Thursday, May 01, 2008

My kitty's keeper

Lately, my schedule has revolved around feeding my cat. I had to force feed her twice a day last week, but after getting worse the doctor figured out that she needed to be getting more food, so now I feed her two syringes of food three times a day. Combine that with the pills and fluids and my activities start getting constrained.

I don't begrudge it, mind you. I refused to put a feeding tube into her neck, though the vet recommended it, as it would have been an unnecessary surgery just for my convenience. I was also afraid that the other cat would pull it out, even though the vet assured me that it would be safely taped down when not in use, as he's been rather mean to her of late. He's probably not being more of a bully than he normally is, but now that she weighs fully half as much as he does she just can't put up as good a fight. Of course, the clincher on the feeding tube was that it would have cost $300, which was just way too much after having already thrown $600 or so at this illness. I love my kitty, but she's still just a cat.

In any case, I think I made the right move, as she's getting better sans feeding tube. She seems more energetic and is starting to lose that jaundiced yellow coloring of the visible skin near her ears. The only downside is that the healthier she gets, the less she is willing to put up with the treatments. Hopefully we'll be able to pin her down and feed her long enough for her to get better!

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