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willowispHeidi is 18 years and 5 months old, and has been with us for all but four months of her life. While generally a healthy kitty, she has had a few bumps. She has, over the course of her life, lost 13 teeth, 11 of them at one cleaning. At one point she weighed 14 lbs, and when we tried to put her on a diet she stopped eating, dropped to 8 lbs, and developed fatty liver. We had to have a tube inserted in her neck so we could feed her. Since then she has been at a healthy weight of 9 lbs. A few years ago she had a deep ear infection that developed into vestibular disease, and among other things we had to have her eardrums popped to clean up the infection in her inner year. Her head still tilts, but otherwise she's been good. She's also been arthritic for six or so years, though that didn't stop her from playing.
She has always had a somewhat sensitive stomach, and with the loss of her teeth has trouble chewing kibble and therefore often coughs it up. Until she tried the special canned food, she refused to eat gooshy food, so it wasn't an option. She doesn't eat much of the special canned food by choice -- I give her about an eighth of a can at any given meal and she usually leaves at least some of it. She also recently began coughing it up too, and this weekend she was getting sick on a daily basis, sometime more than once. I also noticed that her gait was off; I'm guessing it was gradual and it finally registered. Andy didn't really see it until today, after he took her to the Vet.
She weighed in today at 6.9 lbs. The Vet gave her IV fluids and took a blood sample, the results of which we will get later in the week. She also recommended that we soften the kibble in low-sodium chicken broth and that we add pumpkin puree to her canned food. She mentioned an anti-nausea medication (like we had to use when we tube fed Heidi), but Andy decided to wait and see if the broth and the pumpkin helped.
That being said, Heidi is still her affectionate and very opinionated self. She has not been hiding and Zoë is still giving her grief. Andy and I are worried, though. Losing her would be devastating in a year that has been very hard on Andy. Please send any healthy vibes, well-wishes, good thoughts, or prayers our way and especially for Heidi to recover once again.
She has always had a somewhat sensitive stomach, and with the loss of her teeth has trouble chewing kibble and therefore often coughs it up. Until she tried the special canned food, she refused to eat gooshy food, so it wasn't an option. She doesn't eat much of the special canned food by choice -- I give her about an eighth of a can at any given meal and she usually leaves at least some of it. She also recently began coughing it up too, and this weekend she was getting sick on a daily basis, sometime more than once. I also noticed that her gait was off; I'm guessing it was gradual and it finally registered. Andy didn't really see it until today, after he took her to the Vet.
She weighed in today at 6.9 lbs. The Vet gave her IV fluids and took a blood sample, the results of which we will get later in the week. She also recommended that we soften the kibble in low-sodium chicken broth and that we add pumpkin puree to her canned food. She mentioned an anti-nausea medication (like we had to use when we tube fed Heidi), but Andy decided to wait and see if the broth and the pumpkin helped.
That being said, Heidi is still her affectionate and very opinionated self. She has not been hiding and Zoë is still giving her grief. Andy and I are worried, though. Losing her would be devastating in a year that has been very hard on Andy. Please send any healthy vibes, well-wishes, good thoughts, or prayers our way and especially for Heidi to recover once again.
