Tough Little Girl

I need to update on my sweet little Puss Puss. She is still failing by the day.

I last weighed her On Wednesday AM and she is down to 4.2 lbs. It is beginning to show in her teeny little flat Persian face. I can see what little flesh was on her face is gone and she is showing signs of what I believe to be dehydration. She makes many trips to the water fountain that she and Gus share, but just bobs her little head, sniffing and does not drink. I tend to follow her around to where ever she is currently curled up and napping, to place tiny bowls of water near her so she will have a fresh drink, if and when she wants it. Occasionally, she drinks a bit, but not enough.

She still hadn't eaten anything, or taken in any more of the Nutr-Cal since my last post. But when I got home Wednesday, after getting my hair done, Chuck had already arrived home and while waiting for me he decided to try force feeding her. He used one of the syringes that the vet had given me and managed to get some chicken baby food into her wee little mouth and she actually swallowed it. I think he said he got about 4 mouthfuls down her, and then put some of the Nutri-Cal in the syringe, but THAT she did spit out.

As much as Chuck loves our little Puss Girl, his manner of being "gentle" is pretty rough on such a fragile little thing and the ordeal seemed to really take it's toll on her. She did come to me to cuddle, after dinner, which is her habit these past weeks, but she looked terrible and seemed so tired out that she didn't stay long and very soon, she ambled upstairs to her spot on our bedroom and stayed there for the rest of the night.

She was a bit perkier yesterday AM and I took the opportunity to wash her little face with a warm wash cloth. She hasn't been grooming herself at all and Dear Old Dad made a bit of a mess with the baby food. Plus, Persian cats have runny eyes and I usually wipe them with a tissue, but the wash cloth worked much better on all of it. That was when I got a really good close look at her poor little face and could see the changes. Yesterday she would drink no water or milk all day, but when Chuck got home, we did the baby food thing again and she ate 3 mouthfuls before she had clearly had enough. It went much better with me holding her with her head over my shoulder, but when she had had enough, and spewed the 4th mouthful out onto my shirt, she got down and went into hiding again, until after dinner.

We can see her weakness when she walks and she no longer even attempts to jump up to my chair or the kitchen stool, instead 'asking' to be picked up and placed there. And I began to realize yesterday, that it is beginning to uncomfortable for her to have me pet her very much. As I said, she has been wanting a lot of cuddle time lately, which is usually me holding her over my shoulder. She burrows her head into my hair as I stroke her, often for an hour or two at a time, but yesterday she would stop purring and start moving around a bit as I was petting her, so I stopped and she snuggled back in and went back to purring. This is her 1st sign of any discomfort since all this began and it's tearing me up. I'm afraid of what will be next and pray that she not suffer at all before the end comes. I'm pretty sure that if she doesn't go quietly in her sleep by Monday or so, I will have to decide the best way to help her.