Dealing With Fanny's New Situation

I love this poster so much. It was made for me by an illustrator at Best Book Editors, an authors and readers group that I belong to.  

I wanted to share this with you because this book about Fanny has been such a tool for healing since we lost our senior cat, CC, almost 2 years ago. I wrote it shortly after CC died. And it has helped us put into perspective the changes in Fanny's behavior.

CC and Fanny were besties and inseparable, especially towards the end. They had such silly moments together. There were times when Fanny wanted to annoy CC by batting her in the head. CC would let her do it for a while then with one good right hook, knock Fanny over. CC had big paws, so it didn't take much effort.

CC was the one who always let us know when it was feeding time. Her internal alarm would go off and she would whine until the food was set out. 

Now Fanny, she never, ever, begged for food. She just followed CC's lead. She basically just did whatever CC did. So when CC passed, Fanny did not ask for food for months. She didn't know how. She never had to worry about that on her own. We had to practically force her to eat. 

She was lost without her buddy. She was grieving.

There is another reason why I am writing this post. Fanny is dealing with not being able to ambulate well. It's due to severe pain in her lower spine and right leg. 

So now Fanny's world is turned upside down again. She can't walk to where her litter box usually is. She can't walk to where her main feeding dish is in the kitchen. She can't use her steps to get up on the bed to snuggle with my hubby.

Our bedroom has basically become a miniature Veterinarian Hospital.

(see the posts from May 7 and 13)

It's been 2 weeks since she became acutely disabled. Up until the last few days it has been a struggle to get the pain medicine in her. The severe pain happened so quickly that it really freaked her out. 

The usual way of me giving her meds has always been me wrapping her in a blanket and then cradling her between my legs. Well, I was at a disadvantage now because I could cause her more pain that way.  But I had to try and be as gentle as possible. I found out the one medicine was very bitter and it would make her gag and drool (also a sign of possible nausea).

Well, I am sad to say her walking hasn't improved very much but after a discussion with our Veterinarian, I now have the bitter medication changed to a capsule. I open the capsule and split the powder into two Pill Pockets. Then I slip them into her food. Success!

You can find these in any pet store or online.

I feel like she is adjusting a little to her new restrictive lifestyle.

She most likely will have to stay on pain meds from now on. She is too old for any type of procedure and we have to be careful with meds since she has kidney disease. 

I'm also keeping a calming collar on her at all times.

It breaks our hearts to see her decline like this. But she is still our cute little fur baby. Quirks and all.

Anyway, I just wanted to give a quick update. And please leave a comment and share your experiences or if you have any helpful hints on how to deal with a debilitated feline with arthritis.

Don't forget to give that fur baby of yours a hug!!!!

Darlene

PS: You can check out Fanny's book by clicking on the link at the top of the main blog page