"MaryL" wrote in message
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"Christina Websell" wrote in message
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"MaryL" wrote in message
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Holly seems to be doing very well. She is now eating well, and she seems
happy. She follows me around like "the old Holly," and she spends a lot
of time curled up in my lap. I think I made the right decision not to
force her to have fluids twice a day. I would rather have her happy and
content for whatever time we have left than to force her to have a
procedure that traumatizes her. I realize that administering fluids is
really a routine procedure, but she was so stressed out about it (even
when the vet tech did it) that she had started to cringe whenever I
picked her up to start the process. Now she is back to her old self, and
I want to keep it that way. I wish I had been able to give her the
fluids, but even the vet tech found that she had to force her. The vet
tech would scruff her when she struggled, but it clearly wasn't something
that Holly would simply adjust to and accept calmly, and I was unable to
control her as well as the vet tech could. I am adding some powdered
medicine to her canned cat food, and she is eating that very well. So, I
hope she continues to improve on this regimen and that I will have for a
lot longer. But, most important, I want her remaining time to be happy
and contented time. I think there is an element of selfishness when we
force our beloved cats to endure procedures that they find objectionable
just so we can force them to be with us longer. It's always a difficult
decision, and I found it particularly difficult because administering
fluids is not one of those procedures that we would usually look at a
traumatic--but Holly obviously saw it that way. She will be 18 years old
on June 1.

It is not possible to do that here, this is a thing that only vets can do.

~~~~~~~~~~
It is fairly common here for people ("non professionals") to perform
procedures such as administer fluids and give insulin shots for diabetes.
If it had worked, I would have been doing it under instruction by the vet
and vet tech, but I decided that it just is not fair to Holly to force her
to accept the procedure twice a day for the rest of her life. Many people
have been successful at doing it in their homes, but I was not.

MaryL

I can fully understand that. I was lucky. When Skeeter needed fluid, it
was only twice a week, and, as long as I sat in a comfortable recliner with
her in my lap, I had no trouble administering it. However, my daughter and
her husband had to give fluids to one of their cats, and it took both of
them to do it.

Joy