Ill cat updatery January 12

4am: Woke her up from dead sleep (me too). 10mLs in. Still not fighting, still not vomiting. 65mLs total so far. Giving her twenty minutes to throw up. If she doesn’t she’s getting her pill early and we’re both going back to bed until 7:30.

Update 4:50am: Pill fail. She definitely could be fighting the feeding quite successfully. She just spent half an hour fighting getting the pill in. The first pill dissolved and got spit out. I’m pretty sure she spit out the second one too, but can’t find it. I’m hoping between the two enough dissolved and got into her system to do the trick. She’s growling and clawing hard core at this point and I feel like fighting more to get the pill in will induce the nausea it’s supposed to treat. I’ll mix a dose in with her next feeding.

Update 7am: 4mLs in. Reconsidered giving her more anti-nausea via food before talking to vet about overdose risks etc. An injection form of the med was an option yesterday and I think I’ll ask to switch to that. Idi took feeding well, but without enthusiasm and was done after 4mLs. Given progress so far and low dose of meds, let her go there. We’re going back to bed for three more hours or until the vet calls.

10:15am: Called vet about meds. Vet says too little is better than too much as long as she isn’t vomiting, so it’s better to crush the pill and mix it with her food than to keep shoving it down her throat until most of something sticks. Vet also says she really ought to be getting a can of food the food she’s on a day. That’s more like 200mLs of food, than 100. “Any day we get more in than yesterday is good, though,” she said. There are other, more caloric-dense foods they have for her. As soon as I get a free hour or so I’ll run out and pick those up. She’s definitely crabby about getting woken up.

10:45am: Ten o’clock feeding late due to vet call and need to time it with her next med dose. Mixed the med in with the last four mLs of food in the syringe and filled it to 11mLs. Got 5mLs in her before she was done. That should have been most of her med so I let her go. She’s either bored with the food, bored with constantly getting wrapped up in a towel and having it shoved in her face, or not feeling as food friendly as she did yesterday evening. I’ll try to give her another 5-10mLs in half an hour or so when her med should have kicked in. She should get different food later.

11:20am: 6mLs more. She didn’t walk away until the syringe was empty. I’m thinking her tummy must have been touchy.

12:20pm: Filled syringe to 15, stopped with 4 left. Probably splattered another mL. Call it 10mLs in.

1:20pm: Filled to fifteen, got 12mLs in. Have food mixed with less water since sub-q fluids are necessary tonight anyway – may as well get more calories in per feeding.

2:20pm: Filled to eighteen, got thirteen in. She sat down on the chair with my computer while I was in the shower and hung out with me until her next feeding. I’m taking this as a sign of, “I’m less grumpy about you being mean to me.” Have nearly finished the can of Recovery diet we opened Sunday night. Restarting counting of intake with next feeding. Got 115mLs in her for this 24hr period. Better than I’d hoped or expected. 24hrs since the last time she vomited.

3:20pm: 8mLs in. Sample cans of other food are bigger. New ruling is, “Aim for at least a can.” Have new syringes from vet as they get harder to push over time. Am standardly aiming for 15mLs per feeding now.

4:20pm: Pill fail, combined with feeding fail. Used the little syringe the vet gave me for giving food spiked with her nausea meds. Filled it to 4mLs, maybe got one in. The rest went flying. Couldn’t get her to hang around for food from the food syringe. Not sure if she tasted the pill and freaked out or if she just doesn’t want to eat. I think she got part of the pill in. Hopefully Sylvie will have better luck when she gets here..

9:20pm: Home from work. Sylvie says she got 5mLs, 8mLs, and 13mLs across three feedings while I was gone.

10:40pm: Sylvie helped me give Idi fluids. We got about 75mLs in. The goal was 100, but pulling her out from under my bed to stick the needle in her back again violated the “Don’t stress her into vomiting” rule. I’m considering preventing Idi vomit my prime directive for the next week or so. She hid under the couch until I pulled her out for her feeding at 10:30. Gave her anti-nausea meds mixed in with about 2mLs of food and feed confident she got them all in. My powdering technique is improved and I don’t think she realizes she got drugged. Went on to give her 10mLs of undrugged food. She now weighs more like my cat when I pick her up. She also seems more alert. These are good things. I’m going to up her feeding frequency so as to get lots in her and not have to feed her through the whole night, hopefully.

11:30pm: Fished cat from couch. Emptied syringe filled to seventeen mLs. Would say 16 of them went in. I think I could have done more if the syringe had been fuller. Scheduling next feeding for thirty minutes. May as well take advantage of having her well drugged and hydrated.

12:10am: 7mLs. Not shabby. If I get ten in at 12:40 then I’m letting her sleep until her med is due.

12:40am: 12mLs! She walked away after that (she very nicely sits still while I wrap the towel meant to restrain her around her, then walks away when she’s had enough). We’ve got 1/4-1/3 of the can into her. She seems interested in sleep. I am very interested in sleep. I’ll continue with a new entry when I wake up and medicate her at 6.