(((Les)))
I am so sorry for his pain and discomfort and for you to have to watch and feel helpless.
Please forgive me that I haven't caught up but have they done an ultrasound? I know the Precision PL indicates it is likely he has pancreatitis but have they looked at his pancreas and intestines, gallbladder, etc? His bloodwork is truly phenomenal for his age. A testament to your great care.
Often a blip is a blip. Just like the occasional OTJ cat that throws a 30. He's looking good again.
Hugs and vines.
Thanks Marje..being a practical person who looks at a given situation and weighs the possible outcomes based on courses of action, this is so very hard. There is no rhyme or reason, it's just a roll of the dice each new day, feels like..
Because that is how I am wired, the protocols here were a good fit for me...I didn't necessarily always understand everything, but they are a set of rules with ( with ECID variance) a fairly predictable range of possible outcomes, and those outcomes came with working strategies which you here were able to guide me thru applying...
This not so much at all..I swear it is controlled by evil pixies..
I think I am at that exhaustion point we all know so well, coming off his trip through the FD ladder and segueing pretty much into this pancreatitis (or whatever this is) and the fight on a daily basis since first week of December to keep him pain free and eating enough to sustain him. I know that no good decision is ever made from where I sit, and that is what I keep telling myself when I get to where I feel it's hopeless to keep torturing him ( his perception is clear).
I am stumped too given that he does have some amazing blood work for his age.... I was expecting far worse..
I am having an ultrasound Tuesday morning. At this point I am suspecting if it's not his pancreas ( no real vomiting thru this other than an acid stomach vomit in the mornings at times), perhaps a bad colitis?, or as you say gall bladder?, or perhaps even megacolon given that he is frequently having issues with his pooping?. I chalked periodic constipation up to being old but it seems too chronic now a days..miralax does not seem to keep him regular and if it were simple constipation I would think that would do the trick..this is something more complex at work. Has to be.
I am hoping there is not a tumor lurking in there...anti jinx.
For now I am throwing everything I have here at him trying to keep him comfortable, and getting up every time I feel him stirring and looking for food, making sure there is some for him to graze on. I will do whatever it takes to ensure he takes in as many calories as He is willing to eat..we are playing some serious catch up.
I think the fluids help tho he really hates them, I think it is the being held in one place and fussed with that he hates, more than the fluids themselves.
I don't understand enough about this p'titis disease despite reading and rereading the primer..I might be trying from too emotional a place right now..need to step back and reapproach it from a calmer place.
Gus is really an amazing cat, I can't claim any of the credit really, he has only been mine a couple of his many years. He is that healthy despite existing on FF Gravy ( he just licked it off the bits) and the cheapest kibble money could buy at the grocery store ( I was appalled at his diet when I started pet sitting him in his empty house) for his whole life before I got him. Like I said, an amazing cat.
He is a strong old cat, he is trying and fighting.., and with him, less is always more..he does not like being fussed with at all, and it has always been that things happen according to his rules..( as his SS shows too!)...that is when he decided to start to eat a little, when I stopped pushing things in front of him and hovering, and trying to make him eat..I handed the reins back to him..let him teach me what he needed me to know...
I don't know how this is all going to play out, none of us here do..that's the nature of cats..and the dances they do..
But I do know that the support and energy sent by the family here is a mighty and powerful medicine...
Hugs to you all
(Gussie is high on LL mojo and pharmaceuticals and feeling no pain at the moment, resting...)

















