Sabrina : Abby

“She is a miracle cat!” This is how our local vet always describes Abby, our beloved beautiful seal-point ragdoll.
Back in 2018 this time of the year as we were preparing to celebrate Christmas, I came home one day after work, finding Abby lying flat on the floor, looking lethargic and with her breakfast untouched aside. I immediately took her to our local vet for a checkup. The next minute we found ourselves rushing to SASH ED with her blood test results showing acute kidney failure. With blood potassium level skyrocketing, she could be in sudden death at any minute. The ED vet at SASH took Abby in straight away to give her immediate treatment for her acute kidney failure, which stabilised her electrolyte imbalance. Having a hospital pharmacist background, I could appreciate how dangerous Abby was in her situation at the time and how time critical was the treatment that had been given by the SASH ED team.
Once she was stabilised, one of the ED consultants came out and had explained to us the diagnosis and treatment options including surgical and medical for Abby. Abby had a blockage in her left urethra due to kidney stones. In order for her kidneys to function normally again, she would need a procedure called Subcutaneous Ureteral Bypass (SUB) where an artificial urethra is to be put in to allow urine to flow freely from the bladder to outside of the body. We were relieved to find out that Dr Bing Zhu at SASH has trained the surgeons to perform this life saving surgery from her expertise obtained in the US.
Next day, our surgeon Dr Amanda Miller contacted us and explained the procedure in details. The surgery went really well for Abby. She was then put into intensive care where she was looked after by the lovely ICU vet nurses and the internal medicine team Dr Jana Leshinsky for the continued care of her kidneys. There were daily blood tests done to make sure her kidney functions returned to normal. She was also put on a feeding tube after surgery to make sure she received all the essential nutrients post-surgery while we waited for her to regain her strength to eat and drink during the recovery in ICU. We were allowed to visit her every day and were briefed on how she was doing daily in hospital by the lovely team. Our Christmas wish for that year was to have Abby home in time to celebrate Christmas with us. And the SASH team was our true Santa that year! She was given another life and discharged home in time before Christmas!
Abby is now 8 years old and living happily with us, with plenty of years to come. She still goes to SASH regularly for her kidney check-ups and routine care for her SUB under the care of Dr Lucy Kopecny. We wouldn’t have celebrated Christmas with her in 2018 without the great effort and care from the multidisciplinary team at SASH!