Pet of the Month! Olive!

Olive is a pretty 5-year-old domestic short hair cat. She suffers with rheumatoid arthritis, which means she has to see James and his team often to ensure she is comfortable and not in any pain. Before olive got diagnosed, she was suffering a fair amount and wasn’t enjoying life at all. But now when we see Olive, she is a character and is more happy and relaxed.

1. What is Olive’s favourite thing to do at home?

Olives’ favourite thing to do is to sleep on her cat tree and look out of the window.

2. Has Olive’s diagnosis changed her personality?

Before Olive was diagnosed she was very aggressive and grumpy. She hated being touched or picked up. Her symptoms gradually got worse and more so obvious and that was when we started investigations. Her behaviour got worse during this time as any examinations she had done by the vet, appeared to be uncomfortable for her. It had taken 3 years for olive to finally get diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis as it is rare in cats.

Since Olive has started her treatment journey, her behaviour has massively improved, and she is now happy being stroked and touched. She is definitely becoming more affectionate with us. From all of these changes, I do believe the condition changed her personality

3. How have you adapted to Olive’s diagnosis?

Olive is on steroids and a mild chemotherapy medication, because of this we have had to adapt how we care for her as a family. Especially the handling of medication, due to her having a chemotherapy drug this must be handled incredibly carefully.

We have to clean her bowls with a separate sponge in a separate sink and her medications are secured away from our little daughter in particular. We have to be extremely careful when cleaning her litter box and discourage Olive from licking us.

In general, she is more difficult to leave whilst we are on holiday. We have to make sure that if our family members, or close friends, are looking after her, they are following the correct treatment plan we have in place for Olive. Thankfully we are lucky enough to have great friends and family around us that are used to her and can help as an when we need help. Olive is also immunosuppressed this is because of her medication so we have had to fit a cat fence to help keep her safe but still get the luxury of being outside.

4. What do you enjoy about Olive?

Her attitude and her fighting spirit. We nearly gave up on her many times throughout this journey of her diagnosis but because she was tough, she wouldn’t let us and also pulled through fighting.

Olive still lives through with some discomfort not as bad as before but she never lets that stop her. And I love that about her.