So we’re fairly sure this is what Melon has. No idea what made her start it but the gist is she stopped eating so her body started consuming it’s own organs, her liver in particular. She got better a few weeks ago but the calories she was taking in weren’t enough to sustain the daily need so she didn’t fully recover, so one missed meal and she was right back. In fact, according to the liver tests, worse.

I’ve been having to force-feed her approx 5 - 10 ml of wet food about every two to three hours. Force-feeding a cat, particularly a very small and fiesty one, is about as fun as you imagine it is. I’ve found old cordoroy hedgehog cage liners particularly useful for wrapping her up and catching the inevitable drips. I’ve also been doing a subcutaneous needle fluid twice a day. And giving her steroid and antibiotic pills twice a day as well as an antibiotic shot once a day. And a B complex shot every three days. The good news is she hasn’t needed her anti-nausea pills since Saturday morning.

She’s improving, to be sure. Over the weekend she was too weak to get to the litter box and was just, well, leaking. She also had a very strange smell (not from the leaking) that was almost like the sickness was coming out of her pores. When I was wiping her off with a wet washcloth on Friday I kept scrubbing her back feet because they still looked dirty. Until I realized it wasn’t a stain but the jaundice coming through her white fur. But she’s since been getting much better about grooming and using the litter box.

To make sure that she wouldn’t wander off to a hard-to-reach corner, assure that she had a supply of both wet and dry food that the others wouldn’t get, monitor the litter box, and keep her in a less lonely place than being shut into the guest room I set up a little camp in Winter’s crate.

Yes, it’s a huge crate so she has room for a catnip pad, wet food, dry food, water, a small litter box, a kitty cup bed, and garrison the bear to keep her company. Cody took this photo of her sleeping in her cup bed the other night.

I haven’t had much computer time this week because I’m usually feeding her, cleaning up from feeding, or getting ready to feed her. Or trying to tidy up for the ‘rents who will be here in less than thirteen days oh my god. And the brother-in-law, his wife, and their kids will be in town, oh, tomorrow.

And there’s been all kinds of crazy construction behind our house, something that involves tamping down earth for huge drain pipes so the house vibrates from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm.

I. Am. In. Hell.