Bad News / Good News
Well, the bad news is that tube feeding a cat can be very messy. The good news is, it seems to be effective as well.
When I went to pick him up yesterday, my poor baby all groggy from surgery and with a tube coming out of him, I started having second thoughts again, as usual. I started thinking that I over-reacted and subjected my poor kitty to unneccessary things and surely, if I had only given him another day or two, he would have started eating again. But the staff at the vet had not been able to get him to eat either and it was now 3 days without eating. He had lost 7% of his body weight since Monday.
He got his first tube feeding this morning. While it clearly felt odd and he didn't like it, he didn't fight too much either. And when we were taking a pause, he actually licked up some of his "tube food" from a spoon! Not much, but something. And when it was over, he didn't run and hide, but sat next to me on the sofa, giving himself a through grooming -- the first time I have seen him grooming himself this week. So it's clearly what was needed.
Plus his fever is gone, and the tests and x-rays still aren't finding anything wrong. Hopefully the antibiotics are kicking in and the tube feeding will break the cycle of "Feel Crappy --> Don't Eat --> Feel Crappier --> Eat Less" etc.
I will try to get pictures of him with his tube this weekend. He goes in for a re-check on Monday, and it would be real nice if he is eating enough orally by then that we could take the tube out. But I'm not going to put pressure on him or me -- he'll be ready when he's ready. I do think we'll get there, though. (It does make it much easier to give pills though!)
When I went to pick him up yesterday, my poor baby all groggy from surgery and with a tube coming out of him, I started having second thoughts again, as usual. I started thinking that I over-reacted and subjected my poor kitty to unneccessary things and surely, if I had only given him another day or two, he would have started eating again. But the staff at the vet had not been able to get him to eat either and it was now 3 days without eating. He had lost 7% of his body weight since Monday.
He got his first tube feeding this morning. While it clearly felt odd and he didn't like it, he didn't fight too much either. And when we were taking a pause, he actually licked up some of his "tube food" from a spoon! Not much, but something. And when it was over, he didn't run and hide, but sat next to me on the sofa, giving himself a through grooming -- the first time I have seen him grooming himself this week. So it's clearly what was needed.
Plus his fever is gone, and the tests and x-rays still aren't finding anything wrong. Hopefully the antibiotics are kicking in and the tube feeding will break the cycle of "Feel Crappy --> Don't Eat --> Feel Crappier --> Eat Less" etc.
I will try to get pictures of him with his tube this weekend. He goes in for a re-check on Monday, and it would be real nice if he is eating enough orally by then that we could take the tube out. But I'm not going to put pressure on him or me -- he'll be ready when he's ready. I do think we'll get there, though. (It does make it much easier to give pills though!)