State of the Jazz: slowing down, or is she?

Yesterday was not a good day for my baby. She ate so poorly on Sunday we decided to put Lars back into the safe room overnight so she would have a chance to finish her final feed without him poking his nose into it and eating it instead (he's definitely interested in the tuna we sprinkle on top, but not as much in the actual gooshy fud, but still, he'll eat it if hungry so...). She ate most of it, but I found two good sized piles of A/D looking vomit on the area rug in the hallway yesterday morning, so much of what she ate didn't stay down.

She was just...slow...yesterday. Looked every one of her 19 years--old and tired. Spent a great deal of time sunning herself in the sliding glass door window area of the den. Ate s.l.o.w.l.y. all day; took her several hours to eat her breakfast and again several hours to eat her lunch and I don't give her all that much, so...yeah...

Instead of locking up Lars in the safe room again we opted to not feed Jazz her third and final feed of the day last night. Figured she didn't show much interest in her other two meals, perhaps it would kick start her appetite if she missed one meal. We were right--she ate like a champ this morning! :) Yay!! Even ate around the tuna and left it in her bowl--note to self, no tuna for lunch feed. I can always go back and add tuna later if she doesn't eat the gooshy fud.

Right now she's sleeping on her favorite chair in the living room, just chillin' out. She's a bit more alert looking today, which is good...

Last night I initiated a conversation about her with J. How I don't think she's got much longer, how we both need to start preparing for that inevitability. The way things have been going I say we might have her til snow flies, probably get her through a final Christmas season. He's much more optimistic than I, of course; he doesn't interact as closely with her as I do during the day when he's at work. It's worrysome seeing her the way she's been lately; more off/down days than good days. :/ I can even tell by the way Dr. B talks to me sometimes. He's told me she's old and to prepare for her passing more than once in the last few months. Tells me we're already doing everything we can for her, that if she gets sicker there's not more that can be done for her save for force feeding, which we've basically for all intents and purposes ruled out on doing if it comes to that...So...yeah...

It really sucks, watching an elderly cat wind down her life...So very sad..I cherish every day I have with her, as does J...Hopefully there are more good days to come...

Lars: good bye to the safe room?

He's been out and about with open access to his safe room for the last few days now. Didn't have him out overnight on Sunday because we wanted Jazz to get a chance to finish her food, but we did have him out last night with the door to the safe room closed. He woke us up around 0330, meowing loudly and pawing on the door to be let in. Since we aren't sure if he's used the two boxes out in the rest of the house, we thought he might be "other box shy" and want to be let into the room to use "his" litter box, so we let him back in there and he wanted to stay so we let him and closed the door til morning after we got the garbage together and out the door.

He did really well yesterday. He divided his time between lounging on the bed in the safe room and being out and about in the rest of the house. We even had a stranger in the house--DirecTV came out to install a new DVR receiver in the den and a new receiver in the living room and he handled it like a champ--very curious but not in the way at all. Unlike Ra who was right in there messing with stuff, LOL. We only closed him in the safe room when it was time for the guy to load out the old equipment and his gear because, unfortunately, Lars is VERY curious about open doors to the outside...Not a good thing, but I think we can break him of his curiosity. All I've had to do to get him away from the doors to the outside is hiss at him loudly and he flinches and backs away quickly. That and a spray bottle should do the trick, I think. Tells me that he might have gotten away from his previous owner by escaping through an open door to the outside, or that he was an indoor/outdoor cat that never went back home for some reason. Regardless, we've *got* to keep him away from doors to the outside...

He's slowly getting used to the idea of there being two other cats in the house, though he still doesn't like it much I don't think. ;) Jazz is still basically ignoring him almost completely and Ra alternates between wanting to sniff on him and make friends and hissing at him. Lars is doing the same to Ra, too, LOL. So far Lars has only swatted at Jazz or Ra once each; no big physical fights, just hissing and some posturing to fight. This is a good thing...

He came out to supervise while I made his breakfast, but he's been closed into his safe room since I served him same. I have an errand or two to run and will let him roam when I get back. It'll be the first time I'm letting him out of there by myself--a little nervous about that, but not bad...We should all be fine...