Prayers for Mikey, may he rest in peace in heaven
It was a very tough period for us the past month, especially last week. We lost Mikey last Tuesday. It was very painful to lose a very dear and extraordinary cat. Mikey will be remembered dearly and remain forever loved.
Mikey's journey was challenging. He belongs to our neighbour's gardener, who found him in the forest near our house in May. A dog brought him to a tree, and thereon the gardener rescued Mikey and cared for him. We were there when he was rescued.
Mikey was very small (maybe 1 month old or less), adorable, in need of food, attention, and love. He was lost. No one knew what truly happened. Was he left by someone, was he lost, or was his family died and leave him alone to fend himself for survival? The stray dogs could have eaten him but they didn’t. In fact, the dog scruffed him using their mouth and placed him under a tree. He meowed continuously for help until the gardener rescued him.
The gardener took good care of him. Sometimes we saw him playing cheerfully and we petted and carried him when we met the gardener as we were close to him too.
Mikey had the time of his life, he was a very unique cat. Although he was a stray, and lived outside a house, he was very obedient, loving, very close to people, and attentive. He respects people. He easily befriends other cats. He behaves somewhat like a dog. The best cat we encountered in terms of behaviour. He simply amazed us.
Unfortunately in November, we got to know that Mikey was sick, he couldn’t eat and drink. his right leg was suspected broken, he could only sit at one spot and refused to move at all. The gardener was worried. We are also worried. We decided to help Mikey and the gardener, we brought Mikey home so he was more protected. We cared for him and gave him food, water, and some care. His leg was so bad, we decided to bring him to the vet.
The next day we brought him to the vet. Our usual vet told us that he need to be taken to an orthopedic surgeon as his leg is suspected broken and the surgeon need to reconstruct his broken leg.
We had to take him to the nearest vet that is available with the expertise, we had to send him to iVet. When they did the x-ray, the confirmed that Mikey's leg was broken, to be precise it was his thigh bone. Suspected that it was a terrible fight or someone beat him. It may be the latter because there was no sign of fighting except for his broken thigh.
The doctor said he needed to undergo the surgery to fix his leg, if left untreated he could die as the broken bones may pierce his blood vessels and cause internal bleeding which will lead to death. It was a tough decision as we are worried for him as he is a stray and he never had any vaccination.
We want the best for him, we want him to live, we want to take care of him the best we could. We told the doctor to do a blood test and check everything necessary before he went under anesthetic.
We had a really bad experience with Popo last year, Popo started to become ill after she was put on anesthetic at iVet when her leg was injured due to her protecting the house from a stray cat that suddenly entered the house and fought with her. Sadly when Popo was given the anesthetic, they didn't do a blood check. Popo was a senior cat, about 15 years of age, and may have silent disease. When she was back to the house, she started to become weak and worse, and in the end, she died due to complications, kidney and organ failure, only within 2 weeks, and Popo died in our arms. It was very heartbreaking and really bad experience for the family.
Due to the experience we had with Popo's situation before, we ordered a blood check and checked everything possible with Mikey before the surgery. When everything was in order, they did the surgery for Mikey.
God bless, Mikey survived and recovered slowly from the surgery. After a few days of vet observation and close treatment at the clinic, we took him home and were advised for Mikey to cage rest. We had to cage rest Mikey for his leg to recover. We will take him out minimum twice daily from the cage and play with him, gave him massage and attention that he needs. We also provided him food and drink, helped him poop and pee, and gave him his prescribed medication for his recovery.
Mikey was a very loving and good cat. He was very easy to manage. Although he was unwell and we had to give extra care and attention to him, he did not make it hard. He showed good progress daily with his leg. He started using the broken leg and walking using it rather than having to hop initially.
The third day from his leg recovery, we realized that his right hand was injured because he was biting it, this was at the place of the IV drip that they had to inject the drip to his hand after his surgery. It was bad and we immediately took him to the vet again. Mikey bit the injured hand due to itchy and pain.
The vet supposedly provide a collar for his recovery to avoid him licking and biting his sewn leg, but the staff forgot to let us know. This was our first time taking care of a badly injured cat and after surgery. We were devastated by their negligence. We also were not told that his hand was injured as well. The vet had to shave his hand, cut the infected area, and stitch his injured hand. The doctor told us that we need to do daily bandages and medical treatment for Mikey at home.
When we brought Mikey home, we did that every day. But Mikey was very uncomfortable with the bandages and his injury was painful. Even when we looked at it, it was terrible, imagining Mikey has to go through it, with his leg broken, reconstructed, and then his hand is sewn and there's no fur, but only skin to the core, like a burning injury. He managed to open the bandages himself as he was very uncomfortable. His injury got worse.
We had to bring him to the vet again. The vet had to perform a second suture on his skin again because his stitches reopen. Mikey had to leave at the vet for a few days for his hand recovery, to at least for the wound to get dry and the wound is better.
Only after he came back from the vet this time, Mikey was alright only for one day, then he started to behave strangely, which was not like him. His hand started to have small red dots. He was very quiet. He didn't want to eat, drink, play. He was very different as Mikey is known as a very cheerful cat.
The next day we noticed that he vomited. The vomit was green, which I know is not a good sign, something bad was going on. I noticed that his fur was dry, similar to our past cat, Popo who died last year. My heart became more worried than ever. He looked at me gently but in pain. I tried to pet him and play with him. He couldn't react as normal.
When we tried to lift him up, he growled and cried. He sat very uncomfortably. He cried and cried. We suspect that something was not right internally. We brought him to the vet again. The doctor in charge suspected Mikey might have Parvo due to his vomit was green and he had diarrhea. She ordered to do a Parvo test.
Unfortunately, the test came back strong positive Parvo. I cried. We were very devastated. For cats, there are several incurable viruses and diseases, Parvo is one of them. Parvo is in fact the worse of them, it is deadly, incurable, and transferable to other cats, just by touching, infected space, equipment, attire, shoes, infected cats being together with healthy, normal cats, or can be transmitted through the infected cats' saliva, blood, and poo.
What was worse was that the vet couldn't admit Mikey in due to his Parvo condition. They said they can't take in Parvo cases because they had no proper place and treatment for Parvo cases. We fevery sad and mad. But we had to not give up, for Mikey.
We searched every vet that we could. None could take Mikey as many vets do not want to treat Parvo cats due to the unavailable expertise, equipment, place, care, and because Parvo is too dangerous, afraid that it will infect other cats.
Tried googling Parvo treatment, care, and vet in Malaysia, but I found nothing. Asked some of my good friends and checked with some of the vets too. I called every vet based on recommendations and reviews I could find in the internet. The ones that could take Parvo cases were full and one of the staff's vet in AMC was very disrespectful when we contacted them. It was very shocking but after looking at their reviews, it was just an affirmation how bad their services were.
I called Kitty’s Cottage our usual vet, they were so good, their staff, Haziq, answered the questions I had diligently and they also recommended me to Luna Vet. I called and message Luna Vet, shared Mikey's condition, story, and plead all I could for them to take Mikey in. Finally, they said they could. Their staff and Doctor were very helpful and kind.
We quickly brought Mikey to Luna Vet on that Friday evening before the vet was closed. Their vet is closed on weekend and informed us that chances of Parvo survival was very minimal. Usually it is just 10% survival rate. There is no cure for Parvo. Same information was given from other vets, some even said that usually they can't survive, especially cats. I've also managed to get in touch with the doctor from Putra Heights Vet, Dr. Ong. I asked him about some medication and Parvo situations. He was also very helpful and being understanding.
Luna Vet told us that they can only give the best treatment and monitoring, but the rest depends on the cat to fight the virus. The virus is too powerful and strong. So far there’s no medication or anti virus for this cruel virus. Every day we messaged the vet to see how Mikey is progressing as we couldn't visit Mikey during the weekend because the clinic was closed.
Luna Vet staff were very helpful, they replied us and informed Mikey’s condition. Although their vet is closed on weekend, their staff will come in and check and provide food, drink and ensure that the IV drip was fine. The doctor told us that hopefully Mikey would stay strong and survived that weekend. Every day we prayed for Mikey. We really hope Mikey can survived this. We love him so much.
Finally on Monday, we could visit Mikey. On Monday afternoon during lunch hour, we visited Mikey. It was a very sad visit, Mikey looked very weak, but he was still surviving. He showed sign of improvement compared to before, he no longer vomited, but he still on iv drip, still had diarrhea and needed to be forced eating and under tubing.
When we visited him, we talked to him, said all the positive things to him, how much we love him, how strong he was and he could fight this. We told him we couldn't wait for him to come back and we would take care of him and he could come back and be with the gardener and play again like before.
He looked at us, aware, although he look weak, but there was a glimpse of hope for him to survive. We petted him, prayed and stayed with him for a while during the visiting hour. The doctor and staff said there might be hope as he was still surviving even at Day 4. Usually cats that have Parvo die between Day 1-3 after contracting the virus.
Mikey seemed to have hope to survived. We were very nervous and sad because it was a dilemma to leave him there knowing what if he would be gone and we were not there, but if we took him home, we were also not giving him the proper treatment because he needed to be hospitalized and on medication and treatment. It was a very difficult choice and situation. Mikey had to be under treatment. It was a life and death predicament.
The next morning, my husband received a call from the doctor and turned the loudspeaker for me to listen as well, Mikey had left us and meet the Creator. We were very devastated. I cried and cried. I felt very sad, bad and I felt I couldn’t breathe. It was so hard because I cared him like a child, he was very close to us. I can’t explain how special he was. He was just special. It was very hard to take in.
We went to the vet, the doctor and staff was very understanding and expressed sympathy for our loss. They told us we did and gave him the best we could for him to live. Thank you so much Dr. Amirah, Hayat, Athirah, Iman and Nina from Luna Vet for all the help, support and care for Mikey when he was alive.
It was a very sad loss. We knew that Mikey was cared carefully by the Doctor and the staff at Luna Vet as we had various conversations with them and see how they cared for Mikey.
We took Mikey's body home, we buried him near to our beloved cat Popo. We have a proper burial for him although he had Parvo virus, we ensure that he was buried properly and respectfully.
Going through what we had with Mikey until his last day while had to work so hard was very tough. It was a nightmare. I wish I could have more time to care and spend more time with him.
Mikey was an amazing cat. He showed us unconditional love, undivided attention, obedience, loyalty, and Mikey teaches us the meaning of survival, life and death.
Mikey truly made me rethink hard about life.
It has been more than a week since Mikey's departure, my heart still aches writing this. Life is not easy, it is cruel. Mikey was a good, loyal, amazing, and strong cat, but he leave too soon. It is hard to lose someone (I treat my cats/strays/animals like human).
I am sharing Mikey's journey because he is an amazing cat, and the need to build awareness on Parvo virus and against animal bullying and torture.
Mikey's journey made me aware a lot more about Parvo, quality of vet services, how some people disrespect animals' lives, animal cruelty, the hard life of a stray and life is super short.
Mikey was a stray. After he was cared for, he may be beaten until his thigh was broken and he could not walk. Due to his situation, his immunity is weak and it's easier for him to catch diseases and unfortunately he get the worse of it all, Parvo virus, the deadly virus and no cure.
This all can be avoided if we, human, are more respectfully, could care and love animals, the strays, like we care and love another human. Animals have a heart, they have emotions. They are aware of their surroundings, they remember, and they feel - just like us.
Human need to understand that we share this world with animals and nature. We shouldn't take it all and want it all. We need to learn to share.
Stop animal bullying and cruelty. It needs to be totally stopped. Serious action needs to be taken by the authority. It's high time for the government to have animal police and enforce strict rules and penalty under the Animal Protection Act.
The government should also invest more in the area of finding cure and treatment for deadly virus such as Parvo among cats, dogs and animals that can be infected. Besides that, a programme to spay and get the strays vaccinated against Parvo virus is also crucial to avoid mass infection and death against strays. They are so many ways to help, support, and improve the condition for strays.
Veterinaries in Malaysia need to also be more careful in handling cats and dogs, especially the strays, the sick and the old. As Parvo virus is easily transmitted, the vet staff and doctors need to be extremely diligent in handling all cases. Vet need to also care a life of an animal just like a doctor would care for a human life. Negligence should be a no-no.
When someone sends their cat to a vet, it is just like sending their child to a doctor. It should be handled with care, and given the best treatment possible. All lives matter.
I hope will be able to share more about Parvo virus, the strays and more about animal care in my upcoming articles for furkid parents out there.
Pray for Mikey, and all the furkids that have gone to the heaven beds due to Parvo. You are all heroes.
Be the voice for the voiceless. Keep on fighting for the strays and animals. They need us.
Mikey's life journey with us. He was a fighter. Very attached to us. We love you forever Mikey.
We adopted Mikey, gave him proper care. His leg was broken, possibly a result of someone cruel
Mikey after surgery when we visited him. He was very loving and attached. His recovery from the surgery was good at this time
Mikey's leg. He was a strong boy
We brought him home. Look how happy he was
He loved to get comfy
Mikey loved every single attention. The kind of cat that you can snuggle with 24/7
Mikey ate a lot. We were grateful to see him having a good appetite when it comes to food. Means he is progressing well
He stayed beside me, feel the warmth of my body, while I was working
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