Hey all,
The past two weeks were hell for us. Our cat Penny ended up with hepatic lipidosis after eating too little and in the end not eating at all. She needed new food for her bladder, but only ate the old food that was mixed with it. Our vet told us to leave the new food for her, because 'when a cat is hungry, she'll eat'. Well, not our Penny... She had to go to the vet clinic and ended up staying there for six days on an IV. On day two they placed the feeding tube. I could write down the whole story which involves a lot of crying and anxiety attacks (and I really mean A LOT), but I'm gonna focus on the post-clinic time. I have Asperger's, and everything that happened (and is still happening) was one of the biggest emotional rollercoaster rides I ever had.
There were moments I felt kinda okay, and the other moments I went into full panic mode. Most tube feedings are my responsability, because my boyfriend had too much work and couldn't take vacation days. We set up a schedule where there's always someone with me when she has to be fed, since I'm the panicky and anxious one. It's extremely exhausting, mentally and physically. I haven't slept well in two weeks and we're 'camping' in our living room and haven't seen our own bed in five days. I went to the doctor because I wasn't functioning anymore (when she was still in the clinic and we weren't sure if her picky eating was the cause alone), and wrote me a sick note for two weeks. A lot of ups and downs (I think a lot of cat owners who went through this with their furry friend can relate), sometimes in the extremes because well yeah... extreme anxiety because of my Asperger's.
I got a lot of support from my mom, my best friend and her boyfriend, my mother in law,... Without them, I'd be on a feeding tube myself I think (I lost more than 3 kilo's in less than a week because I couldn't eat). My best friend has cats too, is very calm and not afraid to handle/hurt Penny. She changed all her bandages because that freaks me out too, and found a much better way to wrap her up. The tube stays in place way longer, and the bandage survives longer too. We decided to buy a large dog bench and put it in our living room with blankets, a pillow, food, water and a litter box. When we leave the house for a while or go to bed (still in the living room for now), we put her in it. I was always very anxious she would fall, or her tube would get stuck when we weren't watching. This made me constantly alert, but in a way it wasn't healthy anymore.
But now for something positive... Since a day or four, Penny is really becoming her old self again (day 10 since she has the tube). She's purring again, meowing, asking for attention, grooming herself, lying on her back,... She still sleeps a lot (a bit away from us, but not too far away on some safe spots we provided), but we're noticing a BIG difference. This makes me feel a bit better, and I fully realize why we're doing this now. We were curious yesterday and fed her a little treat. My heart stopped when I saw she ate it. She ate a treat! The days before, she just sniffed her food (which made me happy too, because she showed interest), but now she ate. She even ate four treats. Today we tried it again with some treats, and she ate them too. I went to the store with my best friend, and before that we put her in her bench to see what she'd too with some food (and one treat in it). To my big surprise, she ate some of her food. I couldn't believe my eyes. We're trying to offer her a small amount of food now every few hours. I think this is really going in the right direction, although I realize we're not there yet. But eating is good. The vet from the clinic was very happy to hear that too.
I'm curious about your experiences in general, but specifically: how long did it take before your cat started to eat again? And when (s)he started eating, how soon did they eat 'normal' again? Some weeks before the tube could come out? Longer? I was really worried this would be a process of months, because I felt like I couldn't handle that, but I hope it won't be like that because she's already showing interest in food. Again, I realize this doesn't mean she will be off the tube soon, but it gives me hope. Finally I see a light at the end of the tunnel, and I really needed that after two weeks of absolute hell. I had monthly visits with my psychologist since I've been 'stable' for a long time, but I'll be going two times a month again after this experience.
Many thanks, and apologies for the wall of text. I'm not good at compact writing.
The past two weeks were hell for us. Our cat Penny ended up with hepatic lipidosis after eating too little and in the end not eating at all. She needed new food for her bladder, but only ate the old food that was mixed with it. Our vet told us to leave the new food for her, because 'when a cat is hungry, she'll eat'. Well, not our Penny... She had to go to the vet clinic and ended up staying there for six days on an IV. On day two they placed the feeding tube. I could write down the whole story which involves a lot of crying and anxiety attacks (and I really mean A LOT), but I'm gonna focus on the post-clinic time. I have Asperger's, and everything that happened (and is still happening) was one of the biggest emotional rollercoaster rides I ever had.
There were moments I felt kinda okay, and the other moments I went into full panic mode. Most tube feedings are my responsability, because my boyfriend had too much work and couldn't take vacation days. We set up a schedule where there's always someone with me when she has to be fed, since I'm the panicky and anxious one. It's extremely exhausting, mentally and physically. I haven't slept well in two weeks and we're 'camping' in our living room and haven't seen our own bed in five days. I went to the doctor because I wasn't functioning anymore (when she was still in the clinic and we weren't sure if her picky eating was the cause alone), and wrote me a sick note for two weeks. A lot of ups and downs (I think a lot of cat owners who went through this with their furry friend can relate), sometimes in the extremes because well yeah... extreme anxiety because of my Asperger's.
I got a lot of support from my mom, my best friend and her boyfriend, my mother in law,... Without them, I'd be on a feeding tube myself I think (I lost more than 3 kilo's in less than a week because I couldn't eat). My best friend has cats too, is very calm and not afraid to handle/hurt Penny. She changed all her bandages because that freaks me out too, and found a much better way to wrap her up. The tube stays in place way longer, and the bandage survives longer too. We decided to buy a large dog bench and put it in our living room with blankets, a pillow, food, water and a litter box. When we leave the house for a while or go to bed (still in the living room for now), we put her in it. I was always very anxious she would fall, or her tube would get stuck when we weren't watching. This made me constantly alert, but in a way it wasn't healthy anymore.
But now for something positive... Since a day or four, Penny is really becoming her old self again (day 10 since she has the tube). She's purring again, meowing, asking for attention, grooming herself, lying on her back,... She still sleeps a lot (a bit away from us, but not too far away on some safe spots we provided), but we're noticing a BIG difference. This makes me feel a bit better, and I fully realize why we're doing this now. We were curious yesterday and fed her a little treat. My heart stopped when I saw she ate it. She ate a treat! The days before, she just sniffed her food (which made me happy too, because she showed interest), but now she ate. She even ate four treats. Today we tried it again with some treats, and she ate them too. I went to the store with my best friend, and before that we put her in her bench to see what she'd too with some food (and one treat in it). To my big surprise, she ate some of her food. I couldn't believe my eyes. We're trying to offer her a small amount of food now every few hours. I think this is really going in the right direction, although I realize we're not there yet. But eating is good. The vet from the clinic was very happy to hear that too.
I'm curious about your experiences in general, but specifically: how long did it take before your cat started to eat again? And when (s)he started eating, how soon did they eat 'normal' again? Some weeks before the tube could come out? Longer? I was really worried this would be a process of months, because I felt like I couldn't handle that, but I hope it won't be like that because she's already showing interest in food. Again, I realize this doesn't mean she will be off the tube soon, but it gives me hope. Finally I see a light at the end of the tunnel, and I really needed that after two weeks of absolute hell. I had monthly visits with my psychologist since I've been 'stable' for a long time, but I'll be going two times a month again after this experience.
Many thanks, and apologies for the wall of text. I'm not good at compact writing.
