The New Normal

hungry
Here is Buddy, nudging me to feed him. The vet said to go ahead and let him eat babyfood to his heart’s content. More calories. I want to wait a few minutes and give the Pepcid a chance to kick in.

He’s curled up on my lap now, purring. It’s like nothing is wrong. The universe is giving us a little time off from heart ache, I guess. Thank you, Universe.

I know I should talk about something else besides Buddy.

How do you prevent or fix that glow-y eyes thing, by the way, does anyone know?

It’s a Better Day

Things are improving at Casa Crazy Cat Lady. A few hours after fluids and a Pepcid (and about a thousand other drugs) Buddy drank water on his own. A few hours after that he ate babyfood. He hasn’t voluntarily done that in three days, so there was much rejoicing over here. “Who’s the greatest eating cat in the whole wide world? You are!”

When he was done he was curling up and begging for pets and I spent a few hours with him back in the bedroom, where he insisted we be. I watched tv on the inferior tv (the good tv is in the livingoom) and he was purring, purring, purring.

I almost don’t want to give him his tramadol, the pain killer, because he will be out of it, and he seems so much better. But cats tend to hide discomfort, and he just had abdominal surgery on Wednesday and he does have lymphoma, so he must be uncomfortable.

Here he is right now, taking his post breakfast nap on the couch, on the comforter I spread out for him. I have to go out and run errands so I’ll take pictures of something other than my sick cat.

resting2

Buddy Can’t Catch a Break

The biopsies are back, and Buddy has lymphoma. AND, the oncologist is out until Monday. I called others and it’s even worse for getting appointments so I can’t do anything for him for three days while he gets worse.

My vet said a weekend won’t make the difference between life and death and gave me some instructions for what to do.

I knew he had taken a turn for the worse weeks ago and I just wish biopsies had been done then. But all his recent blood work was good, he had gained weight, so it didn’t seem indicated. I should have trusted my instincts.

Anyway, his stomach was clear, his large intestine and bowel have IBD, and the small intestine is what came back positive for lymphoma.

resting1

That went well!

fluids
All the tricks I learned to make giving fluids a stress-free event worked like a charm for Buddy and he sat still the whole time, eating his catnip (the only thing he has voluntarily eaten). He even stayed on the towel when we were done.

I feel a little better. Getting some fluids in him is a good thing regardless of the final prognosis.

I had to feed Finney catnip the entire time to keep him away from me and Buddy while this was going on. So now Finney is bouncing off the walls, going after every last speck of catnip. He’s insane.

So universe? I could use a miracle now.