After a frustrating day at work (duh) and an even more frustrating commute home (duh), I walked into La Casa del Terror about an hour later than planned and was greeted by both cats--only Ms. Christopher appeared to have grown an antenna sometime between her morning vet appointent and now.
Then I realized what was sticking up off of her heavily bandaged head: It was the feeding tube the vet had installed during the surgery Monday. She has somehow managed to yank the damn thing out.
Oh. Crap.
I took a quick look at her at that moment and later examined her more thoroughly. She wasn't bleeding (from what little I could see peeking under the bright green bandage) and didn't seem to be in any distress beyond the discomfort and weakness she was already experiencing as a result of her illness and the subsequent tooth removal. I gave her three feedings (spaced out by about 90 minutes between each) via syringe straight into her unwilling mouth. After the last feeding, I took her straight to bed with me, where she fairly well demanded attention, butting me with her bandaged head and purring loudly.
This morning, I fed her as soon as I got up (again, via syringe), then headed to the kitchen to put a tin of kibble down for Olivia. As soon as I popped the tab, Christopher quite literally ran into the kitchen--she WANTED to be fed again. Seizing the moment, I opened a can of Fancy Feast (the vet put no restrictions on what I could feed her--"Whatever she'll eat," she said) and dumped it in a bowl before Christopher, who put her head into it and kept in there for a couple of minutes. She didn't clean the bowl out by any means and spent most of her time licking up gravy, but she did take a few small, tentative bites that didn't produce the gnawing, grinding reaction she'd had before and immediately after the surgery.
After the animal hospital opened at seven, called the vet, who was more than a bit surprised that Christopher had torn the feeding tube out--"That doesn't usually happen"--but was reassured by the description of the old kitty's demeanor, apparent lack of physical damage and demonstrated willingness to at least try to eat. "You could bring her in today, if you want," she offered, "or we can wait for our scheduled appointment on Saturday." I opted for the latter--Christopher seems to be holding her own, and unless something changes between now and 9 a.m. Saturday, I'll try to remain calm.
Try.
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5 comments:
Hee! I love the image of the kitty con antennae.
Glad to hear there's real discernible improvement!
Well, I hope she gets a clean bill of health on Saturday. It sounds like she's recovering nicely. :) yay!
Thanks, Bel and Suz! Ms. Christopher ate well yesterday (cleaned the bowl while I was at work!), last night and this morning. She still needs to get more weight back on and start using the litter pan more, but this is definitely good.
I clicked the Ms. Christopher link and looked at the cute photographs of Ms. Christopher, Lottie, Olivia and Ernie. Dude, I got choked up!
I'm sorry to hear about Ms. Christopher! You know what, though? She's going to feel soooo much better once the feeding tube business is all settled and everything is back to normal. Getting the teeth fixed really puts some life back into animals, especially the old ones.
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