My
housemate Gail and I are at our wits' end. He just will not eat. We
have tried every combination of approaches we possibly can with every
combination of food that we can. We gave him the liver shake on Saturday
and he wolfed it down, and the next meal he refused it but ate some regular
canned food and some crunchies, and then after that, nothing. We syringed
him with the liver stuff a couple times, and then A/D, offering them in a bowl
first, or offering tuna food or tuna juice, and still he barely sniffs at
things. He has taken a couple of treats, but no longer jumps eagerly into
our laps for them. Gail works first shift and I work 8-4:30 in another
town, so the only time we are at home together is about 4 hours at night.
Feeding him is definitely a two-person job, so except for weekends and days like
this (I'm home sick) we've got to cram a day's worth of food into that little
time. When our Luc wouldn't eat, we had him intubated so that one person
could feed him a few times a day, but that nearly broke our bank and we can't
afford to do that for this little guy. What kills me is he doesn't like us
too much any more, because of necessity, every time we go into his room it's to
do something bad to him. And I keep thinking about what somebody said here
about cats not understanding "future", it's all "now", and all his "nows" really
suck. I really wish I knew why he came to us -- to be saved, or to
have a comfortable and loving place to pass. I could live with it, if it's
the latter, but if it is, he must feel like he's in Hell.
Plus, today I have a sore throat and the beginnings of a cold, and
I'm worried about making him worse. It's sort of moot because Gail can't
feed him alone, but it's just another thing to obsess about.
Sorry this is so gloomy, but this is really wearing us all
down. In case anybody has some words of wisdom: His eyes are still
somewhat runny, though not as bad as before. Vet had us discontinue the
eyedrops, and she supplemented the last few Orbax with Clavamox twice a day (at
least he's easy to pill alone). (We were at the vet's on Saturday, right
after he seemed to be starting to eat again.) He seems to keep down the
great majority of what we feed him. At least once per feeding his little
tongue comes out and it looks like he's going to hurl, but then he burps and is
okay. We have crunchies available all the time, no inroads into them for
days, same with water, although there's considerable water in the A/D when we
syringe it. His poop is runny, understandably.
I
would be most grateful if anybody has some fresh ideas. :-)
Diane R.
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"Nice kitty!"
-- Prof. Radcliffe
Emerson
The Snake, the
Crocodile and the Dog
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