Loudmouth is his original name. He was an outside cat we were feeding. Late in the evening, he would sit outside our front door and meow LOUDLY until someone would go out and pay him some attention. His name sprang from these bouts, which grew longer and louder. Eventually, we tried letting him inside. He turned out to be a domesticated cat, not a feral. He does have one or two problems, but not enough to kick him to the curb like his previous owner must have done.

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Baker the cat is throwing up again. Four times in the last hour. My wife examined the contents of the last ... outburst, let's call it, and found, believe it or not, *string*. Where the hell he's getting hold of string is anybody's guess - all string in the house is carefully kept off-limits to all furry household members.

Keeping our fingers crossed ...

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Baker the cat update 20190228: the last remnants of Baker's medical nightmare were removed last night when we took off his neck tube collar. The feeding tube hole has healed sufficiently so that he no longer needs it covered.

As for his behavior, he has definitely returned to normal. He's chasing Loudmouth around the house nightly, bouncing off the walls, and climbing everything that we'll let him climb. Back to his old self.

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Baker the cat update 20190222: Baker hasn't thrown up since the last event. He's back to bouncing off the walls again. Looks like whatever was ailing him was temporary, but we're still watching him like a hawk.

His neck feeding tube hole is still healing, but we're not sure if we can take the protective collar off yet.

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Baker the cat update 20190220_1: I don't know which way to turn. Baker was back to his normal, active self yesterday. Overnight has been a different matter. I found two piles of barf upon waking. One I can almost certainly associate with Baker, since it was near his food dish. The other, larger one I'm not sure of, since it was near our other cat's dish. Did our other cat barf? Coincidence? I'm confused now. Going to have to wait until my wife wakes up.

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Baker the cat update 20190218_2: Baker threw up again after breakfast. That prompted a call to the vet, who said his pancreatitis may be acting up again. The vet clinic has standing orders to give Baker IV fluids and anti-nausea medicine on arrival if we ever bring him back in. Fortunately, Baker has had three small meals since breakfast and kept all of them down. Fingers crossed.

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Baker the cat update 20190218: Baker is having some trouble adapting to life without a feeding tube. He's thrown up his kibble three straight days now. His evening activity level is rather low, but he's still active in the morning. He is meowing a lot more than normal throughout the day, though. We don't know if this is just standard transition trouble, or if we should be immediately concerned and contact the vet ASAP. Right now, we're in a holding pattern overnight.

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Baker the cat update 20190214: Baker's long ordeal has finally come to an end. The vet removed his neck feeding tube today and pronounced him healthy. We don''t have to give him any more medicines or anything else. All we have to do is make sure he wears his neck collar until his neck tube hole heals.

We weren't sure that Baker would survive when all this started. He's held on and pulled through like a trouper. We're so lucky to have a good vet and a strong cat.

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Baker the cat update 20190211: Full of piss and vinegar. That about describes Baker as of late. It's got to the point where he has to be enticed up to the feeding pillow with treats, and then he has to be chased down if my wife doesn't get him into feeding position quickly enough.

He'd figured out how to pull the bandage pad out of his neck tube collar - did it twice yesterday. My wife rigged up the third one with a couple of strips of medical tape. So far, it's holding.

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Baker the cat update 20190208_2: Baker is *actually running* through the house! He's chasing Loudmouth for the very first time since eating the thread. A sign that he's back to his "bouncing off the walls" ways of yore!

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Baker the cat update 20190208: The stitches are out, but Baker has found something new to scratch at: his new collar. His old collar was getting rather dirty, so my wife ordered a new collar and set of medical pads for his feeding tube. He has been scratching at them all morning long. I don't know which is irritating him the most. At least he's got a clean field around his tube, but the scratching is still worrisome.

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Baker the cat update 20190207: Baker goes in to get his stitches removed today. He's getting a bit of a bounce back in his step, and he's starting to try and run away when it's tube feeding time. He's eating his kibble - as well as his housemate's, Loudmouth's - and he's starting to stand up to Loudmouth's hissing once again. All in all, he's making outstanding progress for a cat that was once on the very brink of death.

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Baker the cat update 20190204: We had a bit of a scare when my wife weighed Baker earlier in the day. She calculated that he had lost half a pound, but fortunately a later double-check confirmed that he'd actually gained.3 of a pound to 13.6 pounds. We're still having trouble getting as much food into him as we'd like: he doesn't want to eat much, and his stomach doesn't hold a lot for tube feeding. It's going to be a slow, monotonous road getting him back to health.

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Baker the cat update 20190202: Baker has been on a steady course of improvement since his visit to the vet. He doesn't want to drink water on his own, but he's eating food by mouth. He's still being tube-fed, which will continue for another couple of weeks. He's slowly getting back to his normal self, although I doubt if he'll ever be back to where he was bouncing off the walls every morning and evening. He'll be a bit more sedate, but he'll be alive, which is what counts.

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Baker the cat update 20190131_2: We took Baker to the vet today for a post-hospital follow-up. The vet ran blood work and was happy with the results. His white blood cell count and his BUN and other enzyme counts were all getting closer to normal. We were told to stop pain meds and to give him one more dose of appetite stimulant (at least) to get him eating real food. He'll have his abdominal stitches removed in a week, then his feeding tube out a few weeks later.

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Baker the cat update 20190131_1: An uneventful night, but some activity this morning. Baker couldn't wear the pillow cushion - it was too constricting. My wife resorted to the tie-around shirt she'd made the night before. He slept through the night without raising it to get to his incision.

This morning, he walked around with no pain meds in him yet (and probably none unless the doctor orders them later). He's already encountered Loudmouth and meowed for attention.

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Now we've had a scare with our other cat, Loudmouth. He just went through several minutes of a coughing/reverse-breathing fit. He was treated with a long-acting antibiotic by the vet several days ago for an upper respiratory infection with wheezing. The wheezing is gone, but now we've got this. I don't think we can handle two potentially critical cats.

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I look forward to the day that Baker the cat has been well enough for long enough that I no longer feel the need to post a Baker the cat update. I hope that day comes sooner rather than later.

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Baker the cat update 20190130_1: My wife finally came up with a somewhat-comfortable wrap that prevented Baker from licking his surgical scar...for most of the night. I did wake up to find him licking it once, but a simple adjustment took care of the licking. No E-collar needed.

Baker ate more kibble & Fancy Feast treats yesterday, plus he finally ate some wet food. He also climbed his cat tower for the first time since the surgery. A big moment for everyone who saw.

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Baker the cat update 20190129_2: Baker seems to be doing well without his morning pain medicine. For the first time since his surgery, he's returned to his personal cat bed and is relaxing there.

My wife is desperately trying to come up with an alternative to the E-collar that Baker can wear like a shirt over his incision scar. She's tried baby shirts, homemade things, and is now considering a Thundershirt. I'm not sure what'll fit over Baker's floppy belly.

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