Please send vibes

I haven't been around in quite a while due to work and medical issues, but I still see some familiar names. I could really use some vibes and support right now for my new cat, Grace.

Grace was my next door neighbor's cat until about a month ago, when my neighbor moved. She had been looking for a new home for her cat, but couldn't find one. In the course of the move her cat "accidentally got out". She mentioned it to DH, and we've been looking for the cat but couldn't find her until about a week ago when DH came home and found her in our driveway. She's probably around a year old. She's been spayed and declawed. (We named her Grace. I have no idea what my neighbor called her. When I called her to let her know I found her, she never called her by name and never even asked how she was.)

We took her in and fed her (of course) and took her to the vet the next day for a checkup. We did a blood panel on her and found out that she has liver damage...probably fatty liver disease and an infection.

We started her on Baytril and Flagyl and B12 injections. I took her back to the vet for a recheck and another B12 shot on Tuesday and she was jaundiced. Another blood panel shows that some of her liver values are improved, but her bilirubin is way up and her potassium is down. Yesterday we started subcutaneous fluids, which I have do do daily. We also started her on a potassium supplement and an appetite stimulant.

She hasn't eaten much since she got here, but today she's eating even less. She won't eat anything except Fancy Feast dry food (I was able to find out that her old person only gave her Friskies dry.) I've been able to get her to eat a little of the Fancy Feast Appetizers treats, but no other wet food. At this point I just need her to eat something. Today she'll hardly eat anything at all...just a little dry food.

She's so mad and afraid of me at this point. I can't blame her...I've been poking pills in her since she got here, and now I've just poked her with a needle. I got the subcutaneous fluids into her, but she cried the whole time. (And I started crying immediately afterwards. )

Please send vibes for this poor little girl. She's a very sweet little torbie, and she deserves so much better than what she's gotten so far.

Thanks so much, everyone. I really could use the support right now.

I talked to the vet about her eating today. We did try to get her to eat the A/D, but she refused it. We're starting a new appetitite stimulant today and DH got her to eat some tuna. I'm going to try some chicken baby food when I get home this afternoon. If she still won't eat by tomorrow morning, we're going to start force feeding her. Like many have said, she's GOT to start eating some more.

We're also going to bring her into the vet's office daily for her subcutaneous fluids. They're way more capable than I am, and it actually seems to stress her out less than doing it at home. DH brought her in this afternoon, and when she got home she came out of the carrier and went straight for her food dish. I hope that's a good sign.

I feel so bad that she's so scared and mad at me right now. She was SUCH a loving cat the first week, and now I can barely get her to look at me. Fortunately, she's not so mad at DH, so she at least gets some comfort from him. (I hope that doesn't change next week, though, when I have to go out of town on a business trip and he has to pill her.) My focus right now, though, is on keeping her alive...if I manage that I'll have time to make it up to her later.

I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt until I talked to her. After the conversation, though, it was fairly obvious. It's probably a good thing she's on the other side of the country now, because I'd dearly love to slap her.

ARRRGH!!!

I got home and her food bowl was still at the same level it was this morning, so I tried the baby food. She wouldn't eat it. So I figured I'd try finger feeding her a few bites to see if that got her interested. It didn't...it just ticked her off more. Not only that, it upset her so much that she went to the other side of the room and promptly barfed up all of her stomach contents...a WHOLE stomach full of food!!!

I'm so stupid! The only thing I can figure is that DH gave her more food when he was home earlier and didn't tell me about it. She was eating before I made her puke.

She's eating today. She'll only eat Friskies or Meow Mix dry but at least she's eating. I've got a kitty buffet set out here for her with about four different food options. She'll sniff at the Fancy Feast but won't go near the Blue Buffalo. (Hey, I had to try...)

She still hates me, but it's not quite as bad today since we've had the vet's office handle the subQ fluids the last couple days. It's definitely less stressful for her when they do it. (Not to mention for me.) She calms down right after she gets home and curls up in her favorite chair to sleep. Fortunately, our vet is only about 4 minutes away.

Right now, she's sitting on the table next to the computer meowing at me. I try to spend some time every day in here doing something besides pilling her or otherwise tormenting her. I got her to play with me a little bit last night, and this morning she even rubbed against me and let me pet her for a few minutes. (I just pilled her, so at the moment she's mad at me.)

She's tired of being locked in this room, and regularly tells us about it, but it would be too stressful to try to introduce her to my two boys just yet. The boys are both aware that she's here and are curious, but don't seem to mind. She, on the other hand, hisses every time she gets a glimpse of one of them.

Laurie and Caroline, I want to assure you that I do understand how important it is for her to eat. She hasn't seemed to eat that much since she got here, but she did put weight on during the first week. And I found out after Friday night's barfing episode that DH had been feeding her, too. He didn't realize that I was monitoring her intake so carefully.

However, she hasn't eaten anything overnight and today, so I started syringe feeding her tonight. Unfortunately, I don't have access to A/D until the vet opens tomorrow morning, so I fed her Royal Kanin kitten formula. I figured the kitten food would be a little higher in calories and possibly easier to digest...and that the wrong food would be better than none at all. We'll move to the A/D tomorrow. I fed an ounce about a half hour ago, and I plan to give her another ounce in a couple hours, and I hope to squeeze in a couple feedings before I go to work tomorrow.

The cat bag's on order, but I used the towel burrito-wrap that I perfected back when I had a house rabbit. She's actually took it surprisingly well. I wouldn't go so far as to say that she likes it, but it's almost like on some level she knows she needs nourishment. She growls a lot, but I'm learning that growling is just her way of expressing her displeasure. (It's quite a difference from my boys, who never, ever growl.) She actually didn't struggle much at all.

Well...

She can only keep down about 1/2 ounce at a time. She threw up the full ounce that I first gave her last night. I gave her 1/2 ounce before bed, though, and she kept it down. DH just got home, though, and it looks like she threw up what I gave her this morning. We're picking up A/D this afternoon. Hopefully she'll be able to keep that down.

Unfortunately, both DH and I have to work during the day, and there's not anybody who could come and feed her while we're gone, so we have to get her feeding done in the morning and evening. Also, I have to leave on a business trip tomorrow. I feel just awful about it, but I don't have a choice...I can't afford to lose my job right now. To miss this meeting at this point would be that serious...they've been great through the medical crisis I've had for the last 8 months, but I just can't push it any more. DH feels confident that he can handle it, and I know he'll do his best, but I just HATE that I won't be there.

I kind of felt like the vet was a bit doubtful about her responding to the syringe feeding when I talked to her today. She says if this doesn't work we'll have to decide whether to hospitalize her or euthanize her. I'm not sure how long we can afford to hospitalize her if it comes to that. The timing on this stinks...we've had to deplete much of our savings to deal with my hospital bills and his mother's death in June.

Thanks, Caroline. We'll pick up the nausea medicine tonight.

On the bright side, DH just got her to eat a bunch of treats on her own. It's not a replacement for the feeding, but at least she's eating something on her own.

No luck on the injections...I'm not sure if it was the vet that didn't want to do it or DH. (After I had such a hard time with the SubQ fluids the other night he's pretty reluctant to put another needle in my hand. It was WAY harder on me than Grace...she got through it fine, I was shaking for a good four hours.) But we did get Reglan. I gave her the first dose when I first got home and let it work for a little while before we tried the first feeding. Does anybody have a trick for splitting those things? We're supposed to give her 1/4 pill three times a day, but they're tiny pills and they just crumble when you split them...even with the pill splitter.

The vet's recommended 15 ml (about 1/2 oz) of A/D at a time. (She's a little cat...just barely over 7 lbs.) For the first feeding I gave her half the amount to see how it sat. She kept it down, so I just gave her another 15 mL. So far so good. Hopefully the Reglan will help her feel better and the Mirtazapine will help get her appetite back.

I'm still really upset about having to leave tomorrow, but DH and I had a lengthy discussion about it earlier tonight and I feel a little better. I really have no choice, though. My job is pretty flexible most of the time, but there are certain meetings every year that I simpy cannot miss. I feel like DH understands how important it is for her to eat. He's going to take some vacation time at work so he can be here to do regular feedings. If she's still not eating next week when I get back I can work from home or arrange my schedule to be here to feed her. I hope she's eating on her own by then, though.

I was surprised that the vet didn't say anything about diluting it...but that's what we've done. I'm hoping to squeeze in one last feeding after I'm done packing. (Which is more complicated than it sounds when you consider I've got the help of two big orange tabbies. ) Speaking of which, I'd better sign off here and get going with that.

Well, DH learned how to medicate and feed Grace this morning. We got off to a rough start...he didn't get the Mirtazapine in quick enough and it dissolved before she could get it down. He did it at the end of the feeding and she was pretty ticked off by then. She threw up the whole feeding...I'm guessing the meds must taste pretty bad. I waited an hour and gave her the meds and the feeding again. She kept it down after that.

I just talked to DH, though, and since then so far so good. We got five feedings into her today, and she only threw up a little bit of one. DH is still perfecting his feeding method, and has some trouble keeping hold of her, but he manages. I think part of his problem is that he's really afraid of hurting her...he's a big guy, and she's a tiny girl. I'm sure he'll figure it out with practice.

She growls through pretty much the whole feeding, but seems almost eager for the food. She actually growls in such a way that it really sounds like she's saying "nom nom nom nom nom". I know it's not a happy noise, but it really is kind of funny.

I'm in New Hampshire now, so it's up to Grace, DH, and God at the moment. The Reglan really seems to have helped a lot, though, so I feel somewhat calmer about being gone. Thanks so much for the tip, Carolina!