Cat blinded by Baytril

[kittens mom]

For the first time since she came home she's looking at the next level of the cat tree. She decided against it but Kitten did make halfhearted house rounds this morning. Got up and visited the litter box without being prompted and in general just seems a tiny bit more alert. Head up a bit more. Finished feeding full 30 mil went down along with the 10 mils of water.  After I let her go she stopped at the sink and looked at her water dish. Didn't drink but at least noticed it before returning to her shelf. She sniffed the food dishes this morning but showed no interest.

On the Naked and Afraid survival scale I'd say she's moved up to a 2. Considering early Sunday AM it was about zero I consider that significant.

 

[donutte]

 
On the Naked and Afraid survival scale I'd say she's moved up to a 2. Considering early Sunday AM it was about zero I consider that significant.

Ha, that made me laugh.

We definitely tend to appreciate these little things a lot more when they are sick, I've noticed. These little victories that make us want to throw a party. Like when Lucky ate an entire 1/2-teaspoon of food one day, omg, I raised him so much, you'd think he did something phenomenal. Well, guess what, it was phenomenal to me. Or when he struggled slightly less that the day before while giving sub-qs... "What a GOOD boy you are!! You are just so wonderful!" Ha, seems like yesterday.

Keep it up. Hopefully he'll get bumped up another notch on the N&A scale soon.

 

[kittens mom]

 
Ha, that made me laugh.

We definitely tend to appreciate these little things a lot more when they are sick, I've noticed. These little victories that make us want to throw a party. Like when Lucky ate an entire 1/2-teaspoon of food one day, omg, I raised him so much, you'd think he did something phenomenal. Well, guess what, it was phenomenal to me. Or when he struggled slightly less that the day before while giving sub-qs... "What a GOOD boy you are!! You are just so wonderful!" Ha, seems like yesterday.

Keep it up. Hopefully he'll get bumped up another notch on the N&A scale soon.

Went back to bed for a while. intermittent sleep is unhealthy but better than nothing , right ? When I got up and said hello to her she picked her head up and was just more awake. She then got up and considered a window seat. I obliged and put her up. Few minutes. Then she toddled over to the storm door and sat down in the sunbeam. She is tail responsive to her name. And looks like she might be trying to figure out how to groom a bit with all that crap on her neck. There just seems to be more life in that little body. She's also laying in a more natural position and out of that drawn up catloaf position. Which she just switched back to but there is much less tension in her body.

Yes we celebrate every little tiny victory.

11:24 AM we grooming.

 

[stephenq]

 

Fantastic!

 

[kittens mom]

Kitten tube.jpg

• kittens mom
• Nov 25, 2015

I really can't thank everyone here enough. To have a safe place to throw out unprocessed raw unfiltered thinking and not get my backside handed to me but instead be given support.  I tend to be very opinionated about some things. Humbled is a great state of mind for character building.

I don't in any way think that what is happening to Kitten is to make me stronger. It's just part of the growth process that goes on through our whole lives.

My personal gut feeling on all this is that it is somehow tied into what started with the URI infection in late August. Like peeling an onion there are layers and the core is probably the beginning with the URI, overdose, sight loss and the general household stress. Not one thing caused it so much as a cumulative effect.

One warning to the fattly liver disease. It doesn't appear a cat has to totally go off their food for this to happen. Until the last few days she was eating some.

The good news is what goes in is not coming back up. Haven't seen a hint of that. Again she's sleeping a lot but that's good. It's healing. Her eyes are much more open today. If we make it to Sunday I feel that there is a decent chance she might recover.

Bear with me, tomorrow is bandage changing day.

 

[zed xyzed]

wishing Kitten a speedy and full recovery 

 

[kittens mom]

So we've completed 11 feedings. I figure that if this was going to go horribly south it would have by now. We're up to 35 mil per feeding. Should be 40 but a discussion with vet team was reassured that it was important for it to stay in her as it was to gradually increase the amount. With my hand on her I can tell when she's full. Had enough.

Hint I learned. They sleep a lot during this disease especially at the beginning is my best guess. I get her up and play a very gentle game of I'm going to get you with her. And get a walk about and without fail she heads to the litter box to relieve herself. I don't want to eat sitting on a full bladder and I bet she doesn't either.

She has ups and downs during the day It's like just looking out the window wears her out.

Pulled up her wrap today to get a look at what I have to cover tomorrow. Incision looks excellent with some of the brown type fluid, dried that I was told would be normal. Zero redness and swelling. I can see the jaundice but it's not as deep as it was. her gums are black and pink but I can't really see it in her mouth but some in her ears.

She has the feeding routine down. I am testing it on my wrist.

The real heartache is she was brewing this long before I had a clue this could even happen. I can mentally go back and see about 10 days were the cat food just wasn't disappearing out of the bowl as usual. Kitten is a picky eater on her best day. I have two cats and they swap spit at the feeding station on a regular basis.

Keep the fingers crossed. We've hand no vomit since she came home. Her last gack was after the tube was put and she was waking up.

I'm wondering if a baby bottle sterilizer would be better than boiling the syringes. They're fairly cheap at the farm store. The 60mil ones were 2.50$ and the 2 inch vet wrap a 1.99$. The vet wrap I bought in the dept store was almost twice that and didn't come in pretty colors.

Going to look into a Kitty Kollar also.

Kitten has accused me of priming her for Foie Gras Pate. It's sort of what this all feels like. Stuffing the cat.

 

[lazer]

 
Hint I learned. They sleep a lot during this disease especially at the beginning is my best guess. I get her up and play a very gentle game of I'm going to get you with her. And get a walk about and without fail she heads to the litter box to relieve herself. I don't want to eat sitting on a full bladder and I bet she doesn't either.

This is a great hint! I noticed the same thing with Rigel - sometimes he just would not fricking go to the box. I felt his bladder and could tell he was getting full but he just didn't feel it. We noticed getting him active and running around, playing for a while, would sometimes stimulate him to go to the box. It's like movement applies just the right amount of pressure to the bladder as he twists, turns, and rolls to stimulate him (this is just my guess of the reason, I don't really know for sure). I think this could be a useful hint for anyone with a cat who isn't peeing consistently due to some other illness or maybe has a distended or "tired" bladder after blockage: playtime seems to be very important! Of course tailored to the cat's current mood and physical state (I'm not saying force a sick cat who isn't moving to get up and run around!)

 

[kittens mom]

kitten feeding tube.jpg

• kittens mom
• Nov 26, 2015

So I changed the wrap this morning. The incision looks great , Put on a dab of recommended ointment and then gauze and wrap. This little girl sure can cuss but she just sort of laid there. She was a top shelf cat this morning.  Full 40 mil feeding. ( so what if we aren't up to 60 its staying in her. )  Not much interest in food in dish but was told the clavamox could cause her to lose what appetite she had left. I see the antibiotics and regular tube feedings as more important right now.

 

[kittyluv387]

Looks like kitten is doing great! Shes been through so much already. She is a fighter! Its easy to go through the coulda/woulda/shoulda after the fact, but dont blame yourself. Shes lucky to have you as her mommy! Happy thanksgiving to you and your family!

 

[kittens mom]

Looks like kitten is doing great! Shes been through so much already. She is a fighter! Its easy to go through the coulda/woulda/shoulda after the fact, but dont blame yourself. Shes lucky to have you as her mommy! Happy thanksgiving to you and your family!

I did a lot of constructive reading last night. This is not a fast recovery. See I knew that but needed to read veterinary sites over and over to make it so. And I am not going to get hung up on her not wanting to eat from her bowl. The reason we had the tube put in is because she refuses to eat. It would be sort of moronic to think that she was going to nourish herself in any significant way without the aid of the feeding tube. duh.

Thank you for the encouragement. She has graced our lives for over 10 years and we have done not one thing to earn the joy she's brought us. With so many cats living into their late teens , she was a healthy cat before this and a great deal of the FL is diagnosed as idiopathic I feel much more comfortable with our choices. This thread is literally my lifeline. Good , bad, inspired or just plain stupid I can express the feelings and get mini stress purges.

Oh I screamed in the shower too.

 

[stephenq]

 
I did a lot of constructive reading last night. This is not a fast recovery. See I knew that but needed to read veterinary sites over and over to make it so. And I am not going to get hung up on her not wanting to eat from her bowl. The reason we had the tube put in is because she refuses to eat. It would be sort of moronic to think that she was going to nourish herself in any significant way without the aid of the feeding tube. duh.

Thank you for the encouragement. She has graced our lives for over 10 years and we have done not one thing to earn the joy she's brought us. With so many cats living into their late teens , she was a healthy cat before this and a great deal of the FL is diagnosed as idiopathic I feel much more comfortable with our choices. This thread is literally my lifeline. Good , bad, inspired or just plain stupid I can express the feelings and get mini stress purges.

Oh I screamed in the shower too.

Hang in there!!!!!

 

[kittens mom]

Note to self. As the feedings get bigger it is fine to break them up. Feeding extra slow is good Feeding slow in intervals even better. 45 mil in two feedings spaced 1/2 hour apart.

 

[kittens mom]

Not mentioned in polite society. Putting a warm wash rag on your cats bottom and gently rubbing stimulated a nice little bowel movement. Yessssssssssss I'm counting turds.

 

[donutte]

 
Not mentioned in polite society. Putting a warm wash rag on your cats bottom and gently rubbing stimulated a nice little bowel movement. Yessssssssssss I'm counting turds.

I have never done that - but definitely filing it for future reference if I need it! 

How is Kitten doing today? And how are YOU doing? In regards to the sleep comment you made a couple days back (how a little was better than none), even when I had a full 8 hours it didn't matter. I was exhausted on a whole other level and guessing you are too. Hope you are still able to get a full night's sleep soon though. 

 

[kittens mom]

 
I have never done that - but definitely filing it for future reference if I need it! 

How is Kitten doing today? And how are YOU doing? In regards to the sleep comment you made a couple days back (how a little was better than none), even when I had a full 8 hours it didn't matter. I was exhausted on a whole other level and guessing you are too. Hope you are still able to get a full night's sleep soon though. 

Well we had the feeding from hell at noon. Nothing went right. One of those spirals that you know is feeding on itself. I cleaned the tube. Let her go and went outside for a half hour and just done some mindless work. Came in fixed new food , just started over. Went off without a hitch. It does not evade my notice that this mornings feeding had some burps and it was the first time we use the substitute brand we were given when the VCA had no more Hills A/D. According to tracking my shipment of HIlls is out for delivery. The roads are passable now. Nasty ice this morning. Our delivery is at the end of the route s hopefully before the 6PM feeding.

Thank you for asking. I got 4 solid hours this morning and some last night. That is just the way it's going to be for now. Its like having a newborn in the house I suppose. So I'm off to measure her neck and order some KittyKollars.

Thank you for the support.

Probably the worst is seeing endless posts here about people who have lost or are fighting like we are to keep them alive and having nothing to give in way of support. I honestly can't get past the first word before breaking down.

Kitten snagged the bit sofa with my heated throw after I fed her. I adjusted the heat and she fell asleep watching Baby TV. Usually she prefers watching lions kill animals or if possible she has a fascination with Trex like dinosaurs. The scene in King Kong is like a magnet for her.

And of course in all this I have to remember Forgotten Cat and make sure she's not feeding on any excess stress. I'm letting her have the FF dry.

 

[denice]

Just keep doing what you are doing.  Recovery is slow but it does happen, my Patches is proof of that.

 

[ar1951]

there is a certain Vitamin named Vitamin B1 which your Cat's Vet can give which might stimulate the Cat's appetite: talk to your Vet though; A Citizen USA

 

[kittens mom]

So I ordered a KittyKollar. Something pretty and girly for my Gumdrop of Happiness. Sugar Pot Pie or Der Fluffy Noodle.

And the A/D is here and of course I had to run out in the road screaming so the UPS driver didn't leave it on the porch of the mistreat thieves next door. Aside from a flashing sign my home couldn't be marked more clearly and theirs is marked not at all.  Folks GPS is not 100%.

 

[kittens mom]

 
Just keep doing what you are doing.  Recovery is slow but it does happen, my Patches is proof of that.

I need that kind of information. when did you start to notice a real improvement. Obviously she's better than last Saturday PM/Sunday AM.  She sleeps a lot and wears out quick. She is much more aware of the world and not withdrawn.  When she is up and about her tail is up and properly puffed ( fluffy noodle). And despite the neck wrap carries her head more normally.