Sorry I didn’t get a chance to update yesterday, but there isn’t much to report.
Here’s an image of the incision on Day 2, which still looks nice and clean.
Leo spent most of the day sleeping yesterday, and I sat in my bed with him working on my computer for most of the time myself. He seems very down and it’s pretty sad for me to watch. I’ve been trying to encourage him all I can to perk up, and later in the evening I coaxed him out of the bedroom to hobble around the living room a bit. He also went to use his normal litterbox as opposed to the shallow one I put in my bedroom, which is covered and a bit trickier to get into in his current wobbly state. The first time, he got so tired he just wanted to lay down in it, but when I took him out, he went right back in again and actually used it and came out on his own. I’m trying to let him do things he wants to, and boost his confidence. Doctor also recommended to encourage him to exercise gently as much as possible.
Leo spent most of Day 2 right here while I got some work done.
My biggest concern is that he’s still refusing to eat. I have tried wet cat food, dry food, some chicken baby food, tuna, and a baby food/tuna mixture, and I tried it both cold and heated up a bit, but nothing is interesting him. I don’t think he drank any water that I could see, either. I wasn’t in the room all day so he may have had a sip when I wasn’t looking, but every time I’ve tried to encourage him to eat or drink myself, he just turns his head away from me and seems annoyed at my advances. I’ve tried on and off today to encourage him to eat and drink, but still not much luck. I was going to resort to force feeding him (which I really want to avoid if at all possible), but he voluntarily ate 2 of the dry treats I offered to him so I’m trying to hold off still. He still doesn’t want to drink, so I managed to squeeze a few dropper-fulls of water with a glass eye-dropper (which I’ve never used before, just came in a pack of 2 I got to clean out my wisdom teeth sockets last summer) about 40 minutes ago.
He doesn’t really fight me on any of this, just seems unmotivated and sad. Definitely not the same active kitty I’ve seen a lot of others share as being their post-amp experience, and certainly not himself. He is still sweet, and purrs/rubs when I start petting him, but he mostly just wants to sleep on my bed all day unless I really try hard to get him moving. Even then, he can only go a few feet before he wants to just lay down again, and I imagine he must be so weak from lack of food at this point. I am going to keep trying every hour or so the rest of today to get him to drink and eat, but I am worried for my poor boy. ):
Please remember that he is still pretty drugged and this is major surgery. The sleeping is normal. Give him time. Many members dont start seeing their tripawds personality again until the staples come out, about day 10. His incision looks great. I would keep offering the food and water and using the syringe. What about chicken broth or tuna water? Think he would drink that?
Gah, I am trying. This is just very tough as I can’t tell what’s “normal” and what I should be alarmed by.
I have not tried broth alone, but the baby food is basically chicken broth and mashed up chicken. I mixed the tuna water and a few chunks of tuna and smashed that all together with the babyfood, but he refuses even that. I just ran to the store and got some soft salmon & liver flavored treats with a high calorie count, since the only thing I’ve successfully gotten him to eat on his own the last couple days have been his crunchy dental treats. Those have a very low calorie count though, only about 2 kcal/treat compared to 17 kcal/treat in the salmon ones. He is refusing those right now, too at the moment. Camman, bud. ):
Hi Sarah,
Maybe turkey and gravy baby food? They make a ham too.
The chicken baby food you have you could add a little water to the baby food so you can use your droppers to get some food into Leo. Stinky wet can food worked best for us.
Wet kitten food would also be a good option ! If you can get wet food in him , you don’t have to worry so much about the water. Sardine water or the tuna water you could also dropper into him.
They do tire easier ,so dont let that worry you. Resting is healing! Less movement is good in recovery.
Meds can make some kitties not want to eat! Keep trying and I would keep up with the dropper with water!
Does he seem comfortable pain wise?
Keep trying on the food, bring it right up to him and put it under his nose. You could put a dab of food your trying to give him and put it on his nose! He will lick his nose! That might be enough to get him eating . All just some ideas to try.
Hoping something works !
Hugs!
Holly & Purrkins
He does seem relatively comfortable pain wise. Sometimes he’ll try and squirm away from me during attempts to feed or if I’m tryna help clean him up after a less than graceful litterbox attempt, and he’ll then let out a bit of a growly meow, but those are few and far between. He mostly rests, and seems pretty content to do just that. He purrs and tries to snuggle in reaction to my petting him, too, so I think he’s okay there.
This morning, he willingly ate two more crunchy treats, though that seems to be his limit. I then got several more dropper-fulls of water until he got grumpy with me about it. I made a concoction of some beef/beef broth baby food, tuna water and mashed up tuna, and some chicken broth, and managed to get (2) 1 mL syringe-fulls of that into him. It’s slow work and he is not a fan, but I’m just gonna keep trying with that every couple hours.
Sara,
I remembered another idea you could try on Leo,
we used to use on our Senior kitty. He loved it. Worth a shot.
PetAg CatSure Meal Replacement
Liquid nutritional supplement meets nutritional needs as cats age
Contains flaxseed oil, a great source of DHA
Delicious highly-palatable vanilla flavor
Helps ensure proper fluid intake
Dietary supplement or meal replacement ensures balanced nutrition and fluid intake in senior, sick, or stressed cats 7+ years of age. CatSure contains highly-digestible lactose-free milk proteins, amino acids, added vitamins, minerals, trace nutrients and ingredients that are the source of Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids.
Try Petco or Petsmart – I would call before going to make sure they have it.
Keeping our paws crossed Leo starts to eat or drink for you!
Holly & Purrkins
Hi Holly, thanks for the tip!
My local Petsmart does not carry CatSure, but they have a similar product by GNC along with a larger 10 mL syringe that I am going to try later this evening.
I did manage to get another 7-8 mL of the babyfood/tuna mixture into him with the small syringe I have. It’s not much, but still the most I’ve gotten into him at once so far. Hoping this liquid stuff plus a larger syringe will make things easier!
-Sara
Sounds great! Hope it helps.
If not please call the vet and see what they think.
They might need to give Subcutaneous (SQ) fluids.
Hoping to hear Leo is drinking , eating and improving!
Hi Sara,
Checking in on your and Leo.
Hope things have improved!
Hugs!
Holly & Purrkins
Hi Holly, I’m sorry for going dark there for a while! It’s just been a crazy busy week taking care of Leo and also trying to deal with a heavy workload.
I’m happy to say that things have improved indeed, and I just posted another update today after our post-amp follow up appointment. (:
Sara