Jake is sick again

Thanks guys. Well, Jake ate a little bit last night and again this morning. Last night he stayed out in the living room with me and the other cats. When I went to bed, he laid on my bed for about an hour. Then he went back into the walk in closet. That's where he's been isolating. He did come out a few times during the night and would lay on my bed with me for short periods. Needless to say, I haven't gotten much sleep because I want to be aware of his every move!

I took Jake back to the vet hospital this morning for another day of IV's and will pick him up around 3:00 P.M. They haven't said anything about force feedings or feeding tubes. But I still don't feel he's eating enough. I may have to continue a couple of force feedings even though he's eating a little bit. I don't think he's eating enough to sustain himself. Any thoughts? What I was doing was watering down canned food and slowly putting some of it in the side of his mouth. But the syringe isn't big enough and keeps getting plugged up and sticky so it doesn't move smoothly. This darn little guy just won't let me rest! He's determined to keep me on the edge of my seat!

If you feel you need, there is an assist-feeding group I can give you the url to, they are excellent.

I feed tyler pate style foods that I blenderize with a stick blender to a thickness I can pull up easily in a 12 cc syringe I get from my vets (comes with a curved long tip that I snip maybe less than a half inch from the base, so it has a wide opening but enough of a tip to insert into the food and pull it up into the syringe).

Tyler opens his mouth and I gently push in a small amount of food for him to then chew and swallow.

Foods with bits of veggies or bone will not grind up well and will simply plug up the syringe.
Go with your gut, if you feel he needs feeding he does.

I would actually ask them for some cans of Hills A/D - it is for short term use, is very high calorie and has a soft pudding like consistency that is easy to pull up into a syringe.

Thanks Pat. I'm going to wait and see how he is eating tonight and tomorrow. And the vet is supposed to call me tomorrow to see how he's doing. I brought him home a while ago and he's been eating ever since! He even went over to the cat tree and "exercised" his claws! Something he hasn't done in a few weeks. He walked away from his bowl and Peaches went to it and stuck her face in it and Jake turned around and pushed her out of the way. It was funny! Jake has a pretty purple bandage on his front leg where he had his catheter. It annoys him a little because he can't bend his leg and groom as well as he likes! But it's a good sign that he's annoyed with it even! Three days ago Jake's weight was down to 5.8 lbs when I first took him in. I'm not sure how he recovered last week and then lost again so fast. But it has been scarry. Today he was 7.9 lbs. Vet said a little of that may be because of the IV fluids but that most of it is weight gain. Jake is usually 8.5-9.5 lbs.

Please know I am still thinking of you and Jake and praying for his recovery!!

Originally Posted by Bella713

Please know I am still thinking of you and Jake and praying for his recovery!!

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Thanks so much! And Jake and I are still counting on meeting you when you come to town some day!

Originally Posted by mzjazz2u

Thanks so much! And Jake and I are still counting on meeting you when you come to town some day!

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Oh definitely, I can't wait to meet Sev's twin and you and I'm going to hold you to it!!!

Here's a couple pictures of Jake yesterday when he had his catheter in. See how spoiled he is when he's sick? He even gets one of my pillows!





Jake today. Catheter is out but he has to have his leg bandaged a day or two.

Oh look at that sweet beautiful guy Sev would have chewed on that thing till it was off

Hi Jake! Glad you're feeling a little better. Hope you're feeling 100% real soon. Get Mum to give you some scritches for me, OK?

Originally Posted by Bella713

Oh look at that sweet beautiful guy

Sev would have chewed on that thing till it was off

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I wish Jake would chew it off! Then I'd really know he was getting his strength back!

Jake in better days. You can tell how much his fur has even thinnned from this picture to the current ones. I just have to keep thinking of it as at least he doesn't have all those nasty, pus filled sores all over this time.

He is such a handsome cat even when not feeling well.

Ok last update of the night. But I can't help it. I'm obsessed. So we came home and he ate for about 45 minutes. Then he played a bit on the cat tree. Then he laid on my bed for a bit. Now he is up eating again! I hope he stays interested in eating and it's not just temporary because of the IVs and medicines in it and stuff! Ok... gotta go to bed. I get up at 3:00 a.m. for work.

I've got my fingers crossed for Jake! He's such a sweet boy and has been through so much.... you both have.

Originally Posted by mzjazz2u

Ok last update of the night.

But I can't help it. I'm obsessed. So we came home and he ate for about 45 minutes. Then he played a bit on the cat tree. Then he laid on my bed for a bit. Now he is up eating again! I hope he stays interested in eating and it's not just temporary because of the IVs and medicines in it and stuff! Ok... gotta go to bed. I get up at 3:00 a.m. for work.

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Is it any wonder you're obsessed? You've both been through so much!! Fingers crossed that this improvement continues.

I hope he keeps eating!

Aww I'm so sorry to hear about the problems you are having with Jake. I wish him a speedy recovery. And glad to know I am not the only one that uses TF. I think that stuff works miracles, personally.

I weighed Jakes food when I got home today and he hadn't eaten anything. So I brought him out with the bowl of food and sat in the living room with him. It seemed like he ate for a long time but I weighed the food again and he only ate about 11-12 gm of dry food. That's only about 2-2.5 teaspoons. Now I did force feed him this morning before I went to work. I mixed about 1 Tablespoon of canned Nutro with warm water and ended up feeding him about 20 cc. After he only ate the little bit of food this afternoon, I force fed him another 20 cc of watered down Nutro canned. He's still acting a lot better though. Not isolating and after I fed him he groomed himself and then went in my room and laid on my bed. So I think it's a good sign he's not going in the walk in closet and isolating but maybe it's just wishful thinking? I cleaned the litter box this morning, before I put it in with him in the bathroom and it looks like he peed twice but no poo. I think I'm going to call the vet and see if I can feed him some A/D and see if they have a better syringe. I just don't know if he is not eating much because his stomach shrunk or what??

Jake is doing much better but his condition is still considered "Guarded." But he's eating much better and doesn't hide/isolate at all anymore. He looks funny with part of the one leg shaved where he had his IV! Tuesday night, I got out a bag of cheap food I was going to get rid of. The girl that originally had the kitten sent it with him (even though he wasn't even weaned!) Anyway, I turned around for a few minutes and when I looked again, Jake had pushed the bag over, opened it, had a pile of it on the floor and was eating it! I let him have at it. The vet said not to worry about quality right now and to just let him eat whatever he will. So be it!

As of Wednesday, he is also back to eating canned food on his own. Yesterday he left his food bowl and Peaches came over and started eating from it and he pushed her right out of the way! It was funnier then hell!

Today I took Jake in just to weigh him. He is 7.4 lbs! (Up from his low of 5.8 lbs.) He was 7.9 lbs on Sunday but that was a little misleading because it was after 2 days of IV fluids. So he is making progress! I'll feel better when he is at least 9.5 lbs though. And I think I want to get him a little higher so he has a bit of padding!

So I'm confused about FIP testing. The vet called me the other day and said there was confusion and they ordered the wrong test. She said what they did was the FIP antibodies test and all that tells is if a cat is exposed (which most cats will come back + for exposure even just due to vaccination.) She said the test they wanted to do would tell if he has FIP and it is $120. So now I've been looking around websites and from what I can tell there is no diagnostic test for FIP. Anyone know about this? So I'm wondering if what she wanted was to do a PCR test and if that's the case no wonder it would be so expensive. But from what I've read today, it still is not a reliable diagnostic.

I'm leaning toward just "staying the course" as long as he is getting better now. I think she is barking up the wrong tree (so to speak) and our original assesment was correct. That it is his previous autoimmune problem and the recent stress. Come on guys..... tell me what you think. Please!?