On Monday, February 2, 2009, we learned via an ultrasound examination, that our Precious kitty, only 7 1/2 years young is terminally ill.
The biggest problem we have had to face besides taking her to our vet for fluids and medicines, is that Precious does not want to eat. We re-created the mixture that we once used with our aged cat, Goldie, before prescription diets were available.
We prepared the mixture for Precious. Precious ate the mixture that we call "tuna juice" for several days and appeared happy and playful during this time. The formula is simple using the water from one can of tuna and adding one can of baby food meat to the liquid. Mixing it by finger until it has a silky, smooth consistency, followed by microwaving the mixture for 3-4 seconds, and finger mixing it once again to insure it is slightly warm with no "hot spots" from microwaving.
The tuna water that Precious likes is Chicken of the Sea. The baby food that Precious likes is Gerber's, Stage 2, turkey. The label on the tuna says that it includes water and vegetable broth.
We tried everything our vet recommended and every food, cat or human, that we thought might appeal to our Precious. We continue to offer samples of food on plates in various rooms of the house and when possible, place the plate under Precious' nose.
Until these last two weeks, Precious never liked tuna or any fish. She loved her dry cat food, some turkey on occasion, and would sample almost anything we ate, once.
We found Precious in our yard exposed to the elements, with a hawk flying overhead when she was a few days old. We believe a drop of Karo Syrup may have helped to save her life as a newborn, until we could get her to a veterinarian for further directions.
Precious refuses all prescription diets, her regular foods, multiple brands and flavors of cat food. Precious runs away or to another room when she sees me with food, coming near her. If I leave a bowl of food in one room, she moves to another room. I force fed her as directed per her enlarged kidneys, but could not continue when I saw her ultrasound. I hated force feeding more than Precious did. Our vet believes the feeding may have helped Precious to eat once again.
Unfortunately, Precious stopped eating again today. However, Precious took two tastes of butter cream frosting that Adrienne (shanlera@optonline.net) recommended to me. The butter cream is made with real butter and powdered sugar. The consistency should be the same as that for frosting a cake.
On days that Precious does not want to eat, she spends more time with her fresh catnip plants.
She never responded to fresh or dried catnip in the past. My Mom has observed Precious placing her entire body over the catnip as if inhaling it, and on occasion chewing a leaf of fresh catnip.
I plan to prepare another food that was recommended to me called "Glop" in the next few days. There are several recipes for "Glop" on the internet. The general ingredients in Glop include Knox gelatin, some type of milk (canned cow, coconut, goat), Light Karo Syrup, real mayonnaise, plain yogurt (not lowfat) and another liquid such a water or pedialyte and sometimes egg yellow but no egg whites, and some recipes include baby food meats of chicken or turkey. I will try one of the recipes that do not include egg yellow but plan to include the baby food chicken or turkey.
Precious has never liked milk as an adult. As a young kitten she had KMR formula by eye dropper and later via bottle.
My Mom came over often to bottle feed Precious as seen in the picture below.
The picture was taken near Halloween. Precious' estimated birthday is August 23, 2001. We cared for her for seven days before she opened one eye and then later, the other eye.
We are taking one day at a time and enjoying each day with "Precious Tiger Ramie Raskin Stewart".
