2 November 2021 ¬ Haru’s Spay Surgery

Sherilyn and Cass insisted on following me to to the vet’s, though Cass only had half an hour of break before her next online class. We dropped off Haru at around 12.15 pm and by 2 pm, the vet’s daughter called me to inform me that Haru’s ready to be picked up from the clinic.

As usual, Haru hissed the moment she reached the clinic. She even tried to run away the moment she saw her carrier when we took it out from the storeroom. The carrier is always associated with pain. And the spay surgery must have traumatized her so much that after the surgery, she was extremely aggressive to everyone.

When we took her out of the carrier on reaching home, Haru appeared to be disoriented. Her eyes were glassy/watery and her pupils dilated. She sounded very different – from trauma and fear. She growled at us non-stop, like a feral animal. I think she could not even see us clearly nor recognize us. I placed her in her scratch board box and lined it with some cloths. But Haru was still trembling (side effect of the anesthetic) and very traumatized. About half an hour later, she suddenly jumped out of the box and landed on the floor. My heart landed on the floor with her too! She was hysterical, growling and trying to run away. She was trying to wriggle her way out of her post-op onesie (which she hates) and her leg got stuck. She was really hysterical. Cass tried to release Haru’s leg and in the process, got bitten really hard on her right hand!

Cass’ hand was bleeding badly. That night, Cass couldn’t sleep. She woke up at 3 am to apply ice on her hand as she felt as if blood was boiling under the skin of her hand. The next morning, I immediately brought Cass to a nearby clinic. The doctor told us that animal bites are serious, especially if they are from stray animals. Thankfully Haru has completed all her vaccines, including the one for rabies.

The doctor did a wound irrigation on Cass’ wounds by injecting the bite marks/holes with Dermacyn® WoundCare, a super-oxidized solution intended for use in the debridement, irrigation and moistening of acute and chronic wounds, ulcers, cuts, abrasions and burns. The procedure looked extremely painful and bloody as blood was oozing out of the holes when the doctor injected Dermacyn. The doctor asked Cass if it was painful and she nodded. But our tough cookie was calm as usual. She has gone through umpteen procedures a million times more painful than this since birth.

Aside from a wound irrigation, Cass is prescribed with antibiotics and anti-inflammation medicine. Haru is also given antibiotics and anti-inflammation tablets. Now I have 2 babies having to take similar meds until Sunday. Thankfully I have Sherilyn to feed Haru the meds. She’s really good at feeding Haru meds and cutting Haru’s sharp nails, something which I suck at.

Today Haru is less aggressive and doesn’t snarl and hiss at us like a dog and serpent anymore. But she’s still very weak and has been sleeping almost all day. She threw up after eating just one kibble last night. This morning, Sherilyn gave Haru a few shreds of boiled chicken and a few kibbles while I was at the clinic with Cass. But an hour later, Haru threw up again.

Haru’s appetite seemed to have come back late in the evening today. We fed her a teeny bit of kibbles, which she ate from our palm and force fed her water using a syringe, which I bought from the pharmacy this morning.

It breaks my heart to see Haru feeling so listless. She’s always been a very active cat and extremely intelligent. I call her a human trapped in a cat’s body. Seeing her lie down in her cage with her eyes closed and struggling to walk just crushes me.

Sometimes I think that spaying / neutering an animal is such a cruel thing to do. I’d gone through many surgeries on my abdomen and therefore know how painful it is. Haru is such a healthy and active cat and having her uterus and ovaries removed seems like so wrong. But I know that the pros outweigh the cons. Haru will no longer have to suffer every month and will also have lesser risk of certain cancers. Soon, she will be a happy cat again.

I can’t wait to see Haru back to her normal self again.

First few minutes on returning home from the vet after the spay surgery. And feeling disoriented and aggressive.
Cass comforting Haru while attending Math online tuition.
In a daze and wondering where she is and why she sees everything upside down.
Post surgery day 1. Still groggy from the anesthetic. Haru wriggled out of her post-op onesie. Today she tried to pull off the plaster with her mouth. Sherilyn managed to put the onesie back on Haru and again she wriggled out of it.
Wound irrigation.

Can you imagine how stressed out I was since yesterday? And my weight dropped further caused by all these stressors. I’m now 41.1kg and if I am faced with more stressful situations, I will be 40+ kg! Stressful days always make me lose weight effortlessly.

Good news is I now have some allowances to eat more to plump myself up again. I put on weight pretty easily too 😁.

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How To Increase Your Exercise Levels

group of women doing yoga

Are you looking to increase the amount of exercise that you do each week? Whether you are looking to start exercising properly, starting a new regime, or simply looking to up your game, you are sure to be excited but also daunted by the idea of exercising more. Exercise will bring a range of benefits to your life, but it can also be difficult to stay motivated and achieve your goals, particularly when you have kids and other responsibilities to manage. With this in mind, here are a few tips for increasing exercise that will hopefully help you and get you moving.

Create A Schedule

It can be very easy to blow off exercise when you do not have it in your schedule. This is why you should create a schedule for each week and then fit other less important responsibilities around the exercise that you have planned.

Start Off Slow

One of the biggest mistakes that people make is overdoing it in the first few weeks, which then causes people to feel exhausted and give up. Instead, you need to start slowly and gradually work your way up. Not only will this be easier to manage, but it will also be rewarding when you look back and see how much progress you have made.

Find Exercise That You Enjoy

It is hard to stay motivated and exercise regularly if you dread the activities you are doing. This is why you should find a few different activities that will help you achieve your fitness goals: running, working out in the gym, CrossFit, yoga, or competitive sports. Having a few different activities will keep your workouts fun and varied and could be a good way to meet new people too.

Treat Yourself To New Workout Gear

Treating yourself to new workout gear can be an effective way to keep yourself motivated. CrossFit backpacks from Built for Athletes will be a great purchase as these are bags that can fit all of your workout gear along with water bottles, towels, a laptop, meal prep, and training tools. This means that it will also be handy for your daily life and ensure that you have everything you need for your workouts.

Use Discipline Instead Of Motivation

If people only exercised when they felt motivated, they wouldn’t get much done, particularly if they had other responsibilities to manage. This is why you need to get into the habit of using discipline for workouts instead of motivation so that you do your workout even if you do not feel like it. This is a secret to success with exercise and achieving fitness goals and should help you to see results.

Hopefully, the tips will come in handy and help you to increase your exercise and achieve your fitness goals. Increasing the amount of exercise that you do can improve your life in many ways, but it can be tough to keep this going, and you need to know a few tips that will help.

No. of times viewed = 25

HEALTH FREAK MOMMY