You guys are awesome. It's really touching to see people taking time out of their days and money out of their budgets to help this little guy out. He really appreciates the concern!