Princess on a Trampoline

This weekend saw Cammie going up and down, back and forth, in regard to her health. Friday night/Saturday morning, she recovered enough of her appetite to try eating on her own. I thought she was on her way up. The food she ate, however, did not stay down. She threw it up very soon afterward. I later had to force-feed her with a syringe, just to get some nutrition into her. I preceded this with a dose of slippery elm. She hated the procedure, of course, but it put some food in her stomach and it didn’t come back up. She behaved normally thereafter.

Later, however, the princess grew morose and didn’t venture far from the top of the tall cat-tree in the sitting room. I was encouraged by her attempts to eat hard-food, but disappointed that this did not stay in her tummy. She perked up somewhat by the day’s end.

Sunday, she expressed a wish for food, but would not eat any of the varieties I offered her. I resorted to the syringe again and, though this was strongly resented, it did seem to give her energy. She felt better. This was assisted by the fact that Sunday was a fine day, 19° Celsius (66.2° Fahrenheit) and sunny. The windows in the new apartment were open and the cats enjoyed the fresh air and scents. Cammie was at the forefront of that enjoyment.

She was rather listless later in the day, but did not, I think, feel as bad as on the previous day. Even so, she didn’t eat. Her symptoms are strange. I believe she has an appetite; she has come out to see what is offered at meal-times; she eats hard-food. However, she has no interest in any soft-food, and the hard-food doesn’t stay down. She drinks plenty of water (though not a worrying amount), and enjoyed some tuna-water, so she can consume nutrition. The food I put into her by syringe stays down.

But I have been preceding the syringe-delivered food with slippery elm, to calm her stomach. Is that what is keeping her from throwing up this food, and would she do so if the elm were not given first? Is the hard-food too harsh for her stomach at this time, and is that why it is regurgitated? I think she doesn’t want any soft-food because she is associating it with vomiting - and would she throw up if she ate some without slippery elm first?

I have given Cammie hairball remedy, and the vomiting that initially alerted me to something wrong with her constitution has stopped. Yet her belly continues to toss back the food it receives. Everything seems to come down to something amiss with her stomach. I will continue to force-feed her as long as necessary, of course, but it must be a temporary measure, until she regains her ability to digest food. I may try some syringe-fed food tonight without the appetizer of slippery elm, and see if she keeps it in.

If this goes on into the middle of the week, she will go to the hospital.

My admiration for this long-suffering cat has grown as a result of her ordeal. She takes her medicine with great reluctance, telling me in no uncertain terms what she thinks of the whole business, and of me, for putting her through it. As she is forced to swallow the horrible substances I give her, trying to spit them out at the same time, she makes sounds like a grumpy old man in an animated film without dialogue. I can’t help laughing at that. Yet, a few minutes later, she will be purring on my chest.

And one advantage has resulted from this egregious situation, and that is that I can now cut Cammie’s claws with very little trouble. I clipped all those on the paw I could never get to previously. And then, for good measure, I cut those on the paw I did get to previously (it had been such a long time since then, they had grown back). I give her medicine/food/noxious fluids by holding her front paws, to keep them from knocking the syringe away. Cammie grumbles but doesn’t fight, so the paws are right there, in my hand. I extrude the claws and - clip clip clip - the task is done.

Now if feeding her would be so easy.