[Felvtalk] Vi, Mo ... and Jelly's decline and force feeding

[ROBERT CHAPEL]

Hi Sheri...

You are SO right about not knowing when one is doing right by them...  
Jelly is still alive despite refusing to eat anything voluntarily.  He 
still drinks enough water and Urinates more than usual...   Perhaps I'm 
being selfish keeping him alive but I hope from day to day that every 
day I have him on Winstrol Doxy and Pred  is one day more that _ 
something_ positive might happen ( though I am worried about the effects 
of food deprivation along with the Liver enzyme problems associated with 
Winstrol...  But...  it's a race against time anyway and as long as I am 
not hurting him more  ( I'd be putting him down otherwise)....
Still... I just DON'T know if I'm being fair to him... He doesn't appear 
to be in abject discomfort but is certainly not " enjoying" life in any 
way...   ( though he sometimes appears to enjoy being groomed)... Mostly 
it is simply breaking my heart several times a day and reducing me to 
inconsolable tears as I watch this formerly lively loving sociable 
beautiful 1.5 yr old cat unable to run jump play or eat and I wonder 50 
times a day if I should simply put him down for my own sake as WELL as 
his....  The grief of having him gone will be more intense but the grief 
of seeing him in decline daily ( particularly days like today when I 
have to be home to do a lot of paperwork related matters and he's in 
view every minute) might well be the larger pain......   I'd prefer for 
him to die at home but I don't want to make him suffer just SO he can 
die at home....   I'm sure all of us have had this " conversation " with 
out infirm animals...   Laying next to them and asking them " Should I 
help you along NOW buddy" ??  Wishing with ALL my heart that he could 
give me the answer.   If he were in obvious discomfort I wouldn't 
hesitate a moment but cats hide their discomfort...  He was hiding out 
earlier in the process but right now he is laying on the computer simply 
sleeping....  He will likely get up later and go to his litter box and 
then go elsewhere and lay down and sleep... He'll drink some water... 
sniff at whatever food I have out for him, not eat it... and go to sleep 
again....  The only sign of distress I see/hear is his breathing rate is 
elevated and he has fluid in his trachea and down possibly into the 
lungs ( though not noticed on original Xray)... 
My heart goes out to you and little mo... perhaps a bit moreso now 
because I had a little guy who started at a disadvantage and never 
recovered....  He and Jelly were fast friends for the first couple of 
months I had him but he rapidly developed complications ( mostly with 
his eyes ) and soon after was in much pain and unable to play any 
longer...    I can't go on with this right now.....   I am just beside 
myself that I am losing both of my boys in little over a year from the 
time I adopted them.....    I honestly want to help FeLV cats but I 
don't know if I can stand the sadness of going through this again unless 
I start living with other people who have an investment in ill cats so I 
can " share the grief " and care.....   I live alone and life is not 
happy for a variety of reasons...  my cats were the bright spot in my 
day ....  but also a impediment to my being able to get away to do what 
I needed to do for ME to stay involved socially..    Another issue for 
another time...  need to ask the group in a separate note about force 
feeding...

Bob


On Thu, Apr 06, 2017 at 11:48 AM, felvtalk-request at felineleukemia.org 
wrote:

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>    1. Re: Vi and Mo... (Sheri Burbridge)
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:47:42 +0000
> From: Sheri Burbridge To: felvtalk at felineleukemia.org
> Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Vi and Mo...
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>
> Bob, I met our cats through the shelter we volunteer at as well. We 
> wanted
> to adopt sooner but my dog blew out his CCL and needed surgery and to
> recover first. Then we went to get Mo and they were under quarantine 
> for
> ringworm. By the time Mo made it back to the adoption room he was 
> stressed
> and sick and I feel terrible. Violet at least had a home once (her 
> owner
> passed away which bounced her back to the shelter) Mo has had nothing 
> but
> the shelter and illness. Giving a home to the "unadoptable" is a 
> beautiful
> and rewarding thing, I wish people would give these animals a chance 
> too! I
> hope your colony can recover from their illness, the cats on our FELV 
> room
> are all sweet as can be too. It always amazes me, the capacity animals 
> have
> to forgive us for their suffering.
>
> How is Jelly? Have the meds helped at all? It's so hard to know what 
> the
> right thing is sometimes.
>
> Sheri
>
> On Wed, Apr 5, 2017, 5:09 PM ROBERT CHAPEL  wrote:
>
> Sheri...
> I know , all too well, what you are going through and hope to the 
> power
> of 10 that the meds help for mo as much as they have for others on the
> list....   The more people out there recognize that FeLV is not always 
> a
> death sentence ( if one has a forward thinking vet) the more people
> might be willing to adopt these lovely cats ( At the shelter where I
> volunteer EACH of our FeLV cats is nice than the next)  I am worried
> about the Colony now because one of the Colony just died from Effusive
> FIP and since all were raised together there is a high likelihood that
> the others are still carrying the Corona Virus.... fingers crossed as 
> to
> whether is will develop into FIP in them....   So glad you have a vet
> that will work with you and my hopes are SO with little mo who really
> hasn't been given a fair shake until you guys came along.....   Thanks
> for giving this deserving little guy a home.... EVEN if it's just for 
> a
> brief while.....
>
> Bob
>
>