Rescue Journal

even not great days come to an end.

Carol · Jan. 17, 2009

it is all done...every floor, every bed, every litter box and bowl is clean. i filled all the food and waters and at least said hi and how are you? to each one individually. a few more loads of laundry and that's ok for tonight.

4lane is really sick tonight, he won't eat again and is all shivery...it has to be pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer...i will shift him to a different vet and see if they can figure him out. sometimes you need a couple of different eyes looking at the same thing before you get your answer but my gut says we need to look alot closer at him. i doubled his pain meds (we had room to play around) but i had to dilute all of his meds to give them by syringe cuz he was just NOT swallowing ANY pill. i have him wrapped in fleece and the heater is pulled in nice and close so hopefully once his bedtime pain and gastric meds kick in he will decide that maybe he'd like to eat something good.

another week of no answers and of him feeling like crap and i am not looking forward to where we might have to go next if he just can't feel well again soon.

maude is perky but i think she is still faking. the vet said 4-6 weeks before she will really be out of danger again.

maxine is totally out of her cage now. monkey is out for brief periods only. brandy is a jerk so he will be quite awhile before i want him freely roaming around with the other cats. diablo and winter were let out to stretch out in the office while i did their cages up again tonight. i know exactly why the shelter did not want to put these two down, they are just sweet and very lovely and cheerful cats.

well, the little guys are absolutely choked at me...they fussed non stop til just after nine...i went in to spot mop a few minutes ago and they basically just all laid there and told me to go straight to hell.

the suction cups are in a snit.

Comments

Carol

can you guys adopt 4lane and feed 2fur2?...i guess with murph's diet it would be 3fur3. hey! three times lucky!!!! or....

you can let me pick 9 more saints for you and it can be...11!

laura

We had the similiar problem with Lady and the vet at Langley emergency said she had symptoms of pancreatitis or IBS. We now feed her 4 times a day with canned medical gastro mixed with low fat cottage cheese and some cooked veggies. She loves it and now is always excited to eat and has not had anymore attacks.

Carol

i actually haven't tried switching his diet...before we were thinking GI bleed..last night was the first time i thought pancreatitis (as i was trying to give his meds with CANNED CAT FOOD just to get him to eat)...duh!

Carol

Carol, I feel you probably know this, but something makes me stick my big neck out anyway. Hope you will forgive. If you suspect pancreas problems, this is what worked for Scott, my last dog. He had been on a raw food diet, and suddenly, at age 12, couldn't keep any food down, and lost his appetite. Finally, after trying all of the vet's suggestions, I switched against his approval to Hills GD canned (it kept my dog before Scott doing well until age 18) and divided his feedings into six per day, one every 4 hours. (I know that's not practical for you, but maybe you could do four feedings - one every 6 hours?) That way, he had small amounts of food at a time, and never an empty stomach. I also cut out all treats that were fatty. Especially, no liver or lamb treats. I had to be really consistent with this. One missed feeding, or a couple of the wrong treats, and we both paid for it. Once I finally understood this was the way things had to be for as long as he lived, he gained back his weight and never had another episode of lost appetite. I found lots of low fat treats that he did well with, and he liked them, once his system recovered. He continued to live well until age 16 (my best guess since he was a rescue).

I have yet to make the donation I promised. Paypal doesn't recognize me because I've only used it once, and now forget the password and account stuff. I'm sort of nervous to open a second account. Snail mail would be easier. Are you okay with that?

P.S. I just read your post telling kids not to read. Good rescue people go through hell, I'm convinced. I know nothing I say will comfort you, but yours is one hell of an incredible rescue, and it's your initiative and heart that have made it so. Yes, you are accountable to those animals, but I feel they would want you to try to give yourself a bit of a break when you turn out to be human, and make the odd mistake.