PET BIRMAN OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2007

Sapphire has just celebrated her second birthday.  She was our first pet Birman.  We never intended to breed.  We just wanted a fluffy lap cat.  She came to us at 8 weeks old a tiny bundle of fluff.  As she got older out came her beautiful blue cream tortoiseshell markings and the temperament to match.  She would stand up to her big brothers, there was nothing she’d back down from.  After a while I noticed that she wasn’t really growing.   She would vomit occasionally but nothing ever very serious.  She was still so small and thin.  I just assumed that she would fill out as time went on.  She made up for her small size with her big personality, one minute being naughty and mischievous, the next being loving and licky.

As time went on we decided that maybe we could just have one pet litter from her.  We thought she would make a great mum because of the way she ‘mothered’ my other cats.  We went about finding a stud and she was mated.  My partner Adam and I were thrilled when she successfully mated and went about preparing for the new kittens.

About two weeks after she was mated I noticed Sapphire was very poorly.  She was very quiet, not eating and wasn’t her normal self.  We rushed her off to the vets where she was put on intravenous fluids for 24 hours.  We brought her home the next day only to take her back the next very lethargic and collapsed.  It was then she was diagnosed with a pyometra (womb infection).  This was a life threatening condition.  The vet advised the only way to save her life was to neuter her.  We waited on tenterhooks during the operation, praying she would pull through.  Our prayers were answered.  Over the next few days she perked up and gradually got back to  normal.
 

Time went on and we were no closer to finding out what was wrong with Sapphire.  We were referred to a special vet surgery where they performed every test imaginable.  Bloods were sent to a human hospital for testing. She had ultrasound, x-rays and exploratory operations.  Finally test results showed that Sapphire was suffering from IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease).  The IBD was being triggered by meat product and the vet told us that Sapphire could no longer eat a food that contained any poultry or animal meat, but would have to live on a fish diet.  If Fish triggered the IBD as well, then there was no other option for her. We had the task of finding a food that did not contain any trace of meat. We tried all foods available to us and finally found a Capelin and Tapioca diet.  She started to do well on the food.  She stopped vomiting and started to gain weight.  Once again she was back to the old Sapphire.

The vet at the referral clinic suggested that we try a procedure to try and find out why she coughed.  At this stage asthma and heart problems had been eliminated.  She was booked in for a bronchial wash. The vet explained that this was where fluid was injected into the lungs in order to take a sample of lung fluid.  We were told this was a risky procedure.

We dropped her off and kissed her goodbye and went about our daily routine. At about midday I received a phone call to say that Sapphire was dangerously ill.  Her lungs had filled with fluid under anaesthetic and she was in an oxygen tent, barely alive.  The next half an hour was crucial.  This poor cat had been through so much in her short life, but I willed her to keep going and to keep fighting.  I got the phone call to say that she was starting to pull through and that evening we went to visit her.  I saw this scrawny little cat with shaved neck, legs and stomach, attached to a drip and smelling of pilchards and my heart burst with pride.  She was a real fighter.

6 months on and Sapphire is back to her old self. Terrorising her brothers and sisters and our new litter of kittens, playing the dutiful aunt and being the little madam she is. She is settled on the food and is probably more than the ideal weight now!!

Debbie Pocock

HOW TO ENTER THE 2007 AWARD

If you would like to nominate your Pet Birman for the 2008 Award, all you have to do is to write to the Magazine Editor by 1 September - using the entry form - describing your reasons why you believe he or she (or they, if you wish to nominate a pair) deserves our annual award. Or your Birman(s) can speak for you if you prefer!  Your story can be any length up to around 1500 words, and do please send a photo which will of course be returned if it is a photographic print.  The Award is only open to members of the Birman Cat Club (including Junior) and only PET Birmans can be considered; show and breeding Birmans are not eligible.

If you have entered in the past and been unsuccessful, you are welcome to try again with a new story; several Pet Birmans have entered more than once and have been among the winners with second or even third attempts!                   

Click here to print off an entry form - come on!!!

 

these charming graphics courtesy of and copyright to John Assiter-Tuppen © 2007