Blackie visits Dr. Hsu!

Many thanks to Melissa who brought Blackie to Dr. Hsu also while I was away.

Before visit to Dr. Hsu’s: “Blackie’s situation is better than before, though he’s still having spasms of shivers and can’t really control his muscles. Penny was going to bring him to Dr Prakash today (Sunday), but I told her to call up Mt Pleasant – which was when she realised Dr Prakash wasn’t going to be in till Monday. I then called up The Animal Clinic where Dr Hsu is, and he’s in tomorrow. While they have a full schedule, they were kind enough and said we could just go and wait in the queue, and he will see us as soon as possible.

So that’s what we’re going to do – bring Blackie to see Dr Hsu for his expert opinion tomorrow (Monday). I’m quite sure he’ll do everything he can – and I’ve got personal experience with his “skills” as do a lot of other caregivers and cat-lovers… so I can attest for his professionalism, honesty, etc. Let’s hope for the best for Blackie! He’s such a feisty, playful kitty and I want to do everything I can to make sure he recovers well and can then find a loving home!”

After visit to Dr. Hsu’s: “I went down to Penny’s this afternoon to pick Blackie up and send him to Dr Hsu at The Animal Clinic (Telok Kurau).

Blackie was amazingly obedient despite the long journey I’d taken him from Yishun to the East side of Singapore (on public transport, no less). He was obviously nervous as hell, but Dr Hsu’s gentle hands managed to calm him down. Anyhow, Dr Hsu said that it looks like Blackie suffered trauma due to major impact on the head. It could have been an accident or a case of abuse… we will never know. What we do know is that he was found at the field next to Yishun MRT completely incapacitated. Given that’s he’s already grown to about 5 months old now, the lack of muscular control, etc. certainly didn’t look like a congenital problem. As such, Dr Hsu advised against those expensive tests that other vets would’ve foisted upon Blackie, because those are largely to test for birth defects… and aren’t conclusive anyways. Instead, he said to continue with the inflammation medication and call him in 3 weeks to see what else we can do for Blackie… He’s too young to take medication for an increase of blood circulation to the head – it might result in a stroke. So all we can do now is hope for the best, keep him active by playing a lot with him (and he loves that), and be mindful of any improvement/deterioration.

Dr Hsu also tested Blackie’s eyesight, and said that it appears that his vision has been impaired by the trauma… Blackie didn’t respond to visual stimulation much; he responds when there’re large movements, but not little flashes of light in his eyes…

At the moment, Blackie’s movements are still jerky – his muscular control remains weak… Hopefully things will improve with medication over a month or so. Given that he’s a young ‘un, that might improve the chances of recovery… Otherwise, it looks like Blackie will be in a somewhat disabled state for life…

(Oh and before I forget – can I just add that Dr Hsu is an angel and didn’t charge me a CENT for consultation? I told him about how Blackie was found and where he’s currently housed at Penny’s, as well as how we’re desperately trying to raise funds for his treatment… at the point of payment, he turned and told his nurse, this one no charge. He is such a sweetie! Must support a compassionate, wise vet like him! Most other vets would have taken the opportunity to make a killing by foisting unnecessary tests and suchlike!)

So I don’t have any scans of receipts And I’m kinda relieved we didn’t go back to Mt Pleasant for Blackie, ‘cos if we had not known and gone for that spinal fluid test (which would have cost at least $600, am I right?), it would have been for naught…

I then traveled back to Yishun to meet Penny and over coffee, we discussed Blackie’s situation and Dr Hsu’s advice. We’ll have to wait and see, but given that Blackie is young and feisty, he should improve with time… let’s hope so. Once Penny finishes the current medication, we’ll bring Blackie back to Dr Hsu and see what else we can do to help.”

Our thoughts: Meanwhile, Penny spoke to someone called Lam Jie who’s had plenty of experience being a caregiver and who’s nursed some very distressed kitties back to health! She asked Lam Jie to take Blackie in, ‘cos she will be able to give Blackie massages and perhaps that might speed up the healing process. When Blackie finishes his course of anti-inflammatories, I’ll then take him back to Dr Hsu to follow up and see if there’s anything else we can do for him.

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