From:
katharine
Date: 2001-07-04 07:40:00 UTC
Subject: Need input
As most of you know, Champ is suffering from
chronic renal failure. The outcome is pretty much
known. What's not known is how much time he has.
I have noticed a definite downhill slide with him
recently and wonder if anyone can give me any
advice.
He does not eat anything (or drink water, best I
can tell) on his own. He eats 2 cubes of soup
twice a day with his medications added. I add a
little whipping cream to the soup also. His
weight has maintained on this for several months
(after an initial weight loss which he has never
regained). He will only eat his soup if he's in
my lap. I normally have to get him started
(licking my finger) and the he will eat the rest
on his own. I can't walk off, though. He will
also just walk off. I use this time to give him
his injections and sub-q fluids. Lately (the last
couple of weeks) he will not begin eating the soup
on his own. I pretty much end up giving him his
entire meal off my finger. He doesn't visibly
fight eating, he just appears to have not one whit
of an appetite. Of course, this then stresses him
out as I still have to give him fluids and any
necessary injections. He is aware that he's being
poked and, of course, doesn't like it one bit.
While he's eating, he doesn't seem to notice being
poked.
Champ also disappears almost immediately after
eating and goes back to sleep. Since I feed him
as soon as he wakes up, you can get an idea of his
"awake" time. If I don't feed him as soon as he
gets out of his cage, I have to go find him and
wake him up to eat.
I'm not asking whether it's time to let him go.
Champ and I are the only ones who will ultimately
make that decision. I'm asking if anyone has any
suggestions to make things easier for him (and mom
too since this stresses me out also). I want his
remaining time to be happy and stress free and
just don't know how to do that.
He's going to the vet tomorrow for bloodwork so
I'll talk to Doc about this also. Please send any
responses directly to me as well as the List. I
get the List in digest form and sometimes it takes
>24 hours for some messages to appear in the
digest.
Thanks in advance
Katharine