Trial Run to the End - Cancer Cat Episode 10

I thought Neelix was getting ready to leave. July, after all, is only a couple of weeks away, and we have lost two cats in July. On a Tuesday night, he was dry heaving. Wednesday, he was listless and not interested in food. Thursday I was force feeding him water from an eye dropper, and he still didn't want food. Thursday night I called the oncologist, but it was 30 minutes from a three-day weekend for them and they said wait until morning and go to my regular vet.

I got an appointment for noon. He was furious at the blood test, the bag of fluids, and just being there, but everything came back normal and $310 later, it was determined the problem was gas on the stomach and a thickening of his intestines, which I didn't understand what that meant, but it was something that could be relieved with Metronidazole benzoate and some over the counter slivers of Pepcid AC. By the time we got home, he was ready to try a little food. Just the fluids alone must have perked him. The next day he was eating normally, but we haven't resumed his cancer treatment yet. I checked with the oncologist on Monday and they said 2-3 days after he resumes normal behavior.

My stomach hurts. 

Mackie Becomes a Whole Different Cat

Mackie continues to surprise us at how well he has adapted to being a now primarily indoor cat. In fact, he doesn't like to go out at all unless one of us is outside, and then he comes back in when we go in. If he gets left outside, he seems scared and uncertain, as if his indoor life was a just a dream and he's back in his reality.

But no, the reality is he's an indoor cat now that sleeps in our bed with us, and adjusted to the litter boxes easily. This after being an outdoor cat for two or three years, coming from where we don't know. Who raised him as a kitten? Because it seems unlikely he would have broken to the house this easily if he had not had some human contact as a kitten.

The thing that finally won him over completely was treats! He was so excited about the taste and crunch of them, he stopped hiding under the sunroom sofa and reconciled himself quickly to being on top of the sofa where treats were more likely to appear.

And unlike BeeGee, he's let the other cats approach him and get a sniff of him, so now most of them -- except Seven who still doesn't care for any of the cats who came after him except for the return of his mother -- have adjusted to him and they can all sit together on the sofa.

BeeGee is going to be much harder to win over, and if she is anything like Arbee, who after 15 years still doesn't let us pick her up, she may never adjust.

Sometimes I think the spirits of the cats who were here and have since gone -- Red, Merly, Callie -- entered Mackie because some of his new behaviors mimics them, especially Merly.

Mackie napping on top of a chair instead of under a sofa.