She's looking a bit perkier

[cjsmith]

Thank you so, so much for all your supportive comments. It helps.

Several people are asking for updates. There's not a lot of change, but here's what I can tell ya. :-)

- After yesterday's swabbing with damp cloths and frequent combing, she almost looks good again. Still technically needs a bath if you have a working nose. When she feels better she may take care of this. Or I will.

- I have *not* seen blood since yesterday.

- She's perkier. She loves scritches, she brushes herself against my ankles any time she can, and she's eating and drinking reasonable amounts. She's ignoring the catnip. She is not whining a lot about being stuck in the bathroom, but when she hears me approach she'll holler.

- I gave her her first pill-and-a-half dose of antibiotics just now. Half pills have sharp corners so I tried crumbling up the whole mess and putting it in wet food. She took it!

- She mostly hits the litterbox now. She always at least gets to it, and she mostly stays in bounds. After antibiotics work their magic for another day I may be able to let her out of the bathroom.

We expect word from the pathology lab late next week.

Comments

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm so glad Duchess is doing better! I just got finished reading all of the comments to the previous post that had been posted after mine, trying to find out something new, so this was perfect timing!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh cool! Handy. :-)

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

glad to hear the patient is doing better. same for her momma. ;-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Hey, how are you doing? Exhausted probably doesn't begin to cover it.

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

exhausted, hurting, but pleased at how the day went. lovely weather, beautiful ceremony, great reception, lots of people came and in general was about the best it could have possibly been. i'll post pics and write a longer entry later, when i'm not so um, uh, hmm, post-wedding.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I saw your short post a few minutes ago. I'm glad it went so well! I hope you don't pay (too much, or too long) for your day of wild activity.

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Good on the pill crumbling. I had to give Spike antibiotics for a coupld of months for kidney infections and I finally got liquid. It was easier.

Easier means I got bit less. ;)

Spike sends purrs and I send skritchies!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yikes, months! I'm glad you got something easier if he was biting you!

I took one look at the pill and thought "if MY throat were that size I couldn't swallow that thing even with water". Thank goodness the crumbling worked.

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Yeah my little furryweaselcat has kidney disease (but we caught it early and she's doing great now) and had a bad kidney infection. So just to be on the safe side I had to give her medicine to her twice a day for a bout 2 months. It worked out ok because she was living at my mom's house (which is now my house) and I got to see the kittyfurbag.

In fact she is sitting at my feet wondering why she can't have more treat. "Gimme treats, mom! I want treats!" She got pets instead. :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh ouch! I'm glad she's doing better now. Heh, pets instead of treats. I do that to mine sometimes too, and they look at me all annoyed: "don't you have a CLUE what we were REQUESTING, stupid human?" :-)

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Exactly which is why she got some deli turkey out of me today. When her eyes get all big and her pupils are all big and dilated she looks so freaking Disney-cute and I give in! Plus she is mad at me because I won't let her go outside because it is a million degrees out and she has fur.

I'm such a mean kittymom like that. :)

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

She's been in my thoughts. I'm sure you knew that, I just wanted to make sure. Poor kitten!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Today she got a BATH.

[hnybny.livejournal.com]

Great news!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Such a relief! If she has a larger problem, my intuition says her symptoms won't respond completely to antibiotics. Fingers crossed!

[tryslora]

So glad to hear she's doing better!

We always had to get the liquids with Athena because it was easier to aim those at the back of her throat and be sure they went down than the pills! She was an expert at illustrating the classic "how to pill a cat" thingy that goes around the 'net.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Some cats are stunningly good at that, aren't they? Princess was also very good at pretending she had swallowed, then wandering off and (minutes later) disgorging the slimy thing in a corner somewhere.

[hopeforyou.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear Duchess is doing a bit better, and I hope the antibiotics are all you need for her to continue getting better.

*hugs*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Similar thoughts of healing right back atcha. *hugsback*

[airporter.livejournal.com]

Wonderful news! I bet Duchess is happy about it too. *grin*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

She seems a LOT happier. *relief!*

[ivormonger.livejournal.com]

Hi, I've had a sick kitty lately too. It's an emotional rollercoaster ride. My best wishes for both of you.

I was just looking at people's journals who like aviation and found yours. I went to an air meet this morning and just posted about it. Thought perhaps you might enjoy it. My last 3 posts are about aviation, and mostly about women in aviation, which is one of my favorite subjects.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Hi! Nice to "meet" you!

It sure is tough when a pet is sick. We can't explain that this painful or annoying procedure will help; we can't tell them that yeah, we aren't happy locking them in the bathroom either; we can't ask them to please PLEASE just deposit the mess on LINOLEUM. :-)

I don't post much about flying. Maybe I should change that!

[ivormonger.livejournal.com]

Hiya to you too! My pleasure, I'm sure.

Yes, that verbal barrier with pets is a toughie. Been trying to teach my cats English, but progress is sloooooow! ;)

I've never posted about flying before now. I love aviation so much it's almost too personal to talk about. Yeah, maybe we should both talk more about it!

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

More perkiness is a good sign.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Definitely. She's not backsliding today, either, which is good to see.

[kennita.livejournal.com]

Go, kitty! Yay, mom!

I hope she gets to enjoy the catnip mouse soon.

Good thinking with crumbling the pills. Friends have tried hiding whole pills in wet food, and come back to find the food gone and the pill at the bottom of the bowl.

All the best; hope the path lab has good news for you.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm glad the crumbling worked. I looked at the size and the sharpness of that half-pill, extrapolated from her throat size to mine, and imagined swallowing something shaped like that without water. Didn't seem appealing. :)

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

Sounds like huge improvements. That's great!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It's a relief to see her responding to the medication!

She's still missing the box a bit today -- she gets to it, she gets in it, and the puddle lands outside of it. To give her fair credit, though, this box is just about as big as her body is long. She needs to be out using the huge box in the den.

[kimatha.livejournal.com]

I'm glad Duchess is doing better. Sounds like very good progress.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yeah, I'm very relieved she's responding to antibiotics. Any symptoms that don't go away with medication are scary.

[simplykimberly.livejournal.com]

poor kitty, and poor cj! I'm glad she's on the mend!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! She's doing just as well today (after her BATH). :)

[therobbergirl.livejournal.com]

Oh good! Improvement so soon does seem to indicate that it's "just" a very bad infection.

Cats are too stoic for their own good. They need idiot lights like on cars. Fix Eye Boogers. Check Bladder. Rub Tummy. Stop Doing That. Fuel Low.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

No kidding! Pain Level in Yellow Range. Clean Litterbox. Attack Imminent. Bad Stench Detected.