Update: Monday Evening - GMT 23:30
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Hi everyone,
Thank you for continuing to send Saoirse your healing thoughts and prayers. They are really helping her (and her mama) and I am beyond grateful to you all.





I visited Saoirse at the vets today. She was cranky and hissy as I went in but the nurse said she's been like that all day. Much more importantly, Saoirse was holding her head up OK again, no drooling, no sagging and though she was being a crosspatch she looked very much improved over the desperate state she was in yesterday morning. Her eye was clear (knife in my heart saying that in the singular ...

) and her overall responses to her environment were normal. It was such a relief to see Saoirse not out of the woods but much, much better than Sunday morning (not difficult) and, for all my whingeing above about Saoirse not getting any insulin at the moment, I am extremely grateful to the vets and the nurses for all they have done to help my girl in the past day and a half. Saoirse looks like a different, much more stable cat today (anti-jinx, anti-jinx).
Saoirse's not one bit pleased about being on a drip again (the IV can sting according to one of the vet nurses at the referral hospital last week) but it has helped her so much. (
@jayla-n-Drevon - I can't thank you enough for the times when you have posted about how fluids can be such a great help to poorly cats - your words were running through my mind all yesterday morning when I was getting Saoirse to the vets and I was
very grateful to have them to hang onto.

)
Saoirse's eye area is swollen and I'm a little worried that it looks a little yellowish but that might be due to the light in the hospital ward. (ETA: The vet said it is better today than it was yesterday afternoon - less reddening.)
Saoirse grumbled at me a bit when I first opened up the cubicle but then she nuzzled my outstretched fingers and asked me for some fuss. I gave her some gentle chin scritches and she nuzzled into them - and then she started to purr! With the fussing she relaxed a bit, stretched out her free paw to me and gave a couple of her typical near-silent miaows. I'm so relieved she doesn't hate me and that I can do some small thing to comfort her just a little bit. How I
wish I could take her pain and distress onto myself and see her relaxed and comfortable again.
Thankfully Saoirse is back on her Sheba food (1.6% carbs) cf. the Hill's i/d pouches of yesterday (25% - not great but it got her eating again). I brought in some more pouches for her, plus some psyllium husk because her stools were a bit hard yesterday. The nurse said that the crumbled freeze-dried chicken I left with them to sprinkle onto Saoirse's food was a great help to tempt her to eat for them. Saoirse has been eating fairly steadily but my poor girl's face and collar were manky from her trying to eat with the collar in place. I gently cleaned her little face and chin, and I gave the collar a good scrub for her.
While I was there Saoirse let me know she wanted some food. I moved the dish over to her and she began to eat. Alas, in the same way as she was at home last week, she started to grumble as she was eating. I have suspected that it is hurting her to eat. I mentioned this to the nurse and she told me that during the vet's detailed examination she discovered that the roof of Saoirse's mouth is quite red so it must be related to the surgery. I feel so sorry for my little one; I just want to see her well. The only upside of this news is that it wasn't me inadvertently winding her up and making her cross when I was trying to help her eat last week. I need to hang onto any positives I can get right now because I feel like I've been screwing so many things up for her.

After the discomfort of trying to eat my little darling retreated to her litter box for comfort. I wish I could just
will her better.
I am going to visit Saoirse again tomorrow afternoon. I would be very grateful if you would keep praying and sending healing thoughts for Saoirse; she has a way to go yet.
Sending

for all the beans and scritches for all the kitties.
Mogs
.