Bailey update - December 14
Some people have asked how Bailey is doing. I stopped posting about her because it made me uncomfortable and self-conscious to ask for contributions and I didnât want to feel like I was nagging people when it was obvious everyone who was going to donate had done so. But those who did contribute might like to know how things are going, soâŚ
We had hoped sheâd start eating again after her sore teeth were removed, but that hasnât been the case. Sheâs still not eating or grooming herself. Her energy is a little low, though not, like, deathly low, and sheâs clearly INTERESTED in food, but sheâs just not eating. Sheâll lick it a couple times, maybe, and if I give her the stew rather than the pate, she might lick up the gravy but leave the chunks. When Iâm in the kitchen preparing her food, sheâs interested, butâŚthat interest isnât translating to actually eating the damn food. She wonât touch her dry food, and if I open a can of moist food, at least 95% of it goes to waste.
At first we thought it might be the antibiotics she was on until last Friday causing problems, but itâs been a week now since her last dose, and she still hasnât resumed eating. The places where her teeth were extracted have healed up just fine. It could be she just doesnât like the feeling of trying to eat with them being gone, but so much so that she lets herself starve?
In the last few days, weâve taken to watering down the pate so we can force-feed her using a syringe. Itâs not a long-term solution, and highly unpleasant for everyone involved (me, mixing the food and feeding it to her; my husband, holding her head still and getting her mouth open so we donât end up with cat-food sludge everywhere; and of course Bailey herself) but at least weâre getting some calories and hydration into her, because sheâs not drinking much water either.
So I took her back to the vet today (very glad we purchased that Pet Health Club membership, which has already paid for itself and then some, just by making her last exam and todayâs appointment free, not to mention the discount on the dental services.)
She is down to 9.7 pounds from 10 a couple weeks ago when they weighed her prior to her dental work a few weeks ago, and down from 12 lbs in 2017. Not good, but not deathly. Still, I donât like how well I can feel her spine when I pet her. Sheâs a little dehydrated, and the vet thought her gums looked a little pale. She wants me to examine Baileyâs stool so see if itâs black (which would indicate bleeding in her GI tract) but yeah, the cat would have to be eating enough to poop for me to be able to do that.
So, Bailey is not a vicious cat when you take her to the vet; she doesnât hiss or yowl or struggle at all. Sheâs not passive, per se, because sheâs quite tense and not at all chill, but she just goes very still and quiet. She tries to hide in her carrier so we have to take the top off it because she wonât come out of it willingly.
I took advantage of this to groom her while we were there, while I had her on the table and was talking to the vet. I pulled out a huge handful of mats that were stuck in her fur. Her fur is so matted (and the mats tend to sort of shear off everything around it) that if you look underneath the fluff, she has some fairly large bald patches where I managed to work the mats free. The vet said her skin doesnât appear irritated, so itâs likely just the mats. If we can get rid of those and get her grooming herself again, this will be fine. Unfortunately, if sheâs feeling too punk to eat, sheâs obviously not going to feel like cleaning herself.
At this point, with Baileyâs history (since we got her) of only being able to tolerate certain foods that are formulated to be easy on the digestive system, the vet is suspecting some sort of irritable bowel disorder. Ideally she would like to do an ultrasound to see what is happening, but we simply canât afford to go any deeper into debt on this.
They gave her some subcutaneous fluids to help with the dehydration. But at this point, we canât do any more tests or procedures, so only option is to guess and hope for the best. Weâve got anti-nausea medication, an appetite stimulant that may make things worse depending on if the problem really is irritable bowel disease, and the drug sold as Pepcid at the pharmacyâwhich I actually did pick up at the pharmacy because itâs the exact same thing I could get at the vets, for 1/3 the price.
Also, the super-special sensitive stomach food, which is $3 a can, as opposed to the $2.25 a can for the merely sorta-special sensitive stomach food.
Todayâs bill was $200, which (along with the $100 last week on a more comprehensive kidney function test they did when they found protein in her urine during the dental cleaning) brings the total weâve spent up to $1300. I raised $450 a few weeks, so weâre $850 in debt on this now.
If the new food and the meds donât work, then this is it for Bailey. We can go no further. Force-feeding is not a tenable, long-term solution. It just isnât. So if we canât convince her to eat, she is going to have to be put down, because it would be cruel to let her slowly starve to death.
I know some people arenât sure about using Ko-Fi, but I donât really have anything else to offer for people who want to contribute. If anyone has any suggestions, Iâm all ears. Because we spent over $200, we have 6 months of no interest to pay off the CareCredit plan we got for this.
So. Iâm just gonna offer my Ko-Fi link again, but Iâm not going to keep posting about this. I hate having to post about it at all. If you do contribute or have contributed, know that Iâm incredibly grateful. Thank you.