...that i'll be needing to give my precious little snick 'the final kindness'.
many of you may know that my girl has fought a good fight against chronic kidney disease for over 4 years now. snick has been so brave and so very good, always allowing me to give her sub-q's and is a very easy girl to 'pill' too. snick has been on at-home/hospice care for just over a year now, and our vet's have been there for her/for us this whole time. i've made many calls to them, either of the two vet's in the practice, over this past year and they never fail to return my call as soon as they're able to.
snick currently has what the vet and i agree is probably a low-grade UTI, and just started on antibiotic for it today. so i'm hoping that this new may be the reason she's struggling to eat. i'm not sure that my hope is realistic at this point though. now snick is eating, and she does want to eat. it's that she hasn't been eating enough for the last few days. she nibbles on her food here and there, and i bring her dish to her and encourage her to eat many times each day -- and she will eat some for me, varying amounts. i have three different 'toppers' i've been using to help entice my snick to eat better -- crumbled real freeze dried chicken and freeze dried salmon treats, chicken instinct dry cat food, and crumbled instinct raw boost treats. these toppers have helped somewhat, but she's still not eating as much as she needs to. this losing of appetite has come up starting 3-4 days ago. snick is more frail now, has become more so in the last several months. now she's definitely not 'skin and bones', but she's losing muscle weight and so the vet and i estimate a loss of weight from 12 lbs a year ago in november to approximately 8 or 9 lbs currently. this weight loss has been very gradual over this last year.
this past week i've found myself wondering several times if my pretty girl will be with me and our jaspurr for this Christmas; snick absolutely loves Christmas. i can see the 'tired' in her eyes; she's having much more need for the 1/4 tablets of pepcid ac (having more acidy tummy); she's tried to come snuggle in bed with me in her favorite spots a couple times and didn't stay long, most nights she doesn't come to bed with me -- and she has slept snuggled under the covers in bed with me every night since our mickey crossed the bridge over 3 1/2 years ago; she's made a few sudden and sharp cries, which i believe is an indication of discomfort; and she's been drinking more water, two or three times each day she'll drink deeply and for several minutes from her water dish (she hadn't been drinking this much water or this much all at one time before this past week) -- which i believe indicates that her chronic kidney disease has progressed more. my precious girl's litter box output has changed a bit too. other than the one round of 'in and out of the litter box' over 20 times in one hour with only a very small amount of urine output on wednesday (two days ago; and she's just today started antibiotic for the low-grade UTI her vet and i suspect), snick now is urinating twice per 24 hour period and very large amounts (from the sub-q fluids given her every day). she had previously been urinating 3 or 4 times, sometimes 5 times, per 24 hour period.
on the other side of the coin, snick still will have short periods of 'zooming' from the living room to the kitchen and back, and has had a few of these this past week. she's alert and aware of her surroundings. though she has been slowly losing mental acuity, she still knows me and our jaspurr, where her litter box and food/water dishes are and how to get to them and etc -- she's still able to function.
it's yesterday and today, and snick's not eating well but particularly that the toppers aren't even enticing her to want to eat or to eat much when i bring her food to her, that has me very concerned. she'll still want to eat and even 'ask' for food, but she smells her food and then will either take a few bites and walk away or just walk away.
overall, i think i'm seeing a distinct 'downward' turn in my snick's health/condition.
i'm telling myself that my little sweet pea will either be with me and our jaspurr for Christmas, or with her beloved brother/litter mate mickey for Christmas.
i'm not so much asking for advice, although it's certainly welcome. i guess i just feel the need to get all this out, out from rolling around in my head, with people who love their cats and so can understand.
at this point, i'd like to give it the weekend and see how my pretty princess is doing by monday. and i'll be calling our vet to discuss these things on monday too.
many of you may know that my girl has fought a good fight against chronic kidney disease for over 4 years now. snick has been so brave and so very good, always allowing me to give her sub-q's and is a very easy girl to 'pill' too. snick has been on at-home/hospice care for just over a year now, and our vet's have been there for her/for us this whole time. i've made many calls to them, either of the two vet's in the practice, over this past year and they never fail to return my call as soon as they're able to.
snick currently has what the vet and i agree is probably a low-grade UTI, and just started on antibiotic for it today. so i'm hoping that this new may be the reason she's struggling to eat. i'm not sure that my hope is realistic at this point though. now snick is eating, and she does want to eat. it's that she hasn't been eating enough for the last few days. she nibbles on her food here and there, and i bring her dish to her and encourage her to eat many times each day -- and she will eat some for me, varying amounts. i have three different 'toppers' i've been using to help entice my snick to eat better -- crumbled real freeze dried chicken and freeze dried salmon treats, chicken instinct dry cat food, and crumbled instinct raw boost treats. these toppers have helped somewhat, but she's still not eating as much as she needs to. this losing of appetite has come up starting 3-4 days ago. snick is more frail now, has become more so in the last several months. now she's definitely not 'skin and bones', but she's losing muscle weight and so the vet and i estimate a loss of weight from 12 lbs a year ago in november to approximately 8 or 9 lbs currently. this weight loss has been very gradual over this last year.
this past week i've found myself wondering several times if my pretty girl will be with me and our jaspurr for this Christmas; snick absolutely loves Christmas. i can see the 'tired' in her eyes; she's having much more need for the 1/4 tablets of pepcid ac (having more acidy tummy); she's tried to come snuggle in bed with me in her favorite spots a couple times and didn't stay long, most nights she doesn't come to bed with me -- and she has slept snuggled under the covers in bed with me every night since our mickey crossed the bridge over 3 1/2 years ago; she's made a few sudden and sharp cries, which i believe is an indication of discomfort; and she's been drinking more water, two or three times each day she'll drink deeply and for several minutes from her water dish (she hadn't been drinking this much water or this much all at one time before this past week) -- which i believe indicates that her chronic kidney disease has progressed more. my precious girl's litter box output has changed a bit too. other than the one round of 'in and out of the litter box' over 20 times in one hour with only a very small amount of urine output on wednesday (two days ago; and she's just today started antibiotic for the low-grade UTI her vet and i suspect), snick now is urinating twice per 24 hour period and very large amounts (from the sub-q fluids given her every day). she had previously been urinating 3 or 4 times, sometimes 5 times, per 24 hour period.
on the other side of the coin, snick still will have short periods of 'zooming' from the living room to the kitchen and back, and has had a few of these this past week. she's alert and aware of her surroundings. though she has been slowly losing mental acuity, she still knows me and our jaspurr, where her litter box and food/water dishes are and how to get to them and etc -- she's still able to function.
it's yesterday and today, and snick's not eating well but particularly that the toppers aren't even enticing her to want to eat or to eat much when i bring her food to her, that has me very concerned. she'll still want to eat and even 'ask' for food, but she smells her food and then will either take a few bites and walk away or just walk away.
overall, i think i'm seeing a distinct 'downward' turn in my snick's health/condition.
i'm telling myself that my little sweet pea will either be with me and our jaspurr for Christmas, or with her beloved brother/litter mate mickey for Christmas.
i'm not so much asking for advice, although it's certainly welcome. i guess i just feel the need to get all this out, out from rolling around in my head, with people who love their cats and so can understand.
at this point, i'd like to give it the weekend and see how my pretty princess is doing by monday. and i'll be calling our vet to discuss these things on monday too.