Our special Birman Symba
By simbad
25 comments
Thought I’d tell you story of our beautiful Birman.
We bought Symba 6 years ago for our young daughter who’d wanted a cat for as long as I can remember, but after looking through loads of cat books decided she wanted a Birman, after searching through Birman cat club register found a breeder not to far away so phoned up to see if she had any kittens, luckily she had two babies said we could go and see them,it was mothers first litter and she had had quite bad birth one had lost half its tailing being pulled out and mother had rejected Symba so he was being hand reared by breeder, of course daughter fell in love at first sight, so we left a deposit and picked him up at thirteen weeks old.
Well for first two days he seemed fine playing like normal kitten, but then he seemed to become really ill wouldn’t eat and just sat there drooling so rushed him to vet who thought it was a bug due to change in enviroment and gave him antibiotics, did seem to pick up but as soon as tablets finished started all over again.
This time vet seemed quite concerned as he wasn’t gaining weight as he should be and his fur was was really greasy looking, anyway to cut a long story bit shorter it took vet three months to find out what was wrong, he’d only ever had a dog with this condition never a cat, and it took lots of tests to find Symba had a liver shunt, a hereditery disorder more common in birmans than any other breed, when the kitten is inside the mother its fed through a blood vessel and when its born this vessel should close up but with a liver shunt it stays open, so every time Symba ate his food it wasn’t detoxified by his liver and so went straight into his blood poisoning him and the ironic thing is high protein diets,which cats need,make the condition worse.
So this poor little kitten was put on three lots of medication, steroids, antibiotics and lactulose and special low protein diet.
Still didn’t do much good, he started having periods of blindness, halucinations were he’d sit in corner of room literally screaming, walked of galleried landing once during one of his episodes.
Anyway after a year it came to a head when he had a horendous fit we rushed him to vet who kept him in overnight he came home next day and had another.
Vet said there was an operation that could be done but was very risky and he could die, we said we were prepared to take the risk as the life he had was pretty awful, and his life expectancy was only two years.
So we had to take him to Manchester and after examining him the vet said he looked strong enough for operation, so couple of weeks later we took him back, they injected a dye into his blood so they could find vessel, which was as big has his aorta, put a band round it, which slowly close over 6-8 weeks, poor little chap had thirteen staples.
After few weeks he started to get much better and now he’s 6 years old and a normal cat on normal food, although he has been bit spoiled and does prefer chicken, ham beef etc and only the expensive stuff, but after what he’s been through thinks he deserves it,even sleeps in bed with our daughter.
So lovely to see him now hiding behind door to pounce on dog or charging round like a looney, never thought we’d see that, he’s a real people cat and loves nothing better than wrapping himself round my neck like a scarf.
All I can say is thank god for Petplan.
7 Oct, 2009
14 likes
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Comments
What a success story, arent you glad you perservered Birmans are such a lovely breed, our Burmese cats used to wrap themselves around our necks and tap our cheeks if we blew on them.......
7 Oct, 2009
He's looking lovely now - bless him!
7 Oct, 2009
Awwwwww, Simbad, he is just gorgeous :-)))
It's all worked out well, i'd spoil him rotten too !
I visit one called Barny regularly and he's lovely, i always have a cuddle !!!
7 Oct, 2009
He's lovely. I'm glad he had that operation. It would have been so sad to loose him. I wish him a long healthy life
7 Oct, 2009
Symba is absolutely gorgeous and after such a bad start I think he deserves a bit of spoiling.......
7 Oct, 2009
Beautiful fluffy cat so great to have a happy ending
7 Oct, 2009
Thanks everyone, really would be lost without him, even fudge, who he does bully a bit but not nastily, he's such a character.
7 Oct, 2009
So glad you could nurse him back to good health Simbad...he's gorgeous. Such a pretty face....& those eyes! Just lovely. He went thru' so much as a kitty he surely deserves scrummy nosh!
7 Oct, 2009
Thanks for telling the story and I'm glad it has a happy ending :o)
7 Oct, 2009
He's a beautiful cat.
7 Oct, 2009
What an amazing story....what a horrendous experience for you all!!!.....what a beautiful cat...so pleased he won through. No wonder he is so precious to you.....thanks for sharing:)
7 Oct, 2009
What a lovely story ---- love happy endings .
Symba is so beautiful, reminds me of my Ragdoll (Dolly)
I once had a cat who had fits and it was horrendous to watch, luckily they eventually were controlled with drugs and she lived to a good age .
Well done you for such commitment.
Love to Symba
From Alf and Dolly
7 Oct, 2009
He is such a beautiful cat! I'm very glad he's doing so well. :-))
7 Oct, 2009
He is lovely....
7 Oct, 2009
What an horrendous start to his life, but thanks to your perseverance and care he looks wonderful and has a loving home. a happy ending!
7 Oct, 2009
Oh Bless - I'm glad he turned the corner - I'm on the verge of getting a kitten, the mum turned up at her house suddenly slimer and the owner followed her to my garden so at 10.30 I was out in my dressing gown rooting around behind the shed and yes there she was with 3 newborn kittens! So carefully carrying them round to her house (with the mum following me) and gave them back to her owner (glad I did as it has rained non stop for 3 days and got a lot colder!) anyway as it was 3 kittens of course I asked my son if he could carry the third and yes guess what hes fallen in love with her!!! So I guess its time we had a cat in the family again (my last one was 18 and its been very quiet since he went!!)
8 Oct, 2009
Alf and Dolly glad they managed to control your cats fits, is horrible to see,our dog Fudge has them too remember first one he had we'd been at the vets in the morning with Symba then in the afternoon Fudge had a fit too,what a day, all the rest have been in middle of the night, only has one a year and always summer time,strange, vet said could be hot weather that causes them and because he only has one a year isn't on any medication, as he's got older,he's 9 now, they have become less severe.
Good luck with your kitten Genuisscuffy, they're so much fun.
9 Oct, 2009
poor symba what alot for the poor kitty to go through, but so lucky having such nice owners to get him well again, lovely cat, :o))
13 Oct, 2009
Thanks Sanbaz :-)
13 Oct, 2009
Oh, he's a beauty. What a shame he had to go through so much but great to hear he is happy and healthy now.
The photo of the pair of them reminds me of my lab and cat.
24 Nov, 2009
He's such a beauty Sinbad what a terrible start he had, good to see he's racing around now. Like you say thank you for petplan :0))))
24 Dec, 2009
awww, how sad to start off with!! i'm so pleased he's doing so well now, he's such a beautiful cat. Ginge is not so homley, he likes to go out and often brings us gifts of mice and the odd rat! (arghhhh) lol :)
5 Oct, 2010
Yes he's doing brilliantly thanks Kermy:-)
Oh dear hope the rats aren't still alive,lol, wonder why they do that bring pressies back?
5 Oct, 2010
yes thankfully the rats are always dead!! lol :)
6 Oct, 2010
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Poor Symba having to go through so much for the first part of his life. How lucky he was to go to such caring owners who were willing to do all they could for him (with the aid of Pet Plan!). I'm so glad his sad story has such a happy ending and that he is enjoying his life as a much loved and pampered cat! It's great to hear of someone getting their moneys worth out of pet insurance. :o))
7 Oct, 2009