Day Five – (Possible) D-Day

Today is Maybe Diagnosis Day. If they were able to make the diagnosis definitively with the liver aspirate, we should hear today. I’ll not exhale until after that call.

Got the call at 1:00 this afternoon.

NOT LIVER DISEASE!!! The tissue samples showed no signs of cancer or other disease and they concluded that the inflammation was secondary to her not eating, and that the problem must be in her upper GI tract. She is scheduled for an endoscopy and biopsy tomorrow.

She’s been acting perfectly normal all day. Ate a full can of food between this morning and this evening. Pee but no poopage. At 6:35 pm, she did vomit twice, but only a small bit of bile, and she resumed normal activity afterwards. Even ate a bit of dry food about an hour later.

I cannot put into words exactly how relieved I am. I’m trying not to get my hopes  up too high, as we could still find out that it’s stomach cancer or something equally horrible. But it could also be something as mundane and treatable as an ulcer.

Here’s to tomorrow!

Day Three – Poop!

7:15 am – We have poopage! Massive, too, for such a tiny kitty. Worrisome; it was black, indicating presence of blood, possibly from an ulcer. I will keep an eye on this until Monday. If she doesn’t go today, I will give her some more canned pumpkin tonight and see if it’s clearing up. Investigative petting reveals some stomach distension, but less than last night. Promising.

4:00 pm – Fancy came running from the living room to meet me when I came home from school. She seems perfectly okay and I’m elated to see her as such. She peed a bit while I was away and ate some dry food. Belly distension is virtually non-existent. Still, just to be safe and keep everything flowing, I thought I’d try to trick her by mixing some canned pumpkin with her wet food. I never thought she’d go for it but she’s chomping and smacking away over there. Excellent. This makes me wonder how many times my mother tricked me into eating strange stuff when I was a kid.

11:45 pm – Fancy met me at the door when I arrived home from an MBA association social event. Peed a little, no poopage. I’m okay with that, though, for now. Seems to be her old self again. Keeping fingers crossed until Monday.

Day Two – Easy There, Killer

Fancy stayed on the bed with me from 4:00 am until I woke at 7:00. Administered prednisone at 7:00 and followed with 1 tbsp of tuna, which she ate eagerly. Peed a little around 8:00 am and returned to her corner to lie down.

Returned home from studying around 1:00 pm. Fancy had eaten a bit of dry food. No litter box activity. Fancy slept in her corner until 2:45, when I picked her up and put her on the bed to take a nap with me. She did not want to be on the bed but was hesitant to jump off, so I placed her back on the floor. She walked to the kitchen and lay down on the floor. I offered her approximately two tbsp Science Diet canned food and she devoured it. Immediately after finishing off the food, she went to the litter box and peed, but she has not pooped since Tuesday, and that makes me sad. Not good.

After the litter box I wondered if watching out her favorite window would lighten her spirits and placed her on her favorite chair in the living room to do so. She immediately jumped down and I picked her up and carried her to her corner. She began grooming and definitely has more interest in grooming than she’s had in the past week. Briefly batted at Mr. Ribbon but quickly lost interest.

4:30 – Fancy went to the kitchen and drank some water. Afterwards came and sat in front of me for a while, judging me, then walked away. I assumed she’d gone back to her corner, but found her in the living room lying in a sunbeam. I sat down to type and she jumped onto the table as she used to do all the time when I would be at the computer. Almost seems like she’s starting to act like her old self a bit. But still too soon to say.

8:30 pm – Fancy met me at the door when I arrived home from dinner with friends. She had eaten quite a bit of dry food while I was out. No litter box activity.

She’s considerably more active today than she has been in the past 10 days.

9:30 pm – Fancy ate about a teaspoon of canned food and went pee-pee. While petting her, I noticed that her tummy is fairly distended. Seeing as how she hasn’t pooped since Tuesday, I wonder if this is due to constipation or if she’s simply not digesting food. I spoke to someone at the Jefferson Animal Hospital who advised me to offer her some canned pumpkin to relieve possible constipation. I offered it to her and she wanted nothing whatsoever to do with it. I managed to get about ½ teaspoon down her with a syringe. Fingers crossed. If she hasn’t pooped by the time I get home from school tomorrow, I may consider taking her into Jefferson.

As of midnight or thereabouts, Fancy has been up to her old tricks, staying right by my side all night. She’s lying on the table while I type, she sat with me on the couch while I studied, she follows me from room to room and seems to be in good spirits. Some kind of critter was making a huge ruckus outside of our living room window and she was on seriously high alert, ears forward, pupils big as saucers, whiskers at the ready, but didn’t jump off the couch to investigate further. She’s occupying all of her old favorite places again – the table, random sunbeams, the left arm of the couch. Drank a hefty helping of water around 11:30.

Aaaand we’re spent. Bedtime.

Further Evidence to My Theory that Fancy is Actually Slowly Becoming a Human

“All the time we spend anthropomorphizing our animals – do you ever get the the feeling that they’re just animorphizing us?” – Angelina Jolie in “Playing By Heart”

So Fancy decided this evening that she’s ready to eat.

She was ready to eat my crescent roll. I sat down at the table for dinner, up she came, and began sniffing it. I didn’t think anything of it, given that this cat has not TOUCHED not ONE single MORSEL of human food in TWELVE years of life. But then she started licking it. Under normal circumstances I would have stopped her with a gentle “No, no, baby, that’s for mere mortals,” but seeing as how she hasn’t eaten in a WEEK, I figured I’d see what happened. She licked the thing to death, put a good silver dollar-sized hole in it. Then sat back and licked her lips, cleaned her paw, as if she were quite pleased with herself.

Color me confused.

A crescent roll? Seriously? After a week-long fast, that’s what you want to go with?

So, call it divine inspiration, whatever, but I got an idea. I took a can of tuna out of the pantry, opened it, and sat it down in front of her on the table. A sniff. A tentative itty-bitty taste test on the tongue, and then she dug in. She nommed a good tablespoon or so before I pulled it back due to mercury/diarrhea/possibility of cutting her tongue on the edge of the can concerns, but I let her drink all the juice out of it since she needs all the fluids she can get.

She’s happy as a little clam now.

I just simply don’t fricking get it.

She’s still going to have her liver ultrasound and stomach scope tomorrow. Hope she doesn’t think this new, warped cooperation is going to get her out of that.

UPDATE – 10:16pm

We have eatage! After giving her some space and going to swim for a while, I came home with a new can of tuna, the watery contents of which I poured over Fancy’s regular cat food. Immediate nommage. That was around 9:00; just now she came out and had some more, plus a hefty helping of water.

I wouldn’t say she’s out of the woods yet, seeing as how she still has to keep all of this down and still needs lots more water to be adequately hydrated, but it’s a start. I’ve pulled up her food bowl for the night, pending stomach scope-age tomorrow morning.

*fingers crossed*

Update

Tomorrow will mark one full week since Fancy has eaten anything of any substance and not upchucked it. She’s not even interested in canned food, which is usually her favorite treat. I put a plate of it in front of her and she moves away from it quickly. I finally shoved it under the bed with her. Must remember to pick that up before bedtime, otherwise, I’m going to reek of Tuna Seafood Feast in the morning.

Today’s small victory – on the third try, finally got a Periactin tablet down her without her tossing it, spitting it out, or stashing it in her cheek until I’m not looking (seriously, this cat is half human). At least, I think I did. I watched her for a while to make sure she wasn’t holding on to it.

She hates me with a murderous passion right now. If she had opposable thumbs, I’d be sleeping with one eye open. I’d hate me, too. I shoved a syringe full of water down her after the Periactin. It won’t do much for her; she’s so dehydrated. But every little bit will help, I suppose. The earliest I can get her to the doctor is Thursday. God, I hope she makes it until Thursday.

I’m preparing myself. Going over the scenario in my head. Imagining every possible different way the vet might say the words, every possible different reaction I might have, every possible next step I could take upon hearing them. Preparing myself to come home to an empty apartment, with no big blue eyes staring up at me lovingly. No one telling me how horribly busy her sunbeam-sleeping day has been. I’m preparing myself to sleep alone every night, not to hear her soft purring from the other side of the bed or feel her making biscuits on my pillow. Not to wake up from a paw to the cheek and a soft meow. Something just seems so final about this time, so different. Something intangible, a certainty with which I’ve only ever felt one other emotion.

I’ve been Fancy’s catmom over half my life. Before I could vote or drive or even cross the street without holding someone’s hand, she’s been my constant companion. I’ve never taken her for granted. Every day, especially for the past few years since we’ve been on our own, I’ve reminded myself that I’m so lucky to have her, and that it’s going to end sometime. But not now! She’s not ready. I’m not ready.