State of the Ra: still syringe feeding...

I've been trying to get him to eat his kibbles on his own, but no love. So, we continue with the A/D syringe feedings. We've been doing 32ml twice a day, and are probably going to increase that to 32ml three times a day.

Got up at the ass-crack of dawn today to get his metoclopramide (one of his anti-nausea meds) into him so we could wait a half hour before we fed him before J had to get ready to leave for work. He's getting feistier with each feed, which is probably a good sign that he's feeling a bit better, but it's hard to know if that's the case or if he's Had Enough of the syringe feeding. Still, he generally took it like a champ. I'm ever so glad J is so good at doing it, and that I can help where ever I can--it's really a two person job to make things go as smoothly as possible.

I think the liver supplement did a number on him, poor fella. That's when the liquid/pudding poops started, when the lethargy got worse, when the appetite went into the crapper. Far too coincidental for it not to be that.

Our big concern right now is that his liver function will continue to falter and/or worsen. Fatty liver disease is an all-too-real possibility right now. I lost my Smudge kitty to that damned disease back in '06 when she was only six years old, I'll be damned if I'll lose another kitty to it without a fucking good fight. :(

Calls are in to both Dr. L. and to VCA Aurora internal medicine to give them both updates on Ra's condition. I fear a trip out to Aurora is probably in order given Ra's anorexia as of late, but perhaps they'll defer to Dr. L to do the work to spare Ra the trauma of the long car ride. He *Hates* that car ride, and I hate to do it to him if I don't have to.

Sigh. Our poor, poor kitteh...

State of the Ra: Doctors updated...

Finally got in touch with Dr L. followed by VCA internal medicine earlier this afternoon. Turns out we've not quite been feeding Ra enough via syringe as we should be--Dr. L wants to see at least a full can and we'd been feeding 2/3 to 3/4 of a can each day over the weekend. Whoops. At least Ra's been eating some kibble on his own to offset what we've not been giving him via syringe so I don't feel terribly mortified, just slightly mortified. :/ As if we could know without counsel from a vet how much Ra needed to be fed via syringe, right? So I shouldn't be so hard on myself, dammit, but I feel bad... :/ We're also supposed to keep an eye on his weight closely, so we'll be pulling out the good ol' postal scale later to weigh him to see if he's inevitably lost more weight...

Ra has a follow-up appointment and possibly lab work tomorrow with Dr. L at 0900 tomorrow. This is good enough for VCA internal medicine, at least according to Sandy the tech, so it's looking like we won't have to make the trek all the way out to Aurora, too, after all...All they want are all of Dr. L's observation notes and any labs he does for their records so Dr. M over at VCA internal medicine can go over everything and advise accordingly. At least, so far, VCA agrees with the current treatment regimen Dr. L has formulated for Ra over the weekend with us. I was dreading a lecture about taking Ra off the strict hypoallergenic diet, but it didn't happen--they just want to see Ra eating ANYTHING, too, so...yeah...

Speaking of feeding Ra, it's time to give him some more kibble...Wish me luck!!

It's been one year today...

...since my friend Terry decided he couldn't live anymore and took his life.

We never met in person; we were "only" internet friends. But we seemed to "get" each other and despite not being the most chatty of internet friends, we were always somehow there for one another during both the good times and the rough spots in our lives. I loved his snarky wit, his incredibly kind heart, and his intelligence. His last kindness to me was posting cross links from his blog to mine of Diva kitty's obituary post, and re-posting a lovely picture of Diva in a memorial to a cats forum on google +. That really touched both mine and J's hearts. Then, only three days later, I found out *he* was gone, too...

I still find myself finding myself wondering when he's going to post the next funny as all fuck thing on his LJ or to google +, then have to remind myself he won't be because he's gone and never coming back. Then I get sad for awhile. But not for long. I try to remember the good stuff, the funny stuff--not the sad and bad stuff that inevitably took him from us on that gods awful day a year ago today.

I miss you, Terry. I hope your soul has found its peace out there in the Great Beyond or wherever it is you are Out There. Gods knows you deserve that peace...