Sunday, July 21, 2013

Update on Fred

Fred suffered a little setback on Friday.  Maybe he overdid things on Friday morning, but he ended up sleeping all day and not eating or drinking, and in his already weak condition, he just can't go that long without food and water.  I did get him to eat some chicken breast Friday evening (part of my dinner), but he still wasn't drinking when I put him in his bed Friday night.  He woke me around 4 am on Saturday meowing.  He was out of bed and he was hungry.  He didn't seem interested in the dry cat food and we don't keep wet cat food in the house so I gave him the only thing I had - tuna fish in water. At first he just drank the water, and I kept adding more as he drank.  Every once in a while he would get a bit of tuna fish as well.  He was getting cold though, so I put his little shirt back on - the ladies at the vet clinic had given him a shirt to keep him warm.  He seemed to be settling down again so I went back to bed.  When I got up again around 7:30 I went to check on him and found an empty bowl and a cocooned Fred.  He had gotten his hind legs tucked into the shirt, as well as pulling his front legs in.  I guess he was trying to stay warm, but he was pretty stuck.  I took the shirt off and put him in his bed and tucked him in.  After breakfast and a shower I drove into town to get some canned cat food for him.  I bought small cans figuring one of them was a reasonable size meal for Fred, and I don't like dealing with leftover wet cat food.

With the first can of cat food I did a repeat of the tuna fish, adding water to it, and he mostly just drank the water.  He would get a piece of cat food every once in a while, but seemed to be having some trouble with the size of the chunks so I chopped it up to make it easier for him.  That helped and he drank and ate some more, but then he got cold and tired and went back to bed.  I checked on him regularly throughout the day.  Around dinner time I took away what was left of that first can of cat food and got him a fresh can.  I chopped it up into smaller pieces and when I gave it to him he started eating with the enthusiasm he had shown on his first night with us.  I gave him another can before I went to bed, and he woke me again at 4am wanting breakfast.  He is definitely looking better and is steadier on his feet.  I've offered to let him wander, but he doesn't seem too eager to.  Maybe he realizes that he overdid things on Friday and is taking it a little easier this time around.

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