Wednesday, December 16, 2009

What's Callie Up To?

I know it's been a long time since I posted anything about Callie, so I thought I'd bring you all up to speed. (Is that sarcasm, or wry humor? It's so hard to tell... )

Thank you for all the additional suggestions on things I could try for getting Callie to eat. I decided to check with Dr. Vet when I called to update them on her status yesterday, and though he wasn't there, the assistants said that in general most of the ideas sounded good to try, although they vetoed the chicken broth on the thought that it would have too much sodium (that might be unique for Callie's particular situation; for another cat, it might be an okay option). So I went by PetSmart and got some kitten milk, both pre-mixed and dry, and was going to get NutriCal but they were out so I got something similar whose brand name I don't recall offhand. Then it was off to Wal-Mart for some baby food and also some plain Fancy Feast flavors, despite her general reluctance to eat stinky goodness normally. I'm desperate and clutching at straws here, figuring even if she'd lap at gravy, that would be *something*.

So, after getting home and wolfing down a little dinner first myself, I took her off into the closed bedroom so all the other cats wouldn't be bothering us. First up was the pre-mixed kitten milk. She sniffed at it and walked away, so I smeared a little on her mouth. She decided it wasn't so bad after all, and proceeded to drink a little from the bowl after that. A small victory! Then it was on to the turkey baby food; a little on her mouth, and she consented to lick off two small smears from my finger, but that was it. The ham baby food, no interest whatsoever. The chicken - ding ding ding! We had a winner. Even after she decided she would eat some, she would only lick it off my finger, she wouldn't eat it off the spoon or a dish, so it's hard to gauge exactly how much she ate; but it still wasn't much more than maybe half a plastic spoonful or so. After that, she drank a little more kitten milk, and then she was done. I didn't even try with anything else, she made it clear she wanted nothing else to eat. A smear of the Nutri-Cal substitute was not greeted with joy, either.

So maybe half a spoonful of baby food, and perhaps 2-3ml of kitten milk. Not nearly enough to keep a cat alive for long. But better than nothing, I guess.

This morning, I was short on time so thought I'd just go with the proven kitten milk and chicken baby food rather than trying something new, but she had no interest in either one despite repeated attempts to smear some on her mouth to stimulate appetite or interest. She was Not Amused or Interested. It's not looking too good here, and I'm guessing we'll be ending up with more of a forced-feeding thing soon. I'll call Dr. Vet later and see how long they want to give it before we make the next decision.

In the meantime, I know we've been the All Callie Noos Channel here on the bloggie for the past week, for obvious reasons, but I wanted to reassure everyone that the other kitties are all doing fine and are getting plenty of love and attention even with all that's going on with her. Sassy continues to get daily warnings that just because her littermates Bugsy and Callie have had and/or are having major health issues, she does not get to have her own somewhere down the road. She has to stay healthy forever. The rest of them get general warnings to the same effect, even if they're not littermates.

I'm sorry we haven't been around to visit much lately, it's just seemed a bit overwhelming to keep up right now. We do very much appreciate all your support, though, and hope to get caught up sometime soon.





25 comments:

Lisa Kolosey said...

We continue our purrs and prayers for Callie!! We know you are doing your absolute best for her. You are all in our thoughts.
~Lisa Co9T

SASS....Sammy Andy Shelly Sierra said...

We love The Mommy and want her to know we think she is doing a great job with Callie......we know her top priority right now is Callie, followed by the other kitties and we will all be here for visiting when Callie is well. We love y'all and continue our purrs and purrayers for y'all with extra ones for Callie. xxxxxxxxxx

JC said...

I'm thinking of you
Hoping she gets better
I know all too well what it's like to have a sick kitty

Hugs to you during this time

JC & The Purr Gang

SuziQCat said...

Glad to hear she ate a little something for you...keep trying, you'll find the right combination!

Anonymous said...

Come on Callie!!! You MUST eat sweetie!!! We are all purraying furry hard for you to get well!!! Plus, think of all the fun stuff your mommy is going to have out and about on Christmas for you to NOM!!!

Ivan from WMD said...

My old bro Eddie would say, When in doubt, try mayonnaise. Weird but true. When all else failed, he would eat that. (We realize this is not the healthiest diet but it does have fat and calories and did seem to make him want to eat something better.)

Anyway, enough advice. We know you're doing everything possible to get Callie back on the road to health. Purrs!

Angel, Kirby and Max said...

Every little bit helps. May be tonight she will try again.

Lynx217 said...

You might need to have the vet fill up her stomach a few times thru the tube again to make her feel better. I don't know what to tell you though, except Callie better get better soon! We love ya, Cal!

The Island Cats said...

Oh Callie! We want you to eat some more. We're still purring for you!

Daisy said...

It's a good start, Callie, but you need to eat more! Please? Okay?

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

Callie
We will continue to keep you in our purrayers and hope that your appetite returns. WE know that your Mommy is doing everything that she can for you, and we will keep her in our purrs too.

purr on
Abby

Cats in trees said...

We keep purring for her to get better by herself (soon), then her appetite will come back too.

Memories of Eric and Flynn said...

We will keep on purring for you Callie. Try to eat a little food. It will make you feel better, and your mum will feel better too.

Anonymous said...

You are doing such a good job with her!!

Ikaika said...

We are sending healing purrs for Callie and hope she will not need surgery.

Noir the Texas Tabby said...

Thinking about and praying for you, neighbor!

Noir

The Creek Cats said...

Our mom remembers what it was like when Cal wouldn't eat and she would buy anything and everything just to get him to eat. She would get so sad when he wouldn't. Please know that not only is Callie in our thoughts and purrayers, but so are you because we know this is difficult on you as well.
Lots of hugs, purrs and love!

dArtagnan Rumblepurr/Diego Hamlet Moonfur said...

Go go Callie!!!

Mr. Hendrix said...

purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrspurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs

Quill and Greyson said...

You take of you and your babies, we are all here for you. You're doing great, and that's all you can do.

Mom to Mom Hugs!

Sweet Purrfections said...

I continue to send healing purrs to Callie. When I was so sick this past spring, I would only lick my stinky goodness from my mom's fingers.

Milo and Alfie said...

We can feel the love you are giving Callie and know yoo are doing your very best. We are sending huge rumbly purrs of health and healing and love too. Get well soon Callie.

Teddy Westlife said...

I'm still purring for Callie!

Everycat said...

We're sending sweet Callie huge rumbly purrs to get her appetite fired up and to give you some strength too. Our Mum knows how hard this cat nursing is. We wondered if some Hills MD (wet) might tempt her - it's the diabetic/weight management food and it's LIVER flavour/low fat (good for sore gallbladdery things) and low carb (won't upset tums) - we used it when Angel had pancreatitis and wouldn't eat as she hurt so much. The flavour really got her chomp going and she could keep it down ok too. It took a while after her not eating to get used to eating again.

Callie, well done for eating a bit, but PLEASE eat some more, you need fuuds, lots of 'em to make you strong again.

Whicky Wuudler

Amy & the house of cats said...

C'mon Callie eat something because you are freaking out your poor mom. And all of us too! We keep sending the eat something purrs and prayers for you Callie, and lots of purrs and prayers for everyone else too - you all need to stay healthy! We have done the sick kitty thing a lot at our house and we know it is very stressful - if you need anything please let us know! If we can we will help as much as we are able!

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