Ekanath Watch: Update and the Full Story

Thank you to everyone who has helped by sharing Ekanth's story, his website, his Go Fund Me Page or by making donations, helping with transport or support and encouragement.  The response has been overwhelming and we appreciate it immensely.  We are now just a few hundred pounds form the goal, although vets bill has increased since we first put the GFM page up and exceeded the original estimate.

The Medical Stuff
Ekanath was originally admitted to hospital with respiratory distress.
His breathing had become laboured.  He had an infected chest wound, some form of bite from another cat or other animal.  The vet cleaned and drained the wound, opening it in order to more thoroughly clean it.  He spent several days in the hospital having the pus drained from the site with a needle and seemed to recover, so he was discharged home.

That weekend he relapsed and grew worse.  His breathing became very laboured, he couldn't catch his breath at all he became unable to lie down or sleep.  His chest was visibly swelling.  On returning to the vets they x-rayed him and found huge amounts of pus in his chest.  They did an emergency drain and pulled 350ml of pus from the chest. that night.  the next morning they pulled 250ml more out!

Ekanath had a rare condition called a Pyothorax.  It can be caused when infection tracks into the chest cavity form a wound and the wound then partly heals over it so there is no sign of the infection until respiratory distress begins.  The prognosis is not great since the condition is rare and most of the literature on it is years old.
the vets fitted a chest drain and began flushing his chest 4 times a day.  They also called in an expert on the condition form Edingbourgh.  They put him on 4 antibiotics to help fight the infection and for weeks it was very touching and go.  Twice they spoke to me and warned me that we might have to begin considering the awful decision that no pet owner wants to make.  Twice they managed to pull him back from that brink.  For over a month they kept him in the hospital and fought like madto  save his life.  Gradually he began recovering but in the last week, his recovery seemed to stall. He wasn't getting any worse but the fluids being drained from his chest weren't reducing any further either.

At that point, they took the decision to remove the chest drains in case the last little hurdle was being caused by his immune system attacking the drains.  We waited and held our breath.  This was a very worrying time, because if the pus build up continued we were almost out of options.  If they were right that the last little bit was a reaction to the drains themselves then he would recover.

To everyone hue relief he began to recover!

He is now at home but returns to the vets each Friday for a checkup and any further treatment needed.  He is on Loxicom for he pain as his surgical scars heal and has to wear a pet vest to stop him opening the wounds again.  The long courses of antibiotics have left him with diarrhoea, for which he has to take 2 separate probiotics.

He is recovering well, but it is a long and slow process.  Each day he gets a little stronger and a little more active.  Each day he also gets more and more bored as he is on room rest, meaning he can't leave the bedroom where we have all his things set up.  My desk is now in the bedroom as well as he needs constant supervision to watch for other side effects or to keep him from knawing at his pet vest or the scars.  He also needs to get regular gentle exercise.  Just enough to prevent muscle wastage but not too much that it might risk opening his wounds or overexerting him.

He is able to cope with a little more exercise each day.
 

We would like to thank everyone who has supported the little guy in this time of crisis.  We would especially like to thank Prince Bishops Veterinary Hospital, without who Ekanath would no longer be with us.
They fought long and hard and with great skill and determination to save his life and they will always have my gratitude!
Also, thanks to the specialist at Herriat Watt who confirmed that the clinical decisions taken by Christina and Gemma, the two chief vets on the case, were the right ones and that they had saved Ekaanths life.

For people who would like to know about the costs and the funds raised so far:

We have currently raised;- £1522* towards his care
Between the vet's bill, the new cat flap needed to keep him safe, transport costs and the other expenses incurred as a result of his illness (Dressings, spare medical pet vests, the sundry unexpected items a recuperating cat needs and so on) the total costs to date have amounted to £2031.98 over and above his insurance limit.
There are likely to be one or two small additional costs before he is signed off by the vets in a fortnight, but they shouldn't put the bill up by much

*(Minus whatever the GFM charges will be on the £1160 raised via that platform).