Thank You

I do appreciate all the positive energy that came through your comments on my last post (Five Things on May 19, 2025). Even though I’m often hesitant to share bad news or even so-so news, I never regret it because of the warm and kind reception my words always receive. So. Thanks again.

Fear

After my last post, Wendy got better and then got worse. Two nights in a row (and less than 24 hours apart) she threw up all the undigested contents of her stomach. The first time was horrifying as she moaned and mewed for a good 15 minutes before she hurled. The second time was less dramatic in the sendup but still a mess. And yet, both times, by breakfast she was hungry and gobbling up her meds in Pill Pockets.

I actually wondered if this was how we were going to live: Wendy hurling between midnight and 3 AM and then acting normal for the rest of the day. I didn’t think it would be sustainable. At least once I feared that we’d have to make the Big Decision if Wendy kept throwing up.

Adjustment

I decided to take a stepwise approach to Wendy’s situation.

I knew that with one of the medications, her appetite was ravenous. Cute, but unnerving given the way she would hunt down any unattended food item. For example, one day my husband made banana bread, and I double-wrapped it (foil and plastic bag) and left it on the counter. A few hours later, I found that Wendy had tore through the plastic and foil and nibbled at the crust. That was upsetting since (1) she might have ingested some of the plastic and foil and (2) the banana bread was made with cinnamon and other spices which are not good for kitties. I secured the bread but also decided to stop that medication. Her appetite held.

Then we stopped giving her any dry food, including Greenies. Some of her puke had undigested Greenies in it so, erring on the safe side, if it was “treat time” (usually 3 PM in our household), Wendy got soft food like Churu or just more wet food.

I don’t know if those two changes “fixed” the problem. Maybe we just needed to give the meds more time to work, but Wendy hasn’t puked since we made those changes and it’s been nine days.

Record-keeping

We’ve had to care for sick cats before, but this was the first time I felt I needed a spreadsheet to keep track of medications. The first 8-10 days of Wendy’s treatment involved giving her medication about five times a day. Some of the pills were once a day, some were twice a day, and some were three times a day. I used a combination of a spreadsheet and pill boxes to keep track. It made the atmosphere in our household a bit tense since I assigned myself to keep track of everything. My husband wanted to help, but I wanted to be in control. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him. It was that I didn’t trust anyone.

By the time we went back to the vet for a recheck, Wendy was getting medications only twice a day. At the recheck, we received another medication and told to continue a couple of others, but everything could be administered twice a day (whew!). Wendy got a B12 shot (often necessary for kitties with Inflammatory Bowel Disease as they are unable to absorb B12 through their food while they are sick). We also got a bag full of special diet cat food.

When we got home, I started another spreadsheet. This one, however, is observational. The pill boxes work just fine for keeping track of what medications to give Wendy and when. No, this time I wanted to note how she eating, how she was taking her meds, what food she was eating, whether she was having bowel movements and how did her stool look. Whether she had thrown up.

We have another vet recheck this week, and I’ll be sharing my spreadsheet with Dr. C.

Wendy

As I write this, Wendy is crashed out on my bed. She’s been sleeping with me almost every night.

I haven’t given her any of the special diet stuff. I really don’t want to go down that road if we don’t really have to. I don’t want to “rock the boat.” She seems happy right now. More content than I’ve seen her in a long time. I want to keep her this way.

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Thank you for going on this journey with us and for sharing your positive energy.