Why I’ve been absent — part 2

The kittens have been coming to work with me every day. The system is working; the kittens are gaining well and Vivien is healthy and seems to have plenty to feed them at night. But it’s stressful and tiring to take them, even if I like it.

All week, I struggled to get Jonesy to eat. His demeanour was much better; more alert, meeting me at the door when I got home, sleeping on the bed again. But he was still barely eating. On Thursday evening, he vomited. He also seemed to be having trouble with the litter box. It’s been a while since his anal glands were attended to so I booked an appointment. On Friday when I got home from work he had vomited seven times! I phoned the clinic and asked for a more comprehensive appointment. Saturday morning he was really low again and wouldn’t eat. Off we went.

After an exam — no fever, no signs of jaundice, kidneys good, no detectable mass — he had an xray. (Overheard from the xray technician: “Jonesy, you’re very long!”) The xray revealed a normal-looking liver but a very inflamed (“thickened”) bowel and an irritated stomach. Though he did have food in his stomach, so that was something. So, he got fluids, an anti-nausea injection, and a steroid injection. He also got his anal glands expressed, for good measure (they were, indeed, full).

We went home with: prednilosone (1x day for two weeks), instructions to get a human antacid (2x day), gastro food (easy on the belly and “very tasty”), and he’s still on the antibiotics for another week. It’s a production but he’s really very good about taking his pills. Not happy, but good. He’s regularly nibbling on the kibble. He has been, and still is, refusing any canned food. The vet thinks the smell must have been aggravating his nausea. I’ll keep trying every once in a while.

If there’s no significant improvement in the next few days, we’ll do more blood work to test for pancreatitis. But this:

is a great start! It’s the first time he’s adopted this “classic Jonesy” pose in well over two weeks!! So happy to see. And yes, that is an unmade bed.