Re: Ginger ate a little (or at least licked at food)!
Michelle, Sounds like Ginger is really making a turnaround. Now eat for your Mom Ginger!! :) -- Belinda Happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties ... http://www.bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candle Light Service http://www.bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com (affordable hosting web design) http://HostDesign4U.com --- BMK Designs (non-profit web sites) http://bmk.bemikitties.com
Re: Ginger ate a little (or at least licked at food)!
I actually rescheduled it for Thursday. She has gotten much perkier-- playful and cuddly again, and after licking at the fancy feast yesterday she also licked up a little baby food. She has not touched food since then, but before getting the Triaminic this morning she did go over and look at the food and try to cover it up. So I am cautiously hopeful. If she is still not eating by Thursday I will take her in for the ultrasound. I do want to give her a chance to get over the cold without the stress of 2 hours in the car and an hour or more at the vet, belly shaving, ultrasound where I can not be present with her, etc. It is not as stressful as surgery, but it is stressful for her. Thanks, Michelle In a message dated 5/15/05 9:34:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Dear Michelle Tough one. If it were me, I think I would keep the appointment to get it over and done with earlier rather than later, while doing everything possible to minimize the stress on Ginger. It IS very good news that she appears to be taking an interest in food--as you say it does look like congestion may be the culprit making her unable to smell the food. I really hope so. Having the ultrasound done would not affect her recovery from congestion. Ifthe cause of her appetite loss isnot congestion then the ultrasound may give more of a clue to what it is. That's my 2 cents' worth. Sending Ginger lots of healing vibes..it seems to me there is reason today to be cautiously optimistic...love and hugs to you both, Kerry - Original Message -
RE: Ginger ate a little (or at least licked at food)!
Title: Message Wonderful to hear that she's playing again, Michellemore power to your paw, Ginger! Hope she just gets better and betterkeep us posted when you get time. hugs to you both, Kerry -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 10:06 AMTo: felvtalk@felineleukemia.orgSubject: Re: Ginger ate a little (or at least licked at food)! I actually rescheduled it for Thursday. She has gotten much perkier-- playful and cuddly again, and after licking at the fancy feast yesterday she also licked up a little baby food. She has not touched food since then, but before getting the Triaminic this morning she did go over and look at the food and try to cover it up. So I am cautiously hopeful. If she is still not eating by Thursday I will take her in for the ultrasound. I do want to give her a chance to get over the cold without the stress of 2 hours in the car and an hour or more at the vet, belly shaving, ultrasound where I can not be present with her, etc. It is not as stressful as surgery, but it is stressful for her. Thanks, Michelle In a message dated 5/15/05 9:34:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Dear Michelle Tough one. If it were me, I think I would keep the appointment to get it over and done with earlier rather than later, while doing everything possible to minimize the stress on Ginger. It IS very good news that she appears to be taking an interest in food--as you say it does look like congestion may be the culprit making her unable to smell the food. I really hope so. Having the ultrasound done would not affect her recovery from congestion. Ifthe cause of her appetite loss isnot congestion then the ultrasound may give more of a clue to what it is. That's my 2 cents' worth. Sending Ginger lots of healing vibes..it seems to me there is reason today to be cautiously optimistic...love and hugs to you both, Kerry - Original Message - This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail.
RE: Ginger ate a little (or at least licked at food)!
Thats a great news Michelle! Is she getting the fluid the meantime? From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 9:06 AM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: Ginger ate a little (or at least licked at food)! I actually rescheduled it for Thursday. She has gotten much perkier-- playful and cuddly again, and after licking at the fancy feast yesterday she also licked up a little baby food. She has not touched food since then, but before getting the Triaminic this morning she did go over and look at the food and try to cover it up. So I am cautiously hopeful. If she is still not eating by Thursday I will take her in for the ultrasound. I do want to give her a chance to get over the cold without the stress of 2 hours in the car and an hour or more at the vet, belly shaving, ultrasound where I can not be present with her, etc. It is not as stressful as surgery, but it is stressful for her. Thanks, Michelle In a message dated 5/15/05 9:34:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Dear Michelle Tough one. If it were me, I think I would keep the appointment to get it over and done with earlier rather than later, while doing everything possible to minimize the stress on Ginger. It IS very good news that she appears to be taking an interest in food--as you say it does look like congestion may be the culprit making her unable to smell the food. I really hope so. Having the ultrasound done would not affect her recovery from congestion. Ifthe cause of her appetite loss isnot congestion then the ultrasound may give more of a clue to what it is. That's my 2 cents' worth. Sending Ginger lots of healing vibes..it seems to me there is reason today to be cautiously optimistic...love and hugs to you both, Kerry - Original Message -
Re: Ginger ate a little (or at least licked at food)!
I actually postponed the AC phone call too, because it was scheduled for 10 pm last night just so I could talk to her before the this morning's ultrasound, but I decided to postpone the ultrasound and wanted to go to sleep. I have not rescheduled it yet. I may do it later today or tomorrow. Fern is on all sorts of meds for her joints. She used to get rimadyl for her arthritis, but can not get that or any other NSAIDs or aspiring now because she is on a lot of pred and the combination causes gastric bleeding. The pred helps. The main problem she has with her joints now is polyarthritis, which is not normal arthritis but an auto-immune reaction to her cancer, and it can only be controlled with steroids and immune-suppressing drugs, which she is on. She is having more difficulty breathing now, I think because of the humidity. She is fairly quiet when still, but was huffing a lot on her walk this morning and did not want to go far, maybe 100 yards. She has her monthly oncology appointment tomorrow. I am nervous about it-- I know the cancer is in most of her lungs at this point but do not want to hear the oncologist say it or look at the x-rays. We may get a nasal oxygen thing put in her nose tomorrow and take home an oxygen tank,so that we can give her oxygen periodically when she has labored breathing, like after her walks. The oncologist had suggested it for the end stage. I am not sure if we are there yet or not. Michelle In a message dated 5/16/05 11:22:49 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I'm so happy to hear you've decided to postpone the ultrasound. I would never have advised you either way, because of the 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' reasonings we're all too familiar with. After reading your post about her soaring temp at the ER, I just couldn't help thinking that the stress you two have been under was a definite contributor to her slower than hoped for recovery. How much clearer could her message get without her actually coming out and saying, mom, stop all this fussing!? Speaking of which, you're killing me with the suspense. Tell us about the AC reading last night! If you suspect the Triaminic is causing her to be listless, have you considered the "little noses" nose drops instead? Aw, give that sweet Ginger a squeeze for me. How is Fern this morning? Do you give her Ascriptin (buffered aspirin with Maalox), when she's uncomfortable? I've used it on a couple of my dogs with joint problems.Nina
Re: Ginger ate a little (or at least licked at food)!
Yes, I am still giving her 150 cc of fluid per day, and also syringe feeding her. But I am syringe feeding her less to try to see if she will eat some on her own. I normally syringe her about 90 to 100cc's of A/D per day and yesterday did only 60. I plan to do only 60 today too. Thanks, Michelle In a message dated 5/16/05 11:32:24 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Thats a great news Michelle! Is she getting the fluid the meantime?
Re: Ginger ate a little (or at least licked at food)!
Hi Michelle, You may want to syringe her a bit more, an adult cat needs between 5.5 and 6.0 ounces of food to maintain their body weight, although tiny cats like my Shelbee don't eat anywhere near that much (Shelbee weights about 7 pounds). You may want to stick with the 100ccs of food, because if you mix the food with water to thin it out (I'm speaking about AD here), a can works out to be around 200 or so ccs. So even if you are giving her around 100 it is only about half of what she needs. Since she isn't feeling well from the URI you don't want her to get weaker from not getting enough calories and make it that much harder to bounce back once the URI starts clearing up. I think waiting on the ultrasound is also a good idea, give her time to recoup from all that has been going on in the last couple of weeks. -- Belinda Happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties ... http://www.bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candle Light Service http://www.bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com (affordable hosting web design) http://HostDesign4U.com --- BMK Designs (non-profit web sites) http://bmk.bemikitties.com
Re: Ginger ate a little (or at least licked at food)!
That sounds good, I had to add more water to the AD because I was feedig Buddie through a tube and it had to be watered down a bit more. It sounds like she is definately feeling much better. I've been told that kitties try to cover their food to hide it from other animals so they can come back to it later, I guess some of their bigger cousins wild cats do this :) -- Belinda Happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties ... http://www.bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candle Light Service http://www.bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com (affordable hosting web design) http://HostDesign4U.com --- BMK Designs (non-profit web sites) http://bmk.bemikitties.com
Re: Ginger ate a little (or at least licked at food)!
I counteract the watering down by adding a teaspoon of Nutri-Cal to the mix, it bumps the calories back up without thickening it up too much to syringe. She may even lick the Nutri-Cal off your finger on her own, sometimes mine do that when I ask them nicely and make a big fuss over it being "such an yummy yummy treat!" Jenn ~~~ You may want to syringe her a bit more, an adult cat needs between 5.5 and 6.0 ounces of food to maintain their body weight, although tiny cats like my Shelbee don't eat anywhere near that much (Shelbee weights about 7 pounds).You may want to stick with the 100ccs of food, because if you mix the food with water to thin it out (I'm speaking about AD here), a can works out to be around 200 or so ccs. So even if you are giving her around 100 it is only about half of what she needs. Since she isn't feeling well from the URI you don't want her to get weaker from not getting enough calories and make it that much harder to bounce back once the URI starts clearing up. No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.10 - Release Date: 5/13/2005
Ginger ate a little (or at least licked at food)!
About 10 minutes after I wrote that last email, I went in to check on her and she was still in the same spot, on the heating pad I put there for her. I got worried so I put her on the bed and took her temp, which was down to 101.6. I then gave her another 30 cc of fluid or so, because she seemed ever so slightly dehydrated. She then got up, went to the litter box and peed, and on her way back to the heating pad stopped at the bowl of fancy feast and scratched at the rug to cover it up. This is something she often has done when feeling well to show she does not want a particular food, but she has not even been noticing the food for the past few days. So she scratched next to it and then walked half-way back to the heating pad and stopped, turned around, went back to the fancy feast and made lots of slurping eating noises for a full minute or so before going back to the heating pad. I was very excited, but when I looked at the bowl hardly anything was gone. So I think she was doing the sick cat licking at the food thing without actually biting any of it. But it is the first time she has even shown any interest in food since her surgery, and it does not seem coincidental to me that it is after getting the decongestant and her nose clearing up a little bit. Licking at food this way sort of gets her back the place she was with food right before the dental surgery, when she was trying to eat but not eating much. Something else could still be wrong, of course, in addition to the dental problems and URI. But it seems better that she did this than if she kept showing zero interest in food. If anyone has any thoughts on what this means, or if/how it should affect my decision about ultrasounding her tomorrow, please let me know. And please send her thoughts, prayers, and energy! Thanks, Michelle
Re: Ginger ate a little (or at least licked at food)!
Dear Michelle Tough one. If it were me, I think I would keep the appointment to get it over and done with earlier rather than later, while doing everything possible to minimize the stress on Ginger. It IS very good news that she appears to be taking an interest in food--as you say it does look like congestion may be the culprit making her unable to smell the food. I really hope so. Having the ultrasound done would not affect her recovery from congestion. Ifthe cause of her appetite loss isnot congestion then the ultrasound may give more of a clue to what it is. That's my 2 cents' worth. Sending Ginger lots of healing vibes..it seems to me there is reason today to be cautiously optimistic...love and hugs to you both, Kerry - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2005 4:55 PM Subject: Ginger ate a little (or at least licked at food)! About 10 minutes after I wrote that last email, I went in to check on her and she was still in the same spot, on the heating pad I put there for her. I got worried so I put her on the bed and took her temp, which was down to 101.6. I then gave her another 30 cc of fluid or so, because she seemed ever so slightly dehydrated. She then got up, went to the litter box and peed, and on her way back to the heating pad stopped at the bowl of fancy feast and scratched at the rug to cover it up. This is something she often has done when feeling well to show she does not want a particular food, but she has not even been noticing the food for the past few days. So she scratched next to it and then walked half-way back to the heating pad and stopped, turned around, went back to the fancy feast and made lots of slurping eating noises for a full minute or so before going back to the heating pad. I was very excited, but when I looked at the bowl hardly anything was gone. So I think she was doing the sick cat licking at the food thing without actually biting any of it. But it is the first time she has even shown any interest in food since her surgery, and it does not seem coincidental to me that it is after getting the decongestant and her nose clearing up a little bit. Licking at food this way sort of gets her back the place she was with food right before the dental surgery, when she was trying to eat but not eating much. Something else could still be wrong, of course, in addition to the dental problems and URI. But it seems better that she did this than if she kept showing zero interest in food. If anyone has any thoughts on what this means, or if/how it should affect my decision about ultrasounding her tomorrow, please let me know. And please send her thoughts, prayers, and energy! Thanks, Michelle
