Erik: minor relapse

[cellio]

Sunday and this morning Erik wasn't interested in food and was a little less active than usual, so I took him to the vet tonight. I did see him drink water this morning, at least, but he had to think about it. He stood and stared at the bowl for a while before drinking; I imagine an inner dialogue along the lines of "c'mon, you know you should" / "but I don't wanna" / "do it anyway".

The vet said he was a little dehydrated (and showed me how to refine my interpretation of the skin-on-the-back-of-the-neck test). She thought a bile blockage unlikely given the surgery and detected no signs of an intestinal blockage. (I gather the major sign would have been complaints when she did those things to the cat...) She said sometimes this just happens with hepatitis (oh goodie), and she sent me home with a bag of water (well, there's other stuff in it too) and instructions to give him some, subcutaneously, every two or three days until his appetite picks up. I should also give him any food he might possibly eat, but I'm not sure what would be more interesting than the canned food and baby food he's already rejecting. Maybe canned tuna. Oh, and there's an anti-nausea drug; that's been a bit of a problem for him and maybe that's why he's not eating.

Though, that said, he did lick a little baby food from the fingers of the technician who showed me how to give him fluids. The little brat -- he wouldn't take food from my finger this morning! (Or tonight after we got home.) Same brand of food, different flavor, so that's the next thing to try.

He was 7 pounds (even) tonight, same as at his last vet visit at the end of January. If we assume that the last couple days have probably cost him a little, that suggests that he had managed to gain a little before this started. So that's good, at least.

I wonder when we'll get to the point where the vet just gives me fluids, anti-nausea drugs, and antibiotics and says "use as necessary". She's already thinking in terms of a regular cycle of antibiotics (every month and a half or so) just on spec.

Edit 8:45PM: Canned tuna is interesting to him (in small doses). Yay!

Comments

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

I hope he feels better soon. Prayers and good thoughts on the way.

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

I hope he is better soon!

[schulman.livejournal.com]

Aww, poor thing. (Both of you.) A trick the vet techs have used on my cat is to smear just a little of the food on her chin or her nose, forcing her to lick it off and get the taste of the food, which will often start her eating.


I hope he recovers quickly. They warned you not to worry about fluid hump, right?

[cellio]

Thanks for the tip. Erik is picky about hygeine, so that will probably work! (They also suggested nuking the food just a bit -- not too hot!, they warned -- to release an aroma. So far that hasn't brought must joy.)

They warned you not to worry about fluid hump, right?

They didn't say that, but they did say to not worry that I was giving him too much. (They told me to give 100-150 ml at a time. I came home with a 1000-ml bag minus one dose, so at every two days (three if the eating picks up) this will last a couple weeks.)

[schulman.livejournal.com]

He may wind up with a squishy subcutaneous hump of fluid that takes a little while to absorb. It's pretty weird to watch it roll down around one shoulder when they stand up and walk around. Good thing they're such dignified creatures, no?

[sue-n-julia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we asked the vet to give us another bag, just in case Vandal had another spell too. Because he is small (just like Erik) his fluid balance can get out of whack very easily. You might consider doing the same.

S

[aliza250.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remember painting Tommy's nose with cottage cheese when he wouldn't eat.

[siderea]

Here's hoping it's all just a cynical ploy on his part to make his human hand-feed him high quality gooshy-food. :)

[cellio]

Here's hoping! And if any of my cats is smart enough to do that, it would be Erik.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

When our kitty was sick and not eating (nothing more serious than a cold, thankfully, but getting fluids into her was important because of the mild fever), she did go for the water the tuna is packed in.

[ealdthryth.livejournal.com]

Glad the tuna interested him. Good luck. I hope he recovers quickly.